Naruto Immersive Replay, The Curse of the Sharingan

Looking down, he saw that she was wearing a long robe with a black background and red clouds that he had never seen before. "Where...am I?"

The surroundings were horribly desolate, with cracked earth stretching to the horizon, and a huge, unreal red moon hanging in the sky, its surface clearly showing cyclical patterns.

The air was thick with the stench of rusty blood, and screams echoed from afar, but not a single person could be seen.

"finally found you."

A voice as cold as a knife suddenly exploded in your ears. You turned your head sharply and met a pair of scarlet Mangekyou Sharingan eyes.

The pattern was so complex it was dizzying; the three magatama were twisted and connected in a strange way, slowly rotating in the blood-red pupils.

The man with those eyes is standing less than half a step away from you. His face is so pale it's almost transparent, and two deep tear troughs run from the corners of his eyes all the way down to his jaw, adding a touch of sorrow to his young face.

"Who are you?" You struggle to activate your Sharingan, but find that your chakra is frozen and cannot be mobilized.

The man extended his long, slender fingers and gently touched your brow.

In an instant, countless unfamiliar images flooded into his mind: the burning Uchiha clan compound, a child lying in a pool of blood, sparks from shuriken clashing, and... a moon even redder than the one before him.

"The Eye of the Moon Project needs your abilities." The man's voice was eerily calm. "The Bloodline Limit of Gold Release is the key to connecting the mortal world and the Pure Land."

Your temples are throbbing, and the intense pain makes your vision go black.

In your last moments before losing consciousness, you notice a peculiar ring on the man's left pinky finger, engraved with the character "朱" (Zhu)...

"Ugh—!"

You sprang up from the tatami mat, your thin nightgown soaked with cold sweat.

Outside the window, the night was still thick, and there were still at least two hours until dawn. You trembled as you touched your left eye, and found that your Sharingan had activated on its own while you were asleep.

"It's that dream again..." You press your temples, where the pain is unbearable, as if someone has stabbed you hard with a kunai.

Compared to the blurry fragments from before, tonight's dream was terrifyingly clear; you could even recall the slightly trembling eyelashes of that strange man as he breathed.

The bronze mirror on the table reflects a pale face. You stare at yourself in the mirror and suddenly realize something: the man in your dream is wearing the Uchiha clan robes, but he is wearing a headband you've never seen before, with a horizontal slash mark on it.

You hear the hooting of an owl outside the window, so you walk to the well in the courtyard and pour the whole bucket of cold well water over your head.

The biting cold brought you completely awake, but the image of the red moon remained etched on your retina, refusing to fade.

The morning light, like diluted gold leaf, slanted in through the high-mounted air vent of the sealed room.

Madara Uchiha sat cross-legged on a straw mat, his eyelashes casting dappled shadows in the light. As familiar footsteps echoed at the end of the stone corridor, his Mangekyou Sharingan instantly reverted to ordinary black eyes the moment he opened them.

"So early?"

Your figure appeared outside the iron fence, carrying a double-layered lacquered wooden food box.

Today, unusually, he wasn't wearing his death robes, but instead a white kimono, his hair still damp with morning dew.

"I was afraid you'd starve to death." You shook the key in your hand; it was the one Ban had secretly given you when you parted last night. The sound of the latch snapping open was particularly crisp in the silent room.

Ban's gaze fell on the food box. "You made this yourself?"

Your fingers, which were bending over and fiddling with the clasp of the food box, paused. As you shook your head, a stray hair brushed against your cheek. "Izuna asked me to bring this."

Lifting the lid, neatly arranged three-colored tofu skin sushi pieces glistened with an enticing sheen of oil. "That child was in the kitchen before dawn..."

"I see." Madara's voice was half an octave lower than usual, and he himself was unaware of this subtle disappointment.

He reached for the sushi, only to find that you had already picked up a piece with your chopsticks and brought it to his lips.

"Izuna said this is your favorite food." You lowered your eyes.

Ban leaned forward and bit into the sushi. The sweet and sour taste of the vinegared rice was just right, and the bean curd skin was soaked in the savory broth.

“Yes,” Ban swallowed his food, then suddenly asked, “So what do you like to eat?”

"Me?" You chuckled softly, deliberately tapping Ban's nose with the tip of your chopsticks. "I still prefer someone's red bean soup dumplings."

Ban choked abruptly, his cough making the chains rattle... The heat in his ears betrayed him, and he had to pretend to straighten his collar to cover it up.

“By the way,” Ban cleared his throat, “what did you want to talk to me about?” He noticed that although you were smiling, the vertical line between your eyebrows had not relaxed.

"Madara." You suddenly changed your address, your voice as soft as a falling leaf.

You put down your chopsticks, your fingertips unconsciously tracing the cherry blossom pattern on the edge of the food box. "If...if one day you discover that your ideals will lead to terrible consequences, what will you do?"

The secret room suddenly became so quiet that you could hear dust particles dancing in the beam of light.

