Awakened Mangekyō Sharingan

Once the medicine was quickly poured into the mouths of the other five poisoned victims.

The bluish-gray deathly pallor beneath their skin rapidly faded from their faces, and their breathing became strong and steady.

"Lady Tsunade, the toxins have been neutralized! The corrosion has stopped! Their vital signs are recovering!"

The medical ninja in charge of monitoring them shouted excitedly. The entire medical unit erupted in subdued cheers, their gazes toward Tsunade filled with pure admiration.

As expected of Konoha's princess, who was said to have single-handedly countered Sunagakure's poisons.

Yet Tsunade's expression remained unchanged. Smiling would not have suited her image.

Before the medical unit's suppressed cheers had fully died down, the tent flap was lifted again.

Three ninja wearing dark blue shirts emblazoned with the Uchiha Clan crest strode inside.

At their head was the stern-faced, sharp-eyed Uchiha Tetsuka, followed by the concerned Uchiha Daosui and the somewhat nervous Uchiha Inada.

"Lady Tsunade!"

Uchiha Tetsuka respectfully bowed to Tsunade, his voice low.

"Thank you for saving Captain Ran! Please allow us to move him to a separate tent to recuperate. The three of us will personally watch over him."

Tsunade had just used medical ninjutsu to stabilize a severely wounded patient and was wearily rubbing her brow. Hearing this, she raised her eyes to look at the three Uchiha brats.

"Do whatever you want. That brat won't die anyway."

Tsunade's voice was clearly impatient. As her second granduncle used to say, every last one of these Uchiha was crazy. The best way to get along with them was not to get along with them at all.

"Yes! Thank you, Lady Tsunade!" Uchiha Tetsuka replied solemnly, while Daosui and Inada also nodded seriously.

Though the Uchiha were arrogant, conceited, fond of showing off, and overflowing with confidence, they still knew how to be grateful.

Before long, the unconscious Uchiha Ran was carefully transferred to a relatively quiet, isolated tent at the edge of the camp.

Tetsuka and the other two swiftly arranged security measures and set up a simple sensory barrier inside and outside the tent.

It was not that they were overly vigilant. They simply wanted to slack off and let the barrier stand watch for them.

Night fell, and the campfires scattered throughout the camp glimmered like stars. Only a dim oil lamp was lit inside the tent.

Daosui and Inada stood near the entrance, resting with their eyes closed while maintaining high alert.

Uchiha Tetsuka sat cross-legged in a tree, keeping watch.

At midnight, cold silver moonlight filtered through the tent's ventilation opening, casting a small, hazy patch of light that happened to fall across Uchiha Ran's face.

Then, suddenly!

Uchiha Ran, who had been sleeping on the bed, violently shuddered without warning!

He sharply inhaled, like a drowning man breaking the surface, his chest heaving violently!

His tightly shut eyes snapped open!

There was no warning, no transition!

Scarlet light instantly tore through the darkness of the tent!

The three black tomoe in his pupils spun at an unprecedented, nearly frenzied speed!

They pulled against one another and distorted, as though trying to break free from some restraint, faintly outlining the unstable shape of a twisted pinwheel!

A cold, sinister pattern brimming with destructive pressure was clearly branded within those scarlet pupils!

The pattern was intricate and symmetrical, formed by several black, twisted scythe blades intertwined together. At its center lay a deep black dot, and the entire design slowly turned beneath the cold moonlight.

A storm of cold, violent spiritual power, filled with despair and unwillingness, swept outward uncontrollably!

The air inside the tent seemed to freeze in an instant. The oil lamp's flame was nearly extinguished by an invisible force, its light flickering violently!

Meanwhile, Uchiha Inada and Daosui outside were sleeping so deeply that drool was running from their mouths, completely unaware of what was happening inside the tent.

"Damn, my head... hurts so much. Am I growing a brain?"

"Tch... no, my eyes hurt even worse!"

After taking more than ten minutes to recover, Uchiha Ran finally understood what had happened.

He seemed to have accidentally been hit by that puppeteer's poisoned needle and poison gas, and had naturally ended up poisoned.

He happened to have no real resistance against toxins and had nearly been done in. Just as he had reached the brink of death and fully awakened his eyes, a blonde bombshell seemed to have drawn something out of his body and injected him with a stream of chakra.

However, that pure Yang Release power had also suppressed the Yin Release power of his Mangekyō Sharingan, which was why it had only now been fully awakened.

The only thing that puzzled him was that the people who had died were teammates completely unrelated to him, yet he had still awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.

That was not scientific. Could it be that he was actually a compassionate person with a low tear threshold?

Though he did want to be a compassionate person, his targets would be cute girls. How could they possibly be a bunch of burly men?

After ruling out every possibility, Uchiha Ran finally understood. There was only one truth!

His Mangekyō Sharingan had not awakened for anyone else. It had awakened for himself.

When he had been driven into a desperate situation, his powerful desire to survive had allowed him to successfully awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.

The abilities he had awakened next confirmed this. His left eye possessed an ability called Jizo God, also known as Spirit Rescuer. It allowed him to summon souls that had fallen into hell and use them for himself.

It was somewhat like the technique the Sage of Six Paths used in the late stages of the Fourth Shinobi World War to summon the past Five Kage. (He used Summoning Jutsu to call Naruto back.)

His right eye possessed an ability called Tenman Tenjin. Its powers were soul suppression and protection. Soul suppression could stabilize both dying souls and his own soul.

Its greatest use was probably immunity to the bizarre ability of the Human Path of the Six Paths of Pain to extract souls.

Protection allowed him to resist most genjutsu that targeted the soul.

"Damn it, why do these all feel like life-saving abilities? Don't I get something like Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi, some powerful genjutsu?"

Sharingan: Brat, as if I don't know you. You look brave, but you're actually scared stiff.

Uchiha Ran was still immersed in mocking the abilities of his newly awakened Mangekyō Sharingan—

"Jizo God" and "Tenman Tenjin" sounded intimidating, but they were both abilities for staying alive and playing it safe. Was this Sharingan not a little too familiar with him?

At that moment, hurried yet restrained footsteps and low commands suddenly came from outside the tent.

"Emergency assembly! All Jonin, Special Jonin, and Chunin squad leaders, report to headquarters immediately! Move!"

"Logistics unit, prepare to break camp! Medical unit, pack up the equipment and medicine!"

"Keep it quiet! Stay alert!"

The previously silent camp instantly became like water disturbed by a tossed stone, ripples rapidly spreading outward.

The sleeping ninja were jolted awake and began moving with trained efficiency. There was no shouting, only swiftly moving shadows and curt commands.

"What's going on?"

Uchiha Ran's heart tightened. He immediately focused himself, concealing his newly awakened Mangekyō Sharingan and returning his eyes to ordinary black pupils.

The cold, violent storm of spiritual power that had leaked out when his eyes awakened had long since subsided.

The two drooling fools outside the tent, Inada and Daosui, also sensed the drastic change in the nearby tents and the commotion spreading through the camp. They jerked awake.