In a cheap little inn at the edge of town, five figures sat crowded around a low square table, their voices low and excited. At the center of their evening—both literally and figuratively—floated a single object in a glass bottle.
A Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Look at this pattern," the man called Rock said, holding the bottle up toward the hanging lamp. "Isn't it beautiful? The design, the symmetry… pure artwork."
The others leaned in.
The glass bottle was filled with a pale nutrient solution—mostly formalin—and the blood-red eye floated in it, its intricate pattern shimmering faintly under the light.
"As expected of a Uchiha eye," Heimlin murmured. "So vivid… still usable. I wonder what kind of price it'll fetch."
"Why don't we test it first?" he suggested. "See how much of its pupil power it still has."
Before he could reach out, Ezis grabbed his wrist and yanked it back.
"I know what you're thinking," Ezis snorted. "You're dying to see what this Mangekyō can do. Don't be stupid. Eyes like that aren't meant for just anybody."
"If the eye technique backfires, you'll be drained dry before you even understand what happened."
Rock's brows drew together.
If they couldn't use the eye, what was it besides a very fragile, very expensive ornament?
Seeing his concern, Ezis waved it off casually. "We came out here to hunt tailed beasts. Stumbling across something like this on the way? That's luck. Pure luck."
"This eye alone might be enough to get us promoted… maybe even into the inner circle of the organization."
"Is it really that powerful?" Heimlin asked. "Its owner died pretty easily."
Ezis rolled her eyes.
"You think a Mangekyō Sharingan is something you just spam like a basic jutsu?" she snapped. "It demands a tough body and insane chakra reserves. That girl was small and still growing. If she tried to use its full power, she'd collapse before she finished the technique."
She clicked her tongue.
"To awaken eyes like this at her age by sheer talent—and then die so pathetically, leaving the benefits to us… Honestly, it's almost funny."
"I heard using them too much causes blindness," someone else muttered. "Will that… affect the price?"
Ezis smirked. "Did you forget how advanced the organization's tech is? Problems that stump normal medics are child's play to them."
Heimlin shuddered slightly, remembering the experiments he'd heard rumors about—but his worry faded quickly.
That research could regenerate even a severed head in an instant. They say their understanding of the human body has reached its peak. Now the only thing they're chasing is immortality.
The five of them chatted easily, their imaginations spinning futures of wealth and status as they stared at the Mangekyō floating in its bottle.
They lifted their glasses, golden liquor swirling like tiny waves.
With one soft gulp, they emptied them, toasting a glorious future.
Then the eye in the bottle flickered.
A strange light swept across all five faces in an instant.
They froze. Confused, they stared back at the Mangekyō, but it floated there quietly—just an eye in a jar.
—Illusion: Kaleidoscope.
For a moment, none of them spoke.
"Maybe I'm drinking too much," Rock muttered. "My tolerance's dropped lately. I'm dizzy after a few glasses…"
He rubbed his head, trying to clear it—
And then he noticed something else in the room.
Another presence.
Standing there, perfectly visible.
"You—!" Rock's eyes widened. "The brat with the Mangekyō!"
He didn't stop to question how she'd survived the flames. He leapt to his feet, hands already flying through hand seals as he retreated.
"Move!" he shouted to his companions. "I'm using Wind Slash!"
Rock's rocky forearm hardened and elongated, his body twisting into a swing. Chakra surged as he slashed at the air, unleashing a sharp crescent wind blade at "Sarada."
Sarada—who was nowhere near Woyin Village in reality—looked stunned in his vision.
"Are you insane?!" she shouted, losing her composure for a moment as she dove aside.
Just as Rock steadied himself, the other three suddenly moved around him, spreading out in a line. Their expressions were hostile—surprised, yes, but filled with murderous intent.
"Even if you survived once, you're still dead," Heimlin hissed.
The four of them concentrated on the retreating "Sarada," hands blurring through seals.
"Wind Release: Pressure Cannon!"
"Fire Release: Agave!"
"Fire Release: Demon Dance!"
"Wind Release: Chaotic Airflow!"
Four large-scale jutsu erupted at once. To prevent her from dodging, they had chosen area attacks from the start.
No matter how fast the target moved, there would be nowhere to run.
"You're all crazy!" "Sarada," shouted. "You're insane!"
He didn't have time to be angry. The combined ninjutsu roaring toward him was more than enough to kill him outright.
His body reacted on pure instinct.
He slammed a hand to the floor.
