While Naruto was communicating with each tailed beast and its respective jinchūriki within their inner world, Sasuke had successfully sealed Fugaku.
Although this spiritual communication felt like a long time for Naruto, in reality, it had only taken an instant.
Soon, Naruto emerged from the tailed beasts' inner world, and at that moment, each of his shadow clones succeeded in extracting the black rods from the tailed beasts.
After completing this, Naruto turned to Sasuke and said, "I heard everything just now. If you need to head back for a bit, go ahead, I'll definitely hold things down on my own until you're back, dattebayo!"
He gave Sasuke a big thumbs-up.
Sasuke looked at him, nodded, and dispelled his Susanoo. The armored Kurama also reverted to its glowing golden chakra form.
Then, Sasuke's body vanished, replaced by a single kunai. It was the Flying Thunder God kunai he had left back in Konoha, now finally put to use.
Naruto carefully stored the kunai, this was Sasuke's key to returning to the battlefield.
From a distance, the masked man watched the exchange with narrowed eyes. Though he didn't understand why Sasuke had suddenly left, his departure would clearly make things easier for him.
"How impressive, Naruto… I never thought someone could control the Nine-Tails this perfectly," the masked man said, smirking. "But it's all pointless. The outcome has already been decided."
As he spoke, the Gedo Statue beneath him opened its mouth and launched eight chained hooks.
In the blink of an eye, the hooks embedded themselves into the tailed beasts, forcefully dragging them back into the Gedo Statue's mouth.
Naruto, meanwhile, recalled all the names and faces from the tailed beasts' inner world—difficult-to-pronounce names he had forced himself to remember.
Each one had been a good person… and that made his eyes snap wide open as he shouted:
"Things will not go the same as before!"
The masked man paused at Naruto's unwavering resolve, then sneered.
"Very well, Naruto… then let me show you true despair."
Back in Konoha, Sasuke quickly returned to his home and opened a room he rarely entered.
Looking around the familiar space, Sasuke felt a swirl of emotions, but he didn't have time to linger. The battle still raged, and every moment he delayed could put Naruto in danger.
Still, he frowned. He could now sense something hidden beneath the bookshelf.
It was strange, why hadn't he noticed it before? Why only now, after Fugaku mentioned it?
Thinking it over, he remembered the moment his father's Mangekyō Sharingan activated before being sealed, perhaps a jutsu or seal had been lifted in that instant, making the hidden item detectable.
Sasuke pushed the bookshelf aside and examined the floor. Nothing looked unusual, there was just an ordinary floorboard, but…
Activating his own Mangekyō Sharingan, he discovered the secret and unearthed a wooden box.
"This is…"
Opening it, Sasuke's eyes widened.
Inside was a pair of normal Sharingan eyes preserved in a special fluid, not Mangekyō, but brimming with tremendous chakra.
"How can a single-tomoe Sharingan have this much power?" Sasuke murmured.
But then it clicked, "These must be… my father's chakra."
Now it made sense why no one ever tried to take Fugaku's eyes. Even though he had the Mangekyō, he must have sealed all of his power into this pair, rendering his real eyes useless and unappealing to others.
But… what use were they to Sasuke?
After implanting Itachi's eyes, Sasuke's visual prowess had already peaked. Even if his control still needed refinement, his raw ocular power couldn't go much higher.
Still, after a moment of silent thought, he chose to absorb the energy.
This was likely his father's final gift to him, one last offering, even if Sasuke still harbored some resentment.
Yet he couldn't understand… why leave it here?
What Sasuke didn't know was that this was something Fugaku had foreseen before his death. He had seen Sasuke opening this very box in a vision of the future.
Though Fugaku didn't know exactly what was inside at the time, after learning of Itachi's decision and falling into despair, he chose to create this box and leave behind something, anything, for Sasuke.
He thought long and hard about what he could leave… and decided on his Mangekyō Sharingan.But removing them would expose him and get the room searched.
So instead, he sealed all of his ocular power into this seemingly ordinary pair of Sharingan, hiding them where no one would look.
Even if Sasuke hadn't awakened the Mangekyō, this power might have helped his eyes evolve further.
Fugaku worried Sasuke might never find the box…
But if that vision he'd seen was real, then it would work out someday.
What Fugaku never expected was that he would be reanimated, and tell Sasuke about it himself.
This was his final gift to his son.
Sasuke picked up the preserved Sharingan, and then noticed something beneath them: a letter.
He froze.
Carefully setting the eyes aside, he opened the dusty envelope with trembling hands.
The handwriting was instantly recognizable.
"It's… my mother's…"
Sasuke's eyes blurred as tears welled up. The letter was written by Mikoto Uchiha, his mother. Her words were filled with care and sorrow that she wouldn't see him grow up.
Tears streamed down his cheeks.
There was also a short letter from his father. Less emotional, but still enough to overwhelm Sasuke.
