Naruto Immersive Replay, The Curse of the Sharingan

“Okay.” Your fingertip touched the center of the caged bird. “But you know, I need conditions.”

Hyuga Hatozaki suddenly leaned forward, grabbed your wrist, and pressed your palm against his rapidly throbbing carotid artery. "The Six Paths Relics in the main family's secret vault, the command of the three hundred Hyuga warriors, and even..." His voice suddenly lowered, "...my sister's Byakugan."

The teacup suddenly shattered, and the scalding tea evaporated into white mist before it even touched the hem of your clothes.

You grabbed Hatozaki by the throat with your other hand, black curse marks creeping up your arm and onto his neck. "You're even crazier than I thought."

"Cough cough...aren't you...?" A smile appeared on Hatozaki's face, which was contorted with suffocation. "Do you value that?"

He fumbled in his sleeve and pulled out a scroll, revealing a densely packed list when he unfolded it. "Three hundred and seventy-nine members of the Hyuga branch family have all left their bloody fingerprints on it. We are willing..."

“Remember your words.” You gripped his chin, your golden vertical pupils piercing straight into his soul. “The price of going back on your word is one you cannot afford.”

Hatozaki tilted his head back, letting the bandages become soaked through with blood, his voice trembling with emotion, "There was no way out long ago."

The paper door was suddenly blown open by the wind, and all the Hyuga ninjas who had been lying in ambush outside fell to the ground unconscious. Each of their forehead ribbons was precisely split in two by a sharp weapon, revealing the intact Caged Bird Mark.

Mito stood in the center of the courtyard, slowly retracting the Vajra chain in her hand into her sleeve. She looked at you in the tea room, her red hair burning like flames in the setting sun.

"A deal has been reached?"

Your eyes swept over the unconscious Hyuga clansmen, and as you left Hatozaki's side, you said, "Three days later, I will see the first batch of 'goods' in the Land of Whirlpools."

As the last ray of sunlight was swallowed by the dark clouds, only Hinata Hatozaki remained in the tea room. He stroked the kunai in his sleeve, then suddenly buried his face in the blood-stained bandages, making a sound that was both crying and laughing.

The sound of waves crashing against the rocks suddenly seemed very distant.

Standing in front of the cave, the salty sea breeze lifts the stray hairs on your forehead.

Suddenly, crooked carvings on the rock face came into view. They were the outlines of the brother and sister carved by Su with a kunai, with the words "Su and his sister's home" written next to them.

The youthful lines, blurred by the passage of time, still cut through your chest more sharply than any blade.

The moment your fingertips touch the engraving, the black runes suddenly erupt. You abruptly curl your fingers, but you can't stop the memories.

On the night the cold poison flared up, Su, with his small, thin body, carried himself in the dark to find medicine; when the rain poured down, the boy used his clumsy earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique in Chinese fantasy novels) to reinforce the leaking roof; and then there was that final dawn...

The depths of the cave were darker than I remembered. My boots crushed a few seashells, making a crisp cracking sound. They were seashells that Su had picked up from the beach to use as tableware, and now only a pile of whitish remains remained.

As the campfire rises, the flickering flames cast your shadow on the stone wall. You stare at the flames, then suddenly rip open your collar. The black runes on your chest have spread to your collarbone, forming a chain-like pattern.

This body, which has been sealed away and is now suffering a backlash, may be closer to death than the Pure Land itself.

"Communicating with Spirits: The Souls of the Dead in the Pure Land".

The moment the blood dripped into the center of the talisman array, the entire cave trembled violently. This was not an ordinary spirit communication technique, but a forbidden technique learned from the Sage of Six Paths' notes.

The campfire suddenly turned a ghastly green, and blood seeped from the carvings on the rock wall, converging into a thin stream that meandered toward the center of the magic circle.

A blurry figure gradually took shape in the flames, its outline resembling that of the boy who always liked to tug at his own sleeve, but when the mist dissipated, your breath caught in your throat.

It wasn't Su who appeared in the formation, but a dark figure with an iron hook piercing his collarbone.

It made inhuman gurgling sounds, leaving bloody footprints on the ground with every step it took. When it looked up, you saw the most terrifying scene: Su's face was rotting, and its lips were sewn into a twisted smile by black lines.

"elder sister..."

The sound was like an echo coming from a deep well. The spirit stretched out its mutilated hand, with a familiar piece of warm jade hanging from its fingertips. It was the piece that Leng Xi had secretly given it to him all those years ago, but now it was covered in adipocere.

Your Mangekyou Sharingan is spinning wildly. Genjutsu? No, I can smell the real stench of decay.

This terrifying being does indeed possess Su's chakra, but it is mixed with something older and darker.

"Who turned you into this?" Your voice was hoarse.

The undead suddenly convulsed violently, its chest cavity split open, and countless writhing black worms poured out, forming new characters:

[The Contractor...cannot be summoned...]

The cave shook violently, and you suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood as the rune array began to backfire on the caster.

In the final second before the spell collapsed, you saw the undead looking at you with the eyes of a ghost, its stitched lips barely moving: "Escape..."

