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Kagaya didn't know what those eyes meant to Yuki. In his perception, those eyes were nothing more than ordinary eyes. If he had to point out the one thing that wasn't ordinary about them, it would be the unceasing optimism brimming within them.
Yuki lowered her hands, opened her eyes, and looked at Kagaya.
"By the way, Kagaya-san... you also know about the Uchiha clan?"
"Of course."
Faint crimson began to gather in Kagaya's eyes. Very quickly, the Eternal Mangekyo manifested.
"Because I am also an Uchiha."
Yuki stared blankly at Kagaya's eyes, her mind elsewhere, completely frozen in place.
A long while later, Kagaya's voice broke her trance.
"Surprised?"
Yuki's body trembled slightly. She snapped back to her senses and shook her head.
"No... not surprised. Were you sent by my father? I suppose the next step is to kill me."
"You do have some unusual experiences, as I suspected. But unfortunately... I don't know this 'father' you speak of, nor was I sent by him."
"Then why did you appear in this uninhabited mountain wilderness? And why did you just happen to run into me?"
"The reason is very complicated. I can't tell you. If you absolutely need a reason... then just consider me as someone who wandered in here by mistake and couldn't find the way out. In fact, thinking of it that way is more or less correct."
"I see... a lost traveler? Is that it?"
"Yes. And as for my purpose in finding you—as I said just now—I hope you can resurrect me in the future. However, your experiences seem somewhat special. If possible, I can help you resolve some things. Would you be willing to tell me your story?"
Kagaya slowed his tone, trying to make Yuki feel a sense of "someone she could rely on."
He had his reasons for wanting to help Yuki. From a practical standpoint, Kagaya had already decided to have Yuki resurrect him in the future. That made her a person of paramount importance. Kagaya couldn't allow any other factor to interfere with the plan to resurrect himself. And right now, Yuki's past clearly had a major influence on her. Kagaya had no desire to end up in a situation where, after he had just kicked the bucket, Yuki was killed by someone else before she could resurrect him.
From another perspective, Kagaya was also repaying Yuki in advance for resurrecting him in the future. If he could help her, he would do his best.
"Resolve some things? Can you? Even if the opponent is someone who possesses the Mangekyo... can you?"
For the very first time, Kagaya saw a negative emotion in Yuki's eyes—a surge of hatred!
This girl, with her flowing black hair and lovely face, finally looked somewhat like an Uchiha in this moment.
Originally, in Kagaya's mind, the girl before him was someone close to a pure, naive, innocent type. But the hatred in her eyes completely overturned his impression.
—She had killed before.
Without any evidence, without any basis, relying purely on that vague, intangible intuition, Kagaya made this judgment.
"The Mangekyo, is it? Fine. I don't take the Mangekyo seriously."
Kagaya responded to Yuki's expectations.
Yuki spoke uncertainly.
"Are you sure? That's the Mangekyo!"
In Yuki's impression, the Mangekyo was the supreme power. Nothing in this world could surpass the Mangekyo.
"And it's still just the Mangekyo! Don't worry. The Mangekyo itself means nothing to me. What's important now is that I need to understand your unique experiences before I can help you."
Yuki gave a bitter smile. "Unique experiences? No... Kagaya-san. It was just an experience that couldn't be more ordinary. An ordinary experience belonging to a little girl. There was nothing special about it at all."
The peace of the Uchiha was shattered.
The things that shattered that peace were two: one called the Mangekyo, and the other called Izanagi.
No one knew who started it, but with the emergence of the first Mangekyo, the method to awaken it spread rapidly. Thus, those with the aptitude awakened their Mangekyo one after another.
In this era, the Uchiha bloodline was still relatively close to Indra's. Therefore, geniuses appeared more easily. This also led to a greater number of people awakening the Mangekyo.
Immense power bred immense ambition. Perhaps some among them wanted to live peaceful, stable lives. But ultimately, after facing life-threatening danger from others, they too had no choice but to take up arms and fight.
