Chapter 55: Side Story of the Original Host: When Trouble Strikes, Someone Has to Take the Fall

The towering red moon slowly descended, carrying a crushing pressure that made everyone on the ground gasp for air.

At the very center stood Kaguya Sosuke, his face as pale as paper. He could sense that he had been locked onto by this full moon, with nowhere to run.

"Has Tsukuyomi actually manifested into a physical attack?!"

Even hiding far away, Uchiha Yao could feel the immense destructive power contained within that full moon.

Unwilling to die in a foreign land, Kaguya Sosuke desperately squeezed the very last drops of power from his bloodline.

The bones within his body began to grow at a terrifying speed. In an instant, his figure expanded by several meters, transforming him into a giant made of bone. His entire body was pieced together from grayish-white skeletons, bristling with vicious, gleaming white bone spikes.

"How could I, Kaguya Sosuke, ever die at the hands of such a brat!"

A frantic, roaring fury echoed from within the chest cavity of the bone giant.

Uchiha Gin remained completely unfazed by Kaguya Sosuke's transformation. His two crimson eyes stared coldly at the descending red moon in the sky. Fresh blood continuously gushed from his eyes, and his muscular physique was withering away at a visible rate.

The bone giant raised its hand, shaping it into a spiraling bone spear. Gathering all its strength and carrying the momentum of a thunderbolt, it charged toward the falling red moon.

The unstoppable bone spear collided with the red moon, instantly generating a powerful shockwave that forced everyone present to squint their eyes shut.

To everyone's surprise, the bone giant formed by Kaguya Sosuke actually managed to halt the downward momentum of the red moon. This sparked a glimmer of hope in Sosuke, and a smile gradually crept onto his face.

"Snap!"

The very next second, a crisp cracking sound rang out, and Kaguya Sosuke's joyful smile froze.

The gigantic bone spear began to disintegrate and shatter from the tip, a fracture spreading rapidly all the way up to the giant's entire body.

Kaguya Sosuke, arrogant and untamed his entire life, didn't even leave behind a single last word. As the bone giant collapsed, he turned into flying ash and vanished from this world.

"Uchiha Gin, stop right now!"

Uchiha Yan, the only one remaining lucid in the area, watched in horror as the red moon crushed the bone giant to pieces. Realizing that its descent showed no signs of slowing down, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Uchiha Gin turned a deaf ear to his words, standing there blankly. Blood had already stained his entire face, and a dead aura emanated from his entire body.

With its momentum undiminished, the red moon heavily slammed into the ground. A deafening explosion rang out, and the resulting powerful shockwave blew the surrounding people away.

When the dust finally settled, Uchiha Yan raised his head, and the tragic scene before him left him paralyzed with fear.

A gigantic crater had appeared in the center of the Uchiha clan grounds. The entire clan head's mansion was leveled to the ground, countless houses were destroyed, and the wails of the survivors echoed endlessly.

Uchiha Gin stood tall before collapsing flat on his back. Blood was flowing from every pore across his entire body. A frail young girl stumbled to her feet and ran unsteadily toward the fallen boy.

The thunderous explosion jolted Uchiha Tajima out of the grief of losing his wife and child. Feeling the surging pupil power within his eyes, he closed them in agony.

"Izanagi? But what good is that now?"

Opening his eyes once more, Uchiha Tajima wore a bitter expression. The price of this legendary pair of eyes was simply more than he could bear.

"Lord Clan Head, what happened to the clan grounds?"

Uchiha Mizu, arriving belatedly, likewise stared in shock at his devastated home, especially the massive crater at the very center, which far exceeded his comprehension.

"The two of you, explain to me what on earth happened here."

Uchiha Tajima and Mizu had arrived later and were unaware of the preceding events.

"Gin and I had already subdued the intruders, but..."

The relatively composed young girl looked with concern at Uchiha Gin, who was still unconscious, and recounted the whole story from beginning to end.

