Chapter 26, Playmate Poems (Combined with a bonus chapter)...
"Yan Sheng?" Ban's voice was lower and hoarser than usual, carrying a hint of undisguised fatigue. "What are you doing here?"
He subconsciously didn't want his younger brother to see his argument with Izuna.
Yan Sheng raised his eyelids, his gaze quickly and subtly sweeping over Ban's eyes again. The pattern on his eyes had disappeared, returning to a deep black, but the beauty and power he had just glimpsed were deeply imprinted in his mind.
He lowered his eyes, his tone as calm and even as ever, revealing nothing unusual: "The condolence was over, and I was just about to head back. I heard my brothers' voices and wanted to come and offer my greetings... I didn't mean to disturb you."
Izuna glanced at Yan Sheng's pale face and thin body, and the doubt in her heart dissipated. She then thought that he was not in good health, and perhaps he was frightened by the argument between her and her brother earlier. Her tone softened a bit: "Yes. It's windy here, you should go back."
Ban nodded slightly. At this moment, his mind was in turmoil, and he had no time to pay attention to Yan Sheng. He replied, "Go back and get some rest."
"Yes." Yan Sheng responded without saying anything more, then turned and quietly left along the way he came.
Only he himself knew that his innermost thoughts had completely changed.
Kaleidoscope... So the family's bloodline limit can reach such a level. These eyes... I must get them.
***
Yan Sheng had already consulted the clan's records about how the Sharingan awakened, and had also sought answers from his mother, Kaori.
The conclusions reached were highly consistent: strong emotional stimulation is required.
Yan Sheng seemed to be deep in thought. After some observation, he discovered that almost all the clansmen who had successfully awakened the Sharingan had experienced shocks that were enough to shatter their minds and cause them unbearable pain.
For example, witnessing the death of a close relative.
Such people have rich emotions, which may be why the Uchiha clan members are generally known for their stubborn and sensitive personalities.
Only those with intense emotions, prone to fanaticism and extremism, are more likely to awaken their power, thereby increasing their survival rate in a cruel world and passing this trait down from generation to generation.
Those individuals with stable and peaceful emotions did not survive, and their lineage naturally ended.
Having figured this out, Yan Sheng fell silent.
He felt that it would be very difficult for him to awaken the Sharingan through normal means in his lifetime.
It wasn't because he lacked emotions. On the contrary, his soul, accumulated over three hundred years, contained incredibly complex and profound emotions, but very few could be easily stirred by external things to the point of "intense stimulation."
If... it's Yoriichi...
Just the thought of that figure in her mind, and the idea of her younger brother's talent—a talent she could never reach in her entire life, a talent she could never even catch a glimpse of—brought an extremely bitter and aggrieved feeling to her heart, mixed with intense resentment and self-loathing.
That intense sourness and bitterness, originating from Yoriichi, was a spark that could ignite certain changes.
However, in the instant his emotions surged, Yan Sheng ruthlessly extinguished them, suppressing them deep into the depths of his heart.
He refused.
Using one's obsession and inner conflict with Yoriichi to gain power? In his eyes, such an act was tantamount to a stain on one's own beliefs. He could not accept awakening the Sharingan in this way.
That obsession that had been pursued for three hundred years, that complex emotion mixed with jealousy, resentment, awe and despair, was his inviolable taboo.
If he were to use this emotion as fuel to gain power, even if he succeeded, the power he gained would seem to carry an original sin, making it impossible for him to face it with equanimity.
He pursues power to transcend, to prove himself, and to ultimately be able to look at that person as an equal, or even looking down upon him—not... to take a shortcut that he considers almost "blasphemous" by consuming this obsession.
so.
Yan Sheng calmly assessed that the possibility of awakening the Sharingan on his own through conventional "emotional stimulation" methods was extremely slim.
He needs to find another way.
