The smell of blood.
A smell so thick it seemed impossible to disperse, like a soaking-wet cloth pressed over his nose and mouth.
When Lin Ye opened his eyes, his sense of smell returned first, followed by his sight-corpses littered the ground, the Uchiha fan crests soaked in pools of blood, and lifeless eyes stared blankly at the night sky.
Memories flooded in.
He, Lin Ye, an ordinary office drone from the twenty-first century, had died suddenly from overwork and transmigrated into the world of Naruto. He was now an eight-year-old orphan from a branch family of the Uchiha Clan, named Uchiha Ye.
And tonight was the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre.
"I... I'm still alive?" Lin Ye struggled to climb out of the pool of blood, his body coated in sticky liquid. By the moonlight, he could make out the carnage around him-along both sides of the street, inside and outside the houses, Uchiha corpses lay everywhere. Men, women, the elderly, children...
"Itachi..." he murmured.
In the original story, the entire Uchiha Clan had been wiped out tonight. Only Sasuke had survived thanks to Itachi's "special treatment." So why was he, an orphan from a branch family, still alive?
[Ding! Host detected to have survived the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre. System activation conditions met.] [Binding Uchiha Last Wishes System... 10%... 50%... 100%...] [Binding successful!]
An icy mechanical voice sounded in his mind, leaving Lin Ye stunned.
A system? The standard transmigrator package?
[This is the Uchiha Last Wishes System. The Uchiha Clan had a total of 1,346 members. Apart from the host and Sasuke Uchiha, the remaining 1,344 have died. Each left behind unfulfilled last wishes.] [For every Uchiha clan member's last wish the host fulfills, the host will receive that clan member's "Sharingan ability fragments."] [Collect enough fragments to synthesize the corresponding Sharingan abilities, from three-tomoe to Mangekyo, from basic genjutsu to unique ocular techniques.] [Currently detectable unfulfilled last wishes: 3 (within 50 meters of the host).]
Lin Ye's heart raced.
The Sharingan! The power of the Uchiha!
In the world of Naruto, being powerless was a sin in itself. As an Uchiha orphan, he would have to face Danzo's Root, Obito's schemes, the threat of the Akatsuki, and even the arrival of Otsutsuki.
Without power, he wouldn't last three episodes.
"System, show me the nearby last wishes!" Lin Ye forced himself to calm down.
[Last wish 1: Uchiha Qing, age 37, chunin. Last wish: Deliver the family photograph tucked against his chest to his daughter, Uchiha Izumi. Completion reward: three-tomoe Sharingan fragment ×1 (1/10 toward synthesizing three-tomoe).] [Last wish 2: Uchiha Mio, age 29, genin. Last wish: Tell her husband, "There are banknotes worth 300 ryo hidden in the cellar. The passcode is our daughter's birthday." Completion reward: two-tomoe Sharingan fragment ×1.] [Last wish 3: Uchiha Shinichi, age 68, retired ninja. Last wish: Deliver his ancestral kunai to his grandson, Uchiha Tetsu. Completion reward: one-tomoe Sharingan fragment ×1.]
Lin Ye looked around.
A middle-aged man lay facedown nearby, his right hand pressed tightly against his chest. Lin Ye approached and carefully pried his hand open-sure enough, a photograph was tucked inside his clothes. It showed Uchiha Qing with a little girl whose smile was radiant.
On the back were the words: "For Izumi. Happy seventh birthday. Your father will always love you."
Lin Ye's hand trembled.
These weren't NPCs. They were real people, lives that had only just been lost.
He took a deep breath and carefully put the photograph away. Then, following the system's instructions, he found a kunai beside Uchiha Qing's corpse-Uchiha Shinichi's ancestral heirloom. In the house next door, he also found a diary with a slip of paper tucked inside, recording the location of the banknotes and the passcode.
Three keepsakes, three last wishes.
But there was a problem-was Uchiha Izumi still alive? Where was Uchiha Tetsu's grandson? Had Mio's husband survived?
[Notice: Rewards can be obtained simply by "attempting to fulfill" a last wish. If the intended recipient has died, leaving the keepsake at a related location or entrusting it to a related person (such as a gravestone) also counts as completion.]
Lin Ye breathed a sigh of relief.