Reality shatters like glass. You kneel beside the extinguished campfire and find a real, warm piece of jade in your hand, with the words "Yellow Springs" written on it in blood.

Rapid footsteps sounded outside the cave. Mito's red hair came into view first, followed by her terrified cry, "Your eyes!"

You touch your right eye, feeling a wet, slippery sensation on your fingertips; blood is flowing from there.

"It's nothing." You wiped away the bloodstains. "It's just... I paid a price."

As Mito helps you out of the cave, the setting sun paints the sea crimson.

Watching the Whirlpool Clan members busily building their nation, he suddenly recalled the final warning from the dead: if even the Pure Land Contract couldn't summon Su's soul, then what kind of hell was his younger brother imprisoned in?

The warm jade in your sleeve suddenly became hot. You looked down and found that the blood-red words on it had changed into new information:

[Basement Level of the Uchiha Shrine]

The blood moon in my dream was redder than usual.

You stand in the center of the dream, with countless broken kaleidoscope patterns reflected on the water beneath your feet. This time, you do not resist the arrival of that figure.

Uchiha Showa appeared, his white clothes spotless, a stark contrast to the crazed image in our memories.

"How did you die?" Your direct question caused ripples on the water's surface.

Showa tilted his head, a strange smile appearing on his pale face. "Does it matter?"

“Only I can change this curse.” Your right eye shone brightly with golden light, illuminating the black curse mark on the other person’s neck that was identical to your own. “And you… are nothing more than a failed precedent.”

The insult, which should have enraged her, instead made Showa burst into laughter. As she laughed, pieces of her skin peeled away, revealing the stark white bones beneath. "Back in my youth, I was also hot-blooded..."

The skeletal hand stroked the empty chest cavity, "yet fate still crushed its spine."

The blood moon's halo stained the space between the two, and Showa's figure twisted and distorted in the light and shadow, finally freezing in the illusion of being pierced through the heart by a long sword. "I'll never guess what killed you... Even my Rinnegan can't see its true form..."

Your memory flashes back to the day of the negotiations, to the dark, slimy substance that emerged from your own shadow.

"Pitch black? Like mud?"

"I can't catch it! I can't burn it!" Showa suddenly frantically scratched his rotting cheek. "My Fire Release can vaporize the Tailed Beast Ball, but it can't harm it in the slightest!"

Swirling dark clouds appeared on the surface of the blood moon. You watched as the death scene repeatedly replayed in the Showa illusion. The woman who had defeated all the strong people in the ninja world was eventually swallowed up by a pool of black matter, without even having time to scream.

"Why are you being targeted?" You grab Showa's wrist, but the touch feels like grasping a wisp of fog.

"Yomi Hirasaka..." Showa's voice suddenly became ethereal, and the patterns of the Rinnegan appeared in his pupils. "Have you heard of it?"

Countless fragments of memories burst forth—the cryptic inscriptions on the Six Paths Stone Tablet, the legends in the Hyuga Ancient Book, and... the strange symbols that Su once drew on the ground.

You suddenly realize why this word sounds so familiar.

The doodle on the last page of the Six Paths Manual is a black portal floating in the void, surrounded by patterns of the Byakugan, Sharingan, and Rinnegan.

"Ultimate Space-Time Ninjutsu." Showa's figure began to become transparent, but his voice grew clearer. "It requires three types of eye power, and within us... the key is sealed!"

“Indra and Ashura’s chakra… I found cell samples at the Ninja Sect ruins… just one more thing…” Her voice was mixed with static like electricity.

Showa-era breath carried the stench of grave soil, "Just like I still don't understand why, even though I've awakened the Rinnegan..."

An ancient memory is awakening: the truth about the Sage of Six Paths splitting the Ten-Tails, and the eternal cycle of reincarnation for Indra and Ashura...

"That thing crawled out of my own shadow..."

The dream suddenly trembled violently, and Showa pressed his spiritual imprint onto your forehead, saying, "My notes are in the Forbidden Pavilion."

Her body began to disintegrate into black particles. "Be careful...it's also looking for Yomotsu Hirasaka..."

In reality, you suddenly sit up, and there's a rotten scroll fragment on your pillow, with words written in blood:

[When you finish reading the journal, remember to destroy all records about Yomotsu Hirasaka. —Another you]

The moment the kunai pierced Hashirama Senju's shoulder, Madara's Mangekyou Sharingan trembled slightly, and blood flowed down the blade groove into the glass bottle he had prepared beforehand.

His best friend merely frowned in confusion; for Hashirama, who possessed the Sage Body, such a flesh wound could heal in three breaths.

Madara suddenly raised his fan high, and although the Uchiha were taken aback, they immediately carried out the order.

As Izuna covered his clansmen's retreat, he glanced back at his brother. A knowing look flashed in his Sharingan. The brothers didn't need words; a single glance was enough for them to understand that the other had obtained what he wanted.

The setting sun on the way home dyed the Uchiha clan crimson. Madara suddenly stopped at the village entrance, the patrol team's expressions were strange, and the children were unusually quiet.

