Chapter 11: The Weight of a Stolen Gaze
The drone of Iruka's lecture on chakra theory was a dull hum in Kamikawa Hiraoka's ears. His focus was inward, on the calendar in his mind. The air itself felt thick with impending history.
"Ding! Host, please choose."
The system's voice was a cold, clear bell in the stillness of his thoughts.
"Option 1: Do not witness the Uchiha clan's demise."
"Reward: One-Tomoe Sharingan (Both Eyes)."
"Option 2: Witness the aftermath of the Uchiha clan's demise from a distance."
"Reward: Two-Tomoe Sharingan (Both Eyes)."
"Option 3: Witness the Uchiha clan's demise from a distance."
"Reward: Three-Tomoe Sharingan (Both Eyes)."
The third option burned in his mind. The ultimate form of the base Sharingan. The power to see, to copy, to perceive. It was an unimaginable prize for an academy student. A fierce, covetous hunger gripped him.
The Three-Tomoe... I have to have it.
The internal conflict was so intense it manifested physically. His fist, clenched unconsciously under the desk, slammed down onto the wooden surface with a loud CRACK.
The sound echoed through the classroom. The desk splintered neatly in two, books and notes sliding to the floor. A stunned silence fell.
Yamanaka Ino yelped in surprise, while Hinata flinched so hard she nearly fell out of her chair. All eyes turned to him.
Iruka stopped his lecture mid-sentence, his brow furrowed in concern. "Hiraoka? What's the matter? Is something wrong?"
Hiraoka blinked, forcing a sheepish expression onto his face. He scratched the back of his head, offering a lopsided grin. "Ah, my apologies, Iruka-sensei. I was just... testing the structural integrity of this desk." He gestured to the ruined furniture. "It seems it failed the inspection. Quite poorly made."
Iruka's concern melted into pure, unadulterated exasperation. His eye twitched. "You... you destroyed school property because you were bored?! Kamikawa Hiraoka, twenty laps around the training grounds! Now!"
Hiraoka's face fell into a mask of contrite obedience. "Yes, sensei..." he mumbled, hanging his head.
Iruka felt a flicker of confusion. This was unusually submissive for the normally unflappable Hiraoka.
But the act was precisely that—an act. Perfect, Hiraoka thought. An excuse to get out of here.
He stood, but before he left, he turned to the two wide-eyed girls beside him. He leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Don't worry about me. You two pay attention, alright?" With a surprising tenderness that belied the situation, he gently pinched each of their cheeks. Hinata's face ignited anew, and even Ino was momentarily stunned by the public, yet intimate, gesture.
Iruka watched, his jaw tightening. The audacity! To cause a disruption and then flirt on the way out!
"FIFTY LAPS, HIRAOKA!" he roared, a vein throbbing on his forehead. "Don't you dare come back until you've finished all fifty!"
Stepping out into the afternoon sun, the feigned shame evaporated from Hiraoka's face, replaced by cold purpose. Fifty laps? He wouldn't be running a single one.
"Three-Tomoe Sharingan," he whispered to himself, the words heavy with grim anticipation. His gaze lifted, cutting across the village skyline towards the Uchiha district. "The price of admission is a front-row seat to hell itself. So be it."
With a powerful leap, he was gone from the academy grounds, a ghost flitting across Konoha's rooftops.
The Uchiha Compound, Outskirts
Hiraoka found his perch on the high branch of a tree far on the compound's edge, shrouded in shadows. The air here was different. Quiet. The normal sounds of a community were absent, replaced by a waiting silence. He could feel the weight of countless gazes upon the district—from the Hokage Tower, from the shadows of the Foundation. He was a single, unnoticed spectator in a theater of tragedy.
He didn't have to wait long.
It began not with a scream, but with its abrupt cessation. A light in a window winked out. Then another. The silence was broken by the faint, metallic ring of steel, a sound that was quickly swallowed by the night. Shadows moved with a terrible, efficient grace within the compound walls.
He saw a flash of a black cloak with red clouds. He saw the brief, brilliant flare of fire jutsu, quickly extinguished. His heart hammered against his ribs, not from fear of being discovered, but from the sheer, awful gravity of what he was witnessing. This was not a battle; it was a harvest.
Then, he saw him.
On a rooftop, silhouetted against the moon, stood a figure he recognized. Uchiha Itachi. His face, even from this distance, was a mask of profound, soul-crushing stillness. There was no anger, no hatred. Only a chilling, absolute resolution. Below him, another Uchiha pointed a trembling finger, his voice a distant, ragged shout of "Traitor!"
Itachi moved. It was too fast for Hiraoka's untrained eyes to truly follow. A blur, a glint of steel, and the accusing voice was cut short.
Hiraoka didn't blink. He forced his eyes to remain open, to absorb every terrible detail. This was the cost. This was the blood price for the power he sought. He felt a cold knot tighten in his stomach, a mixture of revulsion and a dark, thrilling awe.
The system's reward was not just power; it was a memory. A burden. And as he watched the shadows dance and the lights of the Uchiha clan go dark one by one, he knew he was forever binding his own fate to this night.
The world sharpened, colors becoming more vivid, the darkness less absolute. He could see the individual tiles on the distant rooftops, trace the path of a falling leaf in the gloom.
The pain was intense, but it was nothing compared to the chilling confirmation that echoed in his soul.
The reward had been granted.
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Would the uchiha clan have won if itachi and shisui were also fighting alongside them? I think it would have been veryy close as the sanins weren't present.
Anyway, add my book to your collection.