Time goes back a little earlier.
Uchiha Takumi was carrying his unconscious brother, moving rapidly through the dense forest.
His body flicker technique was extremely fast. Every flicker could cover a distance of dozens of meters.
However, the piercing wound in Uchiha Ryota's abdomen had only been temporarily stopped by simple medical ninjutsu. The internal organs were severely damaged, and the blood loss was excessive. The situation was extremely critical.
Uchiha Takumi felt that even if Lady Tsunade from the village were here, she might not be able to save his brother.
Using body flicker technique again to appear on the branch of a large tree, Uchiha Takumi stopped.
He gently placed Uchiha Ryota down, letting him lean against the tree trunk.
Looking at his brother's pale face, a trace of ferocity flashed across Uchiha Takumi's face. Those newly awakened Mangekyo Sharingan involuntantly appeared again.
"Ryota, hold on!"
Uchiha Takumi murmured in a low voice. The pattern in his right Mangekyo suddenly began to spin rapidly.
A force different from ordinary chakra, deeper and colder, surged from his right eye.
He stared intently at his brother's heavily injured body, silently thinking in his heart.
"Reverse."
An invisible, indescribable force of law enveloped Uchiha Ryota.
The next moment, a miracle happened.
The gruesome wounds on Uchiha Ryota's body began to reverse at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The spilled blood seemed to have a life of its own and flowed back into the body. The torn clothing rewoven as if time were flowing backward. The piercing wound in the abdomen rapidly healed, leaving not even a scar. The deep, bone visible cut on his face also completely disappeared, restored to smooth skin. The fractured arm automatically reconnected, as if it had never been injured.
Even his consumed stamina and chakra were restored to their state before the injury.
This was the ocular power of Uchiha Takumi's right Mangekyo. Time-Scar Crossing.
It was not simple healing, but directly acting on a specific target, "reversing" its state back to a previous point in time.
This ability could be called heaven defying.
However, the price for using such a monstrous ability was enormous.
A sharp, burning pain came from his right eye. Uchiha Takumi groaned and knelt on the tree branch. A few drops of crimson blood also flowed from his right eye.
At the same time, a strong sense of dizziness struck, causing his body to sway. His chakra and mental energy were instantly drained by more than half.
"Hn..."
At that moment, Uchiha Ryota let out a comfortable groan and slowly opened his eyes.
"I... this is..."
He sat up abruptly, touching his abdomen, cheek, and arm in disbelief. "The injuries... all gone? It doesn't hurt at all? Even the chakra... recovered?"
He clearly remembered how severely injured he was before. It was absolutely fatal.
How could he be completely intact in such a short time?
"Brother? Is it you... what ninjutsu did you use on me?"
Uchiha Ryota looked at Uchiha Takumi who was covering his eye beside him, his heart filled with shock and confusion.
Uchiha Takumi slowly lowered his hand, revealing a face tinged with exhaustion and those Mangekyo Sharingan still flowing with blood.
"Not entirely ninjutsu." His voice was unusually hoarse.
Uchiha Ryota's gaze was instantly captivated by his brother's eyes, which he had never seen before, emitting a strange and powerful aura.
The complex pattern, the immense ocular power... it far exceeded his understanding of the Sharingan.
"Brother... your eyes... these are..."
Uchiha Takumi looked at his brother's astonished expression, took a deep breath, suppressed the intense pain in his right eye and the mental fatigue, and slowly deactivated the Mangekyo.
"This is the Mangekyo Sharingan, a higher stage of the Sharingan's evolution."
Uchiha Takumi had automatically understood at the moment of awakening the Mangekyo. He explained calmly.
"Mangekyo... Sharingan?"
Uchiha Ryota muttered, his eyes full of curiosity and longing. "So powerful! When did you awaken it, brother? Just now? Was it because of me..."
He thought of his brother's furious appearance when he was critically injured and near death.
"Yes."
Uchiha Takumi nodded, confirming his brother's guess. "Just when I saw you severely injured, and heard them say... they wanted to dig out your eyes."
His tone was still calm, but Uchiha Ryota could feel the hidden anger and lingering fear beneath that calm.
"These eyes have granted me two new powers."
Uchiha Takumi continued to explain, pointing to his right eye. "The ability of this eye is called 'Time-Scar Crossing'. It can select a target and reverse its state back to a previous point in time. Just now, I used it to completely heal your injuries."
