Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, Haruto was already eight years old.
Despite possessing jōnin-level strength, he continued to maintain slightly-above-average grades at the Ninja Academy, remaining completely unremarkable.
Aside from a select few people, nobody knew that this harmless-looking kid was actually a ferocious beast in sheep’s clothing.
After school that day—
Kakashi was away on a mission, leaving Haruto pleasantly free.
His deskmate, Ino, collapsed dramatically across her desk and groaned.
“When will this suffering end?”
“Iruka-sensei’s ability to lecture nonstop is absolutely legendary.”
Beside her, Hinata blushed deeply.
After gathering courage for quite a while, she finally looked toward Haruto.
“Um… Haruto.”
“My father would like to invite you to visit our home.”
Haruto paused while packing his schoolbag.
His face was full of confusion.
“Huh?”
“What’s your dad want with me?”
This wasn’t exactly the age for meeting the parents, was it?
Ino’s ears immediately perked up.
“What?”
“Why does the Hyūga Clan Head want to see Haruto?”
Hinata’s face grew even redder.
“I-I don’t know.”
“Father just told me to invite him.”
Seeing Hinata’s pitiful expression, Haruto sighed helplessly.
“Alright.”
“I’ll go.”
After all, an invitation from the head of one of Konoha’s most prestigious clans wasn’t something he could casually refuse.
“I want to come too!”
Ino immediately volunteered.
Haruto glanced at her sideways.
“What are you tagging along for?”
Ino puffed out her chest confidently.
“To protect you, obviously.”
“Who knows what those old fossils in the Hyūga Clan are plotting?”
Haruto’s mouth twitched.
With those three-legged-cat skills of yours, who exactly are you protecting?
Then again, having an outsider present might ease the atmosphere.
“Fine.”
“Come along, then.”
The moment the three stepped out of the academy gates, Haruto’s stride slowed slightly.
A faint scent drifted through the wind.
Extremely faint.
Yet unmistakably nauseating.
The smell of blood.
Without drawing attention, Haruto activated his sensory perception.
His expression darkened instantly.
The source of the bloodshed was the Uchiha compound.
So today’s the day…
The infamous Night of the Uchiha Massacre.
As Ino and Hinata chatted and bickered beside him, Haruto’s mind was already calculating how to profit from the chaos.
The slaughter had probably only just begun.
At this very moment, Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Obito were likely harvesting lives throughout the compound.
Heading there now would be suicide.
Thousands of clan members.
Hundreds of awakened Sharingan users.
This was not a muddy pond one casually stepped into.
I’ll wait until they’ve finished most of the killing.
Then I’ll go scavenging.
Decision made, Haruto followed Hinata toward the Hyūga compound as though nothing was wrong.
The atmosphere within the Hyūga Clan was bizarrely oppressive.
Three-year-old Hanabi Hyūga sat beside her father, blinking her large eyes in innocent confusion.
Inside the massive training hall knelt more than a dozen branch family elders and elite members.
When Hinata pushed open the doors with Haruto in tow, over a dozen pale Byakugan turned toward them simultaneously.
The scene was more terrifying than a horror movie.
Ino’s face immediately turned pale.
She instinctively hid behind Haruto.
Haruto frowned slightly.
This wasn’t a friendly invitation.
It felt more like a tribunal.
Still, as someone with jōnin-level combat power, he quickly regained composure and walked directly toward Hiashi Hyūga.
“Clan Head Hyūga.”
“I’ve heard much about you.”
Neither humble nor arrogant.
He didn’t even use particularly respectful language.
After all, Kakashi wasn’t here.
If things somehow turned violent, he couldn’t afford to lose momentum.
Hiashi examined him with his stern white eyes before gesturing.
“Sit.”
Seeing Haruto remain calm under such pressure, a trace of approval appeared in Hiashi’s gaze.
“No wonder Hinata has changed so much these past two years.”
“You’re certainly a promising child.”
“To remain composed under these circumstances…”
“It seems your mediocre school performance is merely a disguise.”
Haruto had only just sat down when he froze.
“I think you’ve misunderstood.”
“Hinata’s improvement is entirely due to her own hard work.”
“It has nothing to do with me.”
Hiashi waved dismissively.
“No need for false modesty.”
“If not for your influence, Hinata’s former timid personality would never have endured such rigorous training.”
Haruto felt speechless.
Why was this credit being forcibly shoved onto his head?
“Clan Head.”
“If you have something to say, please say it directly.”
Hiashi nodded.
Then dropped a bombshell.
“You know that Hinata is the heir of the Main House, correct?”
Haruto nodded.
“Of course.”
“That’s a great honor.”
Polite formalities cost nothing.
Hiashi continued.
“As the heir of the Main House, her marriage must serve the clan.”
“It is absolutely impossible for her to marry outside the Hyūga Clan.”
“Do you understand?”
Haruto stared blankly.
Then nearly burst out laughing.
So this whole gathering was because they thought he was trying to steal away their precious daughter?
Seriously?
They were eight years old.
Could these old men think a little more healthily?
Before Haruto could explain, Hinata suddenly rose to her feet.
