Naka Shrine was the Uchiha Clan's ancestral shrine, located in the deepest part of the clan compound. After the massacre, Konoha had temporarily sealed it off, but security was lax. After all, only two Uchiha remained alive: Sasuke was in the hospital, and Lin Ye was under surveillance. Who would care about an empty shrine?
Late that night, Lin Ye quietly left his apartment.
His one-tomoe Sharingan gave him clear vision in the darkness. Avoiding the ninja on night patrol, he moved swiftly through the shadows. By fulfilling several minor last wishes over the past few days, he had obtained fragments of basic ninjutsu, including "Body Flicker Technique (incomplete)," "Clone Technique (incomplete)," and "Transformation Technique (incomplete)." Though incomplete, they were enough to evade an ordinary Chunin's detection when used together.
Twenty minutes later, Lin Ye arrived at Naka Shrine.
The shrine looked especially sinister in the moonlight. The bloodstains had been cleaned away, but a faint smell of blood still lingered in the air. Lin Ye pushed open the heavy wooden doors, their creaking painfully sharp in the silence.
According to the system's instructions, the entrance to the secret chamber lay beneath the pedestal supporting the shrine's sacred statue.
Lin Ye felt around the statue's base and pressed hard on the third Uchiha Gunbai pattern on the left.
Click.
The mechanism turned. The statue slowly shifted aside, revealing a staircase descending into bottomless darkness.
Lin Ye took a deep breath and headed down.
The staircase was long. After descending roughly thirty meters, he reached a stone door. The Uchiha clan crest was carved into it, along with a line of text: "Those without Uchiha blood shall die upon entering."
Lin Ye bit his finger and dripped blood onto the center of the Gunbai design.
The stone door shuddered and slowly opened.
The chamber was small, roughly twenty square meters. Bookshelves lined all four walls, packed with scrolls. A stone table stood in the center, with a black scroll resting on it, locked by a special sealing formula.
This was it.
Lin Ye picked up the scroll. It felt cold in his hand. Written on its surface was: "Forbidden techniques: research into Sharingan transplantation and fusion, by Uchiha Setsuna."
Sharingan transplantation? Lin Ye's heart tightened. Uchiha Setsuna had only been mentioned a few times in the original story, a radical among the Uchiha hardliners. Who would have thought he had secretly researched Sharingan transplantation-and wanted this delivered to Orochimaru?
Who was Orochimaru? A mad scientist. An expert in human experimentation. If this research fell into his hands...
But this was a last-wish mission. Completing it would earn Lin Ye three three-tomoe fragments, bringing him another step closer to synthesizing a Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
"I'll take it." Lin Ye tucked the scroll into his clothes.
He quickly scanned the other scrolls on the shelves. Most contained Uchiha historical records, insights into ninjutsu, and research on ocular techniques. One titled "Hypotheses on the conditions for awakening the Mangekyō" caught his attention.
Lin Ye opened it. Inside were Uchiha Setsuna's handwritten notes:
"The Mangekyō Sharingan requires intense emotional stimulation. But stimulation has a threshold, and that threshold differs from person to person. According to clan records, everyone who awakened it experienced the pain of 'losing someone they loved most.' Yet this condition is too vague. I suspect the true key is the immense emotional gulf created in an instant by 'the deepest love and the greatest loss'..."
"Experiment log: attempted to simulate the death of a loved one through genjutsu. Subject: Uchiha Shin, a clan member with a three-tomoe Sharingan. Result: failure. The subject suffered a mental breakdown but did not awaken the Mangekyō. Conclusion: false stimulation cannot cross the threshold..."
"Cooperation with 'Snake': he supplies Hashirama cells; I supply Sharingan. Preliminary experiments indicate that Hashirama cells can strengthen the Sharingan's ocular power, and may even... lower the threshold for awakening. However, the risks are immense. All three test subjects died..."
"Warning: this path is dangerous, but it may be the Uchiha's only way to break the curse..."
Lin Ye read on, his heart pounding with alarm.
Uchiha Setsuna had actually worked with Orochimaru, experimenting with Hashirama cells and Sharingan! Was that why he wanted the scroll delivered to Orochimaru? To continue their collaboration?
And the phrase "break the curse" gave Lin Ye even more to think about.
What was the Uchiha's curse? Having to lose their dearest loved ones to awaken the Mangekyō? Brothers turning against each other for the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan? Or... something deeper?
"Who's there?!"
Suddenly, a shout came from the chamber entrance.
Lin Ye's heart clenched. He instantly used the Transformation Technique he had just learned, turning into a black cat. With the scroll "Hypotheses on the conditions for awakening the Mangekyō" in his mouth, he hid in the shadows of a bookshelf.
Footsteps approached. Two people.
"Lord Danzo, this is the Uchiha's secret chamber," said a raspy voice.
"Search it. Take every scroll." Lin Ye knew that other, grim voice well-Shimura Danzō.
Damn it, why was Danzo here? And why now, of all times?
