Let Darkness Take You, Kakashi

Before coming here, Kakashi had already memorized the entire map of the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

He quickly arrived at Yao Uchiha's residence. This guy was probably the strongest of the five.

"Who's there?"

Sensing danger, Yao Uchiha abruptly rose from his bed. A figure stood before it, staring coldly at him.

In the darkness of night, that scarlet gleam was especially striking.

Yao Uchiha Clan was shocked. "You're from the Uchiha Clan? No, only one Sharingan... You're Kakashi Hatake!"

"What do you want?" Yao Uchiha's hand had already gripped his tachi.

Kakashi said softly, "I want your life... and your eyes!"

"Sage Art: Purple Lightning!"

The moment Kakashi moved, he used his strongest killing technique.

Yao Uchiha was very strong, perhaps possessing the strength of an Elite Jōnin, but before Kakashi's ultimate attack, he could only die with resentment.

A large hole appeared in Yao Uchiha's chest, and his body limply fell backward.

Kakashi gently supported Yao Uchiha's head and slowly lowered him to the floor.

Looking at those Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Kakashi licked his somewhat dry lips.

His hand reached toward Yao Uchiha's eyes several times, only to shrink back at the last moment.

He was deeply conflicted. Was he really going to do something like this?

Sorry... To gain greater power, to protect more people... You have no use for these eyes anymore, so you might as well leave them to me!

Kakashi tried to come up with a heap of high-sounding reasons for himself. He tried to convince himself with every possible argument, yet the guilt in his heart did not lessen.

What are you hesitating for? You can grow stronger through an enemy's death. What is there to hesitate about?

A cold voice came from the depths of his heart. Kakashi suddenly felt that what he was doing did not seem like such a big deal.

His heart hardened. His fingers plunged deeply into Yao Uchiha's eye sockets and gouged out an entire Sharingan.

Yao Uchiha's eye lay quietly in his hand, staring at him coldly.

Kakashi was silent for a long time. In his pursuit of greater strength, it seemed he was also selling away his humanity.

If his closest friends, Shisui and Itachi, learned of what he had done today, they would probably turn against him immediately...

After all, killing someone and killing someone for their eyes were entirely different matters.

To prepare for that future war, I must be ready. I need the power of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan...

The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan could only be awakened by transplanting another person's Mangekyō Sharingan. Moreover, the closer their blood relation, the higher the chance of fusion.

Yao Uchiha's blood relation to Obito had probably long since exceeded three generations, and his eyes were only Three-Tomoe Sharingan. But Kakashi had his own idea.

The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan was simply one person's Mangekyō Sharingan absorbing the ocular power of another person's Mangekyō Sharingan. Once that ocular power accumulated to a certain point, it would undergo a qualitative transformation and evolve into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

Under normal circumstances, a Three-Tomoe Sharingan might not even reach the minimum threshold for a Mangekyō Sharingan to absorb. And if the eye came from someone who was not a direct blood relative, there might also be incompatibility between their ocular powers.

But his left eye had undergone some kind of mutation. It seemed capable of independently absorbing energy it recognized, such as the ball of purple light that had dropped from his opponent during the earlier battle with the mirror image.

Placing Yao Uchiha's Sharingan over his left eye, Kakashi's feelings were extremely complicated.

He did not know whether he should hope his idea was right or hope it was wrong.

Because if his idea was right, he would have to personally gouge out the eyes of four more people...

Yao Uchiha's eye was cold. Placed over his own eye, it felt wet and slippery, yet it showed no sign of merging with Kakashi's eye.

"Did it fail?" For some reason, Kakashi let out a sigh of relief.

But at that moment, a flicker of purple light passed through his left eye, and the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his hand was instantly absorbed into it.

Kakashi could clearly feel a faint power merging into his eye, and the vision in his left eye became clearer as well.

"It worked, then..."

Having already taken the hardest first step, Kakashi simply went all the way. He gouged out Yao Uchiha's other eye and placed it before his own.

The ocular power within the Three-Tomoe Sharingan merged into Kakashi's eye once more, repairing the damage left behind by his previous use of Kamui. The soothing sensation made Kakashi relax somewhat.

Carefully sensing the changes in his left eye, Kakashi murmured, "Two Three-Tomoe Sharingan only erased the aftereffects left by using Kamui."

"It seems the gap between the Three-Tomoe Sharingan and the Mangekyō Sharingan is even greater than I imagined. I need more Sharingan..."

Kakashi looked back at Yao Uchiha, whose eyes had been gouged out. "I need to destroy the body first."

"Fire Release: Corpse Disposal Technique!"

Only after ensuring that Yao Uchiha's corpse had been completely reduced to ashes did Kakashi head for another target's home.

The remaining four were all weaker than Yao Uchiha. Kakashi easily took their lives and removed their Sharingan as well.

Though they were far weaker than Kakashi, they were not truly weak. All four possessed Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

As one Sharingan after another merged into him, it seemed as though a new power was being born within Kakashi's left eye.

"It still seems some distance away from the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Ten Three-Tomoe Sharingan still cannot fill this bottomless pit. Could it be that later I'll have to..."

Kakashi left the Uchiha Clan compound with mixed feelings. He had delayed here for too long. The Third Hokage and Itachi might become suspicious.

On a rooftop, the Third Hokage and Itachi Uchiha had been standing there for quite some time.

After hearing Itachi's explanation, the Third Hokage sighed. "You've suffered, Itachi. You have made an enormous sacrifice for the village."

"What do you plan to do next?" the Third Hokage asked.

"I will approach that Madara Uchiha as a rogue ninja and join their organization, preventing them from attacking Konoha one day," Itachi said.

The Third Hokage's expression turned solemn. "Do you understand that once you leave, you will bear the charge of slaughtering your own clan? The village will list you as an S-rank rogue ninja."

"All ANBU will hunt you down, dead or alive!"

Itachi lowered his head slightly. "I know."