Gulp gulp gulp— Uchiha Mei lifted the sake jar and took several heavy gulps.
Seeing this, Uchiha Cai also took a large swig.
After several rounds of sake, Uchiha Mei's face reddened. He slammed the table and shouted, "Damn Yagura Karatachi! I lost one of my Sharingan! I'm not willing to accept this!"
"Mei-senpai, want me to take out the Fourth Mizukage for you?" Uchiha Cai offered, following his lead.
"Don't be reckless, Cai. You and I are about on par in strength. I couldn't beat him, so you definitely can't.
Yagura Karatachi is extremely powerful. His chakra reserves are massive, and he can perform large-scale Water Style jutsu even without access to water. He also uses some very strange water techniques. Against them, I had no way to respond.
And now that I've lost one Sharingan, you're the strongest one left in Squad Three. I want you to take over as squad leader."
"You're that eager to retire? You only lost one eye, not both. Besides, it's not like there's no chance of recovering your eye."
Uchiha Mei gave a bitter smile. "Ha! Recover? That's easy for you to say. I don't even dare dream of awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"But what if you do?"
Mei sneered and said nothing more, downing the rest of his sake.
"Uh... S-Senpai... about your eye..." Uchiha Yuan tried to ask.
"That's not something you should be asking about. You're not qualified to know yet," Uchiha Cai interjected.
Mei waved his hand. "It's fine. With Yuan's talent, he'll open his third tomoe sooner or later and make it into the higher ranks of the police force. It's okay to tell him."
"Alright, then I won't break our clan founder's rules by refusing."
"Good. Then listen up, Yuan. The reason I went blind is because of two ocular techniques from our Uchiha clan. Many years ago..."
Uchiha Mei explained in detail the origins of Izanagi and Izanami, and also told Yuan about their effects.
(Author's note: You probably already know the origins of Izanagi and Izanami. If not, search online—no need to cover them in the main story.)
Izanagi allows you to negate any negative events that occur for a set duration after it's activated—transforming only favorable outcomes into reality. The duration depends on the user's ability, and the eye used will go blind.
Even if the user dies during that duration, reality is rewritten. It's an overpowering ocular technique that can make the user effectively invincible.
Izanami, on the other hand, is the only jutsu that can counter Izanagi, but it also causes blindness.
Its effect involves recording a specific sequence of actions between the user and the target, and then forcing that sequence to replay repeatedly. The target becomes trapped in an endless mental loop, caught between the two recorded instances.
To escape, the target must sincerely accept their fate and repent.
According to Mei, these two ocular techniques are classified as forbidden jutsu within the Uchiha clan. Only the elders, high-ranking police officials, and descendants of the techniques' creators are authorized to know about them.
However, rules are dead, people are alive. In reality, quite a few members of the Uchiha clan are aware of them.
That's why Mei felt it was fine to share this with Yuan.
"Cai-senpai, just now you said you didn't want to violate your ancestor's rules. Are you a descendant of the one who created these jutsu?" Yuan asked cautiously.
"That's right. I'm a descendant of Uchiha Chiri, who created Izanami. Among the Uchiha, our branch is the only one with purplish hair," Cai replied.
"Then... Cai-senpai, was what you said earlier about the Sharingan being able to recover really true?"
"Of course. Mei-senpai already said so—if you awaken the Mangekyō, it can restore the lost eye.
There's precedent. A past clan member went blind from using Izanagi, just like Mei-senpai. But after his wife died, the overwhelming grief triggered his Mangekyō Sharingan, and his blind eye recovered."
Hearing this, Uchiha Yuan couldn't help thinking of Uchiha Madara.
In the original story, Madara used Izanagi during the Valley of the End battle, sacrificing one eye to survive and biting off a piece of Hashirama's flesh.
Once the Izanagi effect activated, Madara revived and implanted the tissue into himself—successfully acquiring Hashirama's cells and eventually awakening the Rinnegan before death.
Yuan remembered that Madara's two eyes both evolved into Rinnegan—meaning the eye that had gone blind from Izanagi also recovered and evolved.
Combining this with what Cai said, Yuan was now certain: once the Sharingan evolves, a blind eye can indeed recover.
This gave him hope.
He silently made up his mind: one day, he would find a way to help Uchiha Mei's eye evolve and restore his vision.
The next morning, after breakfast, Uchiha Yuan arrived at the designated meeting spot.
By the time he got there, Hyuga Asana and Yamanaka Kagetsu were already waiting.
Yuan glanced at the time—15 minutes before 8:00. He had arrived early. But with both already there, it felt like he was late.
"When did you guys get here?" he asked.
"I got here at 7. Did a bit of warm-up training while I waited," Asana replied.
"I was a bit earlier than Asana. Also warmed up first," Kagetsu added.
"Well, I'm not surprised by Asana—she's always diligent. But you, Kagetsu? What got into you?"
"I don't want Dingyan-senpai's sacrifice to be in vain. I need to be worthy of it," Kagetsu said solemnly.
"That's a good mindset."
Just then, a voice came from behind: "Good mindset indeed."
It was Shibi Aburame.
"Good morning, Sensei!" Yuan greeted him.
Shibi nodded, then scanned the three of them carefully.
After a moment, he nodded again. "Looks like none of you slacked off while I was away. Your strength has improved."
"But Yuan, I suggest you lighten your training weights. You're still young—your bones haven't fully developed yet. While using weights can help with training, don't go too heavy, or you may cause hidden injuries.
Like that guy over there."
The three turned to look in the direction Shibi pointed.
"When did Might Guy grow up this much?" Kagetsu asked, his tone odd.
(To Be Continued...)