"Why... Why won't you spare my pregnant wife and my unborn child?!" The man's eyes were red as he screamed hoarsely, his hunched figure trembling in the dust.
The other villagers were indeed frightened by those red eyes, and some shrank back, avoiding his gaze. But others pointed at his eyes and shouted, "See?! I told you the Ranshi family was cursed!"
"No wonder they were targeted… they're monsters!"
"A harbinger of misfortune! Get out of our village!"
"My lord, we'll hand over the Ranshi family immediately! Please spare our village!"
The villagers clamored, completely disregarding the fact that the man and his family had lived in the village for over a decade.
Abandoned by the villagers, the emaciated man dug his nails deep into the dirt before desperately turning to the mysterious figure for help.
Ranshi crawled on his hands and knees to Menma's feet, kowtowing repeatedly. "My lord! Please spare my pregnant wife! If it's this bloodline you want, take me instead!"
Menma looked down at Ranshi, who was begging for his family's lives, and felt a faint disappointment.
Once known as the 'Bane of the Byakugan', he didn't expect that the Red-Eyed Kekkei Genkai Clan had now dwindled to such a pitiful state… reduced to a single survivor, with even their secret techniques lost to time. Faced with a stronger Ninja, all he could do was grovel and beg for mercy.
By then, the other villagers had already dragged Ranshi's wife over.
The heavily pregnant woman was handled roughly, yet the villagers felt no shame. Instead, they fawned over the masked stranger, hoping to buy their village's safety.
"How pathetic." Menma's hollow voice echoed from behind his mask as he tossed a kunai at Ranshi's feet.
"If you want to survive, reclaim your dignity as a Ninja." The words slithered into Ranshi's ears like a demon's whisper.
He glanced at his terrified wife, who is clutching her swollen belly, then at the villagers who had betrayed them. With a trembling hand, he picked up the kunai.
Memories he had buried for over a decade surged through his mind. Though his branch of the Red-Eyed Clan had long stayed out of war, the instincts of a Ninja still coursed through Ranshi's veins.
With his red eyes blazing, Ranshi flipped the kunai into a reverse grip. Fueled by his Kekkei Genkai's awakened instincts, he conjured illusions and masked his presence from the villagers' senses.
Then, the emaciated Ranshi moved like a phantom, weaving through the crowd and slashing their throats with the kunai.
Blood sprayed, staining Ranshi's rough clothes.
His blood-red pupils reflected the village that had raised him for twenty years, only to cast him into hell.
Menma simply watched coldly from behind his mask as Ranshi took his revenge.
Even if Menma hadn't appeared, Ranshi and his wife would have died of illness in a few years. Their child, Ranmaru, would awaken the Kekkei Genkai and be shunned as a curse by the villagers, suffering abuse.
If it weren't for Kurosuki Raiga accidentally entering this village while hunting a Missing-nin, Ranmaru's fate would have been far worse.
And the villagers of this village will also be slaughtered by Raiga that night.
So this was merely making the tragedy arrive sooner.
After killing over a dozen villagers, Ranshi didn't exterminate the entire settlement.
Covered in blood, he staggered to his trembling wife and held her close, then turned pleading eyes to the masked stranger.
"Let's go." Menma didn't care how many villagers Ranshi had killed in his vengeance, as he only wanted the Red-Eyed Kekkei Genkai.
With that, he placed a hand on Ranshi and his wife's shoulders and activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
In an instant, they arrived at the Land of Stars' capital, inside the Hoshinin Base.
Under the cold fluorescent light, Menma gazed at the pair of red eyes floating in a glass container and murmured in admiration.
He exclaimed in admiration, "What dazzling eyes... like rubies."
Ranshi lay on the operating table in a white coat, surrounded by Menma's shadow clones, who were carefully transplanting a pair of ordinary eyes into his sockets.
"I'll be taking your Akaigan. In exchange, you'll receive a pair of normal eyes, my protection, and a safe place for your wife to give birth. From now on, your clan will serve me for generations." Menma disliked owing others, even if it means taking the Akaigan from Ranya, an orphan of a ninja clan who has fallen on hard times and has a bloodline limit. (T/N: Since this Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai has no name, I'll just name it Akaigan, as Akai meant Red.)
"All I ask is that my wife and child can live peaceful lives. For the rest of my days, I will dedicate myself to you, my lord." With bandages covering his eyes, Ranshi turned slightly toward Menma's voice.
"Your physical condition is too weak. The strain of activating Akaigan will only burden you… never mind, you'll understand in time." Menma didn't elaborate further.
Ranshi had lived as an ordinary man for over twenty years, with no proper Ninja Training. His ability to awaken the Akaigan relied purely on instinct.
Considering that in the original work, Ranmaru had also suffered from frail health, sometimes even too weak to walk, Menma suspected their bloodline had diluted over generations.
Now, their bodies could no longer handle the power of their Kekkei Genkai.
It was similar to the Kaguya Clan's Shikotsumyaku, as the stronger the Kekkei Genkai, the more severe the genetic disease.
And Ranshi had no other choice but to obey Menma's arrangements.
Once the shadow clones wheeled Ranshi's hospital bed out of the lab and into the recovery room, Menma removed his white three-eyed fox mask.
The little Nine-Tails poked her head out from the fur collar, curiously eyeing the glass vial in Menma's hand, where two red eyeballs floating in pale green liquid, "Hey, Menma, I've never seen this thing before."
"Of course you haven't." Menma plucked out his left eye and replaced it with one of Akaigan.
As he channeled Chakra into the new eye, adjusting to its enhanced vision, a theory crossed his mind.
All Kekkei Genkai in the Ninja World could be traced back to Otsutsuki Kaguya… Byakugan, Sharingan, Akaigan, Ketsuryugan. There may even be other Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai that have appeared in the thousands of years of history of the Ninja World.
They all originated from the Otsutsuki Clan.
Yet, after the Warring States Period, only the Byakugan and Sharingan became famous throughout the Ninja World, while Akaigan and Ketsuryugan nearly vanished.
Ironically, Akaigan's abilities directly countered the Byakugan.
Its Dojutsu could create Chakra Phantoms, disrupting the Byakugan's ability to perceive Chakra Pathways and even allowing the user to approach undetected.
And like the Byakugan, Akaigan could also see through objects, sense chakra, and detect danger.
However, Akaigan's phantoms had no physical form or offensive capabilities, as they were purely for misdirection. If combined with the Hiding in Mist Technique, they were nearly impossible to counter!
This reminded Menma of a certain Dojutsu used by Madara, [Limbo: Border Jail].
The clones created by Rinnegan were imperceptible to ordinary Ninjas, even to Sensory Ninjas. Only those with the Rinnegan could see them.
Akaigan's Chakra Phantoms were like a weakened version of Limbo… so diminished they lost all offensive power, serving only as a distraction.
'If the Byakugan's evolution was the Tenseigan, and the Sharingan's was the Rinnegan… then what were the Akaigan and Ketsuryugan meant to become?'
"Hmm… I have the Sharingan, now the Akaigan. Next, I'll collect the Byakugan and Ketsuryugan." As Menma acclimated to Akaigan's vision, his thoughts turned to Orochimaru's cloning technology.
After all, the clans that have Akaigan and Ketsuryugan were down to their last few members. Waiting for natural reproduction was too slow, and cloning would be far more efficient.
"But I have to go to the Hyuga Clan's compound to keep an appointment first."
The time stated in his notice letter was almost up.