The Lost Sharingan

The Lost Sharingan

Heavy breathing filled the eerily silent inn. The unwilling girl struggled to lift her head, her eyes streaming with blood and tears as they helplessly stared at the approaching figures.

His gaze was contemptuous, yet he still stepped forward cautiously and reached for Sarada's eyes, intending to gouge out her Mangekyō Sharingan directly.

Suddenly, a companion beside him stopped him. "Idiot, the Sharingan can cast Genjutsu. Aren't you afraid of getting caught if you stare straight into her eyes like that?!"

"Oh, right." The man's body trembled involuntarily, cold sweat pouring down his back as he hurriedly withdrew his hand and turned away.

I almost fell for this girl's trick!

"Then what do we do now? Damn it, why is her vitality so tenacious? Why won't she just die?!"

The five of them turned their backs in unison. Sarada's intermittent breathing reached their ears as they quietly waited for the sound to disappear.

After a long while, the minute hand on the clock kept turning, dragging the hour hand forward by one notch. Growing impatient, one of the enemies turned around.

He froze instantly. Sarada was still nailed to the floor, but her injuries had basically healed. The kunai remained embedded in her body, though her muscles were slowly pushing it out.

"M-Monster!" he cried out, quickly drawing his companions' attention.

"What happened? Why are you making such a fuss? Don't tell me someone who's about to die can come back to life."

Even he found those words laughable, but when he saw that Sarada's injuries had fully healed, he could not help but freeze. "She really can come back from the dead?"

"What are you panicking for? Do it now. Gouge out her eyeballs!" As he spoke, the man leaped and landed steadily behind Sarada.

He slowly stepped forward, pressing one hand against Sarada's spine. Icy blood stained his palm red. He paused, then walked on without a care, intending to gouge out her eye from behind, where she could not see him.

Squelch—!!

At the crisp sound, even the man himself could scarcely believe it. The Mangekyō Sharingan, the legendary proud ocular technique of the Uchiha clan, had truly fallen into his hands.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Unable to contain his wild delight, he happily set his sights on her other eye.

Though it was only a Single Tomoe, it was still a living Sharingan. To the nearly exterminated Uchiha clan, it was undoubtedly a treasure.

"Did he succeed?" The other four turned around at the sound and saw a conspicuous black hollow on that young face.

"Ah...!!" She wailed in agony.

Without the White-Robed Man by her side, was she really this useless? She could not even keep her Sharingan.

Soon, another wave of excruciating pain surged through her, like a flood pouring down all at once, spreading agony throughout her entire body.

Her pupils were connected to her optic nerves. The violent extraction had severed those nerves, and the pain that tugged at every part of her body made her delicate form shudder violently.

But she was of no further use to the enemies now. They cradled the eyeball in their palms as if cherishing it, then hurriedly placed it in a clean container, terrified that the eye might suffer even the slightest damage.

They burst into loud laughter, their triumphant voices echoing wildly through the night. Then they smashed most of the inn's liquor and each poured themselves a cup to drink heartily.

Now blind, Sarada lay helplessly on the floor. Suddenly, she could no longer feel anything, but a scorching presence drew near.

They used Fire Release to set the inn ablaze, creating a raging inferno in an attempt to burn everything away and erase all traces of the crime.

Before long, the flames engulfed the inn. The people nearby seemed not to notice, allowing the fire to spread unchecked.

Mindscape.

Chōmei fell into thought as it watched the utterly miserable Sarada. She lay motionless on the ground. After her eyes had been taken, even her right to cry seemed to have been stripped away.

Chōmei: I thought I had it bad enough. I never expected you... to make me feel ashamed by comparison!

Even it could not bear to watch any longer and asked, "Do you want revenge?"

Outside, Sarada's body had already been covered in flames. Although it would be freed once its host died, even it had inexplicably developed a sense of pity.

Madara Uchiha's deeds intimidated every Tailed Beast. He was the human who treated the Nine-Tails like livestock! From then on, Chōmei had developed an inexplicable fear of the Uchiha, especially Uchiha who possessed Mangekyō.

Genjutsu of that level could completely control Tailed Beasts. For all these reasons, Chōmei naturally hated the Uchiha, especially since Sarada possessed those equally detestable eyes.

Yet seeing a proud Uchiha being pinned to the ground and having her eyes taken left it shocked—and even more enraged.

What kind of joke is this? That was a Mangekyō! Something capable of suppressing even Tailed Beasts! If it could be taken away so easily, wouldn't that mean all us Tailed Beasts were just oversized trash??

What Chōmei had not expected was Sarada's answer. She spoke with difficulty, her voice trembling, yet every word clear.

She said, "I do, but not now. I will work hard to become stronger, strong enough to stand as tall and mighty as my father.

"I will definitely take revenge too. Every enemy who insults my clan must die, for the... insignificant glory of the so-called declining Uchiha clan!"

In the mindscape, Sarada slowly crawled to her feet. Trembling, she had to brace herself against the red bars just to remain standing. She looked toward the towering phantom at her side, a trace of apology in her eyes.

"I'm really sorry. I dragged you into this. I don't know how you ended up inside me, but I'm afraid you'll have to die with me now."

With her back against the bars, she slowly sat down, weakly feeling her life force drain away as though she could die at any moment.

Chōmei fell silent. Don't make it sound so tragic, hey. You inherited the bloodline of the proud Uchiha. Shouldn't you be crazily clawing yourself back up and roaring that you would tear your enemies to pieces, grind them into powder, and brew tea with them?

Chōmei stopped imagining things and asked in confusion, "But you're about to die. How will you take revenge?"

Sarada did not answer. Perhaps speaking would hasten her death. She silently felt the despair, an icy loneliness winding around her heart.

As a Tailed Beast, Chōmei could sense Sarada's state of mind. It was like a vast white snowfield, boundless and frigid, where piercing cold winds occasionally drifted past and brought endless chill.

"As a Tailed Beast, I'm not that heartless," Chōmei suddenly said. It had never imagined that one day it would feel pity for an Uchiha.

"As long as you release a tiny bit of my Chakra, I can stay in contact with the other Tailed Beasts. Then the Hidden Leaf Village's Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, will definitely come here.

"Then you may have a chance to survive. As long as you cooperate with the Hidden Leaf Village's investigation into your background, you might even obtain resident status in the Hidden Leaf Village.

"No matter what, only by staying alive will you have a chance for revenge, even though eyes are everything to the Uchiha."

Chōmei sighed. The proud Uchiha had lost her greatest reliance. Would she really want to live on and endure such humiliation?

Sarada: ...

Seeing Sarada remain silent, Chōmei thought it had guessed correctly. The girl before it could not bear the loss of both her eyes.

Perhaps that was only natural. After all, she had awakened Mangekyō at eleven or twelve years old. What an extraordinary prodigy she must have been!!

Thus, believing it had figured everything out, Chōmei softly said to Sarada, "You don't know this, do you? Tailed Beasts do not die. Even if the host dies, I merely return to nature and continue living."

Sarada: ...

At last, she reacted. "As long as I die, you can regain your freedom? Why didn't you say so sooner!"

Chōmei: ???

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