Chapter 2: Formless Reincarnation
"You… you awakened the Sharingan too? Impossible!"
Uchiha Han could hardly believe his eyes. Mokunan, who had been gravely injured and teetering on the edge of death, had suddenly awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. Not only that—he had immediately unleashed an incredibly powerful ocular technique. Han froze for a split second, and by the time he tried to react, it was already too late.
"Hmph… It's useless. You've already been caught in my Formless Reincarnation—a dojutsu that, once it connects, is completely inescapable."
Mokunan let out a cold snort. The instant his Mangekyō awakened, he instinctively grasped the full scope of its power.
"I didn't expect it to be this terrifying…"
Even though it was his own ability, Mokunan couldn't help but feel a chill at the overwhelming might of Formless Reincarnation.
Before his eyes, a swirling vortex formed, pulling in Uchiha Han's hand—the one gripping the short blade. The instant it touched the vortex, both his hand and the blade disintegrated, completely absorbed.
Horrified, Han stared at his vanishing hand. He tried to retreat, but his body was already caught in the technique's immense suction force, which even tore away at his chakra.
The more chakra it drained, the stronger the pull became. He couldn't even form hand signs—any chakra he gathered was immediately siphoned away.
That was the true horror of Formless Reincarnation. Beyond the minimal chakra needed to initiate it, the rest was drawn directly from the target. The more the victim struggled, the faster their own energy was turned against them.
That was why Mokunan could deploy it even in his critical state. Any other Mangekyō ability would've required more chakra than he could muster—certainly not enough to contend with another Mangekyō wielder like Uchiha Han.
But this technique had one key limitation: it required physical contact to activate.
Avoiding it would've been simple—maintain distance, or strike from afar before it could fully form. If Han had simply killed Mokunan from a distance, the battle would have ended right there.
But of course, Han had no way of knowing the secret behind Mokunan's dojutsu.
And let's be honest—the protagonist can't die that easily.
By walking straight up to Mokunan, Han had unknowingly handed him the perfect opportunity.
And so, Uchiha Han fell—what should have been an effortless victory became his downfall, all because of one unexpected soul's arrival… and his own moment of arrogance.
Helpless, he could only watch as his body was slowly devoured by the swirling vortex.
As his limbs vanished into nothingness, Han realized he was finished. A flicker of unwillingness stirred in his heart—but strangely, he also felt an overwhelming sense of peace.
Maybe, ever since his parents had died, some part of him had already followed them. Maybe that's why he had become so twisted—why he'd even considered killing his own brother for power.
Now, standing at the edge of oblivion, he finally felt regret.
He looked one last time into his brother's eyes.
"So now… I've become your strength. Maybe that's for the best."
He slowly closed his eyes, a faint, relieved smile forming on his lips.
What a pity… He didn't know the brother he thought he was dying for had already been killed—by his own hands. The one who defeated him now was merely a stranger, a soul who had arrived in this world by chance.
As Han's body disappeared completely, Mokunan finally exhaled.
He had only been in this world for a few minutes, but everything that had happened already felt more intense than anything he'd experienced in his previous twenty-something years of life.
---
Meanwhile, in a dim mountain cave, the aged and withering Uchiha Madara furrowed his brows.
"…Strange. The curse seal I planted on Uchiha Han… it's gone?"
It had been his backup plan—a failsafe in case Han rebelled after awakening his Mangekyō. With the seal, he could control Han at any time.
"Oh well," Madara muttered. "It was only a contingency. Forcing loyalty just creates puppets. What I truly need… is a successor who understands my pain—and my vision."
He quietly resolved to send Zetsu in search of a more fitting candidate.
---
Mokunan looked down at his chest. Somehow, his injuries had completely healed. The short blade that had pierced him had been disintegrated by Formless Reincarnation.
Only the gaping holes in his clothes and the bloodstains on the ground remained as evidence that he'd been hurt at all.
"Thank goodness I awakened Formless Reincarnation…" Mokunan let out a long breath.