So, we need to delve deeper into the essence of so-called "emotional stimulation." Is it a specific secretion of chakra in the brain? Is it a dramatic collapse and reorganization of mental energy? Or is it some unknown resonance mechanism at the soul level?
Driven by this desire, Yan Sheng relentlessly delved into the Uchiha clan's vast archives, seeking the most fundamental and core mechanism: intense emotional fluctuations. How exactly did this trigger a specific "mutation" in chakra, thus "activating" the Sharingan?
He sat amidst mountains of ancient books, his gaze sweeping over the obscure texts and diagrams as if scanning them, trying to piece together fragments of truth from countless clear or vague records of experience and notes from his predecessors.
The relentless deductions and reflections day and night nearly exhausted the mental strength of this frail body.
Yan Sheng's face grew paler by the day, and his fingertips were often stained with ink and dust from excessive reading. Only his dark eyes burned with a cold and stubborn light deep within his weariness.
Finally, after countless hypotheses and denials, he grasped a directional core concept:
The source of the Sharingan's power, in essence, does not require ordinary emotions, but rather the power of Yin Release.
What is "Yin Dun"?
Yan Sheng's finger rested on an ancient, tattered animal skin scroll. The writing on it was blurred, but the concepts it conveyed remained clear:
The power of Yin Dun governs the spirit, shapes imagination, and creates tangible forms from intangible power.
Simply put, it is a manifestation of a qualitative change in the high concentration of mental energy.
So, the real effect of so-called "intense emotional stimulation" may not be to directly open one's eyes, but rather to act as an effective "catalyst," with the formula roughly as follows:
Extreme emotional impact → triggers a mental storm (Yin Release) → high concentration, qualitative change → Sharingan awakening.
Having figured this out, Yan Sheng fell into even deeper thought.
If the essence is the condensation and qualitative change of Yin Dun power, then "emotional stimulation" may just be the most primitive, barbaric, and also the most dependent on talent and luck.
Is there another path?
A kind of... technical means that does not rely on uncontrollable emotional outbursts, but rather on willpower, precise calculations, and a profound understanding of the essence of Yin Dun to actively guide, compress, and transform spiritual energy to simulate that "detonation" effect?
***
Yan Sheng found an opportunity to visit his two elder brothers and ask them about their specific experiences and feelings when they awakened their Sharingan.
Faced with their younger brother's rare initiative to ask about training, Madara and Izuna were somewhat surprised, but it did not stop them from carefully sharing their insights and experiences with him.
However, these emotionally charged narratives offered little for Yan Sheng to draw upon. He could neither replicate those intense emotional experiences nor comprehend the vague feeling of "power spontaneously emerging."
So he then found two more people, and this time his questions became extremely specific: ignoring all the emotional descriptions, he went straight to the "technical" details.
"Madara, at the moment of awakening, were you able to clearly perceive the specific flow of chakra in the meridians around your eyes? Compared to usual, was it a quantitative change or a qualitative difference?"
"Izuna-nii, when the power surges into your eyes, do you feel a burning sensation, a stinging pain, or a swelling sensation? Does the chakra evenly cover the entire eyeball, or is it concentrated in certain specific points?"
His questions were as precise as an anatomist inquiring about the course of surgery. In his calm, dark eyes, there was only a pure desire for inquiry, without a trace of empathy for the suffering his brothers had endured or a yearning for great power.
Madara and Izuna were both taken aback by their younger brother's unusual way of asking the question.
They tried to recall, but found that they were completely overwhelmed by intense emotions and had no time to appreciate the details of how chakra flowed.
So, all I could give were some vague impressions: "It was probably... very hot?", "It felt like my eyes were going to explode... I didn't really notice how it was flowing."
This answer clearly did not meet Yan Sheng's needs. He thanked him politely and left, leaving his two elder brothers looking at each other in bewilderment.
***
After countless attempts, deductions, and adjustments, Yan Sheng finally, or more accurately, by chance, like a faulty circuit being constantly tinkered with, accidentally touched the correct "connection point" at a certain moment.
