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When the examination was finished, Sasuko and Izumi stepped back into the hall. Neji was already waiting for them.
He studied Izumi for a moment. Whatever sharpness he had felt in her before was gone; her presence had softened again, leaving him quietly confused.
Why had she pressed so hard to examine Sasuko? What was she really thinking?
He pushed the thought aside.
"How is she?"
Izumi answered promptly. "Her body is stable. The only issue is overuse of the Mangekyō Sharingan. There's already the faintest trace of decline almost unnoticeable. But if she keeps using it like this, her vision will deteriorate much faster."
Neji nodded. That lined up with his expectations. Only Sasuko's case provided real data for now.
Still, his thoughts drifted to the ice coffin in the other chamber, where another pair of Mangekyō eyes rested.
Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan…
The very idea defied logic. Itachi's eyes had been pushed to their limit, close to blindness. Yet transplanted into Sasuko, they would restore her sight, merge their power, and create an eye that never faded.
It wasn't mere transplantation. It was fusion bloodlines combining, siblings' chakra intertwining, birthing something new. Like the Tenseigan, born from Hyūga eyes fused with Ōtsutsuki power.
If that theory was true, then Itachi's eyes were no longer just his they would be reborn through Sasuko, carrying both of them forward.
Neji stroked his chin, frowning at the implications.
Sasuko, meanwhile, flipped through her medical data on the projection Izumi had given her. She traced the notes with a finger, lingering on the clean scan of her neck.
The curse mark was gone. The last fragments of Orochimaru's chakra had been ripped away and sealed. His final serpent, destroyed by [Amaterasu], was nothing but ash.
Her chest tightened. Itachi had paved every step of this path for her.
Yet the scars he left the pain, the nights of hatred they would never fade completely. His choices had shaped her life as much as his sacrifice did. She couldn't erase that. She could only carry it.
Quietly, she clenched her teeth.
Her goals sharpened in her mind: Danzo. And the masked man with the Mangekyō.
Her eyes turned toward Neji.
"That man who helped Itachi slaughter the clan's guard… was he really Madara Uchiha?"
Izumi looked up sharply at the question.
Neji gave a short, scornful laugh.
"Madara? During the Second Great War, maybe. But now? No. The man wearing the mask is no ghost of legend. He's Uchiha Obito once Kakashi's teammate."
Sasuko froze. The shock hit like a blade to the gut.
"Obito… Kakashi's teammate? The one who—"
"Yes. The same boy who gave Kakashi his Sharingan," Neji continued. "The masked man is him. He survived. He inherited the Mangekyō. And he's the one who attacked Konoha with the Nine-Tails. He fought his own teacher, the Fourth Hokage, and the previous jinchūriki. That's the truth."
Sasuko's thoughts spun wildly. She remembered Kakashi's words about the eye, the rare moments when he lingered at the memorial stone. She remembered his silence whenever she asked.
Her Mangekyō flared, pupils twisting in fury. But Neji's hand lifted, calm as ever, pressing the power back into silence.
"Don't misunderstand me," Neji said. "I'm not clearing Danzo of guilt. But now you know why he feared your clan. With Obito alive shaping shadows, stealing tailed beasts the Uchiha name itself became a weapon to be feared."
He exhaled slowly. "Madara saved Obito from death, then twisted him into his pawn. Rin's death broke him, and he drowned in that grief. Every choice since every betrayal, every massacre was born of that single wound."
Sasuko trembled. So many pieces clicked together. The masked man's voice, his words, his presence she could almost see the truth behind them now.
Neji's gaze lingered on her.
"Your clan was both blessed and cursed. Love as deep as yours always carries hatred just as strong. That is why the Sharingan has always been called the cursed eye."
There are names given wrongly, Neji thought, but never this one. It was earned, written in blood.
"In the end," he said quietly, "there is no right or wrong. Only choices. Only perspectives. And every choice… carves its own destiny."
Sasuko closed her eyes, her fists trembling. She had her answer.
Her war was far from over.
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