Then he pointed to his left eye. "The ability of this eye is called 'Divine Crossing'. It is a space time ninjutsu that allows me to perform ultra long distance instantaneous movement, and I can also bring others along."
Uchiha Ryota listened, dumbfounded.
Time reversal? Space time movement?
These were abilities only gods could possess.
No wonder brother could catch up to the fleeing enemies, and restore me to perfect condition in such a short time.
"So... so strong! Time-Scar Crossing... Divine Crossing... Brother, your Mangekyo abilities are so strong!"
Uchiha Ryota's voice trembled with excitement. He looked at his brother with immense admiration. "As expected of brother! The strongest genius in the history of our Uchiha clan!"
With such powerful abilities, his brother's future was absolutely limitless.
He even felt that his brother was more powerful than the ancestors recorded in the clan.
However, facing his brother's excitement and admiration, Uchiha Takumi's face showed no trace of joy. Instead, a hint of bitterness appeared.
He raised his hand and gently stroked his brother's now smooth cheek, his eyes filled with heartache.
"Ryota, if possible, I would rather never awaken these eyes."
"Huh? Why?"
Uchiha Ryota was very confused. Wasn't possessing such powerful strength the dream of every ninja?
"Because the awakening of these eyes means... I almost lost you."
Uchiha Takumi's voice was low, carrying deep lingering fear and pain. "Compared to obtaining this so called divine power, I would rather you be safe and sound, never experience such danger, never shed so much blood."
Looking at his brother's face, still somewhat flushed but unable to hide the shock, he said word by word.
"No matter how strong the power is, if it cannot protect those I want to protect, then to me, it is meaningless. Do you understand, Ryota? You are more important to me than these eyes, than any power."
Uchiha Ryota was completely stunned.
An unprecedented, scalding torrent of emotion instantly shattered his emotional defenses.
Brother... brother actually cares about me this much!
For my sake, he is even unwilling to have such powerful strength!
Compared to my safety, that power which could shake the ninja world is actually worthless in his eyes!
Intense emotional fluctuations crashed against his brain and eyes like a tsunami.
The black tomoe in his eyes appeared uncontrollably and began to spin wildly.
One... two...
A third black tomoe struggled within the crimson background, finally condensing clearly into shape.
The three tomoe rotated at a constant speed, emitting a stronger wave of ocular power than before.
Three Tomoe Sharingan!
Under the extreme feeling of being moved and the deep dependence on his elder brother, Uchiha Ryota's Sharingan finally evolved again, reaching the Three Tomoe stage.
"Brother...!"
Uchiha Ryota's voice was choked with tears. He threw himself forward, hugging Uchiha Takumi with all his strength, tears gushing out.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, brother! I made you worry! I swear! I will definitely become stronger in the future! Strong enough to stand by your side, strong enough that you won't have to worry about me anymore, strong enough to face all dangers with you! I will use these new eyes to protect you forever!"
Listening to his brother's tearful yet unwavering oath, looking at the clear three tomoe in his brother's eyes, the corner of Uchiha Takumi's mouth, frozen for so long, finally lifted slightly into a warm curve.
He stretched out his arms and hugged his brother back tightly.
"Idiot. As long as you are safe, that's enough."
...
Orphanage.
Sora sat cross legged on the bed. Three brand new scrolls were spread out in front of him.
These were exactly what he had obtained by exchanging Sarutobi Hiruzen's written order at the Anbu jutsu archive.
His gaze first swept over the other two scrolls. One was Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere. The other was Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique.
'Tsk, as expected.'
Sora curled his lip, unable to hold back his inner complaint. 'I knew that old fox Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn't be that generous.'
Sarutobi Hiruzen said to choose any three jutsu freely, but it didn't include contents from the Scroll of Seals, like the Flying Thunder God Technique or Impure World Reincarnation.
A hint of a mocking curve appeared at the corner of Sora's mouth. He wasn't really surprised by this.
He hadn't really expected to get any heaven defying forbidden techniques with this. After all, his greatest trump card and source of power had never been these jutsu.
His Azure Dragon Fruit abilities, whether it was the terrifying physical qualities brought by full beast transformation, the flight ability, or the power to control elements like wind, lightning, fire, water, and more, had long surpassed the vast majority of jutsu in terms of potential and versatility.
