Double Tomoe Sharingan

"Yun Xi, I admit I underestimated you."

After hearing Yun Xi's plan, the curiosity on Uchiha Itachi's face deepened. At first, Itachi had thought Yun Xi was merely a gifted young boy.

Then Yun Xi's impressive fighting skills and mysterious Fire Release Kekkei Genkai had made Itachi realize there was something different about him.

But...

Itachi had never expected Yun Xi to know his identity, too!

Thinking back to the plan Yun Xi had come up with earlier,

Itachi was stunned.

I really didn't expect this boy, who's even younger than me, to be so meticulous...

"Maybe this is what a true genius looks like?"

Looking at Yun Xi, who was still a delicate-looking boy, Itachi felt a strange sense of anticipation.

He wanted to see just how far this boy could go!

"Heh, I wouldn't say I'm that clever. It's just that the method I mentioned earlier really is the best option we have right now."

Faced with Itachi's praise, Yun Xi looked a little embarrassed.

Actually, Yun Xi didn't like all this talk of strategies and plans, either.

His preferred solution was to simply crush the opposition with brute force.

But...

Unfortunately...

Yun Xi couldn't do that.

Even if he brought along Uchiha Sasuke, who was still playing in the dirt, and Tenten, who was slacking off next door,

the only ones who could actually fight were Itachi and himself.

Compared to Danzo and the Root organization under his command...

the gap between their forces was enormous...

So, given the circumstances, Yun Xi had no choice but to reluctantly choose this method to solve the problem.

"Big brother!"

Just as Yun Xi and Itachi were nearly done discussing things, the little Sasuke appeared in the clearing in the distance.

"That's Sasuke."

Yun Xi spoke up, reminding Itachi as Sasuke ran toward him.

"I see him."

Itachi tucked away his earlier conflicted feelings. A faint smile appeared on his handsome face as he walked toward Sasuke and said to Yun Xi, "Let's stick with this plan for now. I'll head back first. If anything comes up, you can come straight to the Uchiha compound and find me."

"Okay. I need to think it over carefully, too..."

After Itachi spoke, Yun Xi agreed. Then, just before they parted, he added, "Sometimes it's better to face everything with ease than to bear it all silently on your own."

With that, Yun Xi headed down the mountain...

"That guy really is something..."

Itachi silently mulled over Yun Xi's parting words, then let out a quiet laugh. He didn't say anything more.

Instead, he took Sasuke back to the family compound...

"Big brother, is Big Brother Yun Xi your friend?"

"I suppose so. Why, Sasuke?"

"No reason. I'm just happy. This is the first time I've ever met one of your friends..."

"Is that so..."

"..."

The setting sun cast the evening sky red. Beneath the crimson clouds, Itachi held Sasuke's little hand and watched Yun Xi's retreating figure.

A strange expression appeared on his face.

There was melancholy...

Conflicted feelings...

And a trace of relief...

"Come on, Sasuke. Today, big brother..."

"was very happy..."

"System, claim the Sharingan reward!"

As for Yun Xi, after parting ways with Itachi, he didn't go anywhere else.

He went straight home. After searching around and making sure nobody was watching him, he chose to claim the Sharingan reward he'd earned earlier!

"Ding! Congratulations, host. You have received a pair of Double Tomoe Sharingan. Claim successful. Would you like to begin the fusion immediately?"

"Yes!"

After hearing the system's prompt, Yun Xi decisively chose to begin the fusion right away.

As soon as he spoke, a pair of dark red eyes appeared before him out of the system space.

Then, as a gentle, pale yellow glow enveloped Yun Xi's eyes, the Sharingan hovering in midair slowly floated toward them.

"Holy crap!"

Yun Xi looked a little surprised. He hadn't expected the system's method of fusing the Sharingan to be so fantastical.

"What's this system up to?"

Just as Yun Xi was marveling at it, the Sharingan floating in the air suddenly stopped moving.

In an instant, an eerie atmosphere filled the room...

A pair of dark red Sharingan, floating in midair out of nowhere.

And...

A boy with a pale yellow halo over his head...

"System?"

After a few seconds, the system still hadn't responded. Yun Xi tentatively called out to it, and a sense of foreboding instantly rose in his heart.

Remembering how unreliable the system had been before, Yun Xi thought to himself, Holy crap, don't tell me the system crashed at a moment like this!?

"Ding! An unknown error has occurred. Please remain calm..."

"Ding! System restarting..."

"Ding! Because the host already possesses a Single Tomoe Sharingan, the Double Tomoe Sharingan cannot be implanted normally. Forced fusion mode is being activated!"

"Holy crap, it really did crash!?"

Yun Xi couldn't believe his prediction had come true. This lousy system had actually malfunctioned.

Thinking of this, Yun Xi immediately asked, "System, what do you mean by forced fusion?"

But the system had no intention of explaining...

Instead, it issued another notification...

"Ding! Forced fusion mode activated..."

"Fusion chance: 50% success, 50% failure."

"Oh, no!"

Seeing the system's prompt appear before him, Yun Xi, who had been calm as still water, finally lost his composure!

He hadn't expected forced fusion to have a chance of failure.

Thinking of the consequences, Yun Xi blurted out, "Cancel the fusion!"

But...

"Ding! Forced fusion has been activated and cannot be canceled..."

As soon as the system finished speaking, a pale yellow glow appeared between Yun Xi and the Sharingan once more. This time, though, the glow didn't envelop either Yun Xi or the eyes.

Instead...

It formed into a yellow line, connecting Yun Xi to the Sharingan floating in midair...

"Holy crap, what is this?!"

Seeing this, Yun Xi was dumbfounded.

The instant he connected to the Sharingan, a strange force slowly emerged from within him...

At the same time, Yun Xi's eyes automatically activated the Sharingan, accompanied by a faint, prickling pain...

"Ah!"

Before Yun Xi could fully get used to the stinging sensation, an even more intense pain suddenly struck his eyes...

The prickling pain came with a hint of burning...

And a blood-red aura slowly rose from within Yun Xi...

(Everyone, take a guess—what could this thing be?)