In an instant, a strange buzzing sound suddenly rang in my mind.
Immediately afterwards, a gentle and abundant warm current flowed through his eyes.
In that instant, he felt as if a veil had been lifted from the world. Everything before him became incredibly clear and transparent—the outlines of objects, the refraction of light, and even the trajectories of tiny dust particles in the air became visible to the naked eye.
Overjoyed, Yan Sheng quickly walked to the basin of water that had been prepared and leaned down to look at the reflection in the water.
On the water's surface, a bewitching red appeared in his dark pupils. But just as that crimson hue was about to solidify completely in the water's reflection, a sharp, throbbing pain gripped his eyes, as if his eyes themselves were resisting this "unnatural" and emotionally baseless awakening.
At the same time, he also felt that the chakra that was originally running stably in the meridians of his eyes had become extremely disordered, like the turbulent flow that bursts out after a precision instrument is overloaded, frantically impacting the fragile meridians, bringing waves of burning pain and intense dizziness.
He couldn't help but close his eyes, and two streams of warm, bright red liquid meandered from under his tightly closed eyelashes, leaving two shocking, crimson marks on his pale cheeks.
After a moment, I opened my eyes again. In the reflection on the water, the crimson that had just appeared flickered like a faulty lamp, then faded and disappeared at an extremely fast speed, returning to the normal black pupils.
Yan Sheng swayed uncontrollably, nearly falling to the ground. Fine beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
Backlash? No... more like some kind of forced protective interruption?
Despite the intense pain, his mind continued to work at a high speed.
Is it the Sharingan's "underlying rules" that are rejecting this activation? Or is his current body unable to withstand this intensity?
Yan Sheng immediately stopped all energy channeling and focused all his energy on circulating his breathing techniques to calm the churning chakra within his body and alleviate the intense pain in his eyes.
After a long time, the pain completely subsided, but my eyes still felt sore and sore.
***
Yan Sheng did not give up. Unfortunately, after briefly touching the "threshold" that day, he was never able to recreate that accidental "connection".
Time flows like water, calmly moving forward.
Yan Sheng's life continued as usual. He maintained his training day after day, never slacking off in his practice of breathing techniques and chakra, and constantly stimulating his eyes with an even more cautious attitude.
He remained calm throughout, showing no signs of anxiety.
After all, the long span of three hundred years in his previous life had already forged the word "patience" into his soul. Besides, there was no use in being impatient; it was better to remain calm and patient.
***
Nanhe River.
Hashirama Senju stood on the shore, his gaze burning with sincerity: "Madara! We can't go on like this! Look at how much blood our two clans have shed over the years! Hatred only breeds new hatred; this path has no end!"
He opened his arms as if to embrace the entire future: "Let's build a village! A village that doesn't belong to the Senju, nor to the Uchiha, but to all ninjas who yearn for peace! Let our children never have to go to the battlefield again, and let hatred end in our generation! If we join forces, we can definitely do it!"
Madara Uchiha listened in silence, a flicker of emotion in his eyes. Wasn't Hashirama's dream also a vision buried deep within his own heart?
But......
Madara spoke slowly, his voice low and calm: "Hashirama, you speak lightly. But our two clans have been fighting for generations, and the blood feud we've accumulated is as deep as an abyss. How can you so easily erase it with a simple 'reconciliation'?"
He wasn't trying to refuse, but rather to lay bare the bloody reality before them: "Those Uchiha souls who fell under the Senju blade, those Senju ninjas who died under the gaze of the Sharingan... how can we settle the score for their flowing blood and accumulated hatred? How can you and I bear this weight as we walk toward the future you speak of?"
Upon hearing this, Hashirama abruptly turned his head, his gaze fixed intently on his dear friend standing beside him on the riverbank. His eyes showed no wavering in the face of the questioning; instead, they burned with an even more fervent and resolute light.