"If I'd gotten any other Mangekyō power, even if I beat Han, that hole in my chest would've been the end."
Indeed, Formless Reincarnation wasn't just about destruction and absorption. Its true nature… was fusion. The disintegration was just the first step.
As a secret Yin-Yang Release technique born of the Mangekyō Sharingan, it shared roots with Uchiha clan forbidden jutsu like Izanagi and Izanami—derived from the Sage of Six Paths' power to create and transform all things.
The concept was simple: everything in the world is composed of the same fundamental essence.
Formless Reincarnation breaks down the target's body using Yin-Yang Release, analyzes it, extracts the useful elements, and discards the rest.
Then, those elements are seamlessly integrated into the caster's body—without altering their physical appearance.
The caster gains the target's memories, skills, and chakra. With enough control, they can even perfectly transform into that person.
And because it's a transformation on a fundamental level, even the sharpest perception techniques can't detect it.
All of this, Mokunan instinctively understood upon awakening his Mangekyō—amplified by what he remembered from watching Naruto in his past life.
"Pretty sure I've got this down. I probably understand Mangekyō powers better than most people," he thought confidently.
After absorbing Uchiha Han, the Mangekyō Sharingan's power reconstructed Mokunan's entire body. His shattered heart, lost blood, and ruptured organs were all restored.
Now, Mokunan wasn't just alive—he was stronger than he'd ever been. With Han's chakra flowing through him, he felt completely reborn.
And of course, every Mangekyō Sharingan came with two abilities.
Thinking about the power in his right eye, Mokunan couldn't help but tremble with excitement.
The right eye's ability was also called Formless Reincarnation, but it was a completely different technique—Formless Reincarnation: Implantation.
Just as terrifying in its own way.
This technique allowed Mokunan to implant his own will into another living being, transforming them into a permanent clone—an extension of himself.
If he chose, he could even transfer a portion of his power into the clone permanently—though that meant losing it from his own body.
The clone would retain the target's memories and abilities, but its soul… would be Mokunan's.
This clone could act in unison with the original body, and since they would constantly exchange chakra, they'd stay synchronized—no matter how far apart they were. The clone could also grow stronger through its own training.
Of course, such an ability came at a high cost. Just like Uchiha Shisui's Kotoamatsukami required over a decade between uses…
Mokunan's Mangekyō was even more powerful. Each eye's ability came with a 15-year cooldown.
That thought left Mokunan deeply frustrated. He had just awakened the Mangekyō and, in his excitement, had used both techniques at once—without even taking time to distinguish between them.
His left eye hit its mark—Uchiha Han.
But his right eye… Unlike the left, it could be used at range. Unfortunately, all of Mokunan's focus had been on Han, so the right eye had locked onto something else entirely.
And because both eyes couldn't target the same individual, the right eye defaulted to its secondary activation condition: physical contact.
His blood had splattered on a large tree behind him—establishing a connection.
That made the tree the only valid target.
Because it was a mindless plant, the technique required barely any chakra to succeed.
One had to admit, Yin-Yang Release was truly mysterious. Mokunan's will had perfectly fused with the tree. Just like that, an ordinary tree had become a living extension of him. And weirdly enough, he could feel its presence… like a subtle awareness at the back of his mind.
He looked at the tree—it was just a normal, unremarkable one, the kind found all over the Shinobi World.
Even though it now carried his will, the tree had no brain. It couldn't think. It definitely wasn't going to become a "Ninja Tree."
"So… what the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Mokunan sighed.
"I really just wasted that eye's power…"
But then he paused, a thought striking him.
"No… maybe not. It's not like I had a proper target lined up for Formless Reincarnation: Implantation anyway," he said, consoling himself.
Why was that?
As mentioned earlier, Formless Reincarnation: Absorption allowed Mokunan to gain all the target's abilities.
And that meant…
He now possessed a brand-new pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
And not just any Mangekyō.
They had belonged to none other than Uchiha Han—the biological older brother of Mokunan's new body, Uchiha Nan.