The red-haired boy trembled so violently it made the heart ache to watch.
His already pale skin had turned deathly white. Hidden beneath long bangs, tears streamed endlessly from his eyes.
No one could have imagined that the grief of this child would one day become the force driving a dream of peace.
No one could have imagined that the cause planted more than a decade ago would one day bear its terrible result.
The day Konoha was flattened by Shinra Tensei.
There was no way the boy in the footage could listen to those hollow apologies.
Could apologies bring his parents back to life?
Could apologies heal the wounds of the Land of Rain?
He gasped for breath, chest heaving.
Pain tore through him like an explosion deep inside his body.
His small frame could no longer contain the fury boiling within.
After several ragged breaths, the anger finally burst free.
Behind the curtain of long bangs, those strange eyes opened.
And with them...
Their terrifying power.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!"
The image faded.
Just as it had begun, it ended with the endless rain of the Land of Rain.
A sorrow that never seemed to stop.
...
Across the shinobi world, villages erupted in shock.
"Those eyes!"
"Aren't they the same eyes as that orange-haired man who attacked Konoha?!"
"So it really was revenge against Konoha?!"
"The power that destroyed Konoha in an instant... came from those eyes?"
"Incredible..."
"The Rinnegan!"
"There are records saying the Sage of Six Paths possessed those eyes!"
"And now a red-haired child had them?!"
"Send the Intelligence Division to investigate!"
Meanwhile, the intelligence divisions, having worked non-stop, finally reported their findings to the Kage.
"We've confirmed new information."
"The orange-haired man from the earlier footage who attacked Konoha is the leader of an organization in the Land of Rain known as Akatsuki."
"They are openly recruiting S-rank missing-nin from multiple villages, taking contracts from the underground black market, and operating across several nations."
The Kage of each village sneered.
"So Konoha finally ran into something they couldn't handle."
"Still, a war that turns the entire world into a battlefield is best avoided."
"The village preparations are complete."
"We depart immediately."
"The Five Kage Summit!"
"Yes!"
...
Konohagakure.
Training Ground 44.
The Central Tower.
"Th-that was..."
"Those eyes!" Sasuke said in shock. "The same eyes that destroyed Konoha!"
As a member of the Uchiha clan, he understood ocular powers better than most.
Which was exactly why the sight left him stunned.
Perched high above, the crow that carried Itachi's consciousness remained silent.
Even he had been caught off guard.
Those eyes...
Could it be that Pain's Rinnegan weren't originally his?
From the forehead protectors alone, it was clear that Pain and Konan had once been ninja of the Hidden Rain Village.
And that red-haired boy... a member of the Uzumaki clan.
If so, what exactly was hidden behind Pain's power?
Senju Tobirama fell into thought.
The Uzumaki clan had never been known to awaken the Rinnegan.
What exactly did Madara do?
And there was another problem.
The man from the earlier footage, the one whose voice sounded strangely similar to his own...
He definitely wasn't an Uzumaki.
And the Rinnegan was not something just anyone could possess.
So what had happened in between?
How had that Uzumaki boy eventually become the leader of the Akatsuki?
Tobirama narrowed his eyes slightly.
The Land of Rain...
I should visit it someday.
But first...
The Second Hokage turned to Fuso.
"Did you know your son had those eyes?"
"I did," Fuso replied. "That's why I always had him keep long bangs."
Tobirama's gaze sharpened.
"Do you know when someone transplanted the Rinnegan into him?"
Fuso froze.
"Transplanted?!"
The others were equally stunned.
"Lord Second... what do you mean?"
Uzumaki Mito snorted softly.
"I've never heard of the Uzumaki clan possessing the Rinnegan. Right, Tobirama?"
He nodded.
"The Rinnegan is one of the ocular powers of the Sage of Six Paths."
After a brief pause, he glanced at Sasuke... and subtly toward the crow nearby.
"In truth, the Rinnegan is the evolved form of the Sharingan after reaching certain conditions. It surpasses both the Mangekyo Sharingan and the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"What?!"
The crow remained silent.
Everyone else was equally shocked.
Combining this with what they had seen before...
The masked man possessed a Sharingan.
Danzo possessed a Sharingan.
And now the visible leader of Akatsuki had eyes evolved from the Sharingan as well?
"Lord Second!" Sasuke demanded. "What exactly do you know?! What are the conditions to awaken the Rinnegan?!"
Kakashi watched quietly.
He had the same feeling.
This Second Hokage seemed to carry countless secrets.
When the resurrected candidates were chosen, both the First and Second Hokage had golden borders around their photos.
But this one...
Had a far rarer red border.
And even more troubling...
Behind Rin's photo, there had been another figure.
A man with white hair, pale skin, and scars across his face.
Who was he?
Tobirama crossed his arms.
Inside, he sighed.
There was no way he could explain in front of Mito that Madara had bitten a piece of flesh from Hashirama... and later grew a face resembling his brother on his own chest.
What kind of absurd story would that sound like?
He cleared his throat.
"Let's leave that aside for now."
Then he continued.
"Before awakening the Rinnegan, the Mangekyo Sharingan has another stage."
"The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."
Sasuke stared at him in disbelief.
"Eternal... Mangekyo Sharingan?!"
These past few days had shaken him more than everything he had experienced in years.
The crow remained silent again.
That ominous feeling returned.
Tobirama spoke calmly.
"Simply put, the Uchiha clan inherited the Sharingan, known as the Sage's Eyes, as descendants of the Sage of Six Paths."
The Sage of Six Paths...
So the Second Hokage knew far more than anyone expected.
Far away, within a Kamui Dimension, Uchiha Obito waited patiently.
Listening.
Waiting for Tobirama to reveal more.
"They say the Senju are the clan of love," Tobirama continued. "But in truth, that title belongs to the Uchiha."
"No clan loves more deeply. Or more fiercely."
"And the deeper that love..."
"The deeper the hatred when it's lost."
"The awakening and evolution of the Sharingan are inseparable from these forces."
Love.
And hatred.
"When an Uchiha loses someone precious... or sinks into intense despair and suffering, their brain releases a unique form of chakra."
"That chakra links the brain's nerves with the optic nerves."
"And it drives the Sharingan to evolve."
He paused.
"But..."
Sasuke leaned forward.
"But what?"
Tobirama continued.
"As I said earlier, that chakra stimulates both the brain and the visual nerves."
"Let's start with the eyes."
"Below the three-tomoe stage, the burden is manageable."
"But the Mangekyo Sharingan..."
He glanced briefly toward the crow before speaking again.
"Using it places tremendous strain on both the body and the eyes."
He turned to Sasuke.
"Your brother, Uchiha Itachi... if he has been using the Mangekyo Sharingan for years..."
"Then his vision has likely deteriorated to the point where he can barely see without activating the Sharingan."
"And his body..."
"Is probably in terrible condition."
Sasuke's chest tightened with a dull ache, glaring so intensely his Sharingan was on the verge of activating.
"Then... my brother..."
His voice trembled.
"Why did he make me hate him?!"
"What is he trying to accomplish?!"
"For Konoha... how far does he intend to go?!"
"Even sacrificing me as his brother...?!"
The crow lowered its gaze.
I'm sorry, Sasuke.
Forgive me.
Tobirama finally said what he had been leading toward.
"This is precisely what I meant."
"His goal..."
"...is most likely to make you obtain the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."
Sasuke froze.
"WHAT?!"