Naruto Immersive Replay, The Curse of the Sharingan

“It was just an extremely vague, fragmented omens,” Byakuren added, a hint of barely perceptible jealousy in her voice. “But even so, it’s terrifying enough. His perception range is immense, his precision extremely high; he can almost discern the intentions of every ninja within a certain radius around him. More importantly…”

Bai Lian lowered his voice even further, "He seems to have some inexplicable connection with this land of the Land of Water. His chakra nature is extremely special, and he can easily draw upon massive amounts of natural energy. The power of his Water Release techniques far surpasses that of ordinary people, and the consumption is minimal."

"Musashi Akiyama regarded him as the last trump card to protect the Land of Water, and also... the most reliable shackle to control the princess."

“Control?” You caught that word.

"Hmph," Bai Lian sneered, "That girl, Akiyama Nana, is willful and reckless because of her status as a princess. If it weren't for Ren, she would have died countless times already. Akiyama Musashi uses Ren's abilities to protect her, and at the same time... he also uses her to restrain Ren."

"There's a twisted symbiotic relationship between these two. To take action against the Akiyama royal family, we must first deal with Lian! And to deal with Lian..."

A cruel glint flashed in his single eye. "We must first find out the origin and weakness of his 'pure white eyes'! I suspect that power is related to some sealed entity deep within the Vortex Ruins!"

You fell into a brief silence. The information provided by Bai Lian was extremely valuable, but it was also fraught with great risk.

The vortex ruins, precognitive abilities, the resonance with natural energy... every point is entangled with unknown taboos.

You didn't answer immediately. You walked to the window and looked at the cold buildings of the Water Kingdom's palace, which shimmered with a bluish glow under the moonlight. With your back to Bai Lian, your voice was calm but carried an unquestionable command.

"Tell me, was tonight's clumsy assassination attempt your personal act, or was it orchestrated by some powerful figure in the Water Kingdom? What was the purpose? Was it merely a test, or... did you really want me to die in this Water Kingdom?"

Bai Lian remained silent for a moment, her pure white left eye seemingly "watching" the cat's back, or perhaps sensing something.

He spoke in a hoarse voice: "...It's a 'warning' from certain people. They fear that your arrival will disrupt the balance, but they don't dare to completely break off relations."

“Killing you is too risky; they can’t afford the wrath of the Wind Kingdom. But to 'frighten' you and make you back down, or at least… restrain yourself a bit, is something they’d be happy to see.” He paused, then added, “However, they underestimated you.”

A knowing glint and a deeper interest flashed in your eyes: "I want you, or the power behind you, to create a 'controllable' chaos at the engagement ceremony."

Bai Lian's pupils constricted sharply. "Confusion? My lord, what's wrong...?"

"A chaotic mess that will expose the true colors of some people without actually ruining the marriage alliance." Your smile became enigmatic. "I need a reason, an opportunity, to... 'reorganize' the internal order of the Water Kingdom, and incidentally, see which restless fish will jump out on their own."

"Of course, I will tell you in detail about the scale, the targets, and the objectives of this chaos. Can you... handle it?"

Bai Lian's pure white left eye trembled violently, as if it were engaged in intense calculations and weighing options. Creating chaos against the royal family coincided with his goal of overthrowing the corrupt, but the risk was extremely high!

Finally, a ruthless glint flashed in his black right eye, and he nodded heavily. "As long as you can give us the future we want, Bai Lian... will die a thousand deaths!"

“Very good.” You nodded in satisfaction. “Then, prove it to me. Now you can go. Remember, next time we meet, I need to see substantial progress, and…”

Your voice suddenly turned cold, "If I find out that you or your people are making any further attempts to test or threaten me, you know very well the consequences."

An invisible, chilling killing intent instantly enveloped Bai Lian, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave, and even his breath caught in his throat.

He had no doubt that the "Tanuki" before him was absolutely capable of making him disappear silently before he could make any move.

"I understand!" Bai Lian bowed deeply again, her body disappearing into the shadows behind her like ink melting into water, vanishing completely as if she had never existed. The bedchamber returned to deathly silence.

Leng Xi quickly stepped forward and whispered, "His words..."

