Chapter 57: Extra Story of the Original Host: The Reason for Being Despised Has Been Found (Finale)

With a flicker of the three tomoe in his eyes, a simple genjutsu hypnotized the unsuspecting young girl. Looking at her unconscious form, the weary youth's eyes were filled with deep apology.

Uchiha Gin and Uchiha Tajima stood side by side atop the ruins. Their crimson eyes locked, and the tomoe within them began to spin rapidly.

Gin's three tomoe vanished into his pupils as they rotated, transforming into his unique formless Mangekyo. Tajima's eyes shifted into a pinwheel-patterned Mangekyo.

[Tsukuyomi]

As Gin's ocular power surged, a crimson moon slowly ascended, bathing the entire Uchiha clan compound in a blood-red glow. The survivors raised their heads, gazing upward in astonishment at the sudden spectacle.

Tajima widened his eyes, the twin pinwheels within them accelerating their rotation.

[Kotoamatsukami]

Their ocular powers intertwined, and a pinwheel-shaped crest slowly manifested upon the great moon in the sky.

As the massive pinwheel turned leisurely against the backdrop of the red moon, everyone present felt a wave of dizziness. A powerful spiritual force flooded their minds, leaving behind the imprint of a pinwheel crest.

"It worked."

Gin struggled to maintain the Tsukuyomi. He had only ever practiced the combined Mangekyo technique with the girl before, but he had not expected such seamless synchronicity with Tajima as well. Perhaps it was because they were cousins with closely related bloodlines that their Mangekyo cooperated so effortlessly.

"What shall we call this technique?"

Tajima looked up at the alluringly luminous red moon overhead and asked.

"Let's call it the Limited Tsukuyomi."

Gin touched his curly hair. Being terrible at naming things, he could not think of anything better. Since this technique would likely be his swan song, this name seemed quite fitting.

"If it makes you happy."

Tajima glanced sideways at his nephew, too exhausted to retort.

"Clan Head, I have a favor to ask."

Every clan member beneath the crimson moon had fallen under the genjutsu, their wills undergoing alteration. Even the girl, despite possessing a Mangekyo of her own, had not been spared. Looking at the quietly standing young woman, Gin spoke with solemn gravity.

"Speak."

Hearing Gin address him as Clan Head for the very first time, Tajima knew that the boy's impending request was of utmost importance.

"Once the technique concludes, I wish to transplant my eyes to Xiao Guang. My body..."

The youth brought up the matter once more. Having exhausted his ocular power, he had experienced firsthand the terror brought by blindness.

When he had lost control earlier, his Mangekyo had overdrawn a vast amount of his life force. His body had now suffered irreversible damage; his eyes would likely never be usable again, and even chakra had become entirely inaccessible to him.

Tajima remained silent, nodding gently to the boy. Uchiha Miao had already briefed him on Gin's physical condition just moments prior.

At this point, the youth was like a candle flickering in the wind; whether he could even survive the aftermath remained a question.

Everyone within the compound, as well as those who had just rushed back, bathed in the crimson moonlight.

In a distant corner, an elderly man stood frozen with a hideous expression of dull stupefaction, making it clear that he too had fallen victim to the Limited Tsukuyomi.

After an indeterminate length of time, the full moon in the sky slowly dissolved into the black night. Amid the ruins, Gin smiled and flashed a (＾－＾)V sign at Tajima.

Before Tajima could utter a word, the boy's expression abruptly shifted. Countless streams of blood spurted from his eyes, nose, and mouth, and bathed in crimson, the youth fell backward.

"Gin!"

Tajima reacted with lightning speed, flashing forward to catch the boy. Feeling Gin's faint heartbeat, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

Those who had fallen under the Kotoamatsukami-infused Limited Tsukuyomi gradually regained consciousness. Seeing the devastated ruins of their compound, the surviving clansmen were overcome with grief, cursing the enemies who had ambushed them, yet not a single person spoke of Uchiha Gin.

The willpower of everyone in the compound had been rewritten; in their current perception, the mastermind behind the destruction of their clan was not Gin, but rather a mysterious group of adversaries.