“Father!”
“I don’t care about becoming Clan Head!”
Her shout stunned everyone present.
Hiashi’s face darkened.
He stood abruptly.
“Impudent!”
“The clan rules cannot be broken!”
As father and daughter looked ready to argue, Haruto developed a headache.
He tugged lightly at Hinata’s sleeve.
“Alright, Hinata.”
“Your father has a point.”
“For major clans, maintaining bloodline purity really is important.”
Hinata stared at him in disbelief.
Tears instantly welled in her eyes.
She was fighting for their future.
And he was siding with the enemy?
Seeing the little girl’s expression, Haruto smiled gently.
“Sit down first.”
“We’re eight years old.”
“Isn’t discussing marriage a little early?”
The tension in the room immediately eased.
Even Hiashi realized he’d overreacted.
Arguing with an eight-year-old was hardly dignified.
He sat back down and sighed.
“Haruto.”
“I’ve observed you for a long time.”
“I know you’re intelligent.”
“The Hyūga Clan’s traditions have endured for a thousand years.”
“No one can change them.”
Haruto smiled and nodded.
Internally, however, he was furiously complaining.
The Hyūga Clan’s thought process is truly incredible.
They’re already guarding against cabbage theft when we’re only eight?
This absurd banquet lasted barely fifteen minutes.
The moment it ended, Haruto practically fled with Ino.
Outside the compound, Ino patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
“That was terrifying.”
“The atmosphere in the Hyūga Clan is suffocating.”
“Even worse than the old men in my family.”
Looking back at the towering walls, Haruto sighed.
“The deeper the noble house, the deeper the sea.”
Then he added:
“And stop following me around everywhere.”
“People are starting to get the wrong idea.”
Ino stuck out her tongue playfully.
“I don’t care.”
“You’re handsome and capable.”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
Haruto rolled his eyes.
These overly mature little girls were impossible.
After parting ways with Ino, Haruto didn’t go home to sleep.
Instead, he entered his room and pulled out a demon mask he’d crafted himself.
It resembled an ANBU mask and carried an ominous aura.
Opening the window, he gazed toward the distant glow of fire rising from the Uchiha district.
His eyes sharpened.
Hopefully my luck is good enough to snag a pair of Sharingan.
His body could already grow stronger without limit.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t tempted by a convenient tool like the Sharingan.
Whoosh!
The next instant, he vanished into the night.
Avoiding Root’s perimeter security, Haruto slipped into the Uchiha compound through the rear mountains.
The blood in the air was almost overwhelming.
The once-bustling streets now lay silent.
Corpses littered the roads.
Blood flowed like small streams.
“A true hell on earth…”
Even though he’d mentally prepared himself, the sight still struck hard.
“Itachi was ruthless.”
“He didn’t even spare dogs passing through.”
“And Obito…”
“That lunatic kills his own clan members more casually than chopping vegetables.”
Still, there was no time for sentimentality.
Haruto swiftly searched house after house.
The results were disappointing.
“Damn it.”
“Every socket is empty.”
After checking more than a dozen bodies, he found either civilians who had never awakened Sharingan—
Or ninja whose eyes had already been harvested.
“That vacuum cleaner Obito cleaned things out thoroughly.”
Cursing inwardly, Haruto shifted his focus toward the clan head’s residence.
“My only hope now is Fugaku and Mikoto.”
“Fugaku possessed a Mangekyō Sharingan.”
“Itachi probably wouldn’t desecrate his parents.”
“And Obito likely wouldn’t dare steal eyes right in front of Itachi.”
With that, he headed toward Itachi’s home.
A true tiger’s den.
But one worth gambling on.
After infiltrating the mansion, silence filled the halls.
Only the occasional creak of wooden floors broke the stillness.
Haruto searched room after room.
Finally—
The moment he opened the study door—
A thick wave of blood filled his nostrils.
Two bodies lay collapsed together in a pool of crimson.
Uchiha Fugaku.
Uchiha Mikoto.
“Found them…”
Without hesitation, Haruto flashed forward and crouched beside Fugaku’s still-warm corpse.
Suppressing his discomfort, he pulled open the dead clan head’s eyelids.
Good.
The eyes were still there.
It seemed that, despite everything, Itachi hadn’t gone so far as to remove his father’s eyes.
Then a thought occurred to him.
Wait.
If I just dig them out and leave, what happens if someone catches me?
That’d be social suicide.
Before he could think further—
Something unexpected happened.
A crimson chakra suddenly surged from Fugaku’s lifeless eyes.
The energy was filled with terrifying resentment.
The change came so suddenly that Haruto barely had time to react.
At the same moment, a torrent of azure chakra erupted from his own eyes.
The two energies collided violently.
Then—
Like dry tinder meeting flame—
The crimson energy began pouring from Fugaku’s eyes.
Straight into Haruto’s.
His eyeballs burned.
It felt as though molten magma were being poured directly into them.
His ocular power skyrocketed.
What the hell is happening?
Do my eyes come with a built-in vacuum cleaner?
Am I stealing Fugaku’s remaining eye power?
The truth was exactly that.
