Chapter 228: Eternal

Chapter 228: Chapter 228: Eternal

Uchiha Ryota stared blankly at the three-tomoe Sharingan in Uchiha Hideki’s eyes.

Feeling that incomparably familiar chakra emanating from Hideki’s body, Ryota could vaguely sense that something was strangely off, some subtle disharmony he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

But there was no doubt about it.

The man sitting in the high-backed chair, looking at him with a mocking expression, truly was his older brother, Uchiha Hideki!

That feeling born from their shared bloodline—Ryota could never mistake it, even now, gravely wounded and utterly exhausted!

And precisely because he had confirmed this, Ryota staggered several steps backward, disbelief written all over his face.

He had made it this far solely by clinging to one conviction—

He would avenge his brother, Hideki!

Yet at this very moment, the conviction that had sustained him all this time came crashing down!

Sitting in the high-backed chair, Hideki smiled.

"What’s wrong? Is all of this really that hard to accept?"

His tone was teasing and casual, as though they were merely discussing some trivial everyday matter, like what to have for breakfast.

Ryota looked utterly lost.

"Why...? Why would you do this?!"

Hideki stared deeply into Ryota’s eyes and replied,

"Didn’t I already tell you? I need your Mangekyo Sharingan."

"You put me through all that torture... just for a Mangekyo Sharingan that might not even awaken?"

Ryota gave a miserable laugh before continuing,

"Then I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. I don’t have that kind of talent. I can’t awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan you need.

"You’ll just have to rely on your own ability."

Uchiha Hideki smiled faintly.

"Awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan is no difficult task for me."

Uchiha Ryota roared, "Then why did you put me through all that torture?!"

Hideki’s gaze sharpened as he said in a deep voice,

"Because the Mangekyo Sharingan is not the end of the Uchiha. What I need is a power that surpasses the Mangekyo Sharingan!"

"A power... that surpasses the Mangekyo Sharingan?!"

Ryota was stunned.

The very notion struck directly against everything he had always believed, leaving him completely at a loss.

A moment later, he roared hysterically,

"What power could possibly surpass the Mangekyo Sharingan?! The Mangekyo Sharingan is already the pinnacle of power!"

Hideki looked at Ryota with pity and shook his head.

"My foolish little brother... your narrow horizons have limited both your life and your future. Perhaps you’re right. For mediocre clansmen like you, the Mangekyo Sharingan truly is the pinnacle.

"But for me, the Mangekyo Sharingan is only the beginning!"

Ryota shouted, "I don’t understand what you’re talking about! You’ve completely lost your mind!"

Hideki, still seated in the high-backed chair, fell silent for a moment before slowly uttering a single question.

"Have you ever heard of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan?"

It was the first time Ryota had ever heard the term, and confusion filled his face.

"The... Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan?!"

Hideki continued,

"Not all of the rumors circulating outside the clan about the Mangekyo Sharingan are baseless. It truly is a cursed power. Once a clansman awakens the Mangekyo Sharingan, their eyes will inevitably and irreversibly deteriorate until they lose their sight completely... plunging them into absolute darkness!"

Ryota exclaimed in shock,

"The Mangekyo Sharingan... causes blindness?!"

"That’s right. The more frequently the Mangekyo Sharingan is used, the faster its wielder will go blind." After a brief pause, Hideki continued, "There is only one way to reverse that blindness and obtain eternal visual prowess!"

Realizing what he meant, Ryota was both shocked and furious.

"The method you’re talking about... is taking my eyes, isn’t it?"

At that moment, a crazed expression appeared on Hideki’s face.

"That’s right! As long as I transplant the Mangekyo Sharingan of a blood relative and fuse the power of two pairs of Mangekyo Sharingan connected by blood, I’ll obtain true eternal visual prowess!

"I’ll obtain the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan—eyes that will never go blind—and seize control of the Uchiha clan’s destiny!"

"So that’s how it is..."

Having finally learned the truth, Ryota slumped to the ground.

His eyes were vacant and unfocused, as though all the life had drained from them.

Before this, he had merely thought that his brother had gone insane, or perhaps had been controlled by someone through some strange method.

But after learning the secret of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, he finally understood why his brother, Uchiha Hideki, had gone to such extraordinary lengths to set up this entire scheme.

For one brief instant, Ryota even found himself asking his own heart—

Faced with the temptation of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, would he have done the same as his brother?

Would he, too, have reached out his hand toward his own flesh and blood?!

Hideki continued speaking, his voice filled with longing.

"Ryota, my dear little brother... you’re the clansman most likely to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan, and you’re also my blood relative.

"You’ll help me, won’t you?"

Still sitting on the ground with his head lowered, Ryota asked in an eerily calm voice,

"Brother... would you really gouge out my eyes?"

The moment Hideki heard that despair-filled question, his entire body seemed to have been struck by lightning.

For several moments, his expression went completely blank.

But he quickly recovered.

Yet the expression on his face became horribly distorted—one moment filled with shock and disbelief, the next with anger and sorrow!

It was as though...

Two different personalities were inhabiting his body at the same time!

Receiving no answer from Hideki, Ryota kept his head lowered and continued,

"My question must sound ridiculous, doesn’t it? So ridiculous that you can’t even be bothered to answer me..."

Had Ryota raised his head at that moment, he would have noticed that Hideki, seated in the high-backed chair, was gripping his right hand tightly with his left.

Parts of his body were trembling uncontrollably, as though he were desperately trying to suppress something—

Or perhaps desperately trying to break free of something!

Still hanging his head, Ryota suddenly burst into wild laughter.

He covered his eyes with one hand as the chakra emanating from his body became indescribably dark and ominous.

At that instant, even a blind man could have sensed that Ryota’s entire aura had undergone a heaven-shaking transformation!

Watching the despairing, grief-stricken Ryota, Hideki could no longer restrain himself.

Two trails of bloody tears streamed down his face.

The three tomoe within his Sharingan began spinning rapidly, faintly converging together.

Suddenly—

Ryota’s wild laughter came to an abrupt halt.

He snapped his head up.

The Sharingan within his eyes had already transformed into an intricate, multifaceted diamond-shaped pattern!

Whether it was coincidence...

Or resonance...

At almost the exact same moment—

Hideki’s three-tomoe Sharingan, still weeping bloody tears, transformed as well, becoming an intricate triangular pattern!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Accompanied by a series of deafening explosions, two orange-yellow Susanoo simultaneously towered into existence!

The dark, cramped cavern could never withstand the devastation caused by two Susanoo.

Amid violent tremors that shook the earth and mountains, Hyuga Kagami’s secret prison completely collapsed...