The Curse of the Mangekyo

Naka River Shrine, Underground Training Ground.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive fireball roared outward, slamming into the distant rock wall and exploding into a brilliant shower of sparks.

Shisui Uchiha flashed into view amidst the dissipating smoke, his short blade slicing precisely toward the throat of a training dummy.

However, just as the blade was about to touch its target, Shisui's foot suddenly slipped.

The strike went wide.

The edge grazed the dummy's neck, leaving only a shallow white mark on the stone wall.

"Hmm?"

Xuan Shi, watching from the sidelines, frowned.

For a genius known as Body Flicker Shisui, such a low-level mistake was impossible.

Shisui stopped moving and stood in place, his body swaying slightly. He reached up to cover his right eye, and a trickle of bright red blood seeped between his fingers.

"Shisui!"

Xuan Shi and Fugaku instantly flickered to his side.

Shisui looked up and lowered his hand.

His right eye still maintained the Mangekyo form, but the originally scarlet, luminous pupil now appeared somewhat murky, as if veiled by a layer of gray mist.

"Sorry..." Shisui gave a bitter smile, his voice weak. "I've been consuming too much ocular power lately to maintain the mental suggestions on those people in Root. Just now... my vision suddenly doubled."

Fugaku looked at Shisui's eyes and let out a deep sigh.

"This is the curse of the Mangekyo."

Fugaku's voice carried a sense of fated sorrow.

"The greater the power, the more it is accompanied by darkness. Every time we use these eyes, our vision fades a little more. Our clan is destined to eventually go blind."

He understood this all too well himself. Ever since awakening his Mangekyo, Fugaku could clearly feel his own eyesight deteriorating. If he didn't exercise restraint, he feared he would be blind long before the Nine-Tails' Attack.

"A curse?"

Xuan Shi looked at Shisui's bleeding eye and shook his head.

"No, it's just that our bodies lack a balance of Yin and Yang."

The Uchiha Clan inherited the Yin Release power (spiritual energy) of the Sage of Six Paths, but lacked the Yang Release power (physical energy). Without a sufficiently strong body to carry such immense spiritual power, it eventually led to physical collapse and blindness.

In medical terms, this was an "allergic reaction," and in fantasy, it was "losing control and falling into a demonic path."

Xuan Shi closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the system.

[Current Clan Prosperity: 115 points] (S-rank mission reward + daily accumulation)

He opened the option that had always been grayed out—[Mangekyo Optimization].

With the prosperity requirement met, the item inside finally lit up.

[Item: Hashirama Cell Extract (Stable/Low-spec Version)]

[Description: Cell extract of the First Hokage, purified by the system. The violent Wood Release factors have been removed, leaving only pure Yang Release life force.]

[Effect: Significantly increases physical vitality, repairs optic nerve damage, and alleviates (does not cure) Mangekyo side effects. Increases chakra limit by approximately 30% after use.]

[Restriction: Cannot awaken Wood Release, cannot evolve into Rinnegan.]

[Price: 50 Prosperity points/vial.]

50 points a vial.

Expensive.

But looking at Shisui's bleeding eyes, Xuan Shi knew this money had to be spent.

"Exchange."

[Consumed Prosperity: 100 points. Exchanged for two vials.]

Xuan Shi opened his eyes, and two sealed glass test tubes appeared in his hands out of thin air.

The tubes contained a vibrant green liquid that emitted a faint, eerie glow in the dim underground chamber, as if containing some kind of surging life force.

"What is this?" Fugaku looked at the two tubes in astonishment.

"This is a prescription."

Xuan Shi shook the tubes. "Cell extract from the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju."

Hearing the name "Hashirama Senju," the expressions of both Fugaku and Shisui shifted instantly.

He was the lifelong rival of Madara Uchiha and the legendary God of Shinobi who possessed the "Semi-Sage Body."