His unique eyes were greedily devouring the legacy left behind by a deceased powerhouse.
Fugaku’s Mangekyō Sharingan had accumulated enormous reserves of ocular power.
He had rarely used it throughout his life.
The resonance between their eyes allowed Haruto to absorb it completely.
Like a whale swallowing the sea.
Though Haruto didn’t understand the mechanism, his body told him one thing clearly:
He was freeloading off the former Uchiha Clan Head’s power.
Does this mean I won’t need bloody transplant surgeries in the future?
Can I awaken Sharingan abilities like this instead?
Truthfully, even Haruto didn’t fully understand his body’s hidden mechanisms.
He was exploring unknown territory.
But one thing was certain.
His body was abnormal.
A complete monster.
The absorption lasted a full minute.
Only when the red glow finally vanished from Fugaku’s eyes did it end.
At that moment—
Haruto’s vision suddenly became crystal clear.
Complex geometric patterns formed within his eyes.
Even without a mirror, he knew something fundamental had changed.
His ocular power had undergone a qualitative leap.
The sensation was intoxicating.
Don’t tell me…
Did I just unlock the Mangekyō Sharingan?
The flood of information that followed made him suck in a sharp breath.
Just like that?
These abilities are absurdly powerful.
So this was the true power of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
A cursed and ominous pair of eyes.
As they awakened, Haruto could feel a cold, sinister presence flowing beneath his gaze.
As though tempting him toward darkness.
Before he could examine his new abilities—
Several sharp sounds cut through the air behind him.
Killing intent exploded forth.
Haruto frowned.
Without even turning around—
His body vanished.
Thunk!
Thunk!
Thunk!
Three kunai buried themselves into the floorboards where he’d been standing moments earlier.
Itachi Uchiha burst through the doorway.
His body was stained with blood.
Murderous intent still lingered in his eyes.
Unfortunately for him—
The mysterious intruder was gone.
Only two corpses remained.
Itachi hurried to his father’s body and examined it carefully.
After confirming that Fugaku’s eyes remained untouched, confusion finally appeared on his normally expressionless face.
“Who was that?”
“…A space-time ninjutsu?”
His instincts told him that this wasn’t the Body Flicker Technique.
It was genuine spatial displacement.
Among those he knew, only the masked man claiming to be Madara possessed such abilities.
Yet the masked man’s Kamui worked entirely differently.
The intruder’s movement felt closer to the legendary Flying Thunder God Technique.
No trajectory.
No trace.
Most puzzling of all—
If the intruder had risked his life entering the mansion, why hadn’t he taken Fugaku’s eyes?
Itachi checked repeatedly.
The eyes weren’t damaged at all.
The whole situation was bizarre.
Could it be that the intruder’s goal had never been the Sharingan?
Not once did Itachi bother examining Mikoto.
Logically speaking, anyone after eyes would target Mangekyō-bearing Fugaku first.
Not an ordinary Uchiha like Mikoto.
At that moment, a figure wearing an orange mask emerged from the shadows.
Obito Uchiha.
“What happened?”
“Was there a third party?”
Itachi remained silent for a moment.
Then nodded.
“Probably.”
“I think they were after my father’s eyes.”
“But it seems they failed and fled.”
Behind the mask, Obito’s single eye narrowed.
“Root?”
“Danzō’s dogs?”
Itachi shook his head.
“I’m not sure.”
“But it doesn’t feel like his style.”
Since Fugaku’s eyes remained intact, Itachi didn’t investigate further.
Meanwhile—
Haruto had already returned safely to his cozy home using his newly acquired ability.
Standing before the bathroom mirror, he stared intently into his own eyes.
With a thought—
The patterns shifted.
A bizarre and beautiful Mangekyō design appeared.
Another thought.
The pattern reverted to a three-tomoe Sharingan.
Then switched back again.
Finally, everything faded into ordinary black eyes.
The control was unbelievably smooth.
“This feeling…”
“These eyes really are addictive.”
“Unfortunately, for a long time they’ll have to remain my hidden trump card.”
“One ability can reflect virtually all genjutsu.”
“The other is an absurdly powerful teleportation technique.”
“I really lucked out with this skill set.”
“And that’s not all.”
“As my eyes evolved into Mangekyō level, my chakra reserves skyrocketed.”
“I’ve probably crossed into Kage-level territory now.”
“This trip into the Uchiha Massacre was absolutely worth it.”
True, he’d nearly run into Itachi face-to-face.
And against Itachi at this stage?
Haruto wasn’t confident he could emerge unscathed.
But the outcome had been perfect.
He escaped unharmed.
Obtained Mangekyō-level ocular power.
And elevated his strength to an entirely new level.
A high-risk gamble.
With outrageous rewards.
Still, Haruto knew he needed to be cautious.
Those distinctive eye patterns were too conspicuous.
The moment they were exposed, endless trouble would follow.
“If only I could find some sealing technique that hides changes in eye appearance.”
After all—
He had become extremely fond of the convenience these eyes provided.
Whether it was reflecting genjutsu or instantaneous teleportation—
Both dramatically increased his margin for error in battle.