"You're saying your consciousness slipped out of control, and you subconsciously used the Mangekyo's power?"

Uchiha Mizu couldn't help asking when he heard the girl say that she had suddenly lost control, used the ability of Yachihoko to absorb everyone's chakra, and manipulated the members of the Kaguya clan into killing each other.

The girl nodded. At that time, she truly had been unable to control her own consciousness.

"Has anything similar happened before?"

As a researcher, Uchiha Mizu felt that this rampage was no mere coincidence.

"Yesterday, Uchiha Yao asked me to assist with an experiment. I passed out midway through, and afterwards, I had a few rather unpleasant memories added to my mind."

The girl recalled and answered truthfully, "When I lost control just now, those memories surfaced again."

Hearing the girl's explanation, Uchiha Mizu fell into a brief contemplation. He remembered Uchiha Gin, whom he had picked up from Uchiha Yao's laboratory yesterday; the boy had also been in an unconscious state back then.

After a moment, he looked at the battered Uchiha Gin beside the girl and asked, "What is Uchiha Gin's condition?"

"It was him. Everything here... was done by him."

Uchiha Yan, who had remained silent for a long time, suddenly spoke with bitter hatred. Black wisps faintly coiled around his crimson eyes. "It was he who used a technique I had never seen before, conjured a red full moon, and wiped our home off the face of the earth."

"No! Ah Gin did it to save us!"

Hearing this, the girl hurriedly defended him.

"And you! If you hadn't absorbed the Clan Head's wife's chakra, she wouldn't have died at the hands of that Kaguya clansman."

Uchiha Yan shifted his target, venting all his rage onto the girl.

"Cough, cough, cough... Who turned off the lights?"

Hearing the argument, Uchiha Gin slowly regained consciousness. He forced his eyes open, only to find complete pitch blackness before him.

"Ah Gin, are you alright?!"

Seeing Uchiha Gin wake up, the girl was overjoyed.

"Hikari, stop messing around. Hurry up and turn on the lights."

Barely regaining his wits, the boy heard the familiar voice of the girl and hurriedly urged her.

"I didn't..."

The girl was about to say something when Uchiha Mizu reached out to stop her.

Being deeply versed in the research of the Sharingan, Uchiha Mizu naturally saw through the boy's problem, but he still had some things he wanted to confirm.

"Uchiha Gin, do you remember what you just did?"

"Just now, I saw..."

As Uchiha Gin recalled the preceding events, he suddenly fell silent.

He had witnessed with his own eyes the aunt who had treated him like her own flesh and blood die a tragic death at the enemy's hands, while also losing three younger brothers.

"I'm sorry, I failed to protect Aunt and my little brothers."

Disregarding the fact that he could no longer see, Uchiha Gin rolled over, knelt on the ground, and pressed his forehead heavily against the hard earth.

This brought only silence from Uchiha Tajima.

"Wuwu~ Lord Clan Head, you must severely punish the monster who destroyed our home!"

Unbeknownst to them, the surrounding survivors had gathered around, weeping and complaining to the silent Uchiha Tajima.

As more and more people arrived at the scene, someone muttered, "The one who destroyed the clan grounds is Uchiha Gin." Instantly, the situation spiraled out of control. Countless voices of doubt arose, which soon morphed into vicious curses.

"Lord Clan Head, this matter is likely related to Uchiha Yao's Weapon Project."

Uchiha Mizu quietly appeared behind Uchiha Tajima and lowered his voice. "He mentioned needing to carry out de-localization and brainwashing on two subjects. The loss of control exhibited by both of them in this battle is most likely inseparable from Uchiha Yao's experiment."

Hearing Uchiha Mizu's analysis, Uchiha Tajima said nothing, merely nodding slightly to indicate he understood.

Although Uchiha Gin, supported by the girl, could not see, he had a rough idea of everything he had done after losing control from the fragments of conversation among the surrounding clansmen.

"Uncle, please use my life to atone for everyone's sins."