Chapter 286 – The Eyes of Rebirth
Obito Uchiha's crimes, no matter how understandable their origins,
were enough to damn him ten times over.
Minato Namikaze understood this, yet his heart remained conflicted.
He and Kei hadn't spoken of it directly,
but both men shared the same unspoken wish—
That once Obito completed his mission,
he would choose to end his own life.
To die as a shinobi of Konoha.
To die as someone who, at last, had made peace with his sins.
After all, to Obito, losing Rin had been losing the world itself.
He had no reason to keep living.
His vengeance and his redemption were one and the same.
When his time came, Minato hoped Obito could meet Rin in the Pure Land
—not as a monster despised by gods and men,
but as a true shinobi of the Leaf.
One who had sacrificed everything for the sake of peace.
---
Kei, however, had a different vision.
He didn't intend to let Obito die.
There were already too many tragedies in this world.
And while Kei was far from a saint—
his hands had spilled far more blood than they had ever healed—
he still believed in rewriting fate where it suited his interests.
If the Uchiha clan could be changed,
if Minato could be changed,
then why not Obito as well?
---
"Kei," Minato said, breaking the silence,
"when do you think we should begin the reforms in full?"
With Obito's matter set aside,
Minato's tone returned to its usual calm focus.
"Shikaku's already begun to suspect what we're planning.
Soon others will too.
How do we proceed?"
Kei's eyes flickered with quiet calculation.
"We wait," he said simply.
"Let them suspect, but not understand.
At most, they'll assume we intend to limit the clans' power.
After all, the Third Hokage once raised the status of civilian shinobi—he just divided the village in the process."
He smirked faintly.
"I may dislike the old man,
but even I can admit he knew how to play his cards.
Whatever his reasons—whether power or paranoia—
he gave civilians more standing.
That's something."
Minato nodded.
"If we move too fast, the clans will rebel."
"Exactly," Kei replied.
"Your goal is equality among shinobi.
But equality means taking something away from those who've had too much for too long.
We'll need to move slowly—so they never realize what they've lost until it's too late."
---
Kei's voice was calm, but his words were sharp.
"By removing the Special Jōnin rank and tightening control over the Jōnin pool,
you'll create scarcity—and therefore value.
But too sudden a shift will alarm the clans."
Minato folded his arms.
"Then we'll follow the original plan.
Gradual control of promotions and appointments."
"Good," Kei said. "And when that's in place… we redirect public focus.
Get their eyes off the Jōnin hierarchy altogether."
Minato blinked.
"Off the Jōnin? You mean… the Mist Village?"
Kei's smile widened.
"Exactly."
Kirigakure's sudden isolation was the perfect distraction.
Its self-imposed lockdown had already drawn the attention of every nation.
And in a world still bleeding from war,
any new mystery bred fear.
"We leak what we need to leak," Kei continued.
"Guide public sentiment.
If the people are busy speculating about the Mist,
no one will notice what's happening inside Konoha."
Minato nodded slowly.
"Understood. I'll have the ANBU circulate information—
rumors that keep everyone guessing."
"And while that happens," Minato added,
"we strengthen the Chūnin and Genin systems.
More structure, more opportunity. Right?"
"Right," Kei said.
"They'll never have the Jōnin's influence,
but they must have hope.
A visible path upward."
"That will be the job of my advisory council then," Minato said.
"Exactly," Kei replied.
"The Nara should be included.
They're too smart to be excluded—and too dangerous if left uncertain."
He paused, his voice softening slightly.
"We don't destroy the clan system—we tame it.
Pull them onto our ship, give them comfort and purpose,
and let them think it was their idea all along."
Minato chuckled quietly.
"Now I see why you proposed the 'Specialized Students' program.
You're not just training fighters—you're creating civil shinobi too."
"Of course," Kei said with a faint smile.
"A great ship needs more than a captain and a crew.
It needs navigators—people who can see beyond the waves."
---
The Hyūga Archives
Deep in the Hyūga compound, Ayaka Hyūga turned another page.
The quiet rustle of paper echoed through the old archive room.
