Akisawa Uchiha glanced at her and stood up.
"Controlling someone else's body just to talk to me? You're a gloomy bastard."
Yūhaku laughed. "Akisawa Uchiha, I admit I underestimated you. You are very dangerous. I wouldn't dare appear in front of you in person."
"Why release my restraints?"
"I want to talk to you. Consider this a show of sincerity."
Akisawa sneered. "A guy who doesn't even spare children? I don't think there's anything to talk about with someone like you."
Yūhaku fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "Fine. If that is your wish, then I will grant it."
She formed a hand seal and slapped herself hard across the face. Her body immediately went limp, slumping softly to the ground.
A minute later, Yūhaku opened her eyes again, her gaze filled with confusion. She felt like she had just woken up from a very long, strange dream.
"This place... it looks familiar. Who are you people?"
Seeing this scene, the corner of Akisawa's mouth began to twitch unnaturally. "She's still alive?"
Shiroku smiled from the sidelines. "Of course. Since it was your request, you must take responsibility for her life."
"What kind of joke are you playing?!"
Shiroku shook his head. "This isn't a joke. Her parents sold her to me. If you don't need her, then I will kill her."
Hearing the word "kill," a look of pure terror washed over Yūhaku's face.
Souji, standing nearby, silently raised the blade in his hand.
Taking a deep breath, Akisawa spoke, his voice tight. "She killed all my companions, and you want me to be responsible for her?"
"What you're saying is very strange. I am the one who killed your companions; she was, at most, my weapon."
At this moment, Yūhaku understood that her fate hung entirely on Akisawa's whim. She scrambled over to him, fell to her knees, and begged, "Big brother, please save me! I don't want to die!"
Akisawa looked down at the girl kneeling before him. The three tomoe in his eyes began to rotate slowly.
Genjutsu activated.
Yūhaku collapsed to the ground again, unconscious.
"Using Sharingan genjutsu to hypnotize her? Heh. What will you do when she wakes up? A child like her can't survive in this man-eating world."
A mocking amusement danced in Shiroku's eyes as he watched him.
Akisawa ignored the taunt and sized up Shiroku and Souji. "Are these two guys alive too?"
"Of course. It's just that these two aren't worth any sympathy. They are through-and-through scoundrels with plenty of human blood on their hands."
Shiroku chuckled lightly. "I don't think you would want to save that kind of trash. Perhaps you didn't really intend to save Yūhaku either. If you want to kill her, do it quickly. Save her from struggling painfully in this world."
Akisawa frowned. "That is my business. Can I go now?"
Go?
Shiroku put a hand to his forehead in mock exasperation. "It seems you still don't understand your situation. I guarantee that if you return to Konoha, you absolutely won't have a good end."
"What do you mean?"
"Literally what it means. An Uchiha who has awakened the Mangekyō is quite rare."
Akisawa stopped talking. He walked over to Reika Uchiha's corpse, tears silently flowing from his eyes.
Shiroku tapped his head as if remembering something trivial. "Oh right, I forgot to tell you—that isn't your sister. It's just someone else whose appearance was changed."
Akisawa's head snapped up, his eyes staring dead at Shiroku.
Shiroku shrugged, walked over to the corpse, and placed his hand on it. After a moment, the body transformed, revealing the face of a completely different person.
Seeing this, Akisawa visibly sighed in relief, the tension draining from his shoulders.
"Since you didn't attack and you aren't leaving, that means you want to talk to me," Shiroku said. "You must have many doubts in your heart."
Akisawa indeed had many questions. He hadn't attacked because he knew these two people were just puppets; killing them wouldn't solve anything.
"What did you mean just now when you said I wouldn't have a good end if I returned to Konoha?"
"I thought you would ask about the Mangekyō first. It seems what you care about most is still your sister."
"I'm warning you, don't get any ideas about my sister, or I will find you and tear you to pieces."
Shiroku shrugged. "If I don't get ideas about your sister, will you let me go?"
Akisawa remained silent. Shiroku didn't care. After thinking for a bit, he said, "The reason you can't return to Konoha is related to the Mangekyō. But before discussing that, let me introduce myself first."
"Madara Uchiha. I assume you should be very familiar with this name, so I won't say much more."
A strange expression appeared on Akisawa's face. After a long pause, he started laughing. "That guy died long ago. Do you take me for a three-year-old child?"
"Indeed, the world thinks I died. Actually, I am still alive. The one speaking to you right now is undoubtedly Madara Uchiha."
"Of course, you won't believe it. I will present evidence—such as the secrets of the Sharingan, and the higher forms of the Mangekyō."
Akisawa's smile gradually disappeared. As an Uchiha clansman, he didn't even know what the Mangekyō was, yet this guy knew about "higher forms" of it?
Even if he wasn't Madara Uchiha, he definitely couldn't be unrelated to the clan.
Seeing Akisawa stay silent, Shiroku continued. "It seems you believe my words a little. Then, let's get to the main topic. Omitting boring historical issues, let's just talk about the Sharingan."
"The Sharingan, also known as the Eye that Reflects the Heart. Whenever an Uchiha loses someone important to them, this pain causes a special chakra to be produced in the brain, affecting the optic nerves."
"Each instance of pain enhances the eye power, from one tomoe to three tomoe, and then comes the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"Among them, opening the Mangekyō is the most difficult. One must face the death of a beloved friend or relative to possibly awaken it."
"The reason I disguised someone else as your sister was specifically to help you awaken the Mangekyō."
"Speaking of which, you should thank me properly!"
Akisawa gritted his teeth. "Thank you? You bastard, you just wanted to obtain the power of the Mangekyō, right?"
After speaking, he untied the forehead protector from his head and held it up to his eyes. The polished metal clearly reflected his Sharingan.
The original two tomoe had now turned into a Mangekyō: three tomoe connected in a circle, with a flame shape appearing within an inverted triangle in the pupil.
Looking at his own Mangekyō, he thought of the pain he had experienced to get here and remained silent.
Shiroku laughed. "That was originally the plan, but... an unexpected situation occurred. Your Mangekyō seems very special. That kind of eye power—capable of manipulating the form and nature transformation of flames..."
"You probably won't tell me, so I won't ask."
In fact, even Akisawa didn't know what this eye power was. He had simply seen the abnormality in their bodies and instinctively came up with a solution.
The left eye released flames. The right eye had a relatively special ability: to freely change the form and nature of flames.
Not just a single type of form and nature change; he felt that as long as it was fire, he could manipulate it however he wanted—just like the Fire God in myths and legends.