Chapter 111: Another Pair of Mangekyo
Inside Konoha Hospital, a figure was walking unhurriedly through the brightly lit corridors. This person appeared extremely ordinary—wearing common dark casual clothes, average build, unremarkable features—the type who would blend into a crowd and be instantly forgotten, just like any random villager coming to visit patients or seek medical care.
Of course, this unremarkable effect was intentional. This was one of Naruto's shadow clones, using the most basic Transformation Jutsu to cleverly alter his appearance and presence, silently infiltrating Konoha Hospital.
The hospital corridors bustled with activity and noise. There were patients in hospital gowns walking slowly with family support, worried relatives speaking in hushed tones, and doctors and medical ninja hurrying about with charts and medical equipment.
Naruto's shadow clone blended perfectly into this background. He kept his eyes downcast, walked naturally, and made no attention-grabbing movements. None of the passing crowd gave him a second glance.
He silently navigated through corridor after corridor, finally stopping outside a room with a particularly heavy atmosphere—the special care unit where Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto lay unconscious.
After waiting quietly at the door for a moment and catching a gap when no one was passing by either end of the corridor, the shadow clone quickly and deftly turned the door handle, slipped inside, and gently closed the door behind him, shutting out the outside noise.
The hospital room was silent except for the regular, soft beeping of medical equipment. On two beds, the Uchiha couple lay quietly with pale faces and weak breathing.
The shadow clone slowly walked to the position between the two beds. Due to Crazy Diamond's strict range limitations, he needed to get closer.
The next moment, with a thought, a robust figure radiating brilliant blue light that only he could see—Crazy Diamond—appeared behind him.
As Crazy Diamond's palm gently covered Uchiha Fugaku's body, a surge of mental energy that only Naruto could clearly perceive began to fluctuate.
Under the influence of this power that defied common sense, Fugaku's extremely weak breathing began to become steady and strong at a visibly rapid pace.
It gradually transformed into an even rhythm, like natural breathing during deep sleep.
Naruto carefully sensed this change, understanding in his heart.
Good... the situation had changed from a dangerous coma to normal deep sleep. The internal organ damage should be completely healed now.
He breathed a slight sigh of relief, then immediately moved to Uchiha Mikoto's bedside.
Looking down at this woman's pale but still discernible features—a face that bore a striking seven-tenths resemblance to Satsuki—the gentle radiance that once graced it was now gone, leaving only sickly weakness.
Naruto wasted no more time. Crazy Diamond raised its arms again, gently enveloping Mikoto with light containing the power of "restoration."
The same miraculous change began to occur. Mikoto's thread-like breathing quickly became full and steady, and her face gradually regained some color.
Watching both their conditions improve at an amazing speed, Naruto's tense nerves finally relaxed somewhat. But in this brief moment of relief, his thoughts unconsciously drifted to memories of the original Naruto series.
He remembered a scene often discussed by fans, filled with tragic undertones. During the Fourth Great Ninja War, Uchiha Sasuke encountered Uchiha Itachi, who had been summoned by the Reanimation Jutsu. Sasuke had demanded emotionally, "Why... why was I the only one left alive?!"
This question was often interpreted as Sasuke's confusion and anger about Itachi sparing his life.
But on the night of the massacre, little Sasuke had been crying and running away, shouting "Don't kill me," which formed a stark contrast to this later question.
However, Naruto always felt that Sasuke at that time might not have meant it purely literally. What he was questioning might not have been "why didn't you kill me too."
Instead, he was painfully asking, "Why... after making such an extreme decision to massacre the clan, did you leave only me alone? Why couldn't you spare a few more clan members? Why... couldn't you leave my beloved mother?"
"Why did I have to bear this loneliness and heavy burden all by myself?"
In Naruto's view, leaving one more person—Mikoto—in Itachi's extreme plan wouldn't have made much difference. Since he had decided to spare Satsuki anyway, a mother who deeply loved her daughter would naturally accompany her through that most difficult lonely childhood, which would actually better ensure Satsuki's psychological well-being.
Was it fear of the plan being exposed? Or did he think... that leaving behind bonds would weaken the "hatred" Satsuki needed?
Even more ridiculous was that in the original story, Fugaku and his wife's final words to Itachi before dying were actually "take care of Sasuke"... and then this guy turned around and subjected his own little brother to seventy-two hours of Tsukuyomi torture.
Just as his thoughts wandered aimlessly—
"Mmm..."
An extremely soft sound with the characteristic breathing of someone waking up suddenly interrupted Naruto's contemplation!
She's awake?!
Naruto's heart tightened, and his instinct was to immediately dispel the shadow clone.
However, just as his intention stirred, his gaze inadvertently swept over Aunt Mikoto's slowly opening eyes, still filled with the confusion and fatigue of awakening—
That one glance made his movements freeze completely.
Mikoto struggled to open her heavy eyelids. The coma had left her vision somewhat blurry and her mind in chaos.
She seemed somewhat puzzled looking at this "strange" figure standing by the bed, instinctively trying to identify who it was.
However, in her unconsciously opened eyes that hadn't yet fully focused—what appeared in their depths wasn't the common tomoe Sharingan of the Uchiha clan!
Instead, it was an incredibly complex, eerie pattern slowly rotating.
The Mangekyo Sharingan.
This time... because Clan Leader Fugaku had seen hope for peace, he hadn't willingly cooperated with Itachi's plan to die like in the original story... The situation had become... he was personally killed by his own beloved child...
As a mother... witnessing her husband struck down by their own child, then being burned by Amaterasu by that same child... such extreme emotional trauma... had actually awakened her Mangekyo Sharingan?!
At that moment, perhaps because she had just awakened and her body was still too weak, enormous fatigue surged over her like a tide. Mikoto's just-opened eyes containing terrifying power slowly, weakly closed again, falling back into deep sleep.
Naruto's emotions became extremely complex.
But ultimately, he made his decision. He took a deep breath, and behind him, another golden phantom radiating brilliant life energy quietly appeared.
I'm sorry, for now... please forget this power.
He silently apologized in his heart. The next moment, Gold Experience's ability activated, and those newly awakened eyes containing ominous power were skillfully extracted.
Immediately after, vigorous life energy was injected, and a pair of ordinary, healthy black eyes were perfectly created, covering the original void.
After completing this, Naruto wasted no more time. He formed hand seals, and with a puff of white smoke, his form rapidly changed into that masked figure wearing a fox mask and black robes—"Menma."
Then, the light of the Flying Thunder God technique flickered briefly, and Menma's figure instantly vanished from the quiet hospital room, racing toward the distant base in Hot Water Country.