Lost Sharingan

Chapter 41: The Lost Sharingan

Heavy gasps filled the eerily silent inn. The unwilling girl struggled to lift her head, her eyes, streaming with blood and tears, helplessly fixed on the approaching figure.

He looked down with disdain, but cautiously approached, reaching out to grab at Sarada's eyes, wanting to gouge out her Mangekyō Sharingan directly.

Suddenly, a companion stopped him. "Idiot, the Sharingan has the power to cast illusions! Are you not afraid of falling for it by staring directly into her eyes?"

"Oh, oh." The man's body trembled involuntarily, cold sweat pouring down his back. He quickly withdrew his hand and turned away.

"I almost fell for that little brat's trick!" he thought to himself.

"What do we do now? Damn it, how is she so resilient? She's still not dead!"

The five of them uniformly turned their backs. They could hear Sarada's intermittent gasps, and they waited quietly for the sound to disappear.

A long time passed. The minute hand of the clock continued to move, and the hour hand followed suit, ticking forward. One of the increasingly impatient enemies turned around.

He was instantly stunned. Sarada was still pinned to the ground, but her injuries had mostly healed. The kunai were still stuck in her body, but they were slowly being pushed out by her muscles.

"A… a monster!" he exclaimed, quickly attracting his companions' attention.

"What's going on? What's all the fuss about? It's not like someone about to die can come back to life."

He himself found the words laughable, but when he saw Sarada, her injuries completely healed, he couldn't help but be stunned. "She can really come back to life?"

"What are you panicking about? Attack now and just gouge out her eyeballs!" the man said, leaping and landing steadily behind Sarada.

He slowly stepped forward, placing a hand on Sarada's spine. Cold blood stained his palm red. He paused, then nonchalantly stepped forward, planning to pluck out her eyes from behind, without her being able to see.

Pfft—!

With a crisp sound, even the man himself was somewhat incredulous. He hadn't expected to actually obtain the legendary, proud dōjutsu of the Uchiha clan, the Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Hahahaha!" He couldn't contain his elation, and happily set his sights on her other eye.

Although it was just a single tomoe, it was still a fresh Sharingan. For the nearly extinct Uchiha, it was undoubtedly a treasure.

"Did you succeed?" The other four turned around at the sound, looking at the tender face with a striking, pitch-black void.

"Ah…!!" she wailed in pain.

So, without the White-Robed Man by her side, she was such a waste? She couldn't even hold onto her Sharingan.

Soon, another sharp pain surged, like a flood pouring down from the sky, and the pain spread throughout her body.

The pupils were connected to the optic nerves. The opponent's violent removal severed the nerves, and the pain that affected her entire body caused her delicate frame to tremble violently.

But now she was useless to the enemy. The man carefully cradled the eyeball in his palm, then, as if remembering something, quickly placed it in a clean container, afraid of losing even a speck of it.

They laughed loudly, their triumphant laughter echoing wantonly in the night. Then, they smashed most of the liquor in the inn, and each took a glass to drink freely.

Sarada, now blind, lay weakly on the ground. Suddenly, she couldn't feel anything, but then a scorching aura approached.

They used Fire Release to ignite the inn, creating a raging fire in an attempt to burn everything, destroying the corpses and erasing all traces.

Soon, the fire engulfed the inn. The people around seemed not to notice, allowing the flames to grow and burn.

Mindscape.

Chōmei looked at the extremely disheveled Sarada, lost in thought. She lay motionless on the ground. After her eyes were taken, she was deprived of even the right to cry.

Chōmei: I thought I was miserable enough, but I didn't expect you… I'm ashamed of myself!

Even it couldn't bear it and asked, "Do you want revenge?"

Outside, Sarada's body was already covered in flames. Although it could escape after its host died, it inexplicably felt a twinge of sympathy.

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

This level of genjutsu was fully capable of controlling the Tailed Beasts. For various reasons, Chōmei naturally hated the Uchiha, especially since Sarada also possessed such a detestable eye.

But seeing the proud Uchiha clan being held down and having their eyes taken made it feel astonished and even more angry.

What a joke? That was the Mangekyō Sharingan! An existence that could suppress even the Tailed Beasts. If it was so easily taken by others, wouldn't that mean that they Tailed Beasts were all just big, useless things??

What surprised it even more was Sarada's answer. She spoke with difficulty, her voice trembling but clear.

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

I will definitely take revenge. Any enemy who insults the clan must die, for… the so-called withering Uchiha clan, and its insignificant glory!"

In the mindscape, Sarada slowly got up, shakily holding onto the red fence to stay standing. She looked at the tall phantom beside her, a hint of apology in her eyes.

"I'm really sorry, I've implicated you. Although I don't know how you got into my body, I'm afraid you'll have to die with me now."

She leaned against the fence, slowly sitting on the ground, weakly feeling her life force draining away, seemingly about to die at any moment.

Chōmei was silent. Don't make it sound so emotional, hey. You at least inherited the proud Uchiha bloodline. Shouldn't you be getting up like a madman and roaring, 'I will definitely tear the enemy into pieces, grind them into powder, and make tea with them?'

Chōmei stopped its mental rambling and asked in confusion, "Then how are you going to take revenge if you're going to die now?"

Sarada didn't answer, perhaps speaking would accelerate her death. She silently felt despair, and a cold, lonely feeling lingered in her heart.

As a Tailed Beast, Chōmei could sense Sarada's inner state, like a vast, white snowfield, an ethereal and boundless coldness, with occasional biting winds blowing and endless cold descending.

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

"As long as I release some of my Chakra, I can stay in contact with the other Tailed Beasts. When that happens, the Hokage of Konoha, Naruto Uzumaki, will definitely come here."

"At that time, perhaps you will have a chance to live. As long as you cooperate with Konoha's investigation into your background, you might even obtain resident status in Konoha.

Either way, only by living can you have a chance for revenge, even though the Sharingan is everything to the Uchiha."

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

Sarada: ...

Seeing Sarada's silence, Chōmei thought he had guessed correctly. The girl before him couldn't bear to have her eyes taken.

Perhaps it was true. After all, to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan at the age of eleven or twelve, what a prodigy she must be!

So, Chōmei, thinking he understood everything, said softly to Sarada, "You probably don't know, but the Tailed Beasts can't die. Even if the host dies, I will only return to nature and continue to live."

Sarada: ...

Finally, she stirred. "As long as I die, you will be free? Why didn't you say so sooner!"

Chōmei: ???