Side Effects
"Taiyi! Your eyes!?"
At Shikamaru's cry, both Shirō and Nakamura—who had still been watching the movements of the Seven-Tails behind them—snapped their heads around.
They saw Taiyi clutching his face, blood seeping between his fingers.
"Taiyi! Hold on! I'll heal you right away!" Shirō shouted, extending his right hand.
"Projection… activate!"
But the moment the words left his lips, his right arm spasmed violently. Pain lanced through him and he let out a strangled cry, half-kneeling on the back of the giant bird.
The backlash was brutal. His earlier Projection had already overloaded his magic circuits, and pushing them again so soon only worsened the damage. Unlike muscles that adapt with training, circuits had a fixed capacity—forcing them past their limit only tore them down further.
Seeing this, Nakamura's face tightened. Shikamaru reached out instinctively, but before he could move, Taiyi lowered his hand, eyes only half open, scarlet tomoe faintly flickering.
"Don't worry. It's just an overuse of ocular power," he rasped. "I just need to rest."
"I'm fine too," Shirō managed, clutching his arm. "Just overload… again. Give me a bit and I'll recover."
Nakamura gave them a hard look before nodding. "Good. Then rest. Both of you. I'll take control of the bird."
"Yes, Captain," Shirō said hoarsely.
"Thanks… sensei," Taiyi added with a faint smile.
Shirō glanced at him, but said nothing.
He knew the truth: this wasn't mere chakra exhaustion. The Mangekyō Sharingan always carried a cost. While simple activation wouldn't blind an Uchiha, using its power recklessly could scar the eyes. And Taiyi's Mangekyō wasn't even a natural awakening—it was a half-formed derivation of a Noble Phantasm, lacking proper techniques and stability. Without the crucible of trauma to temper it, his foundation was fragile.
Forcing ocular power on such a frame—on top of subduing a Tailed Beast, even a semi-conscious one—was ruinous. His vision had already taken damage. Taiyi simply refused to admit it.
Not only because he didn't want his comrades to worry, but also because the Uchiha guarded this truth jealously. Even within the clan, most never learned that the Mangekyō burned away eyesight with use. To reveal it openly would be a betrayal of their bloodline's secrets.
Shirō understood this, which was why he bit back his words.
Still, he wasn't too troubled. He already had a method to treat the damage. He had been about to Project a Noble Phantasm capable of healing, but his own circuits had given out before he could. Once he recovered, he could try again. That artifact did not require True Name Release to work.
As he weighed his options, Nakamura's calm voice broke the silence.
"Remember this: today we did not fight the Seven-Tails. We only saw it from afar and barely escaped with our lives. Understood?"
Shikamaru blinked, then quickly nodded. "Yes. It was too close—we were lucky to survive."
"Thank you, sensei… thank you all," Taiyi said quietly, gratitude flickering across his weary face.
"And I…" Shirō added, forcing a grin, "I only collapsed because I overdid it with those projected exploding tags. Nothing special."
Everyone's eyes slid toward Katsuki, who had been uncharacteristically quiet. She startled, glanced around nervously, then promptly collapsed in exaggerated fashion.
"Ah—I fainted! I was terrified! Don't ask me anything. My head's spinning—I'm going to sleep now." She flopped over dramatically.
"…Pfft." A round of laughter broke out, the suffocating tension easing at last.
But Nakamura's mind remained sharp. He knew very well what he had witnessed: the Mangekyō Sharingan, and Shirō's mysterious ability to trigger it in others. Even if the effect was fleeting, it was an unthinkable power.
If the Uchiha clan ever discovered someone could accelerate their evolution to Mangekyō, Konoha would be plunged into chaos. The clan was already at odds with the Hokage's line; giving them such a weapon would shatter the fragile balance of power.
As a Jōnin, Nakamura had glimpsed enough of the village's politics to know: this secret must never spread.
Fortunately, only five people knew.
Shirō himself had weighed the same risk. He had abandoned the technique precisely because the backlash was too severe, essentially making it a one-use trump card. But this crisis had forced his hand.
He knew well: forcibly awakening the Mangekyō wasn't like skipping ahead in cultivation novels. It didn't grant blessings. It only drained potential, corroded the body, and left scars that could never be erased.
Normally, awakening involved unbearable trauma—grief or rage that reshaped the spirit, fusing with chakra to manifest the Mangekyō. The pain itself forced the Uchiha bloodline to evolve, providing just enough growth to survive the burden. That was why true awakenings left the wielder stronger, not simply from the eyes' power but from the transformation of their very being.
But Taiyi had been given the eyes without that metamorphosis. His body had not grown to match. His future had already been burned for the present.
Even so, if it bought them survival, it was worth the cost.
The group fell into quiet recovery.
Meanwhile, deep within the forest, Black Zetsu slithered back to the Seven-Tails' impact site. The Jinchūriki still lay battered in the crater, half-buried in stone. Zetsu narrowed his eyes.
But before he could act, shinobi from Takigakure arrived, racing to their comrade's aid. Zetsu withdrew instantly.
"Tch. Too risky. I'll leave this one to Madara. I still need his trust—without it, my movements are too restricted. I'll have to lay more groundwork before making another move…"
He melted into the shadows once more.
For now, patience was the greater weapon.
Visit patreon.com/MexxyWave to get access to 30+ chapters