Thus began a bloody era in the long history of the Uchiha—an era ignited by Izanagi and the Mangekyo.
Unfortunately, Yuki was born into precisely such an era.
Her father, Uchiha Kenichi, was a wielder of the Mangekyo Sharingan. From the very moment Yuki was born, Kenichi began planning her cultivation.
Although he was somewhat disappointed that Yuki was not a boy, it didn't matter much. In this world, the notion of male superiority wasn't particularly strong. A boy would have been better, but if not... it was no great issue.
In the end, power was everything!
When Yuki was four or five years old, her mother and father had a fierce argument. At that age, Yuki didn't understand what they were fighting about. But after that argument, she saw her mother less and less often.
At age six, Kenichi began constantly encouraging Yuki to make friends. Yuki followed his advice.
Over the course of three years, Yuki made many interesting friends. Moreover, Yuki also learned that her friends had likewise been encouraged by their own fathers or mothers to go out and make friends.
Because of this, everyone greatly enjoyed making friends. That was the happiest time of Yuki's life.
However, things took a turn when Yuki was nine. Yuki's best friend was murdered by a black-clad shinobi whose face she couldn't see, during an outing.
Murdered right before Yuki's eyes.
Thus, at age nine, Yuki awakened her Sharingan.
After returning home, Yuki's father was shocked when he learned what had happened. He stayed home for half a month, constantly staying by Yuki's side, and finally helped her step out of the shadows.
After that, Yuki returned to a normal life. The only difference was that she saw her mother less and less, until eventually, she never saw her mother again.
Yuki also asked her father about it. At the time, her father's answer was: "Your mother went on a very important, top-secret mission. It will take several years. I can't reveal any information related to it, so don't ask anymore, sweetheart."
There was a contradiction in those words.
It was as if some voice was screaming this. If the relevant information couldn't be disclosed... then why mention that she had gone on a "top-secret mission" at all? That statement itself was a disclosure of information!
What a pity... at the time, Yuki didn't notice this contradiction. She merely nodded in bewilderment and accepted her father's answer.
Time moved forward to when Yuki was twelve—four years after she had awakened her Sharingan. In that year, Yuki once again encountered something unforgettable.
This time, it wasn't just one friend—it was several! Several of her friends died mysteriously in a single night.
This incident left another shadow on Yuki, and also caused her Sharingan to evolve into the two-tomoe Sharingan.
Yuki's father didn't hesitate in the slightest. This time, he stayed home for an entire month, counseling Yuki and helping her step out of the shadows.
In the end, Yuki recovered once more. But she had become extremely cautious and wary. Even though she recovered, the two similar, painful experiences had carved the word "fear" deep into her very bones.
The cruel experiences didn't stop there. This time, the interval was even shorter. Just one year later, when Yuki was thirteen, she personally witnessed her father lose an eye and an arm in a battle.
This incident led to the awakening of Yuki's three-tomoe Sharingan.
"Finally... at this step, huh. Heh heh..."
In a place where Yuki couldn't see, the corners of a certain mouth curled into a faint smile.
Shiina Momoko. That was a woman's name.
It was also the name of Yuki's mother.
Sitting inside a room carefully prepared for her, Shiina Momoko gazed into the distance and smiled.
"I wonder if Kenichi has succeeded yet? He should be coming for me soon. I should be the final step, after all. To evolve the Mangekyo... one must witness the death of one's closest kin. But... did you really think I would let you have your way? Kenichi!"
Words brimming with resolve spilled from Shiina Momoko's lips.
To understand this, one had to go back nine years. That was when Shiina Momoko first discovered Uchiha Kenichi's plan. The plan was very simple. To summarize in a few words: cultivate the Mangekyo.
The so-called Mangekyo truly was like a poison. Even though, throughout the clan, Mangekyo wielders were frequently killed... there were still those who relentlessly pursued it.
Kenichi was one of them. He had already failed. His Mangekyo had never accomplished anything for him. So why was he still so obsessed?
