〖Day Three〗

You absorbed the Mangekyō Sharingan that Sasuke awakened... and felt completely bored.

Just like in the original timeline, even though Sasuke was locked up and had his pain amplified a hundredfold, pushed constantly to the edge of death, and forced into a duel with the brother he loved, the result was still the same: one eye awakened Amaterasu, the other Kagutsuchi. The awakening did not change based on his altered emotional state...

Still, this served as partial confirmation of something mentioned in your last simulation—when that wicked god worshipped by Hidan revealed that before the Divine Tree was planted in the shinobi world, there had been a war among gods in the ancient era.

You believe the sequence went something like this:

The war of gods broke out, and many deities perished across ancient Shinobi Earth. Their corpses, shattered divine artifacts, and fragments of authority all merged into the Dragon Vein.

The Ōtsutsuki clan, having barely claimed a pyrrhic victory, naturally sought to harvest the spoils. As civilization regressed into a primitive state, they planted the Divine Tree in the early Shinobi World, allowing it to grow by continuously siphoning the power of the Dragon Vein.

The Ōtsutsuki responsible for planting the tree likely didn't want to wait thousands of years—or perhaps needed to move on and plant trees elsewhere—so they dispatched Isshiki and Kaguya as a pair to guard the tree and oversee the final harvesting phase.

In the end, Kaguya ambushed Isshiki, sacrificed him, and consumed the fruit.

However... perhaps the fruit had already been marked in advance by another Ōtsutsuki, or maybe Kaguya herself lacked the strength to fully digest its power. The result was the birth of two sons—Hagoromo and Hamura—who inherited fragments of that divine might.

Between the two, Hamura inherited more of the original Ōtsutsuki power, while the Sage of Six Paths gained more of the strength from the gods who died and were absorbed by the Divine Tree.

But since the Sage of Six Paths willingly gave up his physical body and died relatively young—barely living a hundred years—he never managed to fully digest the divine essence he had inherited.

Thus, the Uchiha, as one of the inheritors of his lineage, are actually able to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan because they carry fragments of divine power within them.

And these fragments subtly shape the Uchiha's inner world from childhood onward, influencing their psyche until the Sharingan becomes what could be called "the eye that reflects the soul"!

In other words, the Sharingan doesn't merely reflect the heart, nor is it born from emotion alone.

It's a dual manifestation—heart and eye as one—both being an external expression of the divine power hidden deep within their bloodline.

Digging deeper... the Uchiha's power isn't actually part of the Ōtsutsuki bloodline.

It belongs instead to the remnant power of the dead gods of the shinobi world, reborn through the Dragon Vein and the Divine Tree into a new bloodline.

—They are the posthumous children of the shinobi world's gods!

Which means... you haven't fully tapped into the Uchiha bloodline's true power.

Even compressing and evolving Susanoo into a final form on par with Truth-Seeking Orbs, capable of striking the soul directly, wasn't enough to reach its limit.

And the power of the Six Tomoe Sharingan didn't come from inward cultivation, but from constant absorption and passive enhancements drawn from the bloodline and the Mangekyō itself.

In essence, it's just a byproduct of a raised bloodline ceiling...

You may have just glimpsed another path—one that also leads to divinity!

If you could isolate and evolve the Uchiha bloodline on its own... perhaps it could even rival the Ōtsutsuki line!

You already experienced the benefits of having two equally powerful bloodlines when you merged with the blood of the dragon.

What if you had three?

You begin contemplating how to unlock the hidden power within your own bloodline...

But before that, you decide to deal with the situation at hand. The value of both Itachi and Sasuke has already been fully extracted.

No point letting those two lumps of meat keep fighting. There's no entertainment left in it.

Reap!

You swing the Scythe of Death, annihilating their souls in a single sweep. Then, using Sage Energy, you petrify their remaining bodies and shatter them with a single punch.

You dissolve the barrier and step out of the room.

Outside, Fugaku and several other Uchiha clansmen—who had come to check on things—had already gone half-mad from failing to get the door open.

Some were even shouting and pushing at the medical staff.

You frowned. That was annoying.

Konoha was yours now. These fools were damaging your property!

Your eyes swept over the crowd, easily seeing through them all—they were just posturing. They looked aggressive on the surface, but inside, they were cowards, much like Fugaku. Puffed up appearances masking hollow strength.

"Who the hell are you? Was it you who set up that barrier?!"

Led by Fugaku, several Uchiha activated their Sharingan, attempting to cast Genjutsu on you. Relying on their larger numbers and bulk, they tried to force their way into the hospital room.

You smirked and activated your Sharingan.

The moment your eye technique activated, the Uchiha in front of you exploded into blood on the spot.

Just a bunch of cowards. Dead is dead—they might as well become your fuel...

And this was only the basic ocular technique of your Mangekyō, one you'd rarely used before due to the high chakra and Ocular Power cost.

But now that your overall power had increased, you could use it freely.

Not bad—your palm now held a pool of condensed violet-red blood, extracted and refined from their bodies.

Then, with your horns sprouting, you gathered natural energy and blew a gentle breath.

In an instant, the blood and limbs scattered across the ground were petrified. Then, under your breath's airflow, they quickly eroded into dust and drifted out the hospital window, falling into the flowerbed below.

Reap!

You swung the Scythe of Death once more, absorbing all scattered souls to further strengthen your prototype Divine Tool.

...

You stood atop the Hokage Rock, letting the breeze of Konoha's twilight wash over you.

Activating your Sharingan, you refined the bloodline essence one more time before fusing it into your own body.

...

〖Day Four〗

You opened your eyes to the morning's first breeze brushing against your face.

Whether illusion or not, after further strengthening the Uchiha bloodline, you found yourself feeling more attuned to everything around you.

Previously, to absorb natural energy, you had to consciously will it—at the very least form a thought—and rely on your great strength to draw it in and master it.

But now, even without the intent to absorb anything, natural energy was slowly gathering around your horns on its own.

The speed was slow, and the density light.

A slight shake of your head could easily dispel it.

But fundamentally... something had changed.

...

Down the mountain, a group of curious shinobi were leisurely chasing your mantis clone, looking like they were itching for a fight.

The mantis, for its part, wasn't hiding at all—pausing occasionally before engaging whichever ninja approached.

Clearly, after several days of skirmishes and attempts to capture it, these shinobi had realized that the mantis never went for kill strikes. In fact, it seemed to hold back deliberately, fighting just long enough to engage as many opponents as possible.

Sometimes, when it was in a good mood, it even offered a few pointers to the defeated shinobi.

As long as they didn't do something dishonorable like throwing Explosive Tags, it wouldn't get angry.

Unless someone summoned a beast—then it would immediately dismember and eat it. Otherwise, it posed no real threat to the shinobi themselves.

Some shinobi had even begun freeloading the mantis's battle advice.

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