"Blindness?" Sasuke's expression darkened. What was the point of power bought at the cost of his sight?
"Yes, blindness. But..." Toru Kujyo's lips curved again. "There are exceptions to everything. The secret I discovered is a way to prevent it."
Sasuke held his breath.
"The first method." Toru Kujyo raised one finger, his gaze turning deep and sharp, as though it could pierce straight through a person's heart. "Transplant your own brother's Mangekyō Sharingan. When the power of both pairs of eyes merges, you gain a light that never fades-the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."
"My... own brother..."
The instant Sasuke heard those words, the expression on his face froze completely.
His eyes, which had shone at the prospect of immense power only moments earlier, went dull. All color drained from his face, leaving it ashen. His mocking delight, the humiliation of being toyed with, his shock over the Hashirama cells, his longing for the Mangekyō... every emotion gave way to a bone-chilling despair.
My own... brother...
Unbidden, that man's figure surfaced in his mind. The man he had once admired most, and now hated most.
Uchiha Itachi.
That name had once been the only light in his life, only to become his everlasting nightmare. He had lived in Itachi's shadow for the sake of revenge, and now even the key to greater power had to be tied to that man? What a bitterly ironic, twisted fate!
"So, Uchiha Itachi... you really did awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan too?" Sasuke's voice was so dry and hoarse that it barely sounded like his own. He had imagined Itachi's power countless times, but had never dared imagine that its pinnacle would be something so forbidden. He had always believed Itachi was powerful because he was simply born a monster. Now, though, it seemed a deeper