The First Withdrawal Since the School Opened

With her dazzling, extraordinary Sharingan open, Shingetsu became the focus of everyone's attention.

That might not have been entirely accurate. As one of the combatants, she had already held half their attention before activating her Sharingan. But once she did, every gaze converged on her eyes. Whether it was Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was thoroughly outmatched, or the Monkey King, who had reverted to his original form and was attempting a counterattack, they all unconsciously overlooked even Shingetsu herself.

Those blood-red eyes, adorned with tomoe and swirling with iridescent light, were so exquisitely, bewitchingly beautiful that it was almost impossible to look away.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, with a broken wooden sword pressed against his throat, could not tear his gaze away from those jewel-bright eyes for a moment.

This was hardly wise behavior for a shinobi. Any shinobi with the slightest common sense should have known never to look into the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan on a battlefield. Yet he could not help himself, greedily allowing those eyes to monopolize his vision.

The eyes before him were simply too beautiful.

Unlike the grim, unsettling atmosphere around her, Shingetsu's mind was a complete mess despite her outward composure. Waves of pain throbbed through her head, which buzzed like a beehive.

Right now, she really wanted to throw up.

That nausea came not only from physical discomfort, but even more from revulsion on a mental level.

When the Sharingan activated, it naturally brought an icy ocular power and Yin Release Chakra with it. And when Shingetsu activated these eyes, which had devoured the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, death lines flowed like scrawled graffiti, spreading unchecked across every person and object.

Worse still, the Sharingan itself possessed exceptional perceptive abilities. Combined with the other power, they made the world in her eyes fragmented and distorted. Countless tangled death lines stained her vision a blackened blood-red, and amid that calamitous crimson, the collapse and death of all things played out over and over.

The world reflected in those eyes was truly nauseating.

Embarrassingly enough, she had passed out outright the first time she activated them.

The second time, she held out for five minutes without fainting, then promptly threw up...

Recalling what the two previous holders of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception had experienced-one trying to gouge out their own eyes, the other nearly having their brain burned out-Shingetsu could now understand their feelings all too well. If she only saw this way when her Sharingan was active, that was one thing. Otherwise, she would probably have suffered a mental breakdown too. She did not think she was as strong as either of the two "SHIKI."

The abnormal experience of watching the entire world fall apart dealt far too heavy a blow to the human mind!

Besides that, Shingetsu often suffered waves of throbbing pain in her brain. This was the inevitable price of trying to comprehend death as a human. For some reason, however, the Sharingan's unique ocular power seemed to ease that pain.

Despite its various drawbacks, the power of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception remained beyond question. Her training and actual combat over the past two weeks had proven that.

Once again, she had her esteemed teacher Madara Uchiha's hellish training to thank. Ever since Shingetsu awakened her eyes, he had carved out huge amounts of time to devote his attention to them.

Shingetsu had no idea how he managed to spend his days reviewing documents with Hashirama at the Hokage Building, then drag her out of her warm bed at night to train. He genuinely seemed to need neither rest nor sleep.

Forced to change her sleep schedule, Shingetsu slept during the day and was still half-dead with exhaustion at night. Every time she saw Madara Uchiha looking vibrant and brimming with energy despite possibly not sleeping at all, she could only sigh inwardly: This man really is terrifying.

Although she had watched The Garden of Sinners and knew something about Tsukihime, that had all been before her transmigration. As for the precise abilities of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Shingetsu could only admit she knew very little. But that was fine. The great educator of the shinobi world, Madara Uchiha, was there to answer her questions. Shingetsu had barely described the world she saw after activating her eyes when Madara handed her a blade and said, "Cut!"

The great educator of the shinobi world, Madara Uchiha, firmly believed that true knowledge came only through practice.

Over those two weeks, she had practically cut everything except people. First came rocks and trees, then animals and buildings. If she had not adamantly stopped him, Madara Uchiha would even have volunteered to let her cut his death lines.

After extensive, repeated experiments, the abilities of these eyes were naturally easy to determine. Whatever something was-an inanimate object like a rock or tree, a living creature like an animal, a large, sturdy structure like a house or stone monument, or even chakra and the products of ninjutsu-Shingetsu could slice through it like paper, effortlessly taking it apart.

Not only that, Madara Uchiha had tried using Medical Ninjutsu to heal animals whose death lines she had cut. But anything she killed met a complete and utter end. It could never be healed.

The ability to effortlessly kill anything seemed to be the unique power of Shingetsu's eyes.

Madara had also tried cutting along the death lines Shingetsu pointed out, but he could neither touch them nor destroy objects as easily as she could. Anything he damaged was simply being injured or attacked.

Even Madara Uchiha struggled to understand the workings of such a metaphysical ability. Shingetsu, however, knew a little. What she called death lines were actually the tangible manifestation of the concept of an existence's lifespan. When she cut them, she might appear to be dismantling an object, but in reality, she was exhausting its lifespan and killing it.

An ability involving causality and concepts was a real headache to investigate. Since Shingetsu herself understood it only vaguely, she wisely abandoned further inquiry and turned all her attention to adapting to her eyes and developing techniques.

Meanwhile, the God Tree that had nurtured these mystic eyes fell dormant once again within Shingetsu's mental space.

After plundering a vast amount of chakra and resonating with Hashirama Senju's Wood Release chakra, the God Tree, still only a sapling, had finally borne fruit. Once Shingetsu picked that fruit, the tree seemed to lose much of its vitality. Its once-green leaves began to yellow, and its supple branches drooped as though autumn were approaching.

Looking at the withered God Tree, Shingetsu nevertheless had a feeling that once it absorbed enough chakra from her again, it would bear another fruit for her.

