Uchiha Yao, Mangekyō Sharingan Awakening!

At the top of a cliff above the Naka River, the night wind howled.

Moonlight cast two long shadows from Uchiha Itachi and Shisui in his arms.

"Shisui! Shisui! How are you?"

Itachi called out anxiously.

The air was thick with the stench of blood.

Amid the excruciating pain, Shisui slowly opened his only remaining left eye.

"Itachi..."

Shisui's voice was filled with weakness.

"It's useless... it's already... too late..."

"It's not too late! We'll find evidence and expose Danzo's crimes! As a Konoha elder, how could he dare do something like this?!"

"Heh heh..."

Shisui let out a faint, self-mocking laugh.

Perhaps Elder Yao had been right. At this moment, Uchiha Shisui finally understood what Uchiha Yao had said before.

But everything was too late.

"Itachi, everything is already too late."

"My existence has become the fuse between the Uchiha Clan and the village, one that is about to be lit."

"Danzo will frame me as a deserter. To clear my name, the Uchiha Clan will inevitably break completely with the higher-ups."

"Then war... civil war... will truly become unavoidable."

"This... is the outcome I least wanted to see."

Shisui had spent his entire life pursuing peace, yet his own naivety had ultimately pushed everything into an even deeper abyss.

This was the one thing Shisui had least wanted to see.

"Itachi... now, only my death..."

"Only if I 'commit suicide out of guilt' can all of this be temporarily calmed."

"No! There has to be another way!"

Itachi roared. He could not accept his closest friend saying such things before his very eyes.

"There isn't..."

Shisui looked at Itachi, a trace of apology in his eyes.

"I still believe in the Will of Fire. I still believe in this village... It's just that the village's roots have already rotted too deeply..."

"Itachi, don't let hatred cloud your eyes."

"Now, only you can stop all this."

"This eye..."

He pointed at his remaining left eye.

"It is something Danzo, and every ambitious man, will do anything to obtain."

"I can't... let it fall into those people's hands."

"Even less can I let it become the root of our clan's destruction!"

Before Itachi's horrified gaze, Shisui gouged out his only remaining left eye!

Blood streamed through his fingers.

"Shisui! You—!"

Itachi's mind went blank.

As though he could not feel the pain, Shisui used the last of his strength to press that Mangekyō Sharingan into Itachi's icy hand.

"Itachi... I'm entrusting this eye... to you..."

"Promise me... you must stop the clan's coup d'état..."

"Use it... to protect Konoha..."

"Protect... the Uchiha name..."

"I'm begging you..."

Having lost both eyes, Shisui's world fell into eternal darkness.

Yet a relieved smile appeared on his face.

"Thank you, Itachi..."

"It was wonderful... to be your friend..."

With that, he used the last of his strength to push away Itachi, who was holding him.

His body, like a kite with its string cut, fell straight backward toward the bottomless cliff behind him.

"No—!"

Itachi's pupils dilated to their limit in that instant!

"Shisui—!"

Itachi watched helplessly as his best friend, the man who had been like an older brother to him, was swallowed by the surging, roaring river below.

He vanished without a trace.

Why...

Why did it turn out like this...

An indescribable agony surged from the depths of Itachi's eyes.

One drop.

Two drops.

Warm liquid slid down from the corners of Uchiha Itachi's eyes.

They were not tears.

They were two trails of bloody tears.

Itachi's scarlet Sharingan began to mutate wildly and painfully.

The three black tomoe spun rapidly, stretching and warping before finally joining together to form a brand-new, bizarre pattern like a three-bladed shuriken.

Mangekyō Sharingan!

At the cost of his best friend's life and blood, these eyes that represented both a curse and supreme power had finally... awakened.

Itachi collapsed to his knees in agony, his body trembling violently.

Elsewhere, within Uchiha Yao's residence.

The candle flame flickered softly.

Before Uchiha Yao floated a virtual screen visible only to him.

On the screen, everything that had happened at the cliff by the Naka River was playing in real time.

From Danzo's appearance to Root's encirclement.

From Shisui's bitter battle to his right eye being taken.

Then to his entrusting his left eye to Itachi and resolutely leaping from the cliff.

When Shisui's figure completely vanished into the darkness of the Naka River, Yao slowly closed his eyes.

The system screen dissipated as well.

Power!

In the cruel Shinobi World, so-called mercy, so-called compromise, so-called fantasies of peace were nothing more than the wishful thinking of the weak!

Only absolute power!

Only absolute power capable of crushing everything could allow one to control one's own fate and dictate the life and death of others!

Only then could one trample the entire world beneath one's feet!

At that moment, Uchiha Yao's thirst for power reached its peak!

A pure, ultimate desire for power, free from every emotional restraint!

"Buzz—!"

The intense fluctuation brought by that ultimate desire!

It caused Uchiha Yao's eyes to begin changing!

His vision began to twist and blur!

Excruciating pain swept over him.

Uchiha Yao could not help but clamp both hands tightly over his eyes!

He could clearly feel the Three-tomoe Sharingan within his eye sockets spinning and merging at an unbelievable speed!

A few breaths later.

A terrifying surge of dojutsu power, dozens or even hundreds of times stronger than before, suddenly erupted from Uchiha Yao's eyes!

After a long while.

When the searing pain in his eyes gradually receded.

Uchiha Yao slowly lowered the hands covering his eyes.

His pupils no longer bore the simple three tomoe from before.

In their place was a brand-new pair of Mangekyō Sharingan!

"Is this... the power of the Mangekyō?"

"It's truly... far too powerful!"

"Ding! It has been detected that the host witnessed Uchiha Shisui's tragic death, suffering an extreme emotional shock and intense unwillingness at his own lack of power, fulfilling the harsh awakening conditions for the Mangekyō Sharingan!"

"Ding! Host Uchiha Yao's Mangekyō Sharingan... has successfully awakened!"

"Ding! Because the host independently awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan through his own will and emotional shock, and because the characteristics of his dojutsu highly align with the host's personal traits and soul essence, the host has received a special bonus: Dojutsu Adaptability: Extreme!"

"Dojutsu Adaptability: Extreme: The host's mastery speed over his own Mangekyō dojutsu power increases by 300%, dojutsu power consumption decreases by 30%, and the physical burden and rate of vision erosion caused by the Mangekyō Sharingan decrease by 50%!"

Not bad. There was even an unexpected bonus. Not only had he awakened the Mangekyō, but the system had also gifted him an extremely useful special bonus.