Lin Ye held his breath as Danzo and a Root operative entered the chamber. Bandages covered Danzo's right eye and right arm-the places where Sharingan and Hashirama cells had been implanted. It seemed Danzo had coveted the Uchiha's secrets for a long time.
"Lord Danzo, this scroll is empty." The Root operative picked up the black scroll on the stone table. When transforming, Lin Ye had used the Clone Technique to create a fake and put it back; the real one was already hidden on his person.
Danzo took the scroll, narrowing his uncovered eye. "The seal has been broken. Someone was here."
His gaze swept the chamber before settling on the bookshelves.
Lin Ye's heart nearly leaped out of his chest. His one-tomoe Sharingan worked at full capacity, analyzing escape routes. But Danzo was a Kage-level powerhouse. Lin Ye was only an eight-year-old child-even with the Sharingan, he had no chance of escaping him head-on.
He had to take a gamble.
Lin Ye quietly pulled a smoke bomb from his clothes-a reward for fulfilling a certain Genin's last wish. He calculated Danzo's and the Root operative's positions, along with the angle to the chamber's exit.
Three, two, one-
The smoke bomb burst, instantly filling the chamber with thick smoke.
"An ambush!" the Root operative cried.
Lin Ye released the Transformation Technique, poured all his chakra into his legs, and used "Body Flicker Technique (incomplete)" to dash toward the exit. His goal was not to defeat them, but to create chaos and escape in the confusion.
"Trying to leave?" Danzo's voice was ice-cold. His right hand formed hand seals. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A gale swept through the chamber, scattering the smoke. But Lin Ye had already reached the stairs and was racing upward without looking back.
"After him!" Danzo ordered.
Lin Ye charged up the stairs, burst out of the shrine, and ran straight toward the forest bordering the Uchiha Clan Compound without looking back. Behind him, the Root operative pursued relentlessly.
"Clone Technique!" Lin Ye formed hand seals, creating three clones that fled in different directions.
The Root operative hesitated, then chose one to pursue-the real Lin Ye.
Damn it, he saw through it!
Lin Ye gritted his teeth, pulled a handful of shuriken from his clothes, and flung them behind him without looking. His one-tomoe Sharingan provided excellent motion perception and throwing accuracy, but his pursuer was a Root elite and easily deflected them.
The gap was closing.
Thirty meters, twenty meters, ten meters...
Just as the Root operative's hand was about to seize Lin Ye's shoulder, something unexpected happened.
A figure lunged in from the side, thrusting a kunai straight at the Root operative's throat. Startled, the operative hastily dodged, but the blade still slashed his arm.
"I can't let you just take away an orphan of the Uchiha." The newcomer had a raspy voice and wore a spiral-patterned mask, exposing only a single crimson Sharingan.
Obito Uchiha!
Shock surged through Lin Ye, but he kept running. No matter who had arrived, he could not stop now.
Obito engaged the Root operative. Taking the opportunity, Lin Ye plunged deeper into the forest, twisting and turning until he was certain he had shaken off pursuit. Only then did he collapse beneath a large tree, gasping for breath.
Tonight had been far too dangerous. Danzo and Obito-two boss-level figures appearing at once. Caught between them, he had nearly become cannon fodder.
But his gains were enormous, too.
Lin Ye pulled out the black scroll and "Hypotheses on the conditions for awakening the Mangekyō." More importantly, the system's chimes sounded in his mind:
[Ding! Last wish 8 (Uchiha Setsuna) completed. Reward obtained: Three-Tomoe Sharingan fragments ×3] [Current three-tomoe fragments: 5/10] [Ding! Successfully escaped Danzo and Obito. Bonus reward obtained: Body Flicker Technique (complete)] [Ding! Chain quest triggered: Secrets of the Uchiha] [Quest details: Uchiha Setsuna's research has revealed secrets of the Uchiha. Continue investigating the truth about the Uchiha and fulfill the related last wishes.] [Current chain quest progress: 1/7]
"A chain quest..." Lin Ye tightened his grip on the scroll.
It seemed the Uchiha's secrets ran far deeper than he had imagined. What he needed to do was fulfill those last wishes while navigating the gaps between the various powers, gather strength, and ultimately change everything.
As dawn approached, Lin Ye quietly returned to his apartment.
He opened "Hypotheses on the conditions for awakening the Mangekyō" and read it carefully. When he reached the final page, his pupils abruptly contracted.
That page held only a single line, Uchiha Setsuna's final words:
"The Uchiha's true curse is not losing those we love most, but the fate designed by 'that man.' All of us live within his script. The only way to break that script is to gather every Uchiha's 'eyes'-the power of 1,344 pairs of Sharingan can reveal the truth."
Lin Ye closed the scroll and looked out at the slowly brightening sky.
That man? Did he mean Madara Uchiha, or Black Zetsu? Or... some higher existence?
And "1,344 pairs of Sharingan" corresponded exactly to the number of Uchiha who had died on the night of the massacre.
Could it be... that the last-wish system wasn't merely meant to make him stronger?
Before you continue