Ban looked out the window at the gradually brightening sky, where a flock of early birds were skimming over the dark blue clouds.

"I will adjust my methods, but I will not abandon my ideals," Ban finally replied, turning his gaze back to find you looking at him with a complex expression. "Why do you ask that?"

You shake your head, your kimono sleeve slips down, revealing an old wound on your wrist. You reach out to tidy the food box, but end up arranging the sushi even more messily. "It's nothing, it's just... sometimes when I'm around you, I see some horrible things."

Ban suddenly grabbed your wrist, and the instant your skin touched, a golden light flashed uncontrollably in your left eye.

"What scene?" Ban's voice tightened.

"A blood-red moon..." Your pupils dilated slightly, as if gazing into a distant nightmare, "Endless war... people trapped in illusions... living like puppets..."

Madara's fingers tightened involuntarily. This description was too similar to the "Infinite Tsukuyomi" recorded on the Uchiha stone tablet—the ultimate genjutsu that could bring lasting peace.

His throat went dry. "This sounds like..."

"Like some kind of powerful illusion, isn't it?" You smiled wryly and finally withdrew your hand.

The golden light in his left eye grew stronger. "I don't know what it is, but I feel... it's related to your ideals."

The morning light had now crept up to Ban's knees. He was watching the golden lines gradually forming around your eyes, the pattern resembling the magatama of the Sage of Six Paths, but with a sharper edge.

"Do you think my ideals will lead to this result?" Ban's voice trembled without him even realizing it.

He had imagined countless obstacles, but he never expected that the doubts would come from his closest lover.

You suddenly lean forward, and the food box is overturned without you even noticing.

He cupped Madara's cheeks in his hands, their foreheads almost touching. At this distance, Madara could see the fine cracks in your golden pupils, as if some kind of seal was crumbling.

"I don't know." Your breath brushed against his lips. "But Ban, promise me one thing."

Your thumb unconsciously rubbed the dark circles under your eyes caused by long-term insomnia. "Whatever decision you make, don't lose yourself, okay?"

The sound of morning training drums drifted from afar, and the stone walls of the secret chamber trembled slightly. In this tremor, Ban stared into your eyes, seeing countless possibilities of parallel universes flowing within them.

In some worlds you stand side by side, in others you face each other with weapons, but at the end of every world lies that blood-red moon.

"I promise you." Ban nodded slowly and reached out to cover the back of your hand.

The two chakras resonated in a strange way at this moment, and the dust in the secret room suddenly floated in mid-air, forming a tiny spiral.

You let go of my hand first, and as you bent down to tidy up the overturned food box, Ban noticed that a small patch of skin on the back of your neck had turned pale gold, and its shape closely resembled an ancient symbol he had seen in his dream.

"Tomorrow, the elders will vote on whether to launch a surprise attack on the Senju clan's territory." You stood up, the hem of your kimono brushing against Madara's knees. "I'll find a way to get you out."

Ban didn't answer. As your figure disappeared at the end of the corridor, he looked down at his palm.

He suddenly remembered a sentence that Hashirama had said by the Naka River: "True power should not be used to create an illusory peace, but to protect the real people in front of you."

The sunlight finally filled the entire secret room. Ban tilted his head back and closed his eyes in the dazzling light.

The stone chambers of the hawkish stronghold were always damp and chilly. When you pushed open the heavy oak door, the wind chimes hanging on the lintel made a dull clanging sound—someone had been here.

Your finger is already on the kunai handle, and your Sharingan transforms into Mangekyou Sharingan in the dim light.

There was no one there, except for an ebony box on the ebony wooden table where he usually sat.

The box is about the size of a palm, and the surface is outlined with the pattern of an Uchiha fan in gold powder. However, upon closer inspection, it can be seen that the fan ribs have been deliberately modified into the shape of a chain.

The moment your fingertips touched the cool, lacquered surface, that ever-present, slightly mocking voice rang out behind you.

"Your medicine is probably all gone."

The sound came from the shadows behind him. Leng Xi moved along the wall like a ghost, making his skin appear even paler. The bandage around his right eye added a touch of sinister grimness to his originally handsome face.

You didn't turn around; you lifted the lid very gently, but the hinges still made a grating creaking sound.

Inside the box were twelve amber-colored pills, each with eerie golden patterns floating on its surface, just like the patterns that occasionally appeared around your eyes.

“Fifteen pills last month.” You finally turned around, your left eye gleaming pale gold in the dim light. “The effect has weakened?”

"It's because the thing inside you is getting stronger." Uchiha Rei took two steps forward, his boots crushing the shells of unknown insects on the ground. "When do you plan to leave?"

The water drain in the corner of the stone chamber dripped, and you closed the box slowly, as if leaving each other room to change our minds.

"I don't know." You tossed the box up and caught it again, the lacquered surface making a dull thud as it hit your palm. "Let's see how long the medicine lasts."

This was clearly a perfunctory response. Leng Xi grabbed your wrist with such force that she almost crushed your bones. "Don't play dumb! You clearly already—"

"Let go." Your left eye instantly turned gold, and some ancient pressure spread from the pupil.

