Kagami hung his head low, the life force slowly draining from his body.
"Brother, I can give you my eyes, but I have one condition."
Kamihane wore an 'I knew it' expression. "Go on," he said.
"Five years..." Kagami took a deep breath. "In five years, I will personally deliver my intact eyes to you. During this time... please refrain from attacking Konoha!"
"Is that all?" Kamihane raised an eyebrow.
"That's right, I only need five years, brother," Kagami said weakly. "The founding of Konoha was not easy. Before that, I lived every day in a world of darkness, constantly on edge, filled with fear and anxiety, worrying that one day you might leave me forever, just like Father and Mother did..."
A stirring in Kamihane's heart, the breeze gently lifting his long hair, his gaze trembling imperceptibly, like a stone cast into a calm lake, sending ripples across the surface.
Kagami's voice was faint. "I've tried my best to avoid their matters. I know it's not your fault, brother. You were also forced onto the battlefield, forced to fight. They acted out of love and compassion, praying for your health and practicing medicine, which is why they met such a tragic end..."
"What right do you have to blame me?" Kamihane's eye twitched slightly. "It was the Senju clan who killed them!"
"Yes, that's why I resent the war, the hatred, this chaotic era! In war, everyone is a victim..."
Kagami struggled slightly, aggravating his internal injuries and sending him into an uncontrollable coughing fit.
After a long while, he finally calmed his breathing. "The emergence of Konoha not only brought the two clans to a truce but even ended the era of war, sparing children across the land from the suffering of conflict. In my heart, this is the true path to peace."
"Brother, how I wish... how I long for you to live in Konoha with me. We could attend school together, train under the same master. With your talent, you would surely be valued highly—perhaps even become Hokage one day... But the reality is, whether I walk the village streets or return to our clan's grounds, I face endless cold stares and whispers..."
"My comrades in the village suppress me because of my Uchiha identity, while the clan ostracizes me for being Lord Tobirama's student. Konoha does not see me as a friend, and the Uchiha do not accept me as one of their own..."
"At home... there was only that cold bed. For 11 years, whether in the village or the clan's land, I was all alone... just one person..."
"I gave you a chance." Kamihane sneered. "But not only did you refuse to leave with me, you also betrayed me."
Bloody tears streamed from the two hollowed-out sockets that were Kagami's eyes. "I don't understand, I don't understand why you left the village, why you destroyed everything in madness, why you attacked Konoha alongside Lord Madara. I truly don't understand!"
"Brother, I never once thought of killing you. The sole purpose of my arduous training all these years was to catch up to you, to bring you back to Konoha, to let you experience true peace… If possible, I would even be willing to die in your place…"
He let out a bitter laugh as he touched his hollow eye sockets. "For me, what's the worth of just a pair of eyes? I'd give you my very life if it came to that. The only thing I regret is being too weak to stop you before all this happened…"
"I know that now, with Lord Hashirama gone, trying to bring you back to Konoha is like striking ice to seek fire—nothing but a futile delusion…"
"War is coming, and I need strength to protect Konoha, to safeguard this fragile, hard-won peace…"
"I only ask of you… brother, just give me five years. I will protect these eyes with my life, and fight to survive until the day I can personally deliver them into your hands…"
As he spoke, his breathing grew fainter, the rise and fall of his chest slowed, and the coldness spread from his fingertips inch by inch toward his heart.
Kamihane remained silent, quietly raising his gaze to the sky. In his clear pupils, the sky was no longer a pure icy blue, but resembled the undulating sea beneath cirrus clouds—dark, deep, and mysterious.
"So, the future you've chosen is merely struggling to survive for five more years?"
"Ame-no-Tokotachi" revolved leisurely, time stood still, and space froze. Kagami felt as though he had been detached from the world's orbit. Under the influence of an indescribable, profound force, his body was restored in the blink of an eye.
The hollow, eerie eyes were restored to their original state, the body regained warmth, the heart resumed its beating, and power flowed through the muscles as if all injuries had been erased in an instant, without any process.
"Brother... is this the power of brother..."
His vision returned in an instant, and once again he saw his brother's face, and... that suddenly sharp gaze.
Kamihane suddenly struck, a sword finger piercing through Kagami's heart, the blade's light erupting like a pillar, blasting a bloody hole through his back as crimson rain scattered in all directions.
Kagami's mouth hung open in disbelief, blood vessels crawling across his eyes. Though he activated 'Garuda' the moment he began to recover, Kamihane's sword strike had directly surpassed his absorption frequency!
"Such a formidable ocular technique, yet you wield it so poorly—I can't even be bothered to adapt to it," Kamihane clicked his tongue and shook his head, unable to conceal his disappointment.
"Why!!?"
Kagami fell to his knees with a thud, cold sweat pouring down his back.
What's going on? Why didn't this scene appear in the future?
In the flickering future of 'Takamagahara,' there was a scene where Kamihane attempted to seize his eyes immediately after the reversal, only to be thwarted by the timely intervention of 'Garuda.'
If this strike had been aimed at his eyes, there was no doubt they would have been instantly blinded, his head pierced through along with them.
Kagami's breathing was ragged. Though his heart was mending and his flesh knitting back together, he still felt an icy chill throughout his body, an overwhelming dread lingering in his mind, refusing to dissipate.
"What? Scared stiff?" Kamihane crossed his arms, one foot planted on Kagami's shoulder as he tilted his head.
"I can't be bothered to go to Konoha to kill people, so you'll take the brunt of this venting attack for them."
"Brother, you..."
"Shut up." Kamihane kicked him away, the line of his lips cold and unyielding. "My brother died forever on that night eleven years ago. I buried him with my own hands."
Kagami flipped backward, tumbling and scrambling a good distance before barely managing to get up.
"I…" His trembling gaze reached out toward the figure ahead, perhaps trying to grasp his sleeve as he once did, but he could catch nothing.
Kamihane turned away indifferently, the sunlight blurring his silhouette, making him appear indistinct. Only a slightly trembling voice could be heard: "Let today be the deadline. If in five years I don't see your eyes intact, Konoha... will have no reason to exist."
The ground shattered, a whirlwind suddenly rose, and a blurry shadow shot into the sky, rippling out a circle of milky-white shockwaves.
"Thud."
Kagami's knees gave way as if all strength had left him, kneeling on the ground in utter despair, twin trails of bloody tears dripping down his cheeks.
He clutched his chest, where an unbearable discomfort lingered, as if something had been cruelly carved out of him.
Unbeknownst to him, the deepest recesses of his heart had been sealed with Kamihane's restraining curse.
This is the only sealing technique Madara passed down to Kamihane—a cursed seal embedded in the opponent's heart, allowing complete control over them. Attempting to remove the seal would suppress their actions, making it impossible to break the curse on their own.
However, Kamihane's mastery in this area was too shallow, grasping only the surface-level basics.
He couldn't freely manipulate Kagami's body but could impose restrictions—forcing him to prioritize protecting his eyes when facing unavoidable danger. When the strain on his eyes became excessive, it would forcibly cut off the output of ocular power, preventing excessive damage to the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Kagami gazed at the sky, a profound exhaustion seeping into his bones. Just the thought of that resolute figure walking away made his insides churn as if caught in a storm.
His expression was one of sorrow as he silently closed his eyes.
———— 🌟 ————
ps:Support and join my Patreon
patreon.c@om/chenc11 Remove @
You can read up to 20 premium chapters.