"Truth is mixed with lies, and lies conceal ambition." You walk to the table, pour a glass of water, and watch the ripples. "His surrender is genuine, and his desire to use my power to overthrow the Water Kingdom is also genuine, but he has concealed the true organization behind him."

You took a sip of water, your eyes sharp. "But it doesn't matter. A chess piece is only useful if you know how to use it. He wants to use me, so why can't I use him? I might as well use him to stir up the muddy waters of this Water Kingdom even more."

Chapter 39 - Exposure

Priceless jewelry was scattered all over the floor; pearls rolled off broken threads; jade hairpins were shattered into pieces; and gold hairpins lay twisted and deformed on the marble floor.

Nana Akiyama slammed the last jewelry box against the wall. The sapphire-encrusted lid shattered into pieces upon impact, making a crisp cracking sound.

"Damn that raccoon dog! Damn that political marriage!" Akiyama Nana's voice trembled with rage, her long hair disheveled and draped over her shoulders, the sleeves of her light blue kimono torn and deformed. "What right does that cold-blooded bastard have to decide my fate?!"

Lian stood in the corner of the room like a statue, her eyes closed, yet she 'saw' every move and every breath of the princess.

His perception was like an invisible net, enveloping the entire room, and he could even sense Nana Akiyama's churning anger and despair.

But he remained silent until the princess finished venting her anger and knelt down amidst the mess, panting heavily.

The room finally quieted down, with only Nana's rapid breathing remaining. She looked up, her eyes red-rimmed, tears glistening in the candlelight.

When her gaze fell upon Lian, her usually arrogant eyes were now filled with pleading.

"Lian..." Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, "Take me away from here, I don't want... I don't want to become a victim of politics."

These words were like a blunt knife piercing Lian's heart. He kept his eyes closed, but Akiyama Nana could feel his body stiffen slightly for a moment.

Silence stretched between them, each second feeling like an eternity.

The hope in Akiyama Nana's eyes gradually dimmed. She staggered to her feet, took a few steps back, and unconsciously twisted the hem of her clothes with her slender fingers.

"Even you... won't help me?" Her voice was broken and incoherent.

Just as Akiyama Nana was about to break down, Ren suddenly spoke, his voice low and calm, "The raccoon is a woman."

"What?" Akiyama Nana looked up abruptly, her face still wet with tears, her expression frozen in shock. "Are you...are you sure?"

Lian nodded, her white hair ornaments gleaming in the candlelight. "Her chakra flow is different from that of men. Although she concealed it well, it couldn't escape the perception of the Pure White Eyes."

Nana's mind raced; the news struck her like a bolt of lightning, shattering the gloom in her heart.

She suddenly grabbed Lian's arm, the despair in her eyes vanishing, replaced by ecstasy and calculation.

"Then all we need to do is expose her identity! The Prime Minister of the Wind Kingdom is actually a woman disguised as a man? This is a crime of deceiving the king! The marriage alliance will naturally be canceled!" Nana was so excited that she almost jumped up, and she had already begun to plan in her mind how to expose this shocking secret in public.

Lian's brows furrowed imperceptibly. The fact that Tanuki could wield such power in the Wind Kingdom was not solely due to her disguise.

“Things won’t be that simple.” Lian’s voice remained calm, but carried a hint of warning. “The Tanuki is not an easy opponent to deal with.”

Akiyama Nana, however, was deaf to any advice. She released Lian's arm and paced back and forth in the room, her fingers unconsciously twirling the ends of her hair. "We can arrange an accident... or expose her publicly at the engagement ceremony... That's right! Let Father see her true gender with his own eyes!"

Lian quietly "watched" the princess, who was lost in her own world. He could sense that Tanuki's chakra was currently in a side hall not far away, intertwined with another strange and dangerous chakra.

That chakra... carried the unique aura of Byakuren. Things were developing in an uncontrollable direction, but Nana was completely unaware.

"Nai Nai." Lian rarely called her by her full name, her voice carrying a barely audible urgency, "Don't act rashly, she's dangerous."

Nana Akiyama finally stopped and turned to look at Ren. She tilted her head and asked, "Are you worried about me, Ren?" Her tone suddenly softened, with a hint of playful probing.

