The moon was gentle, its light cascading like water, draping the land—and the two figures below—in a shimmering silver glow.
Silence filled the heavens and earth. Suddenly, someone shattered this calm.
"Why?" Ryuken's voice carried barely suppressed anger. "Am I really that amusing to you, like a clown?"
"Want to vent your anger?"
Qingkong waved his hand casually and said, "Come at me!"
Hearing those words, Ryuken slowly stood up. His crimson Three Tomoe Sharingan looked particularly sinister against the night sky.
"I'm truly grateful—you helped me awaken my Three Tomoe Sharingan!"
As he spoke, he pulled the sword from the ground. "Let me return the favor by showing you some real pain."
Even before he finished speaking, chakra exploded beneath his feet. His figure became a shadow, and his blade flashed like lightning.
He moved fast—but for Qingkong, it felt like slow motion.
Clang!
Qingkong easily raised his right hand. The reverse-gripped kunai effortlessly blocked the slash.
As Ryuken stared in shock—his full-strength strike stopped in an instant—Qingkong lifted his knee and smashed it into Ryuken's abdomen.
Boom!
It sounded like a muffled thunderclap. Ryuken curled midair like a shrimp, flying backward and snapping several thick trees behind him.
Pushing himself up with his arms, Ryuken slowly slid back against the tree behind him. His stomach churned violently, and searing pain kept him from rising.
"What's wrong? Think you're all-powerful just because you awakened the Three Tomoe?"
"Let you feel pain? Who do you think you are?"
"The night has fallen, the moon has risen—are you feeling confident now?"
"You've got quite the tongue!"
"You really should know—one tougher you act, the harder you fall!"
...
Hearing each mocking word spill from Qingkong's mouth, watching Qingkong slowly approach, Ryuken suddenly lifted his head and locked eyes with him.
[Magen: Sharingan!]
Just as Qingkong was slowly walking toward him, his footsteps abruptly halted. Then he saw Shisui drop from the sky, drawing his sword to cut him down.
Shaking his head, Qingkong watched Shisui in midair become illusory and then vanish entirely.
Looking at the sweat pouring down Ryuken's face, Qingkong mocked with a smile, "Wow, not bad! You actually pulled me into your genjutsu space. Your Three Tomoe isn't bad at all!"
Even as he spoke, Qingkong had already approached Ryuken.
Just as Ryuken braced himself for punishment—or even death—from Qingkong, the latter suddenly bowed deeply before him.
"I'm sorry."
Truthfully, Qingkong also felt the illusion he'd created had gone too far.
Hearing the sincerity in Qingkong's apology, countless emotions crossed Ryuken's face. He now understood deep inside—this must be what they called the Sharingan Awakening Ritual.
To create such a realistic environment especially for him, the effort required was unimaginable.
Still, the setting had indeed been excessively harsh. Absolutely unforgivable. So he turned his head away stubbornly.
After apologizing, Qingkong ignored Ryuken's reaction and turned around, leaping onto a tree branch.
"Return to the training base yourself. Don't leak anything about the Sharingan Awakening Ritual."
Watching Qingkong vanish into the distance, Ryuken muttered bitterly, "I haven't forgiven you yet!"
Meanwhile, Aozora had just leaped from one tree to another when a figure suddenly appeared beside him.
Shisui still looked shaken as he asked Aozora, "So this is awakening the Three Tomoe Sharingan already?"
"That's right!"
After answering Shisui's question, Aozora sighed, "Too bad!"
"What's too bad? Isn't your goal achieved?" Shisui asked curiously.
Aozora said regretfully, "I didn't expect this illusion effect to be so strong. Hmm… I should've used it back when he was at Two Tomoe or earlier!"
Shisui shot Aozora a sidelong glance and said dryly, "You wish! Even if the Three Tomoe Sharingan can't break my illusion, it'll definitely sense something's off."
"You do have a point," Aozora gave a light nod at that.
The Three Tomoe Sharingan's resistance to genjutsu was already incredibly high, making it impossible not to notice any abnormality. And once abnormalities were detected and realized everything experienced was an illusion, the emotional power that triggered the Sharingan evolution would vanish.
Still, managing to push his teammates up to the Three Tomoe Sharingan was already a huge win. Originally, he only intended to give Ryuken a One Tomoe upgrade.
Guess my made-up plot wasn't so bad after all!
Thinking of this, Aozora smiled at Shisui and said, "Come on, Director Shisui, let's go to the next set!"
"Huh? Director?" Shisui asked in surprise.
Aozora explained, "It's a new profession, very similar to how you construct worlds with illusions. I'll take you to experience it sometime."
Shisui asked a few interested questions before asking, "Where are we going next?"
Aozora smiled and said, "This time we're heading to Luoying Mountain to direct a touching love story!"
The next day, Uchiha Koujou received a bandit elimination trial mission and headed toward Luoying Mountain.
When he arrived at Luoying Mountain, he found someone had beaten him there. Upon reaching the bandit camp, he discovered they were Konoha ninjas, including Ayana Ishigaki, whom he secretly adored.
With many rogue ninjas in the camp, Ayana and her group were overpowered. Hiro stepped in like a hero to save the girl.