They only knew that the Clan Head's residence and several key locations had been attacked, the Clan Head's wife and several children had been slain by the enemy, the majority of the compound had been razed to the ground, and the number of survivors remained unknown.

Uchiha Miao and Uchiha Yan, who had also awakened, saw Tajima holding the blood-drenched Gin and flew over to inspect.

"Clan Head, Gin's condition is less than optimal."

Miao, an expert in human anatomy, saw at a glance that Gin's oil was exhausted and his lamp was dying. Without immediate medical intervention, his soul would likely return to the netherworld.

"I'll go pursue those despicable cowards right now!"

Yan cared more about the enemy's whereabouts, his slightly reddened eyes scanning the surroundings for the attackers' tracks.

Neither of them had escaped the Limited Tsukuyomi; their memories were indistinguishable from those of ordinary clansmen, save for the added memory of rushing here alongside the Clan Head to find Gin lying in the ruins covered in blood.

"There is no need. Gin has already eliminated all the enemies."

Tajima delivered these astonishing words while holding Gin.

"How is that possible?"

Yan exclaimed in shock. In his perception, Gin was an annoying brat who usually loafed around and lacked even the Sharingan.

"Under the enemy's provocation, Gin awakened the legendary eye."

Tajima bluffed without changing his expression, having prepared his story beforehand.

"However, the kid seems to have overdrawn the power of his eyes. Let's take him in for an inspection first."

Handing Gin over to Miao, Tajima turned and issued another order: "Elder Yan, go collect the enemies' corpses and find out what kind of background they have."

"Eh? Why is Wuming here too?"

Miao, examining Gin's physical state, caught sight of the unconscious girl nearby and asked in puzzlement.

"I brought her along. The scene was likely too intensely horrific, and she fainted from the shock."

In the perception of everyone else, the girl had become a test subject in the laboratory due to the awakening of her Sharingan's special abilities.

"Then I shall take her back as well."

Carrying both of them on his shoulders, Miao sprinted toward the laboratory.

"Ah? Where is my massive laboratory? How did it vanish into thin air?"

Dumbfounded, Miao stared at the laboratory, which had likewise been razed to the ground, and let out an incredulous wail.

Along with the evaporation of the laboratory, all of Gin's research files vanished from this world, leaving no one else to prove how brilliant he once was or how cheerful his personality had been.

By this time, everyone's rewritten memories held a faint trace of aversion toward Uchiha Gin.

This was Gin's own request. Even if his clansmen forgot his transgressions, he could not forgive himself, wishing to use this method to self-flagellate.

Yet another paranoid curly-top; neither Shisui nor Itachi could hold a candle to your self-destructive dramatics.

In a dark corner, the hideously expressive old man also regained consciousness. He looked around in bewilderment, feeling his mind shrouded in chaos.

Before any false memories could be planted into his mind, the old man suddenly felt a sharp soreness in one eye. His crimson pupil slowly faded to grayish-white, and simultaneously, a vast sequence of memories began playing backward in reverse.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo~. I almost fell victim to Uchiha Tajima's scheme."

Sweat pouring down his face, the old man touched his lightless eye with relief and said with bitter hatred.

[Izanagi]

The forbidden technique known as Izanagi could turn unfavorable events that occurred within a certain timeframe as though they had never happened.

It only selected events beneficial to the user and turned them into reality. The duration of its activation varied according to individual ability, but the Sharingan used to cast it would go blind afterward.

The cautious Uchiha Yao had turned-written Izanagi into his eye the moment the red moon ascended; if attacked by any other technique, Izanagi would automatically release to neutralize the negative effects.

Now, yet another person in this world knew the truth.

"Wangliang, let's go."

Tajima activated his Mangekyo. With only a single eye remaining, he was certainly no match for him now, and he gently stroked the Sharingan stored in the jar he held.

These two eyes recorded the cruel scenes of Tajima plotting against his own son; reviewing them every single night kept him sleepless, deepening his hatred by the day.

The clone named Wangliang followed behind the old man, a flicker of gloom passing through its dull eyes.

"None of the several pairs of Mangekyo that appeared this time were the ones."