Lian did not answer, but his silence spoke volumes.

For the past fifteen years, ever since he was brought back from the whirlpool ruins by Akiyama Musashi, his mission has been to protect this willful and proud princess.

No matter how unreasonable she is, no matter how much trouble she causes, he will silently protect her. This is a mission imprinted on his soul, and it is also... the path he chose himself.

Akiyama Nana approached Ren and suddenly reached out to touch his cheek, a bold move that made Ren's body stiffen for a moment.

“You know what?” Nana’s voice was as soft as a whisper, “If you could show that you care about me like this all the time, instead of always standing behind me like a wooden doll, I might not hate being preordained so much.”

Although Lian's pure white eyes were closed, Nana could feel his gaze piercing through her eyelids and "looking" straight into her soul.

At that moment, she seemed to see an expression that had never appeared on Lian's face in the past fifteen years—an expression of near-painful struggle.

But the next second, Lian had returned to normal and took a step back to avoid Nana's hand.

"I'm going to investigate what's wrong with the cat." He abruptly changed the subject. "Princess, please get some rest."

Nana's hand hovered in mid-air, the light in her eyes dimmed again, she bit her lower lip, and finally just murmured "Mmm".

As Lian's figure disappeared outside the door, Nana slowly knelt on the ground, her fingers unconsciously fiddling with the scattered pearls.

The words "The raccoon is a woman" echoed in Akiyama Nana's mind. This news should have made her ecstatic, but Lian's reaction made her feel a strange unease.

"Why...why are you always like this..." Nana murmured to herself, a tear uncontrollably sliding down her cheek, hitting the pearl on the ground and splashing up tiny water droplets.

The air was filled with the heavy, solemn scent of ancient parchment and sandalwood. Uchiha Madara knelt alone in the center of the shrine, the patterns of his Mangekyou Sharingan glowing with an eerie red light in the dim light.

His gaze was fixed on the ancient stone tablet in front of him. The words left by the Sage of Six Paths gradually distorted and recombined in the vision of the Mangekyou Sharingan, revealing forbidden knowledge that ordinary Sharingan could not decipher - "Infinite Tsukuyomi".

"To create a dream world without war, without pain..." Madara's deep voice echoed in the empty shrine, trembling almost imperceptibly.

The candlelight cast varying shadows on his angular face, making his already sharp features even more striking.

Suddenly, a breeze swept through the room, causing the candlelight to flicker violently. In the interplay of light and shadow, Ban's thoughts were pulled back to a rainy night three months ago.

On the training grounds behind the Uchiha clan's territory, rain poured down like silver needles.

You kneel on one knee in the mud, blood seeping from your tightly closed right eye, mixing with the rainwater to form a pale red trickle.

The Mangekyou Sharingan has been overused, and my vision is starting to blur.

"Not enough..." You gritted your teeth, trying to stand up, but the intense pain caused you to stagger. "This level of power... is not enough to change the fate of the Uchiha..."

Ban stands in front of you, raindrops dripping from his long hair. He reaches out and touches your shoulder, feeling your body tremble unnaturally.

"That's enough, Nagi. If you keep using the kaleidoscope, your eyes will..."

"You'll go blind?" You suddenly laughed, a laugh that seemed particularly pale in the rainy night. "Ban, only the ultimate power can break this decaying world."

You forcefully open your bleeding right eye; the patterns on the kaleidoscope have dimmed. "And I... am willing to pay any price for this."

The images in his memory gradually faded, and Madara's fingers unconsciously touched his eyes. Nagi's eyes, which were gradually losing their light, haunted his mind like a nightmare.

"Ultimate power..." Madara murmured to himself, the characters on the stone tablet twisting and changing in his eyes, "Rinnegan..."

He walked toward the forbidden chamber deep within the shrine, his footsteps echoing clearly in the silent space.

The doors of the Forbidden Pavilion are covered with ancient sealing techniques, and ordinary ninjas will feel their chakra stagnate just by getting close.

Without hesitation, Madara reached out and pressed his hand on the Uchiha clan crest in the center of the door. The patterns of the Mangekyou Sharingan spread from his palm to the door, and the sealing technique began to writhe as if it were alive.