She had lost track of time.
Research had swallowed her whole.
"Lady Ayaka," a voice called softly.
She looked up, annoyed at the interruption.
A middle-aged man stood at the door—one of the branch family caretakers.
"It's closing time," he said, bowing slightly.
Ayaka's pale eyes narrowed.
The Hyūga Library had always been a place of unspoken politics.
Though nominally run by the main house,
it was the branch family who did all the work—
and who were forbidden to read its secrets.
A cruel symmetry, she thought.
Ayaka had learned to ignore the resentment in their eyes.
But the man's reluctant tone told her he still didn't like her being here.
"I told you not to disturb me," she said coldly.
Her gaze softened a moment later as she noticed the clock.
"It's that late already?"
"Yes, Lady Ayaka."
She caught the flicker of defiance in his eyes but said nothing.
As she stood, preparing to leave,
a glint from a dusty corner caught her attention.
There, half-buried under a pile of scrolls,
lay a thin, nearly forgotten booklet.
The title made her pause.
"The Kaguya Clan."
Ayaka's breath caught.
No one in the modern Hyūga knew much about them—
a savage, extinct offshoot of ancient nobility.
But why was their record here,
hidden in the Hyūga archives?
A thought formed in her mind—sharp, dangerous, exhilarating.
Could it be that the Kaguya had once been allies?
Or… family?
Ayaka's fingers trembled slightly as she picked up the booklet.
For the first time in weeks, she felt she was close to an answer.
Perhaps I've finally found what I've been looking for.
---
Winter in Konoha
Snow drifted quietly from the sky.
Overnight, the village had turned white.
A year ago, Kei had been plotting Minato's rise to Hokage.
Now, he stood in the laboratory deep beneath the Uchiha compound,
staring through the glass of a life-support chamber.
Inside lay Uchiha Shuu—
once a proud shinobi, now a shell.
Kei's expression was unreadable.
Half a year of experimentation had led to this moment—
the birth of a new pair of eyes.
Eyes that had endured agony beyond reason,
and yet gleamed with an otherworldly power.
They were starved, imperfect—
and yet… transcendent.
---
"Has Ayaka been by lately?" Kei asked without looking back.
Standing beside him, Iori, his young assistant,
flinched at the sound of his voice.
"Lady Ayaka still visits, Master Kei.
Not regularly, but when she can… she's busy, I think."
"I see," Kei murmured.
"Well, since she's not here—you'll serve as recorder today."
Iori hesitated.
Her hands trembled slightly.
"M-me? But I don't have Lady Ayaka's Byakugan—"
"You don't need to," Kei said coolly.
"Just write what I tell you.
Give her the data afterward."
His voice carried no warmth, no cruelty—
just the cold precision of a man who had long since learned to detach emotion from necessity.
He stepped forward and pressed a sequence of buttons.
The life-support pod hissed open.
Shuu's body twitched faintly inside.
Kei formed a single hand seal.
The Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes flared to life.
Under its command, Shuu's eyelids fluttered open—
revealing hollow, bloodshot eyes.
Iori's breath caught in her throat.
The air itself seemed to freeze.
Kei reached forward and, without hesitation,
pressed his hand over Shuu's eyes.
A faint pop.
A flash of red.
When Kei lifted his hand again,
an eye—crimson and glistening—rested between his fingers.
Its tomoe spiraled outward,
warping into rippling concentric lines.
It was beautiful.
And horrifying.
---
Iori's knees nearly buckled.
Her lips trembled as she whispered,
"He's… still alive…"
Kei didn't look at her.
"Biologically," he said softly.
"But not in any other sense."
He turned to her, his expression unreadable.
"Can't do it, can you?"
She bit her lip, saying nothing.
Kei smiled faintly—
a small, strangely gentle smile.
"I understand."
A kunai gleamed in his hand.
Before Iori could react,
he plunged the blade straight into Shuu's chest.
The body convulsed once.
Blood dripped onto the sterile floor.
Then there was silence.
The new eyes—gleaming, cursed, divine—
rested in Kei's hand.
The Eyes of Rebirth had opened.