"It is precisely because it is difficult that it is all the more worthwhile to do!" His voice was firm and powerful, filled with an unwavering conviction. "To forge an unprecedented path is destined to be fraught with thorns. If we give up simply because of the difficulties, the result will never come!"
He gazed into the distance, his eyes seemingly piercing through the barriers of time and space, envisioning that peaceful and beautiful future: "I believe that even if you and I cannot accomplish it ourselves, someone in the future will surely emerge who shares our dream. He will take up this torch and continue forward! Hatred may be difficult to eradicate, but if one generation cannot do it, then two generations, three generations! As long as we firmly believe that this path is correct and persevere in walking it—"
At this point, Hashirama suddenly raised his arm, his five fingers together as if to grasp that elusive ideal tightly in his hand, and said decisively, "Peace will surely be achieved one day!"
Madara's body trembled slightly. The pure belief and unwavering determination in Hashirama's words struck his heart like a heavy hammer.
Looking into his friend's eyes, where the light had not been extinguished but had instead grown stronger, a crack finally appeared in his stern expression. The flame of idealism deep within him, which had been crushed by reality, seemed to be rekindled, flickering weakly.
As if infected by that determination, Madara remained silent for a moment, then solemnly raised his arm, clenched his fist with his five fingers together, and then steadily moved it forward until it was facing Hashirama's fist.
Hashirama was taken aback for a moment, seemingly unable to immediately grasp the meaning of the action. But then, a great joy quickly bloomed on his face, and without hesitation, he gently pushed his fist forward, firmly and powerfully meeting Madara's fist.
Their fists pressed together.
Silence speaks louder than words.
***
When Madara tentatively proposed the possibility of negotiating with the Senju clan and building a future together at a high-level clan meeting, the reaction it triggered was nothing short of an earthquake.
"Absurd!" An elder slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Reconcile with the Senju? Madara, have you forgotten how your father died? Have you forgotten all the clansmen who died at the hands of the Senju?"
"Their hands are stained with the blood of our loved ones! This is an irreconcilable hatred!" another radical elder echoed sharply.
The room was filled with angry questions and fierce opposition. No one could accept the proposal; hatred was deeply ingrained in the Uchiha clan, becoming part of their identity.
To them, Ban's proposal was nothing short of heresy and betrayal!
Among them, the one who reacted most fiercely and with the most resolute attitude was Uchiha Izuna.
"Brother! Wake up!" After the meeting, Izuna stormed into Madara's room, his face filled with anger and disbelief. "You're still considering that stupid suggestion from Hashirama Senju?! What kind of spell did he cast on you?!"
Madara tried to explain: "Izuna, this isn't surrendering, it's for the future..."
"The future?" Izuna interrupted him, his three-tomoe Sharingan involuntarily surfacing due to his emotional outburst. "Is our future about bowing down to our enemies and begging for mercy? Where is the pride of the Uchiha clan? What will become of Father and the blood feud with so many clan members?!"
He took a step closer, his eyes sharp as knives: "Brother, you've gained the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan, but have you lost the pride of the Uchiha and the determination for revenge? What makes Hashirama Senju worthy of our trust? Just his naive fantasies?"
Madara could not refute his brother's question about the blood feud, which was an insurmountable chasm between the two clans.
......
Ban is in trouble.
On one hand, there was his deep-seated ideals and his trust in Hashirama. On the other hand, there was the heavy blood feud history of his family, the strong opposition from his clansmen, and the disappointed and angry look in the eyes of his closest younger brother.
He was caught in the middle, unable to move forward or backward.
As the clan leader, he could not ignore the will of the entire clan; as the elder brother, he could not easily deny his younger brother's worries and loyalty; and as himself, he could not completely extinguish the yearning for peace in his heart.
He met with Hashirama again: "Hashirama, my people cannot accept this. The hatred runs too deep. I need time, and I also need... a catalyst."