At first, Momoko didn't understand. Now, nine years later, she finally did. The reason was simple—he had invested too much. He would rather die than let go.
Uchiha Kenichi was a genius. During a mission, because of his elder brother's death, he had awakened the Mangekyo. At that time, everything was still normal. Even after awakening the Mangekyo, nothing changed.
Until the second demon—Izanagi—appeared. The moment that thing emerged, everything changed. Wielders of the Mangekyo, relying on this ability, began vying for power and profit without restraint. Kenichi also became one of them.
However, Kenichi ultimately failed. He had paid the price of one Mangekyo to use Izanagi once, but he still failed. Fortunately, although he had failed, he had survived and returned.
Everything began with that lost Mangekyo. Having already lost one Mangekyo—having gambled something so important—how could he simply admit defeat?!
Unwilling to admit failure, unwilling to let that Mangekyo go to waste, Kenichi devised a cruel plan for his own daughter.
It all seemed so laughable. But indeed, sometimes the gambler's mentality was just that laughable.
Momoko couldn't help but want to laugh as well. It was just one Mangekyo, already lost long ago, that had completely turned Kenichi into a madman.
Have her make friends, then kill her friends, causing her to awaken the Sharingan. Then intensify the process, causing her to awaken the two-tomoe. After that, personally stage a life-threatening crisis, causing her to awaken the three-tomoe. And after that...
"Then it will be me."
Momoko looked out the window, a smile on her lips.
"It should be soon now. I should... be seeing Yuki soon."
"What happened after that?"
Seeing that Yuki had stopped speaking, Kagaya couldn't help but ask.
Yuki tilted her head and laughed. She seemed to want to recount it all in a cheerful atmosphere. But the tears at the corners of her eyes betrayed her.
"What happened after that was very simple. These eyes of mine... are my mother's eyes. And I learned everything from my mother's mouth. In the end, like a clown, I stumbled and staggered my way out of the Uchiha clan."
Kagaya fell silent. After a moment, he spoke with admiration.
"Your mother... was truly a wise woman."
The era of slaughter involving the Mangekyo and Izanagi—Kagaya recalled that related events had appeared in the original story, in the memories Itachi had shown regarding Izanami. However, they had only appeared briefly, with almost no specific details.
But what could be confirmed was that, in that era, possessing the Mangekyo was definitely not a good thing. The entire land was littered with the corpses of Mangekyo wielders.
If Yuki had evolved the Mangekyo, then most likely, she wouldn't have ended up unifying the clan or achieving great things. The more likely outcome was that, before long, Yuki would have died amidst the slaughter of Mangekyo wielders.
Yuki's mother had given her own ordinary eyes to Yuki. From that point on, she had severed the fate of Yuki's death.
Would anyone care about a clan member without the Sharingan?
Most likely not.
In truth, Kagaya still wanted to ask Yuki—what had happened to her mother? Earlier, she had mentioned wanting to resurrect her mother, which meant her mother must be dead. So how had she died? By suicide? Or by someone else's hand?
And what about her father? After his plan was thwarted by her mother, had he and her mother come to blows? What had been the outcome?
There was much more he wanted to ask. But seeing the expression on Yuki's face, she clearly didn't want to continue talking.
Kagaya decided not to force the girl before him. He let go of those thoughts and returned to the earlier matter.
"Then, this thing you want me to help you resolve... is it about your father?"
Yuki nodded. "Yes!"
Kagaya continued.
"Good. How do you want to resolve it? You don't need to worry about the Mangekyo. Even if your father had a complete pair of Mangekyo, he still wouldn't be a match for me. Let alone now, when he's already lost one."
"Anything is fine?"
"That's right. With my strength, barring special circumstances, subduing a single Mangekyo is quite easy. As long as you want it... basically, anything goes."
"Then, Kagaya-san... I want to kill my father."
"Th-this..."
Kagaya stared at Yuki. He confirmed it—after that unfinished story, something else must have happened. Something Kagaya didn't know.
Otherwise, the hatred in her eyes could never possibly run this deep!