...

Within the compound's sole remaining medical station.

"Clan Head, Gin's body is far too overdrawn. His cells are on the verge of collapse, and the backlash of the Mangekyo dōjutsu has eroded his body into a sieve. If we don't take measures, he may not survive the night."

Removing his mask, Miao spoke with a worried expression.

"Transplant his eyes to Wuming."

Tajima commanded, "Leaving the Mangekyo Sharingan on him now is merely a burden. Give him a pair of ordinary eyes afterward to lessen the strain on him."

"Understood!"

Miao immediately acknowledged the order. In his perception, the laboratory originally contained only Wuming's pair of Mangekyo; he had not expected the usually irritating Gin to have awakened them as well, though it was a pity they were ruined right upon awakening.

"Serves him right, who asked him to..."

Miao, who had muttered the complaint subconsciously, abruptly stopped. He furrowed his brows in thought: when had Gin ever provoked him? Was it yesterday, or perhaps last month?

"Yan, go find me a pair of ordinary eyes."

Unable to figure out why he supposedly loathed Gin even after racking his brains, Miao decided to return to work first. With the laboratory destroyed and all experimental subjects also ruined, various organs had to be gathered all over again, increasing his workload once more.

The plump Uchiha Yan received his orders and prepared to pluck a lucky soul at random from the prison. As he passed the morgue, however, he paused. Remembering the enemy corpses he had just collected, he decided he did not need to make an extra trip.

He randomly lifted a shroud and saw that the eyes of a terrified-looking male corpse were still relatively intact.

Yan was not picky. He gouged out the eyes of the man with the large hole in his chest, tossed them casually into nutrient solution, and returned to Miao to report.

The unconscious youth underwent the eye-transplantation surgery, and his removed eyes were soaked in nutrient solution. The youth with the new eyes, his face wrapped in bandages, lay motionless on the bed, deep in unconsciousness.

"Clan Head, I shall go perform the eye transplantation for Wuming first."

Miao withdrew, cradling Gin's original eyes in his arms.

"Gin, is doing this truly worth it?"

Looking at Gin, who had tortured himself into such a tattered state, Tajima said with a hint of heartache.

"Cough, cough... This is the pain I ought to bear."

Gin, having regained consciousness at some unknown point, replied weakly.

"Gin, do you have any other requests?"

Tajima asked with bitterness, unable to bear seeing his nephew suffer so.

"If possible, seal away my memories as well. In my current state, I can no longer face the others."

A trace of profound solitude colored Gin's tone. By now, everyone in the world had forgotten his past deeds, and his former family and friends had become as strangers.

"Very well, I promise you."

With those words, Tajima pressed his hand against Gin's head, a pinwheel-shaped Mangekyo manifesting in his eyes.

He poured his ocular power directly into Gin's mind, sealing away all memories after his awakening of the Mangekyo, and conveniently rewriting his memories to match everyone else's.

"Hoo~"

Finishing the task, Tajima closed his eyes, panting heavily. Having used the power of the Mangekyo twice in succession, his body began to suffer the backlash.

Feeling the fetal movements within his eyes cease, Tajima knew his Mangekyo had entered a cooling period, though he had no idea how long it would last.

On the other side, taking advantage of the girl's continued unconsciousness, Miao performed the transplantation surgery on her, then wheeled her into a ward to await her awakening.

"Wuu~~~"

Fluttering her long eyelashes a few times, the girl, unconscious for an entire day, finally woke up. Feeling an unprecedented clarity in her eyes, she grew alert, picked up a small mirror from the bedside, and began to scrutinize her own eyes.

Activating her own Mangekyo Sharingan, the girl felt a familiar power within the slightly altered patterns. Seeing the extra black dot added to the center of her design, tears flowed involuntarily from her eyes.

"Wuming, are you adjusting well to the eyes?"

Miao asked as he pushed the door open holding a chart. However, upon seeing the patterns in the eyes of the girl who turned to look at him, he said excitedly,

"It appears to be a success!"

"Where is A-Yin?"

Wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, the girl stood up and stared straight at Miao.