Hashirama Senju understood Madara's predicament, but the light in his eyes did not dim: "I understand, Madara. I will not give up! I will prove the Senju's sincerity to the Uchiha with my actions! No matter how long it takes, no matter how difficult it is, I will wait!"
***
Izuna led a child to Kokushiro.
The child had the Uchiha clan's signature smooth black hair, carefully braided into small plaits that hung down his shoulders. His features were delicate; anyone could tell at a glance that he was an Uchiha.
She timidly hid behind Izuna, her small hands tightly gripping his trouser leg. She couldn't help but peek out half her head, her clear and curious eyes secretly observing Yan Sheng.
Yan Sheng raised his eyes, his gaze passing over Izuna and landing on the small figure. He then cast a questioning look at Izuna.
Seeing that his younger brother had "regressed" to the point that he found it troublesome to even ask questions, and could only express his doubts with his eyes, Izuna became even more certain of his decision.
"Yan Sheng, I've found you a companion."
Yan Sheng's eyelids drooped slightly, conveying an unmistakable meaning: Do I look like someone who needs a playmate? Besides, this "playmate" is far too young.
Izuna pretended not to understand the rejection in his younger brother's eyes and continued, "This is Cousin Gu Kui's daughter, named Shi. Although she is only two years old, she is very well-behaved and sensible." At this point, his tone became slightly lower, "Her parents... recently passed away, and now they are being cared for by the clan. Like you, this child is also naturally weak. However, she has a heart condition and cannot withstand strenuous exercise."
He gently pulled the little girl out from behind him: "You two are both quiet by nature, so you can keep each other company instead of being alone all day."
Shi's little hand was still tightly gripping Izuna's trouser leg, her clear eyes blinking timidly. She first secretly glanced at Yan Sheng, whose face was devoid of any emotion, then raised her little head and looked at Izuna beside her for help. Finally, as if driven by some invisible pressure, she quickly shrank back behind Izuna, only a little bit of her braid showing, clearly very afraid of Yan Sheng.
To be fair, Yan Sheng's appearance was not ugly.
There are no ugly people in the Uchiha clan, and he inherited the best qualities of both his parents.
In fact, Yan Sheng was by no means ugly in his previous life. His parents were both nobles, and nobles naturally had outstanding appearances because they associated with good-looking people for generations.
That said, his pale complexion, a result of years of illness, now added to his cold and fragile appearance, making him seem like delicate white porcelain, easily broken and pitiful. Even when expressionless, he didn't appear fierce.
However, for some reason, the little girl felt a deep fear of Yan Sheng.
It had nothing to do with appearance; it was an instinct like that of a small animal, as if it sensed the cold nature beneath that pale, sickly exterior, making her afraid to approach.
Yan Sheng naturally noticed the girl's fear of him.
But he was completely unmoved, and even pleased with the outcome.
He had no intention of looking after a young child, nor did he need any so-called "playmate." This sudden arrangement was nothing more than a disturbance to his peace and quiet. If the little girl refused to stay out of fear, thus dissuading Izuna from the idea, that would be exactly what he wanted.
Therefore, instead of showing any intention to ease the atmosphere, he maintained his cold and aloof aura even more thoroughly, and even deliberately looked away, no longer making eye contact, as if everything in front of him had nothing to do with him, completely regarding the little girl as an insignificant piece of air.
Izuna took in the poem’s fear and Yan Sheng’s undisguised indifference.
He wanted to find a playmate for his younger brother because he was increasingly aware of his brother's aloofness and coldness. He believed that his brother's poor health prevented him from running and playing like normal children, and that he might have been rejected by his peers, which gradually led to his current state.
He and Ban Ge were burdened with clan affairs and were too busy to attend to everything; although their mother, Jia Zhi, had a little more time, she was ultimately an elder and not a playmate of the same age with whom they could have fun.
Moreover, Yan Sheng's attitude towards his mother was relatively gentle and polite, which made Izuna even more convinced that her younger brother was not inherently cold.