What he lacked was never means of attack, but chakra quantity and abilities in some special areas.
Sora's gaze finally fell on the third scroll, the one he valued most. "Adamantine Sealing Chains."
In his memory from the original work, Uzumaki Kushina, even in a weakened state from childbirth, could use this technique to temporarily bind the berserk Nine Tails. Its power was evident.
Sora chose it for three reasons.
First, naturally, he was drawn to its powerful sealing and binding capabilities.
Whether facing powerful enemies in the future, or certain individuals with weird substitution techniques, Adamantine Sealing Chains could provide a strong point of control. For example, a certain snake.
Second, it was to compensate for his current lack of means against giant chakra aggregates.
Although the Azure Dragon Fruit abilities were strong, they were more reflected in elemental attacks and close combat. Facing pure energy entities, at this stage, a specialized technique like Adamantine Sealing Chains was obviously more effective.
And the most crucial reason was the third one.
The beginning of the scroll clearly mentioned that practicing this technique required possessing Uzumaki clan lineage, or having life force and chakra control far beyond ordinary people.
Sora happened to meet this condition.
Without further hesitation, Sora fully unrolled the "Adamantine Sealing Chains" scroll and immersed himself in it.
The content within the scroll was more abstract than the "Four Symbols Seal" he had learned before.
It didn't have many complex seal structures. It focused more on the extreme application of chakra shape transformation and nature transformation, and a unique "chain" concept.
It required taking one's own massive and life force filled chakra, manifesting it from the back in an extremely stable, tough form, and condensing it into physical chakra chains.
These chains were not lifeless. They moved according to the user's will. They could whip like steel whips, entangle like spider webs, and their core ability was "sealing."
Sealing movement, sealing the flow of chakra, and even to a certain extent, interfering with spiritual energy.
While understanding, Sora pondered to himself.
'No wonder it requires Uzumaki clan bloodline.'
'This technique, which directly condenses chakra to a high degree and materializes it, while maintaining its stability and strength, consumes an immense amount of chakra and life force. An ordinary ninja, even if they understood the principle, would probably be drained dry just condensing one chain.'
But once successfully mastered, its power was extremely strong. Just like Karin in the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Adamantine Sealing Chains she subconsciously erupted with instantly suppressed the army of White Zetsu. That momentum was quite frightening.
After first reading through the scroll once to clarify his thoughts, Sora wasted no more time.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
With a light shout, five shadow clones appeared beside him.
Including the original, six pairs of eyes focused on the scroll simultaneously.
The original was responsible for overall comprehension of that "chain" concept, as well as the chakra flow route through specific meridians in the body.
The five shadow clones were responsible for mobilizing chakra, attempting to condense a small section of golden energy chain in their palms.
However, as soon as the chakra left the body, it became extremely unstable. It either quickly dissipated, or couldn't maintain the chain form, turning into a blurry mass of light.
Right at the start of training, the difficulty far exceeded expectations.
But with every failure, the understanding brought back by the dispersing shadow clones would return to the original.
Fail, disperse, recover, try again...
Relying on the experience stacking brought by the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, and the formidable recovery power granted by the Azure Dragon Fruit, Sora practiced "Adamantine Sealing Chains" like the most diligent craftsman, over and over again.
...
Time quietly passed amidst the monotonous repetition.
It was unknown how long had passed, how many failures had been experienced.
Finally, when Sora's original body once again tried to mobilize the chakra in his back and guide it to his palm, a faint golden thread of light emerged.
Sora held his breath, concentrating fully on maintaining the chakra output.
That faint golden thread of light stabilized for a few seconds. Although it was still very far from the true metal chain state described in the scroll, it indeed, unmistakably, presented a rudimentary form of a "chain."
A weak, yet crystal clear sense of "sealing" emanated from this thread of light.
Promising.
A glint of joy flashed in Sora's eyes.
Although this was just the first step of a long journey, not even counted as truly mastering the basics, it at least proved his direction was correct.
'The road is long, but at least there's hope now.'
Sora dispersed the golden thread of light in his palm, feeling his chakra bottoming out once again. Yet, his face wore a satisfied expression.
For tonight, it ends here. The rest is a matter of persistent, gradual effort.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Like the story? Read 120 chapters ahead!
🔗 patreon.com/atomelectron
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━