Underground in Sunagakure, in the Core Laboratory.
The lights were dim and yellow, and the instruments hummed.
Yahiko stood beside Nagato, staring at his newly awakened Mangekyō Sharingan, his brows tightly furrowed. Against the scarlet background, his left eye bore a deep, black, vortex-like pattern that slowly rotated, as though it could devour all light; his right held a triangular structure formed from three dark-gold, curved blades of light, linked end to end, radiating an unnerving aura of space and time.
"Teacher."
Yahiko turned to Toyotomi Yinglang, who sat in a stone chair.
"Nagato's Mangekyō... why are the patterns in his left and right eyes asymmetrical?"
Toyotomi Yinglang leaned against the back of the chair, tapping his fingers lightly on the armrest. A faint, meaningful smile curved his lips.
"Because the potion he used contained my blood."
Yahiko's pupils contracted slightly.
"Your blood?"
"That's right."
Toyotomi Yinglang nodded.
"My Mangekyō Sharingan patterns happened to be asymmetrical."
He raised his hand and pointed at his eyes.
"A vortex in the left eye. The Triangular Blade Pattern in the right."
"Those were... the patterns I had during my Mangekyō stage."
A brief silence fell over the laboratory.
Everyone's gaze settled on Toyotomi Yinglang's deep eyes. Those eyes-the Immortal Mangekyō-were not activated at that moment, but everyone knew what kind of power lay hidden within them.
"And-"
Toyotomi Yinglang spoke again.
"I've discovered some similarities between my Dōjutsu and Nagato's."
"Similarities?"
Nagato frowned slightly.
"Teacher, your Dōjutsu are Guixu and Instant. Mine are Shadow Devouring Extraction and Shadow Instantaneous Movement. How are they similar?"
"The vortex pattern."
Toyotomi Yinglang raised his hand and pointed at Nagato's left eye.
"In my case, the vortex pattern represents Guixu-targeted annihilation that drags its target into the process of 'ending,' reducing it to the most fundamental particles