Rinnegan

The room remained quiet for a long time.

"Brother... are you all right? Are you hurt?"

After his shock passed, Ryota Uchiha suddenly remembered what mattered and anxiously looked his brother up and down.

When he saw that Uchiha Onibi's arm seemed a little red and swollen, and that his clothes were wet, his heart clenched.

"It's all my fault! This is all my fault!"

Ryota Uchiha's voice took on a sobbing edge. His emotions collapsed all at once, and he threw himself into Uchiha Onibi's arms, bursting into loud sobs and smearing tears and snot all over Uchiha Onibi's wet clothes.

His little brother's sudden outburst of crying stunned Uchiha Onibi for a moment, before his heart softened.

Feeling the trembling of his brother's thin, small body in his arms, along with his undisguised worry and dependence, a powerful urge to protect him and an aching tenderness welled up in his heart.

Just then, Uchiha Onibi's scarlet One-Tomoe Sharingan manifested involuntarily. The black tomoe in his eyes began spinning wildly, faster and faster, as though about to split!

The faint outline of another tomoe appeared and slowly solidified-until, at last, the Two-Tomoe Sharingan fully emerged!

But Uchiha Onibi did not notice at that moment. His attention was entirely on his brother, his eyes filled with worry.

At almost the same time, Ryota Uchiha, too, was overwhelmed by extreme guilt and worry for his brother...

All those violent emotional fluctuations assailed his nerves, and an unprecedented burning sensation suddenly flooded his eyes!

"Ugh!" Ryota Uchiha groaned in pain and instinctively covered his eyes.

"Ryōta? What's wrong?" Seeing this, Uchiha Onibi immediately stepped forward, worried that his brother's old injuries had flared up or that he had become too agitated.

But when Ryota Uchiha slowly lowered his hands and looked up, Uchiha Onibi froze.

Ryota Uchiha's eyes, once clearly defined in black and white, had turned scarlet. A single black tomoe slowly rotated within those blood-red eyes, giving off an eerie glow.

The Sharingan! The One-Tomoe Sharingan!

Even the beating Lin Ze had given Ryota Uchiha at the Ninja Academy had not triggered his awakening, yet now, through worry and guilt over his brother, he had actually awakened the Sharingan!

If Lin Ze had been there, he would probably have remarked:

As expected of the Uchiha. One's obsessed with his little brother, and the other's obsessed with his big brother!

Two supreme talents in one family!

In truth, this was hardly surprising. The brothers' parents had died in the Second Shinobi World War.

Ryota Uchiha had been raised entirely by his older brother, Uchiha Onibi. It could be said that their bond was even deeper than that between Uchiha Itachi and Sasuke.

Such a bond, etched into their very bones, was the most powerful catalyst for awakening an Uchiha's eyes.

A little earlier.

Lin Ze was slowly walking toward the orphanage, wrapping his jacket around his injured arm so that no one would discover its wounds had already healed completely.

This Uchiha Onibi definitely has the strength of a special jōnin. If I hadn't countered the genjutsu he specialized in, I really wouldn't have been a match for him.

It really is a world of legendary eyes. The Sharingan and Byakugan are just too powerful.

Along the way, Lin Ze kept reflecting on his fight with Uchiha Onibi, which also led him to think about the two special bloodline limits, the Byakugan and Sharingan.

In Lin Ze's view, the Byakugan and Sharingan each had their strengths and weaknesses.

The threshold for awakening the Byakugan was very low. The vast majority of the Hyuga Clan could awaken it without difficulty, but its ceiling was low as well, because awakening the Tenseigan was too difficult!

The Uchiha Clan was different. Awakening the Sharingan was extremely difficult, and the clan had plenty of ordinary members who carried Uchiha blood yet went their entire lives without awakening it.

However, the Sharingan's advantages were equally clear-before evolving into the Rinnegan, which stood on the same level as the Tenseigan, it had several clearly defined stages of advancement, including tomoe, Mangekyō, and the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

This created a difference between the two clans' ceilings of strength.