Iori's pupils widened in horror.
Her hands clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
She wanted to scream—
but her throat refused to obey.
When Uchiha Shuu's convulsions finally stopped,
her fingers slowly loosened, trembling.
Kei turned to look at her.
His tone was as calm and gentle as ever,
a softness that somehow made everything worse.
"Since you couldn't finish it," he said quietly,
"you can at least handle the body now, can't you?"
He didn't wait for a response.
He already knew what this scene would do to her—
how deep that image of blood and stillness would carve itself into her mind.
But Kei didn't care.
He hadn't planned for this girl to become a ninja.
Yet if she couldn't even bear to face death…
then what could she possibly survive in this world?
Kei remembered when he'd first faced something like this himself—
the nausea, the spinning stomach, the self-loathing that followed.
And yet he had still done it.
He had learned to.
That was what it meant to live as a shinobi.
---
In the adjoining chamber, sterile and cold,
Kei laid out a clean glass vessel.
He stared down at the two blood-smeared eyes in his hand—
his newly formed Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan—
and sighed.
"I'm really starting to rely on her too much," he murmured to himself.
If Ayaka Hyūga had been here,
he wouldn't have had to deal with Shuu's remains himself.
She would have handled everything—
efficiently, wordlessly, perfectly.
But lately, she'd been scarce.
He wasn't sure what she was so busy with.
"Damn it," he muttered, frowning.
"How the hell am I supposed to clean these?"
The last thing he wanted was to end up like Madara Uchiha or Danzō Shimura—
shoving bloodstained eyes into their sockets without a second thought.
Just as his irritation peaked,
a familiar, composed voice drifted from behind him.
"Let me do it.
Before you ruin them completely."
---
Kei turned his head slightly.
There she was.
Ayaka Hyūga stood in the doorway, moonlight tracing her outline.
Her expression was calm, almost amused.
"I thought you'd gone quiet for good," he said, shrugging.
"You've been keeping yourself busy, I take it?"
She didn't answer right away.
Instead, she crossed the room and gently took the eyes from his hand.
Her movements were practiced—almost elegant.
Within moments, she had already begun cleansing them
with a precision that only the Byakugan could offer.
Kei simply stood and watched.
There was no need for him to interfere.
"Quiet? Hardly," she said at last,
her voice cool and steady.
"I just found something interesting to study.
It's been… absorbing my attention."
"Something interesting?" Kei raised an eyebrow.
"What kind of research could distract you from everything else?"
She smiled faintly, eyes still focused on her work.
"I believe I've found a clan that mirrors the Hyūga."
Kei blinked, momentarily caught off guard.
But Ayaka continued before he could respond.
"The Uchiha and Senju are genetically complementary," she said.
"You once suggested the Hyūga might have a counterpart as well.
At first, I dismissed the idea—but I've started to think you were right."
Her tone softened slightly.
"I shouldn't have used Senju cells.
They affected me in ways I didn't expect…
but it made me realize something important.
If the Uchiha have the Senju,
then perhaps the Hyūga once had their own other half."
Kei's eyes narrowed slightly, interest flickering.
"Go on."
"I searched through the old archives," Ayaka said.
"And I found records of a clan that used to be close to ours—
until, for reasons no one recorded, we went our separate ways."
Kei fell silent.
He could tell from her tone that she wasn't speculating.
She had found something real.
Could it be?
The Kaguya Clan—
the lost bloodline that had once stood at the root of the Hyūga's evolution?
If that were true… then the implications stretched all the way to Kirigakure itself.
And that thought annoyed Kei more than it intrigued him.
Please don't tell me I'll have to visit the Mist Village myself.
---
"So?" Kei finally asked, keeping his voice steady.
"Which clan?"
Ayaka looked up at him and shook her head slightly.
"Not yet.
I need more confirmation before I can be certain."
She placed the now pristine Sharingan eyes carefully into the vessel.
They glowed faintly beneath the glass,
pulsing with a quiet, unnatural life.
"For now," she said softly,
"let's see what these eyes can do.
After all—
we've gone through too much to create them."