Leng Xi recoiled as if burned, knocking over the candlestick behind her. The flame struggled on the floor for a moment before going out.

You faced each other in silence in the darkness until Leng Xi finally spoke, her voice hoarse beyond belief, "Does the young clan leader know about your plan?"

"This doesn't seem to have anything to do with you." When you looked up, your left eye had completely turned into a golden vertical pupil, with chain-like patterns appearing around the pupil.

The air began to distort, and cold sweat beaded on Leng Xi's temples, but her voice remained steady, "The clan leader has begun to suspect your purpose in returning to the Uchiha. If he discovers you intend to search for the ruins of Hannya..."

"So?" You suddenly laughed, your golden pupils narrowing to slits. "Go and report me to the clan leader? Or are you going to use this to blackmail me?"

You point to your left eye, "Don't forget, who dug you out of a pile of corpses back then!"

"Ha!" Leng Xi suddenly retreated, letting out a short, cold laugh.

He turned and walked toward the weapons rack, his fingers tracing a row of shuriken. "You had the same expression on your face when you dug me out of the pile of corpses."

Leng Xi is the only person you barely trust within the hawks, which makes him even more dangerous.

You slammed the box back onto the table, knocking over the ink bottle beside it. The black liquid spread across the parchment map, engulfing the red circle marking the Thousand Hands territory.

The dagger suddenly pierced the wooden post beside your ear, the handle vibrating and humming.

Leng Xi's face was blurred in the shadows. "You'd better pray that the young clan leader doesn't go crazy because of this."

The indoor temperature seemed to drop several degrees, and your breath condensed into white mist in the air. You felt the chill creeping up your spine, but what was even colder was the implication in Lengxi's words.

The possibility that the freak will lose control after your departure is more terrifying than any deadly poison.

“He’s Uchiha Madara.” You finally spoke, your voice unusually calm. “He’s not as fragile as you think.”

Leng Xi chuckled and deliberately bumped into your shoulder as he walked toward the door. In the instant they passed each other, he said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I've already changed the patrol schedule for the day of the full moon."

The wind from the opening and closing of the door extinguished the nearest candle. You stood there, your right fingernails digging deep into your palm, blood dripping down your palm lines onto the ebony box, where it was greedily absorbed.

Chapter 26 Clumsy

The bronze doors of the clan hall were flung open by a gust of wind, and Madara Uchiha appeared in the doorway, the hem of his black robe still carrying the damp smell unique to the dungeon.

As he slowly walked in, the air in the entire council hall seemed to freeze. The twelve elders fell silent at the same time, and the youngest, Uchiha Setsuna, even knocked over his teacup. The dark brown liquid spread across the sandalwood table, resembling dried blood.

"Continue." Madara walked straight to the empty seat at the head of the table, his Mangekyou Sharingan glowing with an eerie red light in the shadows.

No one dared to ask him why he ended his confinement early; those eyes were the best proof of his freedom.

You sit in the third seat on the right, twirling a kunai that is not yet drawn from its sheath, watching as the hem of Madara's robe sweeps across the clansmen kneeling on either side, as if looking at a moving abyss.

When Ban sat down, your eyes met briefly in the air, and his eyes immediately returned to their normal black pupils.

"...So we should launch a full-scale attack on the night of the full moon, in conjunction with the Nara clan's Shadow Binding Technique..." The elder's hoarse voice was like a dull knife scraping against my eardrums.

You lean back lazily in your chair. The sky outside the window has been gloomy all day, and the heavy clouds make it hard to breathe.

Counting the missing teeth revealed as the elders spoke with spittle flying, the third one on the left was missing a canine, and the second one on the right was missing a front tooth. What a bunch of old, warmongers!

"I must deal with Hashirama Senju myself." Madara suddenly spoke, his voice not loud but silencing all the discussion. He tapped his fingers lightly on the table, the rhythm perfectly coinciding with the faint rumble of thunder in the distance. "But women and children will not be killed."

The Second Elder's beard bristled with anger. "This isn't like the Uchiha style! Back in the day, the Senju even killed our infants..."

"So we have to become like them?" Ban raised his eyes, the kaleidoscope pattern slowly rotating.

The Second Elder turned deathly pale and slumped back down, as if an invisible hand had gripped his throat.

Your kunai suddenly stopped at your fingertips. Looking at Ban's profile, you noticed that his jawline was taut, a sign that he was suppressing his anger.

The young clan leader, known for his ruthlessness, is actually showing mercy to his enemies?

When the downpour finally began, the clan meeting ended abruptly.

The elders dispersed like a flock of crows, leaving you alone to leisurely organize your ninja tool bag.

Ban stands under the eaves waiting for you, his back view blending into the gradually blurring rain curtain.

“You seemed distracted at the clan meeting.” As you walked to my side, Ban suddenly grabbed my wrist; his palm was burning hot, a stark contrast to the cool rain. “What were you thinking about?”