It was like a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship. The tree obtained the nourishment it needed to grow from her, and in return, she gained greater power.

Though she had no idea why the fruit the God Tree bore would turn out to be eyes.

Another throb of pain shot through her brain. Remembering the moment when she had just hovered on the brink of death, Shingetsu's blade wavered against Hiruzen Sarutobi's neck. Heaven only knew how badly she wanted to cut along the death line just like that and slice his neck apart.

After living twice, nearly dying before she was even born, and struggling on the verge of death several times, she was now truly...

Terrified of dying!!!

Anger, fury, even resentment-intense negative emotions piled up deep within Shingetsu's mind. Under the influence of her Uchiha bloodline, they continuously produced sinister, dark, special chakra that acted upon her optic nerves.

The tomoe in Shingetsu's eyes spun faster and faster. The desire to kill, the desire to destroy-all those extreme emotions gathered together, and she found it increasingly difficult to restrain her urge to kill Hiruzen Sarutobi.

That seemed only natural. Humans inherently possessed an instinct for destruction. It was just that, for Shingetsu, killing a person or an object was far too easy.

When someone could look directly upon the death of all things, when killing became as easy as slicing up a sheet of white paper, the desire to destroy something would build without limit.

Only after she truly killed something would that craving actually disappear.

At that moment, Shingetsu could no longer control her restless hand. She applied a little pressure with the hand holding the blade against Hiruzen Sarutobi's neck, intending to cut along the death line.

Tobirama Senju's pupils abruptly widened. In his perception, Uchiha Shingetsu's chakra, brimming with darkness and destructive power, was surging to unprecedented heights, like a fathomless monster of the abyss.

I can't let her make that cut!

Across from Tobirama, Uchiha Hōkaku, who had been tensely watching his every move, also noticed his reaction. His pupils contracted sharply, and he immediately assumed a fighting stance.

I can't let him lay a hand on Shingetsu!

At the very instant Shingetsu was about to cut Hiruzen Sarutobi's death line, Uchiha Hōkaku and Tobirama Senju moved almost simultaneously.

"Please release Shingetsu, Lord Tobirama."

With both arms firmly locking Hiruzen Sarutobi in place, Uchiha Hōkaku glared coldly at Tobirama Senju opposite him. The murderous tension was ready to erupt.

With Tobirama Senju gripping her wrist and pinning her down, Shingetsu could not move at all. She had no choice but to release the wooden sword clenched in her hand, utterly powerless to resist.

She raised her head. Unlike the Sharingan, Tobirama's eyes were naturally red, reflecting a cold, glasslike gleam. That icy gaze stared straight at her, at those eerie, uncanny eyes.

"Let's let go together, Teacher Hōkaku."

Tobirama Senju said nothing more. He lifted his chin slightly and addressed Uchiha Hōkaku, who stood just one step away.

The only two adults present stared at each other, both seeing deep loathing and murderous intent in the other's eyes. After silently counting to three, they released their hostages in unspoken agreement.

Rubbing the arm that had been gripped red, Shingetsu silently retreated behind Hōkaku and deactivated her Sharingan completely. A dejected Hiruzen Sarutobi also stepped behind Tobirama, released the Summoning Technique to send the Monkey King back, then could not resist stealing another glance in Shingetsu's direction.

"Are you all right, Shingetsu?"

Hōkaku stood protectively in front of Shingetsu, shielding her with his body from every ill-intentioned or probing gaze. The Uchiha children gathered around her as well, glaring at Tobirama Senju and Hiruzen Sarutobi across from them.

"I'm fine, Father."

Shingetsu had suffered no injuries in the fight, but she was truly exhausted now. It was not just physical fatigue. More than anything, she was emotionally drained.

"Just a little tired."

"Let's go home and rest."

Hōkaku immediately bent down and gathered Shingetsu tightly into his arms, wrapping one arm securely around her waist to make sure she would not fall. The Uchiha children clustered around his feet, all looking up at him expectantly. Hōkaku crouched and patted their fluffy black heads one by one.

"Do you want to go home?"

"Yay! We're going home!"

The children exchanged glances, then cheered in unison. Miki and Kaen shouted the loudest of all.

And so, under the bewildered gazes of the Ninja Academy students, Uchiha Hōkaku took all the Uchiha children and strode toward the school gates. After experiencing the first lesson and the first fight since the school opened, they now marked its first withdrawal as well.

There had already been very few students at the Ninja Academy. With the Uchiha newcomers, its largest contingent, gone all at once, the number remaining became pitifully small.

Hōkaku made up his mind. Even if Lord Madara beat him like a punching bag when he got back, he would never let Shingetsu set foot in this school controlled entirely by the hateful Senju again.

As for this damned job as a Ninja Academy teacher, he, Uchiha Hōkaku, was quitting that too!

"You won this match, Uchiha Shingetsu."

Tobirama Senju's voice came from behind Hōkaku. Resting against Hōkaku's shoulder, Shingetsu looked at him expressionlessly.

"And what does that matter? You're the one who found out everything you wanted to know, Teacher Tobirama."

Shingetsu gave a soft, derisive laugh. The moment she used her Sharingan, Tobirama Senju had already achieved his goal. From beginning to end, there had been only one thing he wanted to confirm: whether she had awakened those eyes he feared.

And now, judging by the outcome, Tobirama Senju had profited handsomely.

Forced to reveal her unusual eyes, Shingetsu was filled with fury. Curled up in Hōkaku's arms, she gritted her teeth and silently seethed:

Damn you, Tobirama Senju. Now you and I have a serious score to settle!