The crimson world sank into darkness. Time seemed to slow, its passage deliberate and unyielding, descending into a soundless void.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, light filling his vision.
Above him hung a dim lamp, its light not particularly bright but unbearably piercing at that moment.
Ye Zi, now awake, stared blankly at the lamp before slowly raising his hand and placing it before his eyes. It was a hand free of any injuries. His body felt no pain, and even his severed arm had grown back. In other words, all his wounds had fully healed.
How much time had passed?
"You're awake," came a familiar voice from beside him, it was Orochimaru's voice.
"Where's Kotoe?" Ye Zi's voice trembled slightly as he spoke, his hand still covering his eyes. His ears, now healed, picked up the words clearly.
"She's dead," Orochimaru stated plainly, delivering the truth with his characteristic bluntness.
Ye Zi fell into a deathly silence.
It was a question that didn't need to be asked, and an answer that didn't need to be repeated.
Kotoe was dead. He had already known this when he held her lifeless body in his arms.
It felt as though a part of his heart had been hollowed out.
It was a void she had never filled, and yet, it still left him feeling incomplete.
In the oppressive silence, his right eye transformed, the pitch-black pupil shifting into a three-tomoe Sharingan.
"...Heh heh…"
Ye Zi pressed a hand over his right eye, letting out a low, bitter laugh as grief gripped his heart like the claws of a cruel witch.
Orochimaru watched silently from the side. The awakening of a single Sharingan confirmed that Ye Zi possessed Uchiha blood. But why had only one eye awakened?
The oppressive and subdued laughter echoed in the small room, the only sound breaking the stillness.
The room was sparse, containing only a bed and a medical table with various supplies. Ye Zi sat on the bed, cloaked in grief.
Placing his index finger gently against his right eye, he could feel the changes happening, not through touch but through an awareness deep within his consciousness.
It wasn't just the transformation into a three-tomoe Sharingan. There was something more, something deeper.
Lowering his finger, Ye Zi revealed his transformed Sharingan, his face impassive.
The three tomoe of his right eye trembled slightly, as though undergoing another metamorphosis.
Orochimaru's serpentine eyes narrowed as he observed the changes. The three tomoe began to merge into the pupil, forming a distinct, angular shape that seemed to be crystallizing.
"This…"
Orochimaru's astonishment was evident, his gaze sparkling with fascination.
"Ye Zi, your Sharingan…"
The transformation was fascinating and entirely unprecedented.
Ye Zi abruptly stopped laughing and stared coldly at Orochimaru. "Sharingan, huh…"
There was no surprise in his tone. Madara Uchiha had once told him he possessed diluted Uchiha blood. Awakening a single Sharingan was no longer a mystery.
The feedback from his eye revealed Orochimaru's chakra flow. It wasn't just sensory perception; it was something visible, something tangible, through his Sharingan.
Hiss…
Under Orochimaru's watchful gaze, Ye Zi's right Sharingan completed its transformation.
"This is…"
Orochimaru's eyes widened slightly. The three-tomoe Sharingan had morphed completely.
Within the crimson pupil, a sharp, angular swastika-like pattern had formed, distinct and mesmerizing.
Although unfamiliar with this specific shape, Orochimaru recognized it as a Sharingan evolution surpassing the three-tomoe form. He had never encountered such an eye before.
In Konoha, the only known users of the Mangekyō Sharingan were Fugaku and Shisui Uchiha. However, Fugaku had concealed his Mangekyō, leaving Orochimaru unaware of its existence before his defection.
"A higher-level evolution of the Sharingan beyond the three tomoe?" Orochimaru muttered, his gaze fixed on Ye Zi's eye.
"This is the Mangekyō Sharingan," Ye Zi said coldly, his vision noticeably altered. He couldn't quite describe the sensation, but everything he saw appeared sharper, more vivid.
"Mangekyō Sharingan?" Orochimaru repeated, startled.
Ye Zi didn't elaborate further. Suppressing the unrelenting sorrow in his heart, he threw off the blanket, got out of bed, and walked into the bathroom.
Standing before the mirror, he stared at his reflection, the distinct Mangekyō Sharingan glaring back at him. His expression was icy.
"So it was Kotoe's death that awakened my Sharingan?" Ye Zi muttered with a trace of bitter self-mockery, his gaze growing colder by the second.
"Konoha… Edo Tensei."
He lowered his head, turned on the faucet, and cupped his hands to gather water, splashing it onto his face.
The icy water soaked his face as he calmly watched it flow along the edge of the sink, disappearing into the dark drain below.
After a few moments, he casually wiped the water from his face with his hand, turned around, and left the bathroom, returning to the room.
Seeing Ye Zi emerge, Orochimaru couldn't contain his curiosity and immediately asked, "What exactly is the Mangekyō Sharingan?"
"As you've seen, it's a higher-level form of the three-tomoe Sharingan, harboring a unique power," Ye Zi replied coldly, his gaze fixed on Orochimaru.
Having just awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, Ye Zi himself wasn't entirely sure what kind of abilities it would grant in its singular form.
Madara had once told him that the Rinnegan was the final evolution of the Sharingan, and that the Mangekyō Sharingan was a step toward achieving the Rinnegan.
"A unique power? How fascinating," Orochimaru remarked with a sinister smile, his expression betraying the spark of interest ignited by this discovery.
"Orochimaru, tell me everything that happened after I lost consciousness," Ye Zi demanded, his gaze sharp.
Suppressing his curiosity, Orochimaru nodded slightly and recounted everything in detail.
After Ye Zi lost consciousness, Orochimaru had carried him and fled for their lives. He admitted that it was thanks to Kotoe's poisonous thorns that they were granted the critical opportunity to escape.
Listening to Orochimaru's recount, Ye Zi remained silent. The image of Kotoe's body left behind lingered heavily in his mind.
"Kotoe could use Wood Release. To obtain information about controlling that ability, Konoha will likely study her body," Orochimaru said flatly.
Ye Zi's eyes flickered, his expression turning cold. "How long was I unconscious?"
"Ten days," Orochimaru replied. He had traveled day and night to bring Ye Zi back to the hideout. Between that journey and Ye Zi's recovery, ten days had passed.
"Ten days…" Ye Zi murmured, then turned to Orochimaru and said calmly, "Take me to meet the White Snake Sage."
Ye Zi had made his decision. He needed to go to Konoha.
But before that, he had to master Sage Mode.
Orochimaru was slightly startled upon hearing this.
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