He wasn't weak. But this, this was the last message from his parents.
In both letters, they spoke of their love and concern for him. They also mentioned Itachi, asking Sasuke not to hate his brother.
But…
"I'm sorry, Mother. Father… No matter what, I can't forgive him…" Sasuke whispered, eyes blazing with resolve.
He didn't regret killing Itachi, he'd made that decision long ago.
Unless time could be reversed, unless Itachi never committed that atrocity, Sasuke would never forgive him.
"…I've disappointed you both."
After a long silence, Sasuke composed himself.
He folded the letters carefully and returned them to the box, he couldn't risk them getting damaged in battle.
With the box safely stored away, he picked up the eyes again and began drawing out the chakra sealed within.
Ordinary people would be incapable of absorbing Mangekyō chakra, but this was different.
These were his father's. Their chakra was of the same origin. Merging them was not only safe, it was meant to be.
Just as Sasuke had expected, after transplanting Itachi's eyes and Hashirama's cells, the power of his Mangekyō Sharingan had already reached its peak, or at least very close to saturation.
Now, as he absorbed the ocular power left behind by Fugaku, Sasuke quickly felt his eyes reaching their limit. It seemed he couldn't take in any more.
But Sasuke's gaze was resolute.
If there truly was a limit to the Mangekyō Sharingan's power, then he would break that limit.
This was a gift from his father, and he had to absorb it fully.
Even when his vision began to sting with pain, Sasuke continued without hesitation.
Soon, blood began to stream from his eyes, but he ignored it.
He'd bled before. Every time he used Amaterasu, his eyes had suffered worse.
"So keep going!" Sasuke roared inwardly, forcing his already overflowing "container" to absorb more and more chakra.
Eventually, that container began to crack.
Yet in that moment, Sasuke sensed something beyond. A higher realm above the Mangekyō Sharingan.
This was a power he'd never known before, something not even recorded on the Uchiha clan's sacred stone tablet.It suddenly reminded him of the Rinnegan in his older self's other eye, the one he'd once assumed was transplanted from someone else.
But… what if it wasn't?
What if the Rinnegan was actually the evolution beyond the Mangekyō Sharingan?
A theory surfaced in Sasuke's mind: if that was true, then now, with such massive, compatible ocular chakra, was his best and perhaps only chance to evolve.
So, with that belief, Sasuke grew even bolder, recklessly drawing in more power.
But the pain grew too.
What Sasuke didn't know was that, to awaken the Rinnegan, one needed more than immense ocular power.
You also needed the chakra of both Indra and Asura's bloodlines, and an intense emotional stimulus.
Yet by chance, Sasuke had already met those conditions.
When he implanted Itachi's eyes, he'd also grafted in Hashirama's cells to accelerate his progress, thus fusing the blood of Indra and Asura.
And now caught up in the emotional tidal wave brought on by his parents' final letter, and filled overwhelming mix of gratitude and grief, Sasuke's heart was filled with the purest of feelings. Not hate. Not vengeance.
Just… love and sorrow.
He could feel the depth of his mother's love for him, and his father's quiet, restrained care.
Still, despite having the conditions met, Sasuke didn't know how to consciously awaken the Rinnegan.
And his ocular control was still lacking.
What he was doing now, brute-forcing his way forward with raw chakra, meant he'd suffer far more than someone awakened through proper guidance.
"Compared to what I've endured… this pain is nothing." Sasuke scoffed internally, as if mocking the agony trying to stop him.
Thanks to Itachi, he'd endured mental torment far beyond anything this physical strain could inflict.
So he kept going, without a second's pause.
Now that he had seen hope beyond his current limits, Sasuke would never give up.
Finally, just as only a small portion of Fugaku's chakra remained, Sasuke heard a faint crack.
It was as if the "container" for his ocular power had finally shattered.
But Sasuke didn't panic, or despair.
Because immediately after the container broke, he felt the emergence of a much larger vessel.
And with that, all his pain vanished.
Had he succeeded?
He absorbed the last remaining traces of his father's chakra, then stood and looked at himself in the mirror.
Staring back at him was a pair of white eyes ringed with concentric circles.
The Rinnegan.
A smile spread across Sasuke's face.He had done it.
Then he felt something more, the Rinnegan's unique ability.
He blinked in surprise.
Its power… seemed strangely similar to the time-space technique from his original Mangekyō Sharingan.
It felt like the two might even be able to link together.
But Sasuke didn't have time to test it.
Naruto was still out there waiting for him, and he'd already spent too much time here.
Determined, Sasuke looked around the familiar home. In that instant, he saw not the empty rooms of today, but the faces of his father and mother.
And a young Itachi, before that terrible night.
The light in Sasuke's new Rinnegan eyes grew soft.
And then, his body vanished in a flash, leaving behind only a single gentle word echoing through the empty home...
"…Thank you."
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Currently on Chapter 407 - The Purple Tenseigan