A wooden ceiling, blood-stained tatami mats, and pale moonlight streaming through the thin paper window illuminated the dim room with a faint glow.
Cough, cough.
Sasuke forced his eyes open, his head throbbing violently. Even the slightest movement sent searing pain through his body, making it difficult to move. He slowly began to scan his surroundings.
A wooden ceiling, faint moonlight, the overwhelming, lingering stench of blood filling his nostrils, and the distant sound of footsteps fading away on the wooden floor behind the door.
'This is the best-case scenario.'
'Obito should be on a distant rooftop now, and Uchiha Itachi has already cleared the area around this room.'
'This is my best chance!'
In his previous life, whether in the anime, manga, or official novels, the Night of the Massacre had been recounted repeatedly, again and again.
In the anime's 720 episodes, perhaps 20 full episodes were devoted to this particular arc.
Compared to such blatant, maddeningly padded flashbacks, web novel authors looked like amateurs.
Despite the padding, the main narrative of the Uchiha Clan Massacre Night remains consistent across various adaptations.
However, details vary significantly. For instance, the death of Uchiha Itachi's lover, Uchiha Izumi, differs in the anime, manga, novel, and side stories.
Another variation involves Sasuke's initial encounter with Tsukuyomi.
In one version, after falling into the genjutsu, Sasuke panics and flees, only to be pursued and brutally defeated again by Itachi.
In this scenario, Sasuke's Sharingan remains dormant, and the flashback ends.
In another version, after Sasuke collapses under Tsukuyomi, Itachi simply leaves.
Sasuke awakens and pursues his brother, activating his Sharingan. He is once again ruthlessly defeated, and the flashback ends.
As he entered this room, Sasuke deliberately steered events toward the latter scenario.
His mind raced like lightning as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. Time was running out; the door behind him had already closed. This was his only chance to obtain the Mangekyō.
He knew Itachi had shown mercy; otherwise, he wouldn't have woken up at all. Following this trajectory, he should regain full consciousness within minutes, then chase after his brother to play out the predetermined script.
'No sense of being watched.'
Staggering to the tatami mat, Sasuke's nostrils were assaulted by the stench of blood.
Gazing down at the two corpses sprawled on the floor, a knife-like pain stabbed through his heart, his breath catching in his throat. Waves of searing agony surged from his eyes, drilling into his brain.
His head throbbed with renewed intensity. Tears, tinged with streaks of crimson, streamed down his face, soaking his neck and collar.
Sasuke tried to regain control, but found it utterly impossible. With a silent sigh, he surrendered to the torrent.
Unfurling a scroll, he retrieved his katana, a bottle of saline solution, and a pair of transparent gloves.
Gazing at the serene, almost peaceful faces of the two figures on the floor—faces devoid of any lingering pain or resentment—Sasuke felt a sharp stab of pain in his heart, and his raised hands trembled slightly.
'No more delay!'
Clenching his jaw, Sasuke hardened his resolve and thrust his fingers into their eye sockets.
Squish!
More blood tears streamed down Sasuke's face, darkening to an almost black hue.
His once-deep black eyes had long since transformed into the crimson, menacing three-tomoe Sharingan, yet the youth ignored the burning pain and the unnatural change in his eyes, clenching his jaw as he forced himself to complete his task.
After sealing his parents' Sharingan into the storage scroll and destroying the transparent gloves, Sasuke forcefully averted his gaze from the corpses on the floor.
The transparent gloves he used should have left no fingerprints. He carried six storage scrolls, each with ten item slots, leaving twenty-three slots empty.
The remaining thirty-seven slots were sealed with various ninja tools, including Wind Demon Shuriken, Kunai, wire, and a katana.
If anyone suspected him, found the katana among these thirty-seven items, and saw through the disguise on its hilt, he would have no choice but to confess.
This was the best job he could do. But who would suspect that a young boy who had just witnessed the massacre of his clan would carry out such a meticulous plan, layering multiple disguises?
After finishing everything, he plucked a strand of his hair and mixed it into the scroll's opening. If anyone opened the scroll, he would know.
Sasuke gasped for breath. Ninety seconds had passed. He still needed to join his brother and finish their unfinished act.
Reaching the door, Sasuke couldn't resist glancing back at the corpses on the ground. He sighed inwardly.
Perhaps now that they had lost their Sharingan, their corpses would be spared the desecration of becoming experimental subjects. But wasn't what he had just done a form of desecration in itself?
'I'm sorry...'
'But to become stronger, I have to do this.'
Without another glance back, he sprinted out of the room.
Drawing his mind back from the memories, Sasuke gazed at the two saline bottles containing pairs of Sharingan eyes in the dimly lit room. His emotions gradually settled, returning to his usual calm.
After expending immense effort and painstaking work to finally obtain one of this world's greatest treasures, his mind had briefly become clouded, and he had momentarily lost control of his emotions.
Sasuke frowned. He wasn't usually one to act impulsively or let his emotions get the better of him.
Yet, upon returning home and sensing that no one had been spying on him, he had immediately rushed to open the scroll, eager to confirm the status of his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Upon confirming their authenticity, he had even let out that strange, arrogant chuckle.
'Was this lingering influence from this body's personality? Or perhaps a unique flaw inherent to the Uchiha Clan?'
As he pondered this, Sasuke calmly sealed the items back into the scroll. These things would be crucial for his future progress, perhaps even determining whether he could reach the pinnacle of this world.
After all, these were his parents' Sharingan—essential components for his future evolution into the Eternal Mangekyō. In a sense, the blood bond between parents and children ran deeper than that between siblings.
If merging two pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan created the Eternal Mangekyō, then what about three pairs?
What about four pairs?
Could they evolve into the Rinnegan?
Or perhaps a super Sharingan that rivals the Rinnegan?
His mother's Sharingan was only the three-tomoe version, but the ninja world was full of strange and mysterious phenomena. It wasn't impossible for her Sharingan to evolve into the Mangekyō in the future.
If that happened, and he awakened his own Mangekyō, he would possess three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan.
However, two crucial questions needed to be considered: Could three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan be fused?
After all, the original narrative only featured the fusion of two pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan. No instance of fusing three pairs had ever been documented, leaving the feasibility uncertain.
Another consideration was that both his mother's and father's Sharingan were from blood relatives.
Yet his parents were not blood relatives themselves. Though they were married and belonged to the same clan, they were not siblings or close kin.
Sasuke should be able to fuse with either of their Sharingan individually, but their own Sharingan were inherently incompatible.
Could he act as a medium to fuse both his parents' Sharingan?
This required further investigation.
As for the fourth pair of Mangekyō Sharingan...
When Sasuke thought of Uchiha Itachi, his eyes flickered slightly.