The Uchiha's Sharingan is essentially a form of Yin Release, which will undergo extreme transformations under intense emotional stimulation.
Although the Sharingan obtained from Orochimaru was only a Two-Tomoe one, Menma combined his research on Kekkei Genkai from the Limited Tsukuyomi World and stimulated it with Yin Attribute Chakra, successfully evolving it into a Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
While this Sharingan was still far inferior to the Mangekyo Sharingan, with it, Menma could now perform many unique Sharingan's Genjutsu… even Izanagi!
As for the dynamic visual enhancements like slowing down an opponent's movements, these provided the least improvement for Menma, whose strength already surpassed that of an average Kage-level Ninja.
After transplanting the Sharingan and evolving it to Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Menma slept soundly, thoroughly pleased with himself.
Early the next morning, Menma left a Flying Thunder God kunai in the stone chamber of Uzushiogakure's ruins and his main body teleported across an ultra-long distance to a cave in the Land of Rice Field using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Such an ultra-long-distance teleportation spanning nearly the entire Land of Fire could only be sustained by someone with monstrous Chakra reserves like Menma's.
…
The Land of Grass, true to its name, consisted mostly of sprawling grasslands, with only a few forests near its borders.
Kusagakure is located in the center of a vast grassland in the central part of the Land of Grass.
On a small hill covered with green grass, Uzumaki Karin followed her companions as they gathered medicinal herbs.
Compared to other Kusagakure's children, who chatted and laughed together, Karin, who was only three years old, was always ostracized.
Even the Genin leading the group would patiently teach the others how to identify herbs, but when his gaze shifted to Karin, it carried only deep wariness and caution.
Young Karin didn't understand why everyone treated her this way, and why they always looked at her and her mother with such complicated emotions.
Every time she went out to gather herbs or forage for the village's livestock, Karin kept her distance from the others. But if she strayed too far, the supervising Genin would scold her harshly.
Today, the sunlight was particularly scorching. Karin had been forced to the sun-facing side of the hill, bending down to pick herbs under the blazing heat, her small body enduring the burning rays.
Suddenly, a shadow blocked the harsh sunlight.
Thinking that the leading Genin had come to reprimand her again, Karin timidly looked up.
Instead, she saw a mysterious man in black robes wearing a white three-eyed fox mask standing silently before her.
The mysterious man's presence cast a small patch of shade over Karin, and a gentle breeze swept across the grassland, bringing her a rare moment of cool relief.
"Karin! Get away from him!" A sharp shout came from behind her.
A woman wearing a Kusagakure's forehead protector stood tensely atop the hill, her expression grim. She swiftly drew several shuriken from her pouch and hurled them toward the masked man and Karin.
But whether it was intentional or accidental, one of the shuriken flew straight at Karin.
The shuriken loomed larger in Karin's vision.
At the critical moment, a large hand grabbed it out of the air.
The masked man had instantly moved in front of Karin, effortlessly catching all three shuriken with his bare hands, and then-
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The masked man flung the shuriken back with even greater precision.
The Kusagakure's Genin tried to dodge, but then realized in horror that the trajectories completely sealed off her escape routes.
Squelch-
One shuriken struck her thigh, and blood immediately gushed out.
"Ahh!" The female Genin gritted her teeth against the pain and pulled out a signal flare from her pouch, firing it into the sky.
Whoosh-
The signal flare shot into the sky, visible across the vast grassland for ten kilometers in every direction.
"Your name is Karin, right?" Karin was still staring blankly at the signal flare when a gentle voice reached her ears.
Behind her glasses, Karin's red pupils trembled slightly as she timidly nodded and asked, "W-Who are you...?"
"I'm your clansman." Menma reached out and gently patted Karin's head.
That vibrant red hair reminded him of Kushina.
"Come on, let's go get your mother. Then I'll take both of you away from here." Menma tried to make his voice gentler, for fear of scaring this sensitive little girl, who seemed as skittish as a rabbit.
"Clansman...?" Karin didn't yet understand the meaning of the word, but she instinctively felt a sense of familiarity.
In her heart, she felt a growing fondness and an inexplicable reliance on this big brother.
Menma took Karin's small hand and led her toward the hill.
At the top of the hill, the female Genin had already lost the ability to move, while the children from Kusagakure on the other side had fled in panic.
The female Genin took out a kunai and held it in front of her chest, her entire body trembling, tears streaming from her eyes.
Menma tilted his head slightly, and through the hole in his mask, a single crimson Sharingan glanced at her.
With just one glance, the female Genin fell into a Genjutsu, then used the kunai to end her own life.
Crossing over the mountain, the sight of Kusagakure's village barrier came into view.
It was nothing more than a defensive structure made of thick wooden logs planted upright in the ground, which is very crude compared to Konoha's towering village walls, almost like something out of a primitive settlement.
Menma held Karin's hand as the two figures, one tall and one small, slowly approached Kusagakure.
At this time, the village had already noticed the signal flare rising outside and immediately dispatched a team consisting of one Jonin and three Chunin to investigate.
The two groups met at the entrance of the village.
"Who goes there?!" Seeing a mysterious masked man holding Karin's hand, the Kusagakure's Jonin immediately drew out his tanto and charged forward, aiming to cut him down!
The other three Chunins also drew their kunai, assuming battle stances as they attacked from three different directions.
However, in the next instant-
The moment the Jonin looked into the eyes of the mysterious masked man, his body froze in place.
After a brief moment of paralysis, the Jonin suddenly swung the tanto in his hand towards his own teammates.
Caught off guard, two of the Chunin were slashed down.
The remaining chunin hastily leaped back, shouting in shock, "Captain Tosei! What are you doing?!"
But the only response was Captain Tosei's empty eyes and bloodstained blade.
Had this been a Jonin from one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, they wouldn't have been controlled by a Three-Tomoe Sharingan's Genjutsu for so long.
But Kusagakure is just a small Ninja Village, and what they called a 'Jonin' was, at best, on par with a Tokubetsu Jonin from a Great Ninja Village.
After finishing off the remaining Chunin, the Jonin from Kusagakure named Tosei also committed suicide using his tanto.
With a single swing, Tanto's neck was slit, blood gushing forth.
Faced with the gruesome scene, Karin remained eerily calm. In this war-torn small Ninja Village, death was a sight she had long grown accustomed to.
For small villages like this, war might never have truly ended.
Menma patted Karin's head, temporarily released Karin's little hand, and formed a hand seal with both hands.
Tiger Seal!
"Nine Mask Svāhā!"