The Hyuga Clan rarely produced kage-level fighters. Its strongest members generally remained at the elite jōnin level, and even those were few in number.

The Uchiha Clan was entirely different. Most wielders of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan could reach elite jōnin, and once they awakened the Mangekyō, kage-level strength was practically guaranteed. The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan could secure them a place at the very peak of the kage level.

Based on the Uchiha Onibi he had fought today, Lin Ze estimated that once he awakened the Two-Tomoe Sharingan, he would definitely have jōnin-level strength, and with three tomoe, he would at least reach elite jōnin.

This was also the normal progression for most Uchiha who awakened their eyes.

As for the Mangekyō beyond that, Lin Ze believed both Uchiha Onibi and his brother met the conditions to awaken it.

The older brother, Ghost Fire, was utterly obsessed with his little brother, while the younger brother, Ryōta, had a radical, extreme personality.

As long as the right method was used to provoke them, just as Madara Uchiha had done to Obito, there was a very high chance of awakening the Mangekyō.

Once the brothers' Mangekyō were fused, obtaining the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan would follow naturally.

Then Lin Ze might even get to pilot a Gundam!

Lin Ze walked quietly down the path alone, a thoughtful expression on his face, yet there was also a trace of cold menace.

I have the recovery abilities of the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon. If I get myself a chakra power bank later, I'll be able to use the Mangekyō without any burden, even if it isn't mine.

Add my Yang Release and Uzumaki Sage Body to that, and with yin and yang combined, even the Rinnegan isn't impossible.

No, I'd still need Indra's and Asura's chakra factors! In other words, cells from Sasuke's and Naruto's bodies!

In the woods, the aura around Lin Ze slowly grew colder and more sinister:

Naruto and Sasuke will be born in Year 47. By then, I'll at least be an elite jōnin. Getting just a few cells will be no problem at all!

Then all that'll be left is to wait for Six Paths Power to appear. With the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, my lifespan will definitely far exceed Madara Uchiha's. I won't have to wait until I'm dying of old age to evolve the Rinnegan like he did.

Besides, I don't necessarily have to wait it out. I could just eat her!

Lin Ze raised his head and turned his gaze toward the moon, a suppressed growl rumbling in his throat. At some point, his pupils had already become vertical slits!

Thoughts kept flashing through his mind as the aura around him slowly changed, a cold, sinister presence like that of a savage wild beast enveloping him.

Just then, playful voices suddenly rang out nearby-

"Hahaha, Rei, please have mercy!"

"Hmph, how dare you tease me! Ayumi, I'll tickle you to death~"

Crack!!

The crisp sound rang out nearby, interrupting Lin Ze's thoughts like a thunderclap!

What just happened to me? How could I have such vicious thoughts? Lin Ze abruptly came to his senses, his heart pounding.

Only then did he realize that he had unknowingly reached the orphanage entrance. Rei Uesugi was playing and tussling with the two little girls, Ayumi and Yumi, in the yard.

Standing at the entrance, Lin Ze had unwittingly had his train of thought interrupted by the lovely sounds of their play.

Coming out of those dark thoughts, he was shocked by the vicious ideas he had just entertained.

Although Ryota Uchiha had offended Lin Ze, he was a six-year-old child who had acted out of immaturity. As an adult, Lin Ze had let it go after teaching him a few lessons.

And although Uchiha Onibi had initially been harsh with his words and hypocritical to the extreme.

Uchiha Onibi had come off worse in both their encounters, and Lin Ze had even gained some benefits from him. Though they could not be called friends, their relationship was decent-at least better than his relationships with those classmates at the Ninja Academy.

The even more shocking thoughts that followed were harder still to accept.

Could my recent rapid increase in strength have gone to my head?

Lin Ze clenched his fists, trying to suppress the lingering trace of ferocity in his heart. He looked around and, after confirming that no one was there, quickly stepped into the yard.

He had to stay away from those dark thoughts. The warmth before his eyes was what he wanted to protect!