Black flames brewed within Sasuke's eye sockets and seared into his body, tempering a proud backbone of steel.
Leaving Orochimaru's hideout and stepping into the dense forest on the border of the Land of Fire, Uchiha Sasuke felt as though he had shaken off an invisible shackle.
He was no longer that pitiful wretch blinded by lies and bent only on revenge.
He was Uchiha Sasuke! The Uchiha who had awakened the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan! The powerhouse about to unveil every truth and seize his own destiny!
This mixture of swelling power, shattered perception, and long-suppressed savagery churned and burned in his chest, finally turning into an arrogance that scorned everything.
He needed to vent, needed to prove the absolute strength these eyes brought him, needed to fill the hollow void and confusion inside with the wails and ruin of his enemies.
His figure shot through the trees, radiating an undisguised, icy, and flamboyant aura.
Although the Mangekyo Sharingan stayed shut most of the time, its faint, frigid ocular power still smoldered like embers in the dark.
Soon enough, some blind 'prey' ran straight into him.
A squad of seven or eight rogue Ninja—apparently deserters from some minor village—were resting in a forest clearing, piles of plunder beside them.
They reeked of blood and Evil Qi; clearly no decent folk.
When Sasuke's silhouette ghosted to the clearing's edge, the rogues sprang up, weapons bared, surrounding him with hostility.
'Kid, judging by your gear, which village? Hand over anything valuable and maybe we let you live!'
The scar-faced brute leading them grinned ferociously, obviously mistaking Sasuke for a lone fat sheep.
Sasuke stopped and slowly lifted his head. Beneath tousled black bangs his eyes remained shut, but the corners of his mouth curved into an icy, cruel arc.
'Spare my life?' he echoed, voice dripping with disdain and mockery. 'Hahaha! Just you... ants?'
'Stinking brat! Looking for death!' The scarred man roared, signaled, and several underlings hurled assorted low-level Ninjutsu—wind blades, fireballs, earthen spikes—in a chaotic barrage at Sasuke.
Faced with the onslaught, Sasuke didn't even consider dodging; he simply opened those eyes—slowly.
Voom—
An eerie crimson glint lit his cold face as the Mangekyo pattern, suffused with dreadful majesty and deathly stillness, began to spin.
Time seemed to freeze.
In Sasuke's Mangekyo vision the incoming techniques moved in slow motion, their Chakra flow riddled with openings, fragile beyond belief.
His gaze swept indifferently over the three rogues charging in front.
'Amaterasu.'
No hand seals, no buildup—just two quiet words, a death god's whisper.
Next moment.
'Aaaargh—!!'
A scream of ultimate agony tore through the forest's hush.
The three Ninja his eyes had brushed were suddenly engulfed in jet-black flame! The fire seemed born from the deepest Hell, bearing an unyielding will to burn all existence; it devoured their flesh.
No chance to resist, no way to extinguish it.
Water Release only made the flames burn the water itself; Earth Release smothered, yet soil turned to nothingness! In a few breaths the three living men were erased before their comrades' horrified eyes—not even ash remained. Only a faint scorched smell and the chill of extinguished Souls lingered to prove they'd ever existed.
Silence—deathly silence!
The remaining rogues, scarred man included, stood rooted as if frozen, their former grins replaced by boundless terror.
They stared at those inhuman crimson eyes, at the black flames born from nothing, minds blank.
W-what power?! A demon?!
Sasuke's gaze swept the survivors with the detachment one reserves for pebbles on the roadside.
'M-monster! Run!!'
Someone shrieked in collapse; the rest scattered like startled birds, Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, never daring to look back.
Sasuke did not pursue.
He stood there, feeling the faint burning in his left eye and the Chakra drain, yet a surge of indescribable elation welled up inside.
See? This is power—absolute power! Life and death at my whim! Konoha Leadership... before these eyes they're nothing but clay chickens and mud dogs!
He pressed a hand over the eye, savoring its sting.
'Ants... not even worth my seriousness.'
He muttered, arrogance nearly overflowing.
From then on Sasuke fully embraced this 'block my path—die' arrogance.
Bandits occupying a mountain pass demanding tolls?
One Amaterasu.
A wild beast drawn by the scent of blood?
One Amaterasu!
He no longer hid, no longer cared. The Mangekyo Sharingan became his emblem and scepter of power; wherever he walked there was either utter ruin or utter dread.
He relished this feeling of control, relished watching the weak tremble and break before him.
It let him forget, if only for a moment, the pain and confusion inside, numbing inner torment with outward destruction.
Under the catalyst of power and the impact of truth, his mind had already warped.
Sunset found Sasuke atop a high cliff, gazing down upon the vast land.
Gale whipped his robe and hair; the Mangekyo reflected the dying light with an icy, demonic gleam.
'Power... this is power... the same eyes as Itachi—what can stop me now?!'
His voice carried on the wind, boundless madness within it.
Meanwhile, back home, Hinata heard the System chime.
[Ding! Key character Uchiha Sasuke has deviated from the original plot and set out on his own quest for truth; destiny line drastically altered!]
[Sasuke has finally stood up! The System already has popcorn ready for this brotherly ethics drama! Reward: 20,000 points!]
[System: Heaven help us! Nizhu Zi actually broke the curse that Amaterasu never kills—he just incinerated several people! And beasts! Now even passing stray dogs get a dose of Amaterasu!]
[Current points: 80,550.]
Hinata was stunned.
She never imagined Sasuke would break the tradition that Amaterasu couldn't kill—if Amaterasu could burn people to death, what about Fire Release?
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