Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan

Faced with Sasuke's furious roar, Itachi remained calm. His voice was certain, carrying the obsession of someone who believed he had already seen the ending. "You will."

Before Sasuke could erupt again, Itachi slowly spoke.

"When the Three-Tomoe Sharingan evolves into the Mangekyō Sharingan, your strength surges instantly, taking you beyond Jonin and into a realm rivaling Kage level."

"But what you don't know is that, along with its supreme power, the Mangekyō carries a curse with no cure."

"Every time you use the Mangekyō, you overdraw your eye power."

"In the end, your vision will deteriorate little by little, until you fall into complete darkness and go blind."

Sasuke's brows knitted tightly, and his heart sank. Staring into Itachi's eyes, he asked heavily, "So... your eyes are almost blind?"

Itachi did not answer his question. He simply continued.

"But there is no jutsu in this world without a counter, and no curse without a cure."

"So there is also a way to free yourself completely from the Mangekyō Sharingan's blindness curse."

Sasuke tensed, instinctively focusing on every word.

But Itachi changed tack. Profound regret and disappointment surfaced in his eyes as he said flatly, "Unfortunately, you still haven't awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan."

"My foolish little brother, how can you be so useless?"

Perhaps Sasuke had heard Itachi call him foolish and useless too many times. Those words no longer drew much of a reaction.

All the fragments in Sasuke's mind suddenly fell into place!

A bone-deep chill swept through him. His eyes turned bloodshot as overwhelming fury and sorrow exploded within him. His voice trembled with disbelief:

"So... that was why? You wiped out the entire Uchiha Clan?"

"You slaughtered every member of our clan and destroyed everything I had with your own hands!"

"From beginning to end, it was all just to force me to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan?!"

Itachi nodded slightly, admitting it without hesitation as he revealed his ultimate goal:

"Only by taking my own brother's Mangekyō Sharingan can I obtain the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."

"No loss of vision, no backlash from the curse, inexhaustible eye power, and strength that completely surpasses Kage level!"

"The last person to possess the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan was Madara Uchiha!"

"This is the path I laid out for you."

"Unfortunately, Sasuke, you're still far too useless. You wasted all my preparations and ruined my plan."

Itachi's voice was full of regret, and he looked at Sasuke as though he were utterly worthless.

"Madman! You're a complete and utter lunatic!"

Sasuke's chest heaved violently. His hatred surged, and he nearly trembled with rage.

"What kind of person slaughters his entire clan and destroys his family bonds for so-called power?!"

"Itachi, you don't even deserve to be called human!"

Looking at his enraged younger brother, Itachi still stubbornly defended himself. "Sasuke, you're too young."

"You have no idea how terrifying the Mangekyō's power truly is."

"You don't understand that reaching the pinnacle of power is worth any sacrifice."

"Even your family!"

"I don't understand?"

Sasuke stared at him, his eyes holding nothing but bone-deep coldness and resolve.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha!"

"I will never become you!"

"You will never understand who I truly am!"

"Even if I spend my entire life pursuing power, I will never do anything as inhuman, filthy, and disgusting as what you've done!"

Those words were Sasuke's bottom line, the greatest difference between him and Itachi, and the conviction that would never let him be stained by darkness!

At that moment.

The ever-obsessive, deranged Uchiha Itachi fell silent.

Within the Sky Screen, the brothers' confrontation remained steeped in murderous tension.

Outside the Sky Screen, the entire shinobi world had fallen into stunned disbelief.

Everyone stared blankly at the truth Itachi had revealed about the massacre, their hearts trembling as their understanding of the world shattered again and again.

The Uchiha Clan Massacre, which had caused such an uproar and shaken the entire shinobi world...

Had merely been Uchiha Itachi's way of forcing his younger brother to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan!

"That's absurd... what kind of insane obsession is this?"

"Slaughtering an entire clan for a pair of eyes? How could anyone possibly justify that?!"

"I finally understand how twisted Itachi is. He's a lunatic. He was never anything like a normal person."

At the same time, the Mangekyō Sharingan's blindness curse and the legendary eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, which had never appeared before, were fully exposed to everyone in the shinobi world.

"The Mangekyō Sharingan actually makes you go blind? Then after all these years, isn't Uchiha Itachi nearly there already, just waiting to replace his eyes with Sasuke's?"

"Unfortunately, Sasuke hasn't awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. What will Itachi do now? Didn't his plan backfire?"

"No wonder Madara Uchiha was so terrifying back then! That was the power of the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan!"

"The eternal Mangekyō Sharingan! No curse, endless eye power, strength beyond Kage level! Madara Uchiha had already entered the realm of gods!"

Some were shaken by that terrifying power. Others felt a chill in their hearts and whispered words that cut to the bone.

"If power approaching Madara Uchiha's were placed before you..."

"How many people in the shinobi world could stay true to themselves and resist that greed?"

Those words gradually silenced everyone.

Power had always been the most tempting poison in the shinobi world.

Itachi's madness was extreme and horrifying, yet it also made everyone dimly understand-

That power could all too easily drag a person into darkness.

In this chaotic shinobi world, not everyone could refuse it.

Uchiha Itachi quietly watched the Sasuke on the Sky Screen, who would rather die than follow his path, who held firm to his principles and despised dirty methods. A trace of relief quietly surfaced in his eyes.

How wonderful.

Sasuke was still so pure and kind.

That was enough.

That was the entire meaning behind all his sacrifices, all his burdens, and all his sins.

A Sasuke like this would surely revive the Uchiha Clan, just as he had hoped.

Meanwhile, in Konoha's Hokage Office, the atmosphere was so oppressive it seemed frozen solid.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu had, of course, long known the secrets of the Uchiha's Mangekyō.

But they had no desire whatsoever to see that information exposed.

Amid the dead silence, Shimura Danzō spoke quietly, his voice icy enough to cut to the bone. "Itachi is dying."

"Don't think I can't see it. Right now... he's seeking death."

"He wants to die at Sasuke's hands."

The other three in the office remained silent.

They held high positions and understood the cruelty of the shinobi world.

From Itachi's eyes, his condition, and his words, they had already seen it clearly-

Uchiha Itachi likely could not hold on much longer. He had long since lost the will to remain alive.

A cold, sinister smile curled Danzo's lips. Keeping his eyes fixed on the Sky Screen, he offered his theory:

"But in my view, explaining so many of the Mangekyō's secrets, exposing the curse, and revealing the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan..."

"He's hardly just explaining things."

"He's laying the groundwork for Sasuke's future."

"He's hinting that Sasuke should take his Mangekyō eyes, so that once Sasuke awakens his own Mangekyō, he can ultimately become a flawless Sasuke with the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan!"