Choosing poetry is a win-win consideration.
He felt deep guilt towards Shi's mother, Uchiha Tanihime, and wanted to take care of her orphan. However, he was busy with clan affairs and could not do everything himself. He was worried that if he entrusted the child to the clan's care, the child would be neglected among so many children.
If Shi could be placed next to Yan Sheng, allowing these two equally quiet children who needed careful care to keep each other company, it would alleviate the younger brother's loneliness and ensure that Shi received more focused care. In his view, it was the perfect arrangement.
Ignoring the awkward silence, he stepped forward, reached out and ruffled Yan Sheng's soft hair, and instructed, "Yan Sheng, you're the older brother, so you have to take good care of your younger sister and get along with her peacefully, understand?"
Shi was indeed a well-behaved and sensible child. Although she was afraid of her cold older brother deep down and did not want to stay here, she did not make a fuss or refuse since it was Izuna's arrangement, but silently accepted it.
Yan Sheng clearly expressed his refusal, but unfortunately, Izuna insisted, and his objection was ineffective.
Seeing that things were developing in a direction he didn't want to go through, Yan Sheng felt troubled, but he didn't want to make things difficult for a naive and ignorant little girl.
He found a few brightly colored picture books (considering the girl's age, it was probably impossible for her to recognize words), stuffed them into her arms, and then ignored her and went back to doing his own thing.
Shi was completely calm and quietly picked up the picture book and found a spot farthest from Yan Sheng (the opposite corner of the room) to look through it.
She was still just a child, only two years old, with limited energy. After flipping through the picture book for a short while, her little head began to nod off, and drowsiness crept in. She couldn't help but rub her eyes, let out a big yawn, and finally couldn't resist the sleepiness. Clutching the picture book, she slumped to the ground and fell into a deep sleep.
In her sleep, her little brows gradually furrowed, and her breathing became somewhat rapid and uneasy.
She had a terrible dream.
In her dream, a humanoid monster with horns on its head, radiating endless malice and coldness, lunged at her with a sinister grin...
She wanted to run away, but her legs felt as heavy as lead, and she couldn't move an inch. The monster's savage laughter amplified in her ears, and she could almost smell the nauseating stench emanating from its mouth.
Just a second before the monster's claws were about to touch her.
A sharp, incomparably cold light, like lightning tearing through the night, suddenly slashed across from the side.
The monster didn't even have time to let out a wail before it was precisely cut in half at the waist, its two severed bodies crashing to the ground, only two steps away from her.
She froze, then looked up blankly.
A man dressed in a purple kimono with his hair tied in a high ponytail stood with his back to her, deftly sheathing a long sword at his waist with a fluid and powerful movement.
Overwhelmed with immense relief at surviving the ordeal, she instinctively wanted to express her gratitude, but her voice, trembling with tears, uttered, "Th-thank you..."
Just then, the person who had saved her heard the sound and slowly turned around—
What came into her view was not the handsome face she had imagined, but a terrifying face with three pairs of scarlet, eerie eyes.
The shock of that terrifying appearance was far more frightening than the monster from before.
"ah--!!!"
Overwhelming fear instantly overwhelmed her gratitude. She screamed, then her eyes snapped open, staring blankly at the ceiling. Her heart pounded wildly, and she was drenched in cold sweat. Her chest heaved violently as she gasped for breath, her face deathly pale, her forehead beaded with cold sweat, and her large eyes filled with lingering terror. She could almost still see those three pairs of terrifying crimson eyes before her.
She instinctively curled up, shivering.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Thank you for the nutrient solution and the landmines! Your support and love are the driving force behind my updates. I got so excited that I wrote two chapters! [Let me see!]
I believe everyone recognizes who Shi is. Here's a spoiler: Shi has been reincarnated several times, and in one of her previous lives, she was saved by her brother.
Yoriichi will also be reincarnated.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
