Chapter 42: Uchiha Akira, Mangekyō Sharingan Awakens!
At the top of the cliff overlooking the Naka River, the night wind howled. The moonlight cast two long shadows of Uchiha Itachi and Shisui, who was in his arms.
"Shisui! Shisui! How are you?" Itachi called out anxiously. The air was thick with the smell of blood.
Amidst intense pain, Shisui slowly opened his remaining left eye. "Itachi… It's useless… It's already… too late…" Shisui's voice was filled with weakness.
"It's not too late! We'll find evidence and expose Danzō's crimes! How dare he, a Konoha Elder, do such a thing!"
"Heh heh…" Shisui let out a faint, self-mocking laugh. Perhaps, as Elder Akira said, he finally understood Akira's words from before. But it was all too late.
"Itachi, everything is already too late. My existence has become the fuse between the Uchiha and the Village, about to be ignited. Danzō will accuse me of desertion, and the Uchiha Clan, for my 'innocence,' will inevitably break completely with the higher-ups. At that time, war… civil war… will truly be unavoidable. This… is the outcome I least want to see."
The peace Shisui pursued his entire life, ultimately due to his own naivety, pushed everything into a worse abyss. This was the last thing Shisui wanted to see.
"Itachi… now, only my death. Only my 'suicide to atone for my crimes' can temporarily quell all of this."
"No! There must be another way!" Itachi roared, unable to accept his best friend saying such words in front of him.
"There isn't…" Shisui looked at Itachi, a hint of apology in his eyes. "I still believe in the Will of Fire, believe in this Village… it's just that the Root of the Village has rotted too deeply…"
"Itachi, don't let hatred blind your eyes. Now, only you can stop all of this. This eye…" He pointed to his remaining left eye. "It's something Danzō, and all ambitious individuals, would stop at nothing to obtain. I cannot… let it fall into their hands. And even more, I cannot let it become the Root cause of our clan's destruction!"
To Itachi's horror, Shisui gouged out his remaining left eye! Blood flowed profusely between his fingers.
"Shisui! You—!" Itachi's mind went blank.
Shisui seemed to feel no pain. He used his last ounce of strength to press the Mangekyō Sharingan into Itachi's cold hand.
"Itachi… This eye… I entrust it to you… Promise me… you must stop the coup within the clan… Use it… to protect Konoha… Protect… the Uchiha name… Please…"
Having lost both eyes, Shisui's world plunged into eternal darkness. But a relieved smile appeared on his face.
"Thank you, Itachi… It's truly good to be your friend…" With that, he used his last ounce of strength to push away Itachi, who was holding him. His body, like a kite with a broken string, fell straight down towards the bottomless cliff behind him.
"No—!" Itachi's pupils dilated to their limit at that instant! "Shisui—!"
Itachi watched helplessly as his best friend, the man who was like an older brother to him, was swallowed by the roaring river below. He was gone without a trace.
Why… Why did this happen…
An indescribable sharp pain emanated from the depths of Itachi's eyes. One drop. Two drops. Warm liquid slid from the corners of Uchiha Itachi's eyes. It wasn't tears. It was two lines of blood tears.
Itachi's crimson Sharingan began a frantic and painful transformation. Three black tomoe rotated rapidly, elongated, deformed, and finally connected, forming a brand new, bizarre pattern resembling a three-bladed shuriken.
Mangekyō Sharingan!
At the cost of his best friend's life and blood, this eye, representing a curse and supreme power, finally… awakened. Itachi knelt on the ground in agony, his body trembling violently.
Meanwhile, inside Uchiha Akira's residence, the candlelight flickered gently. In front of Akira, a virtual screen, visible only to him, floated. On the screen, everything that happened at the Naka River cliff was being broadcast in real-time.
From Danzō's appearance to the Root's encirclement, from Shisui's bitter struggle to having his right eye taken, and then to him entrusting his left eye to Itachi and resolutely jumping off the cliff. When Shisui's figure completely disappeared into the darkness of the Naka River, Akira slowly closed his eyes. The system screen also dissipated.
Strength!
In the cruel Ninja World, so-called mercy, so-called compromise, and so-called illusions of peace are nothing but the extravagant hopes of the weak! Only absolute strength, enough to crush everything, can control one's own destiny and dominate the lives of others! Only then can one trample the entire world underfoot!
At this moment, the desire for power deep within Uchiha Akira's heart reached its peak! A pure, ultimate craving for power, freed from all emotional constraints!
"Buzz—!"
This ultimate craving brought about intense fluctuations, causing Akira's eyes to begin transforming! His vision began to twist and blur! Intense pain swept over him. Uchiha Akira couldn't help but cover his eyes tightly with both hands! He could clearly feel that the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his eye sockets were rotating and merging at an incredible speed!
A few breaths later, a terrifying ocular power, dozens, even hundreds of times stronger than before, suddenly erupted from Akira's eyes! After a long while, when the intense pain in his eyes slowly receded, Uchiha Akira slowly lowered the hands covering his eyes. His pupils were no longer the simple three tomoe from before. Instead, they were a pair of brand new Mangekyō Sharingan!
"Is this… the power of the Mangekyō?" "It's truly… too powerful!"
[Beep! Detecting that the host witnessed Uchiha Shisui's tragic death, experienced an extreme emotional impact, and felt extreme unwillingness due to insufficient personal strength, fulfilling the stringent awakening conditions for the Mangekyō Sharingan!]
[Beep! Host Uchiha Akira, Mangekyō Sharingan… awakening successful!]
[Beep! Due to the host independently awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan through personal will and emotional impact, and the ocular jutsu characteristics being highly compatible with the host's personal traits and soul essence, the host has gained a special bonus: [Ocular Power Adaptability · Extreme]!]
[[Ocular Power Adaptability · Extreme]: Host's control speed over their Mangekyō ocular power increases by 300%, ocular power consumption decreases by 30%, and the burden on the body and vision erosion speed from the Mangekyō Sharingan decrease by 50%!]
Not bad, there was also an unexpected bonus; not only did I awaken the Mangekyō, but the system also granted a very practical special bonus.