[Several Years Later]
The conflict between the Ninshu and the Uchiha had escalated from covert friction into constant clashes along the border.
After securing his position as Grand Elder, Sarutobi ruthlessly purged every voice calling for peace.
The border defenses were reinforced layer by layer, while the chakra perception of the patrolling disciples never stopped day or night.
The Uchiha clan, meanwhile, became increasingly closed off. The blood-red of their Sharingan would occasionally flash through the night, and deep within Uchiha territory, inside an isolated stone house surrounded by black rocks, another soul that did not belong to this world had just awakened.
Uchiha Tetsu, twenty-four years old.
A branch descendant of Indra's eldest son's line.
The original owner's talent was not bad. His chakra reserves were above average among his peers, his taijutsu was solid, and his senses were fairly sharp.
It was just that he was too reserved, and the brilliance of the warmongers had overshadowed him for years, making him seem utterly ordinary within the clan.
At this moment, he suddenly sat up from the bed, his chest heaving violently.
A huge amount of memories surged into his mind like a tide.
"...Uchiha? A descendant of Indra? Asura has already been dead for several years?"
Uchiha Tetsu looked down at his hands and remained silent for a long time.
"Ordinary talent... not enough."
"In this era, being ordinary means you could be crushed to death at any moment. The Sharingan is the real ticket. Without the Sharingan, all that talk about unification and power is just empty talk."
Uchiha Tetsu knew very well what was required to awaken the Sharingan, an intense emotional shock, especially the overwhelming pain of losing someone close to you.
The original owner had a younger sister named Uchiha Maki.
She was six years younger than him, gentle by nature, and one of the few people in the clan who sincerely cared about this "ordinary" older brother.
He also had a close friend he had grown up with, Uchiha Kira.
Straightforward by nature, he always dragged Tetsu out for drinks after training, scolding him for being "too boring," yet he had never truly disliked him.
These two people were among the few sources of warmth the original owner had in this cold Uchiha clan.
The transmigrator sat in the darkness, his fingers slowly tightening.
"...I have to awaken it."
Uchiha Tetsu repeated in a low voice, as if trying to convince himself.
"Without the Sharingan, I can't do anything. This era doesn't believe in gentleness. It only believes in strength."
He began to make plans.
There was no need to rush.
First observe, first get familiar with this body, and first maintain the appearance of being "ordinary" within the clan.
During the day, he continued to train silently as he had before. Occasionally, he was mocked by young members of the warmongering faction, but he did not argue back.
At night, he stayed alone in the deepest part of the stone house, repeatedly working out the circulation of his chakra, trying to squeeze every last bit out of the original owner's above-average talent.
———
[Three Months Later]
The border conflict escalated again.
Uchiha Tetsu volunteered to join a night raid team.
During the operation, he deliberately "made a mistake" at a critical moment, causing a kunai to land half an inch off target.
One of his companions was seriously wounded.
He watched with his own eyes as that person was dragged back, half his body stained with blood.
No one in the clan suspected him.
They only treated it as another case of bad "luck."
But he knew.
It wasn't enough.
It wasn't painful enough.
"These people have nothing to do with me, so naturally they can't make me awaken my eyes! I need to find a suitable..."
Another two months passed.
He began turning his attention toward his own sister.
Uchiha Maki had been somewhat weak lately, often coughing at night. The clan doctor said she had caught a chill and would recover after some rest.
Uchiha Tetsu sat with her on the stone steps outside the stone house, listening to her speak softly.
"Brother, you've been coming back so late lately... Are you tired?"
Uchiha Maki's voice was soft, carrying a hint of concern.
"Everyone in the clan says the border is getting more and more dangerous. You have to be careful."
Uchiha Tetsu looked at her, his throat feeling as though something were stuck in it.
The original owner's memories became especially clear at this moment.
When his sister was little, she always loved following behind him, calling him "Brother Tetsu." When he failed, she would comfort him. When the clan members looked at him coldly, she would gently tug at his sleeve and say, "It's okay, I'm here."
The transmigrator's reason told him: Kill her.
As long as the pain was strong enough, the Sharingan would awaken.
But when he actually raised his hand and chakra condensed into a thin blade at his fingertips...
His hand was trembling.
"...I'm sorry."
His voice was extremely low, almost inaudible.
That night, the stone house did not make much noise.
There was only one extremely brief muffled groan, followed by a long, dead silence.
When Uchiha Tetsu stood up from beside his sister, both his hands were covered in blood.
He stood there without moving.
His chest felt as if something had violently pierced through it, and the pain was so intense that he could barely breathe.
The original owner's emotions surged up like a tide, drowning him.
"Maki..."
He crouched down and held his sister, who had already stopped breathing, in his arms, pressing his forehead against her cold cheek.
Tears fell uncontrollably.
They were not the transmigrator's tears.
They were the original owner's.
That pain welled up from the deepest part of his heart, a pain that could not be suppressed with any excuse of "for the sake of power."
He sat in the darkness for the entire night.
The next morning, he personally buried his sister in an unknown place in the rear mountain.
He only told others that her condition had suddenly worsened during the night, and she had passed away.
The clan mourned symbolically for two days, then no one mentioned her again.
In this era, the death of one orphan was nothing.
After all, everyone's social system was extremely crude, and people were dying every day.
Uchiha Tetsu's left eye had awakened, directly reaching two tomoe.
But it still wasn't enough.
He needed something more painful.
Another month passed.
He asked Uchiha Kira to go drinking at an abandoned camp near the border.
Kira was as carefree as ever. He patted Tetsu on the shoulder and said, "You're not yourself lately. Is Maki's death getting to you? Don't bottle it up. Tell your bro about it."
Uchiha Tetsu looked at him and suddenly smiled.
"Kira... you're the only person in this clan who has ever truly treated me as a friend," Uchiha Tetsu said.
Kira froze, then smiled as well. "No shit. Why else would I always drag you out drinking?"
Before he could finish speaking, Uchiha Tetsu had already struck.
The kunai pierced straight into his heart.
"You!?"
Kira's eyes suddenly widened. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he only spat out a mouthful of blood.
"...Tetsu...?"
As he fell, his hand still instinctively tried to grab the other man's clothes.
Uchiha Tetsu did not dodge.
He let that hand grab him until it completely lost its strength.
Blood flowed down the kunai, dripping onto the ground and quickly forming a small puddle.
Uchiha Tetsu knelt where he was, both hands braced against the ground, his whole body trembling.
The original owner's memories, the original owner's emotions, his dependence on and trust in this friend... all of it exploded at this moment.
He covered his eyes tightly, a suppressed, almost beast-like growl escaping from his throat.
Pain.
It hurt even more than when he killed his sister.
That pain was not physical. It was the feeling of something being torn apart little by little from the depths of his soul.
He knelt in that abandoned camp for a long time.
Long enough for the color of the sky to change from black to gray, then to pale blue.
When he finally raised his head... Both eyes had completely turned blood-red.
The Mangekyo Sharingan... Slowly turning.
Uchiha Tetsu looked at the eyes reflected in the pool of blood and spoke in a hoarse voice that was almost inaudible: "...It awakened."
There was no sense of victory, only a long emptiness after being hollowed out.
And an even deeper, indescribable pain.
After sensing his Mangekyo's abilities, Uchiha Tetsu began laughing wildly.