However, the bandit leader turned out to be a hidden Jonin, who suddenly powered up, killing several Konoha ninja in succession until Ayana shielded Uchiha Koujou from a fatal strike.
Seeing his beloved woman bleeding to death before his eyes, Uchiha Koujou's vision blurred instantly, replaced by crimson red.
After calming down Uchiha Koujou, Shisui and Aozora hurried to their next filming location.
Somewhat puzzled by his younger brother, Shisui asked, "Aozora, you're only thirteen, how come you know so much about playing with people's emotions?"
Rolling his eyes, Aozora replied dryly, "It's not that big a deal. I've just read a few extra tragedy novels. If you go to the marketplace and buy books, you'll find tons of those cheesy, over-the-top plots everywhere."
"Uh…"
Speechless for a moment, Shisui just followed Aozora silently to help activate Sharingan for the other squad members.
Time passed swiftly, and before long, over ten days had gone by.
At the Sleeping Dragon Squad's Training Base, Aozora stood with hands behind his back, watching the indignant squad member before him.
These twelve members of the Sleeping Dragon Squad hadn't disappointed him. Originally, only five had awakened Sharingan, but now all twelve possessed it, including two Three Tomoe and six Two Tomoe pairs.
There was no denying it — the Sharingan Awakening Ritual had been a smashing success.
At the same time, the Sharingan Awakening Ritual also made them somewhat uneasy, even developing a sense of dislike toward Aozora.
Aozora stood with his hands behind his back and looked over the crowd, speaking firmly, "Over the past half month, everyone has experienced the Sharingan Awakening Ritual. You might be wondering—why put you all through this?"
When these words fell, many people immediately fixed their eyes on Aozora.
Aozora's expression turned serious. "Believe me, you all know that our Uchiha's Sharingan usually awakens after experiencing great upheaval or intense emotions."
The crowd silently nodded.
"Many believe it's a curse from demons..."
Aozora paused here, then declared loudly, "But I think it's a gift from heaven!"
Instantly, more than ten pairs of curious eyes appeared among the audience.
Suddenly, Aozora asked, "How many ninja in the Ninja World witness their loved ones dying before their very eyes every day? How many people endure tremendous negative emotions?"
As they hesitated, Aozora had already provided the answer himself, "The truth is clear—these tragedies play out every day across the Ninja World."
The team members who'd personally experienced the grief of losing parents, lovers, brothers, and friends silently nodded, reluctantly admitting Aozora was correct.
Slowly, a smile emerged on Aozora's face. "Fortunately for us Uchiha, after enduring tragedy, we might awaken the Sharingan and grow stronger, giving us the power to prevent such tragedies when faced with misfortune again."
As they listened, their eyes lit up—none of them had ever heard the Sharingan explained this way before.
So awakening the Sharingan was meant to help prevent tragedies?
They weren't sure if this was true, but compared to the usual village propaganda about Cursed Eyes, they believed Aozora's version much more!
And where exactly was the curse? None of them had lost any family or friends recently, yet each of them had awakened and evolved their Sharingan.
This clearly proved that the Sharingan had absolutely nothing to do with any curse.
Seeing the crowd gradually accept his theory, Aozora felt quite pleased internally.
Earlier, he'd noticed a conflicting mindset within the clan—an internal struggle between pride for the Sharingan and the belief that it represented ill omen.
The clan had long taught that pride came from the Sharingan's strength.
As for believing the Sharingan brought bad luck, that was secretly pushed by the Hokage Faction.
Radical clan members didn't care much; as long as the Sharingan was strong, how it awakened or whether it brought misfortune wasn't important.
But for peace-loving members of the clan, it felt like a sharp thorn in their hearts—bringing hesitation and inner conflict.
Prejudices in people's hearts are like mighty mountains—hard to move.
Although he couldn't yet remove the villagers' deep-rooted prejudices, Aozora wanted to start by loosening his own clan's mindset first.
Before asking others in the village to let go of their biases, the Uchiha must first free themselves from those bindings.
So, Aozora found time in secret to develop a positive theory around the Sharingan's awakening: "'Awaken through love, open your eyes to prevent tragedies' became its core principle."
If he could convince these few individuals, surely he could persuade more clan members. Aozora decided that once Fugaku returned to the village, he'd ask him to revise the clan's foundational educational materials and slowly promote this new theoretical framework.
"Why should you have to go through such a tragedy?"
Aozora locked eyes with each of his subordinates before replying, "Because I want you to have more power during missions—so no one ends up dying or failing again.
I've said it before—you must not use the Sharingan while on missions!
There's another half to that rule: if your life is in danger, you drop the mission!"
After saying this, Aozora gave them a final look and said, "This is the last of your training. From here on out, it all depends on you guys."
"Yes sir!"
The group responded in unison, then shot off into the night like dark blurs, vanishing in different directions.
Aozora, Shuichi, and others didn't bother seeing them off. After today, they would have nothing more to do with the Uchiha clan unless the mission failed—or succeeded.
Watching them disappear into the distance, Aozora thought to himself: This time, will the Wolong (the Dragon Hidden in the Mountains) truly descend from the mountain and unite the world?
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