Carrying the three keepsakes, he began searching through the mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Uchiha Izumi's home stood at the end of the street. Lin Ye pushed open the door. There were no corpses inside, but no one was there either. After a moment's thought, he placed the photograph on the living room table and weighed it down with a teacup.
[Last wish 1 detected to have reached 80% completion. Temporary reward obtained: slight improvement in dynamic vision.]
It worked!
Encouraged, Lin Ye headed for the next location...
That night, Lin Ye hurried through the Uchiha compound, fulfilling seven last wishes that he could complete. When the first rays of dawn shone onto the bloodstained streets, he slumped onto the steps of the Naka Shrine. He now had a kunai, a photograph, a love letter, a damaged forehead protector, a wooden shuriken, a notebook of ninjutsu, and a tiny bell.
[Ding! Seven last wishes fulfilled in one night. Title obtained: "Uchiha Orphan's Obsession."] [Total obtained: one-tomoe fragments ×3, two-tomoe fragments ×2, three-tomoe fragments ×2.] [Current progress: one-tomoe (3/3, synthesis available), two-tomoe (2/5), three-tomoe (2/10).] [Synthesize the one-tomoe Sharingan now?]
"Synthesize!" Lin Ye answered without hesitation.
The next instant, a burning sensation flared in his eyes, as though someone had gently pierced his pupils with red-hot needles. The agonizing pain lasted three seconds, then quickly faded.
Lin Ye opened his eyes.
The world had changed.
He could see more detail-the veins of leaves a hundred meters away, tiny motes drifting through the air, the cracks in the dried blood on the ground. His dynamic vision had improved dramatically. He could even faintly track the movement of leaves swaying in the morning breeze.
This was the Sharingan, even with only one tomoe.
Lin Ye walked over to the water jar beside the shrine and examined his eyes in its reflection-a tiny tomoe slowly revolved along the edge of each black pupil, like a living thing.
"It's still not enough." He clenched his fists.
One tomoe was only the beginning. He wanted two tomoe, three tomoe, even the Mangekyo. He wanted Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, and Susanoo. He wanted to change the Uchiha's fate, to change those damned tragedies.
"But first, I have to survive as an Uchiha orphan."
Once the sun had fully risen, Konoha's police force arrived. Leading them was Kakashi Hatake. His single exposed eye swept over the corpses before finally settling on Lin Ye.
"There's another survivor." Kakashi's voice was calm, but his tightly clenched fists betrayed the emotions he was holding back.
"My name is Uchiha Ye. I'm eight." Lin Ye spoke first, his voice hoarse. "Last night... what happened?"
Kakashi crouched and patted Lin Ye's head. "You're safe now, kid. Come with me."
Lin Ye was taken to Konoha Hospital. Examinations, questioning, records. He insisted that he knew nothing. All he remembered was practicing with shuriken the night before, suddenly hearing screams, and then passing out.
The Anbu came three times, testing him with various methods. But with an adult's mind and the mental resistance granted by his newly acquired one-tomoe Sharingan, Lin Ye managed to fool them.
Three days later, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi came to see him in person.
"Child, the tragedy that befell the Uchiha... I'm deeply sorry." The Third Hokage's gaze was conflicted. "From today onward, you are Uchiha Ye of Konoha. The village will look after you, give you a place to live, and pay for your schooling. You must live well and carry on the Uchiha's will."
Lin Ye lowered his head. "Thank you, Lord Hokage."
He knew this was only the beginning. Danzo would come looking for him soon, and Obito might already be watching from the shadows. He had to fulfill those last wishes and collect more fragments while caught between the various powers.
On the day he left the hospital, Lin Ye was assigned an apartment near the Ninja Academy. It was small, but enough for one person.
That night, the system's notification sounded again.
[New last wish detected (available to accept).] [Last wish 8: Uchiha Setsuna, age 52, jonin. Last wish: Deliver the scroll in the underground secret chamber of the Naka Shrine to Orochimaru. Completion reward: three-tomoe fragments ×3.]
Lin Ye's pupils contracted.
Orochimaru? Uchiha Setsuna had ties to Orochimaru? And there was a secret chamber beneath the Naka Shrine?
As he had suspected, the Uchiha's secrets went far beyond what the original story had revealed.
He looked out the window, where moonlight flowed like water.
"The first real challenge is here."
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