A massive earth wall surged upward in front of "Sarada," blocking the barrage.
BOOM—!!
Flames roared and swelled, wind fanning them into a raging inferno that licked the sky like a dragon's tongue. The heat baked the earth until the soil dried, cracked, and finally crumbled with a resounding crash.
Behind the wall, "Sarada" stared, stunned.
There was no way a mere barrier could completely block the combined jutsu of four seasoned fighters.
He didn't try.
At the last moment, he used Earth Release to dive into the ground.
The inferno vaporized the earth he had just been standing on, reducing the inn to rubble.
"Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!"
He burst from the ground without warning, grabbed one of his own teammates by the ankle, and dragged the poor soul down into the earth.
"Damn brat!" Ezis cursed. She slapped her palms to the scorched ground, chakra surging.
"Earth Release: Earth Rising Formation!"
The ground beneath them heaved and buckled. The two caught underground were quickly forced back up, their bodies pushed out by the upward swell of earth.
Seeing this, "Sarada" sprang back. There was still a sea of fire all around them. Every step backward was a gamble.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
"Lightning Release: Lightning Draw!"
Rock and Helim moved together, their seals synchronized. A massive wave of water thundered forward, lightning crackling through it like a nest of angry snakes.
"Sarada" swore, formed seals, and stomped—
An earthen pillar shot up beneath his feet, launching him into the air before the electrified torrent could swallow him.
Being swallowed by water was bad enough.
Being swallowed by water filled with lightning was worse.
Ezis didn't slow down.
"Fire Release: Flaming Tornado!"
The flames still left on the ground were sucked upward by a roaring column of wind, combining into a towering vortex of fire. The hurricane's howl made the flames burn even more furiously.
Even though the area below was soaked by the waterfall, the firestorm refused to die.
With water and fire raging together in impossible harmony, "Sarada's"—no, Tazeshi's—face turned pale.
There was nowhere to run.
No way to block.
"What the hell are you doing? It's me—Tazeshi!!"
He shouted in panic.
No one listened.
In their eyes, he was Sarada—the Uchiha with the Mangekyō—who had somehow crawled out of fire and refused to stay dead.
So they wanted to erase this "abnormality" as quickly as possible.
Tazeshi was terrified.
Death was closing in on him from every direction.
But terror didn't mean helplessness.
He reached for his pouch, yanked out a scroll, and unrolled it midair. After a rapid hand seal, a small turquoise crystal popped into his hand.
Its size was unimpressive; its power was not.
Sensing the approaching ninjutsu, the crystal lit up, glowing a bright, eerie green.
It began to pull.
And devour.
The combined Water–Lightning attack, the sweeping flames, the roaring tornado—the crystal sucked it all in.
No matter the element—fire, water, wind, lightning—every jutsu that touched its field was swallowed whole.
The battlefield went still.
Tazeshi exhaled shakily, clutching the crystal. He glared down at the three hostile faces staring up at him and sank deep into thought.
Could it be… genjutsu?
He recalled the odd glint in the Mangekyō just moments before.
After that, his comrades had suddenly started attacking him like he was the enemy.
As he hovered there, crystal still absorbing lingering chakra, he realized:
They were all looking at him with absolute hostility.
Three of his own comrades.
Even if they shared hatred for the same enemy…There was no reason to go this far against one of their own.
A chill crawled up his spine.
He suddenly turned his gaze downward, scanning the scorched ground.
Where is the one I dragged underground?
The inn was gone. The ground was shattered and burned black. There were no other bodies.
Not his comrade.
Not the girl with the Mangekyō.
A heavy unease settled in his stomach.
At the same time, another thought struck him.
Where's the eye?
The Mangekyō in the bottle—the source of all of this—
was gone.
From the moment they'd started attacking, they had completely neglected everything else. The eye might have been a terrifying weapon, but without a wielder, it was still just a fragile organ.
Did that little Mangekyō devil come for us? he wondered.
He didn't believe in ghosts.
If anyone was behind this, it was likely the "little devil" from that burned village—the girl who had awakened a Mangekyō at twelve or thirteen.
You didn't just let someone like that roam around.
…
Back in Shadow Village, where the white-robed man and Sarada were tracking leads, the man suddenly paused mid-step.
He sneezed.
"…Tch," he muttered under his mask. "Someone must be talking about me."
---
A/N: Advanced Chapters Have Been Uploaded On My Patreon
Support: patreon.com/Narrator_San