Mikoto Uchiha's body stiffened slightly in Fugaku Uchiha's arms. A cold, bright blade pierced her chest, staining her clothes a dark red. The light in her eyes faded as she looked at Itachi Uchiha's twisted face.
She opened her mouth as if to speak. In the end, only a weak breath slipped out without sound. What remained in her unfocused eyes was not hatred or anger, only loss and worry.
That gaze pierced Itachi's heart like ice.
"Uh... ah..."
A broken sound escaped from between Itachi Uchiha's clenched teeth. His hand on the hilt turned pale and shook violently. The trembling spread through his whole body, making him sway.
He pulled the knife out. Hot blood surged like a fountain, soaking his hand and chest and splashing onto his pale face. The heat felt like burning iron.
At that moment, the scarlet Three Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes changed. A cold and massive Chakra surged as the three tomoe spun wildly. In a breath, they fused into a new form like interlocking blades.
Mangekyo Sharingan.
Under the pain of killing his own mother, Itachi Uchiha's Three Tomoe Sharingan broke through its final limit.
In the rain, Sasuke Uchiha stared blankly, his young face empty as his throat made unconscious sounds. His small body stiffened from the shock, his mind turning blank. The scene before him tore his world apart.
Ahead of him, Shisui Uchiha's face lost all color. Shock, pain, and anger brought Sharingan to his eyes. He stared at the bloody knife in Itachi's hand, then at Mikoto's still body, and finally at the two figures by the window.
"Itachi! What are you doing?!"
Shisui's voice twisted with pain and rage. Everything was already beyond saving.
Itachi Uchiha hunched over, gasping as if suffocating. His newly born Mangekyo Sharingan stared at his mother's corpse. Blood dripped from his hand and pooled on the ground.
Fugaku Uchiha still held Mikoto, his hollow face unchanged. His arms were still locked around her cooling body. He stood like a Puppet, waiting for the next command.
In Fugaku Uchiha's mental world, there was silence. Absolute silence from Zetsu. Fugaku Uchiha stared blankly at everything.
He saw himself restraining Mikoto and saw the blade from his son pierce her heart. The pouring blood burned into his eyes and mind. A hoarse laugh escaped him, filled with pain, absurdity, Zetsu Wang, and the sound of something finally breaking.
The whispers and curses of the dead Uchiha Clan members grew clear and loud.
"Fugaku Uchiha! Coward!"
"Trash! You are not fit to be clan head!"
"Kill you! I will kill you!"
"You are the sinner of the Uchiha!"
"Lose everything! This is what you deserve!"
"Kill Itachi! Kill Shisui! Kill them!"
Hatred and curses surged like a black tide. The numbness inside Fugaku Uchiha was shattered, replaced by pure rage. He screamed madly, calling out the Uchiha and Itachi.
The dead souls of the Uchiha Clan howled with him, their voices overlapping into a roaring wave. In the sky of the mental world, Yunchuan Hyuga laughed wildly.
"Good, just like this," he said. "Let me give you the final push."
He clenched the Box of Ultimate Bliss, spinning it between his hands. With explosive sounds, countless suppressed spirits burst upward and rushed into Fugaku Uchiha's collapsing consciousness. They tore and merged together.
Crimson light flooded out and swallowed his awareness. A new existence, fused from countless Uchiha Clan Undead and endless hatred, was born.
The rain grew heavier. Raindrops hammered down in a wild clatter, drowning out every other sound as if the world itself were being submerged.
"Itachi!!"
Shisui Uchiha rushed forward and grabbed Itachi Uchiha by the collar, hauling him up from the ground. He stared at Itachi Uchiha with bloodshot eyes, Mangekyo Sharingan spinning violently as he shouted in a hoarse voice, "Do you even know what you are doing?!"
"Why! Why did you do this?!"
Itachi Uchiha was shaken hard by Shisui. His bloodstained face looked even more pale and numb under the dim light.
He slowly raised those strange Mangekyo Sharingan eyes, his tone carrying an eerie, empty calm. "She discovered Father's abnormal state."
"If the families of the dead clan members discover it too, they will be eliminated by me. I cannot make an exception just because she was my mother."
"Besides, ANBU and Root have already noticed. They are on their way."
"There are also some radicals who were not completely cleared out."
"For the plan. For Konoha."
"I have no other choice."
No other choice? So that meant killing women and children who had nothing to do with it. It even meant killing his own mother with his own hands.
Shisui Uchiha looked into those cold Mangekyo Sharingan eyes and felt a chill rush up from his feet through his entire body. A strong sense of strangeness mixed with loss, pain, and helplessness surged up, making him shake his head unconsciously as he released his grip.
Then, as if realizing something, he suddenly turned his head. His crimson Mangekyo Sharingan locked onto two figures in the rain, two figures who should never have been here.
"It was you," Shisui said coldly. "Is this your real goal?"
"Heh." Obito Uchiha laughed in a low voice. "You cannot put it that way. This was Itachi's choice, all for the so called greater good."
Beside him, Black Zetsu gazed at Itachi's newly born Mangekyo Sharingan as if admiring a perfect piece of art.
It worked. It finally worked. Now only one more pair of Mangekyo Sharingan was missing.
With that thought, Black Zetsu slowly turned and looked at Sasuke Uchiha, who still stood frozen in the rain.
A trace of doubt arose in its mind. According to its guess, only two people qualified as Indra Chakra Reincarnation candidates: the extremely talented Itachi Uchiha, and Sasuke Uchiha, who was born at the same time Madara Uchiha died.
But still.
"He saw his brother and father kill his mother, yet he did not even awaken One-tomoe Sharingan?"
Looking at Sasuke Uchiha's vacant pupils, Black Zetsu thought in confusion, "Could it be that he does not dare to believe it, and treats everything as Genjutsu?"
Thinking of this, it looked at Itachi Uchiha and deliberately said, "Itachi, do you need us to help you kill the troublesome ones?"
Hearing this, Itachi Uchiha raised his head and gave it a cold look, then turned his gaze toward Sasuke in the rain.
"No need," he said indifferently. "In his current state, he is not even worth being killed by me."
Sensing that icy gaze fall on him, Sasuke Uchiha snapped back to awareness. He looked at the real scene before him, his black pupils trembling violently.
"Why?" Sasuke opened his mouth in disbelief. "Brother, why? What are you doin…"
Before he could finish, Itachi Uchiha appeared in front of him and lifted a hand to seize his throat.
"Do you still not understand?"
Looking at Sasuke struggling in midair, Itachi Uchiha's eyes showed Mangekyo Sharingan as he said coldly, "Of course it is for these eyes, for greater power."
"You also have the potential to awaken them."
"So I will let you live. When you obtain eyes like mine, I will come and kill you, and take them from you."
As his words fell, bloody tears flowed from his eyes, and he used the Dojutsu housed in his left eye.
Tsukuyomi.
"Ah!!"
A shrill scream rang out as bulging veins crawled up Sasuke's twisted face from his neck.
If nothing unexpected happened, he would experience countless cycles of pain inside the illusion woven by Itachi, until hatred was carved into his mind.