"What are you talking about?"

Miao asked with a furrowed brow, his modified memory holding no intersection between Gin and Wuming.

"Take me to see him!"

The girl spoke again, her eyes radiating a terrifying pressure. Feeling an unprecedented weight of oppression, Miao instantly capitulated and led her to the door of a hospital room.

"The Clan Head is inside, watch your tongue."

Miao warned the suddenly terrifying girl, terrified that she might come into conflict with the Clan Head.

"I'll go in by myself."

Ignoring Miao's words, the girl pushed open the door and stepped inside.

What met her eyes was the familiar youth lying abed, sleeping soundly with a smile at the corner of his lips, as if dreaming of something wonderful.

Standing beside the bed was Tajima, who currently appeared rather frail, rubbing his eyes incessantly.

"Clan Head, how is Gin?"

The girl asked carefully, devoid of any of the overbearing arrogance she had displayed toward Miao moments before.

"Wuming? Why are you here?"

Tajima, his vision somewhat blurred, was surprised to see that the newcomer was the girl who had been exceptionally close to Gin—though she should have fallen under the Limited Tsukuyomi as well.

"I still remember! I remember everything!"

The girl spoke somewhat incoherently. She had been aware of the plan between Gin and the Clan Head, terrified that she would forget Gin once she woke up.

Judging by the current situation, however, she had somehow proven immune to the effects of the Limited Tsukuyomi.

Tajima furrowed his brows. He possessed immense confidence in his own ability; anyone struck by his Kotoamatsukami would be influenced, unless...

Tajima looked into the girl's eyes and noticed that the patterns of her Mangekyo had undergone subtle changes. Moved, he asked,

"Did you successfully transplant Gin's eyes?"

"Yes, A-Yin's eyes have integrated into my body."

The girl touched her eyes, speaking with sorrow.

Tajima immediately recalled Uchiha Yao's plan regarding the weapons of war.

The document had indeed stated that when the Mangekyo Sharingan of Gin and the girl fused, it would give birth to a limitless Mangekyo—one unconstrained by ocular limits and free from degradation of sight.

It seemed that after integrating Gin's Mangekyo, the girl's eyes had risen far above his own in rank, which explained why she could remain immune to his Kotoamatsukami.

At this thought, Tajima shook his head and said,

"I am glad you did not forget Gin, but..."

He turned his gaze toward the sleeping Gin.

"A-Yin's memories have been sealed by me; he no longer remembers you."

Tajima's tone carried a hint of melancholy. The youth had believed the world had forgotten him, unaware that his most important person had not forgotten him, yet he had chosen to forget everyone else.

What a melodramatic script; was this a vintage Korean drama?

"Why!?"

Crouched beside the youth's bed, the girl wept uncontrollably.

"Perhaps it is because of his profound love for this clan."

Tajima sighed as he spoke.

Possessing the legendary eye, Gin could have chosen to eliminate all dissenting voices after destroying most of the compound, covering up the truth to become a hero; instead, he had chosen the most arduous path imaginable.

The power of the Uchiha clan derived from their eyes, and the key to unlocking those eyes was emotion. The world's external prejudice against the Uchiha was that they were cold and heartless.

The truth, however, was that a heartless Uchiha would find it difficult to awaken the Sharingan in a lifetime.

Almost all those who awakened the Sharingan were clansmen possessed of intense love and intense hatred. The reason Gin had managed to awaken the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan at such a tender age was entirely because of the overwhelming depth of his love for his home and his clan.

"Please, let me become a weapon!"

Wiping away her tears, the girl raised her head and spoke with absolute resolution.

"Let me carry A-Yin's eyes and continue to protect the clan he loved so deeply."

Years later, the girl, who fought everywhere for the clan, was ambushed and sealed by enemies, her whereabouts unknown thereafter.

Tajima, settling accounts after the autumn harvest, used thunderous methods to capture Uchiha Yao—the ultimate culprit behind the loss of control of Gin and the girl—and imprisoned him in Dungeon Zero.

The documents regarding the weapon project, discovered in Yao's residence, were likewise sealed away in secret by Tajima.