The heavy stone door slid open silently, revealing the dark space inside.

Inside the forbidden pavilion, only one ever-burning lamp illuminated a dark red scroll placed on the central stone platform—the "Izanagi Secret Record," which contained the most core forbidden technique of the Uchiha clan.

Madara's fingertips traced the surface of the scroll, sensing the lingering chakra of the previous generation.

His gaze, however, fell upon the words on the wall of the forbidden pavilion: "The conditions for opening the Rinnegan are the fusion of Indra's and Ashura's chakra... and... a complete understanding of life and death."

Madara stood at the entrance of the shrine, gazing at the scattered lights of the Uchiha clan's territory.

Nagi's increasingly poor eyesight made it difficult for her to even read the scrolls, and thinking of this, Madara's heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.

"Wait for me, Nagi," he murmured to himself. "Wait until I obtain the Rinnegan, until I can unleash the Infinite Tsukuyomi... then there will be no more wars, no more sacrifices... and you will no longer have to burn your eyes for the future of the Uchiha."

The night wind carried away Madara's whispers. As he stepped into the darkness, his figure gradually blended into the night, with only his Mangekyou Sharingan shining brightly in the darkness like an inextinguishable flame.

The next day at 9:00 AM, in the main hall of the Water Kingdom's palace.

Sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, illuminating the magnificent hall. The daimyo Akiyama Musashi sat in the main seat, flanked by high-ranking officials and nobles from the Land of Water.

Only you and Uchiha Rei have not yet arrived.

The atmosphere inside the hall was tense. Officials from the Land of Water whispered among themselves, their discontent barely concealed in their eyes.

"The people of the Wind Kingdom are far too disrespectful to us..." a minister said in a low voice, his tone unfriendly.

“After all, it’s a ‘raccoon dog,’ so it’s natural to be a bit arrogant,” the other person sneered.

Akiyama Nana sat beside her father, her fingers tightly gripping her sleeves, her eyes fixed on the entrance to the main hall.

Today, she specially changed into a gorgeous dark blue dress, her blonde hair was styled in an updo, adorned with pearl hair accessories, and a confident smile played on her lips.

"The envoy from the Kingdom of Wind has arrived—"

As the guards announced the arrival of the emperor, the palace gates slowly opened.

Uchiha Rei followed half a step behind you like a shadow, his cold gaze sweeping across the entire scene, finally settling on Akiyama Nana for a moment, carrying a hint of almost imperceptible warning.

"I apologize for keeping you all waiting." You nodded slightly, your tone indifferent, neither impolite nor showing any remorse.

Akiyama Musashi narrowed his eyes, a fake smile on his face. "Lord Tanuki is very busy. It's already a great honor that you could take the time to come. Why would you apologize?"

You smiled slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and walked straight to the seats of the Wind Kingdom delegation.

"Hmph, putting on airs!" Akiyama Nana lowered her voice, gritting her teeth as she stared at your back.

She tossed and turned all night, her mind filled with Lian's words: "Li Nu is a woman."

If their identities are revealed during today's negotiations, this marriage will be completely off!

"Nana." Akiyama Musashi gave her a warning glance, signaling her to control her emotions.

Nana Akiyama took a deep breath, suppressing her excitement, and tapped her fingers lightly on the armrest, waiting for the right moment.

"Now that both sides are present, let's begin formally." Akiyama Musashi gestured with his hand, and a servant immediately presented the pre-prepared marriage contract terms.

"As agreed, the Wind Kingdom and the Water Kingdom will form a marriage alliance to quell the border war. The Wind Kingdom will cede three coastal cities and open trade routes, while the Water Kingdom will marry Princess Nana to a nobleman of the Wind Kingdom, thus establishing a marriage alliance."

You took the scroll, your gaze quickly sweeping over the terms, a hint of coldness flashing in your eyes.

“Three coastal cities?” You looked up, a smile playing on your lips, but your tone was as cold as ice. “Your Excellency, I remember we originally agreed on two cities.”

Musashi Akiyama remained unfazed. "The situation has changed. The recent military movements in the Land of Wind mean we have to seek additional safeguards."

The atmosphere inside the hall suddenly became tense.