"This thing... is it safe to use?" Shisui asked hesitantly. "I heard Orochimaru conducted many experiments, and those who had Hashirama's cells implanted eventually turned into trees."

"That was the raw version; it was too aggressive," Xuan Shi explained. "This is a specially processed, stable version. It has removed the violent factors that turn people into trees, leaving only pure life force."

"It can neutralize the excess Yin Release chakra in our bodies and repair the damaged optic nerves."

Xuan Shi handed a test tube to Shisui.

"But there is still risk. If your willpower isn't firm enough, or if your body's rejection reaction is too strong, it could be life-threatening."

"Do you dare to try?"

Shisui looked at the green-glowing tube.

He thought of Danzo's greedy gaze, the dark basement of Root, and the clansmen and village he had sworn to protect.

If he went blind, Kotoamatsukami would be useless. At that point, what would the Uchiha have to fight against the darkness?

"If it is for the sake of protection..."

Shisui took the tube, his gaze becoming incredibly firm.

"What does it matter if I turn into a tree?"

Ten minutes later.

On the operating table in the center of the secret chamber.

Shisui lay shirtless, his limbs secured by leather straps—a precaution to prevent him from injuring himself while struggling in agony.

Xuan Shi held a syringe, slowly injecting the green liquid into the vein in Shisui's arm.

"It's starting."

As the liquid entered his bloodstream, Shisui's body shuddered violently.

"Ugh—!!!"

A suppressed, low roar squeezed out from his throat.

Green veins began to spread rapidly from the injection site along his blood vessels. Shisui's skin turned red, his body temperature spiked sharply, and white steam even began to rise from his skin.

More terrifyingly, wood-like, bark-like textures actually began to appear on the right side of his cheek!

"Suppress it!" Xuan Shi activated his Sharingan, staring intently at the flow of chakra within Shisui. "Use your own chakra to guide it! Don't resist, merge with it!"

"Ahhh—"

Shisui gritted his teeth so hard his gums bled.

The sensation was like countless small snakes burrowing through his veins, or like having molten lava poured into his body.

But he did not give up.

He visualized his Mangekyo in his mind, mobilizing all his ocular power to wrap around and consume the foreign Yang Release energy.

Yin and Yang.

Spirit and body.

The two vastly different forces collided wildly within Shisui, searching for that delicate point of balance.

One minute. Two minutes.

Every second felt as long as a year.

Fugaku watched from the side, his palms slick with sweat. Several times he wanted to rush forward to stop it, but Xuan Shi held him back.

Finally.

After ten long minutes.

The high temperature on Shisui's body began to subside. The wood-like textures on his face vanished as quickly as a receding tide, his skin becoming smooth again, even more lustrous than before.

The painful, low roars ceased, replaced by steady, powerful breathing.

Shisui slowly opened his eyes.

Hum—

His Mangekyo Sharingan activated automatically.

But this time, no blood tears fell.

The previously murky whites of his eyes became incredibly clear, like the finest white jade. The four-cornered pinwheel pattern in his pupils rotated more fluidly, emitting a heart-stopping, majestic ocular power.

Crack.

The nearby glass beakers couldn't withstand the sudden burst of ocular pressure and shattered instantly.

Shisui sat up and clenched his fists.

He could clearly feel a continuous, warm current flowing through his limbs and bones. The feeling of dry eyes and an emptied body had completely vanished.

"This feeling..."

Shisui looked at his hands in shock, then turned to Xuan Shi.

"It's like spring water suddenly gushing from a dried-up well. My chakra reserves... have at least doubled!"

"And..." He touched his eyes. "My vision is fully restored. The world has never been this clear."

Xuan Shi let out a sigh of relief and tossed the remaining test tube to the stunned Fugaku.

"It's a success."

Xuan Shi leaned against the wall, wiping the sweat from his forehead, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"This is the power of the 'Semi-Sage Body'."

"Shisui, now, even if you use Susanoo ten times in a row, you won't go blind."

"We... really can win!"