When Uchiha Yasuo came running with his limp, the tears in the old man's eyes stung his eyes in the twilight.

"Chieftain...the old chieftain..."

Madara's Body Flicker Technique went out of control for the first time, smashing through the door frame. Amidst the strong smell of medicine, he saw his youngest brother, Uchiha Gen, curled up in his father's arms, a single tomoe swirling in his tearful eyes.

The opening of an eight-year-old child's eyes should have been a joyous occasion, but at this moment it only made people's throats tighten.

The medical ninja's medicine kits were scattered all over the ground. Uchiha Kawarashi knelt in the corner, still clutching the broken chakra thread in his hand. "Lord Madara, the old clan leader's internal injuries... have already eroded his heart meridian... We have done our best."

"Cough... It's not their fault..."

Chapter 56 Transplantation

Tajima's voice was a hundred times weaker than Madara remembered. His father, who could once wield a flaming fan with one hand, now struggled to even lift his hand.

"All go out."

Madara's command froze the air. Izuna dragged the crying Gen outside, the child's fingers scratching five bloody marks on the door frame.

As the last elder closed the paper door, the setting sun shone through the window lattice, casting the shadows of the father and son long like two intertwined ninja swords.

“You did… better than me.” Tajima’s hand rested on Madara’s wrist like a withered twig, his pulse so weak it was almost imperceptible. “The future of the Uchiha…”

Blood suddenly gushed from the old patriarch's mouth. Ban tried to wipe it with his sleeve, but the more he wiped, the more blood flowed. The dark red liquid seeped into the fibers of his patriarch's robe, creating an ironic contrast with the blood of Hashirama that he had just obtained.

"Father, save your energy..."

"Let me finish." Tajima suddenly gripped his wrist, the force far beyond what one would expect from someone on the verge of death. "There's something more dangerous than a tailed beast inside Uchiha Nagi..."

His unfocused pupils stared directly at the spot. "Back then, her parents...didn't die from the Thousand Hands at all..."

"You promised to see me achieve peace," Madara's voice was hoarse, unlike his own, "...with the flames of the Uchiha..."

“Your mother, Aki… has waited for me for too long…” Tajima’s final smile froze on his face.

"Father--!!!"

The mournful cry startled all the ninja crows on the roof, and the paper door was suddenly pulled open, freezing Izuna's figure in the backlight.

The brothers' heart-wrenching cries, the medical ninja rushing in only to collapse to his knees in despair... all the sounds seemed to fade into the distance.

The edges of Ban's vision began to darken, but his father's calm face remained clear as if etched into his mind.

It wasn't until Izuna's trembling hand touched his shoulder that Madara realized his kaleidoscope was spinning uncontrollably.

Liangying's Sharingan suddenly mutated into a windmill shape, while Izuna's pupils split open with three scythe patterns.

The youngest, Xuanhun, lay on the edge of the bed, while Qiye... Madara had never seen his gloomy younger brother display such a twisted expression. His three tomoe glowed with a bloody light in the shadows, as if he were peering into death.

"Prepare for the funeral."

When Ban picked up his father's still-warm body, the blood on his clan robe had already congealed into a dark brown. His back as he walked towards the ancestral hall was as straight as a pine tree, and only the water stains dripping on the corridor revealed the truth.

That night, the ancient bell at Nanga Shrine spontaneously rang seven times.

The morning was shrouded in thick fog, and the sea breeze, carrying a salty smell, swept over the newly built city walls. Standing on the highest watchtower, pale fingers traced the still-wet cement between the stone bricks.

This island nation was built in just one month and three days, 42 hours ahead of schedule.

"You are indeed here."

Mito Uzumaki's voice came from behind. Her magnificent daimyo robes shimmered with dark gold patterns in the morning light, and the layered hem swept across the stone steps, making a soft rustling sound.

You didn't turn around; your gaze remained fixed on a ship approaching on the distant horizon.

“That’s the Hyuga clan’s ship.” Mito stood beside you, her fingers unconsciously tightening the fabric of her clothes inside her sleeve. “They arrived three hours earlier than agreed.”

When you received the news last night that Uchiha Tajima had died of a sudden heart attack, you continued to review all the documents with the same expressionless face.

At this moment, you simply nod slightly, "Get ready to welcome it."

As you descend the city wall, the rising sun just pierces through the clouds.

The Hyuga clan's fleet had already docked. Their pure white pupils shone like rows of pearls in the sunlight. The leader, Hyuga Hatozaki, wore a moon-white clan robe, and the ugly curse mark on his forehead was no longer there.

"Hyuga clan leader, welcome to the Land of Whirlpools." Mito smiled her standard smile, noticing that the other person's gaze went straight past her and landed on you beside her.

"Greetings, Lady Nagi!" Hagi bowed at a full fifteen degrees lower than when he bowed to Mito. Behind him, more than thirty Hyuga clansmen knelt in unison, their movements so synchronized it was unsettling.

You notice that most of them are members of a branch family, and each of them has a clean, new forehead.

"Let the ceremony begin."