Staring in horror at the eerie old guard, Uchiha Gin instinctively backed away, keeping distance.
He just wanted intel, not this creep's attention. Tch, old weirdo. Swallowing his disgust, he pressed on for the six-year-old secrets. "Thanks for the… affection, senior. Next question."
"Who was imprisoned here six years ago?"
Uchiha Gin asked the burning question.
"The one they called…" the guard drawled, "a traitor."
"Traitor?" Uchiha Gin's brow furrowed. What happened six years ago to produce a traitor?
"Who was this traitor?" he asked, a guess forming.
"As you suspect, an Uchiha clansman," the guard said heavily.
"So it's unrelated to the clan grounds attack?" Uchiha Gin's head spun. The prisoner was an Uchiha traitor.
He knew the Uchiha clan was rife with internal strife. Their emotional intensity and stubborn convictions often sparked infighting.
"The clan grounds attack? Heh…" The guard's eerie laugh mocked Uchiha Gin's mutter.
"What's that mean?" Sensing hidden meaning, Uchiha Gin pressed.
"They dressed up that event as an attack. Laughable," the guard said, his cold sneer shocking.
"What do you know?" Uchiha Gin's heart raced. Chasing the prisoner's identity had unearthed a deeper secret.
Moments later, clutching his throbbing head, he said, "But I'm the attack's sole survivor. I saw the Kaguya clan slaughter our elderly, women, and children."
The sealed, painful memory resurfaced, his head splitting. His eyes turned blood-red, like a feral beast's.
"How can you be sure what you saw was real?" The guard sighed, watching Uchiha Gin pant. "How do you know you're really you?"
The words struck like thunder, exploding in his mind.
It felt like someone pried open his skull, stirring it with a stick. His eyes bulged, as if they'd burst. From a third perspective, his left eye's two tomoe, usually static, spun wildly, a third tomoe faintly emerging.
"Aaagh!" The searing pain made Uchiha Gin wail, his cries alerting the guards.
Uchiha Firecore and Uchiha Jiro rushed in, finding Uchiha Gin collapsed in the cell. Drenched in sweat, pale, eyes shut, he wouldn't wake despite their efforts. Panicked, they carried him to the clan's medical center.
In a coma, Uchiha Gin dreamed of an unfamiliar scene: a strange hospital room, a girl kneeling in a corner, a slightly older boy in another. The scene shifted to ruins, the girl sobbing against the boy's chest, his eyes bleeding. Finally, the boy looked up at a demonic red moon.
At the Uchiha medical center, Uchiha Gin lay on a bed, flanked by two boys.
Uchiha Izuna, anxious, watched Uchiha Gin's shifting expressions, turning to the other boy. "Big brother, cousin Gin's not gonna die, right?"
Uchiha Madara's face darkened, smacking Izuna's head. "Don't jinx it! Elder Mio said he's sturdy as an ox. He passed out from an old mission injury."
Elder Mio had attributed Uchiha Gin's coma to a recurring head injury from a Senju attack, noted in Uchiha Fuka's mission logs.
Outside, Uchiha Tajima, rarely seen, spoke with the rotund Elder Yan, his brow furrowed. "Elder Yan, what happened to Gin in the dungeon?"
Yan, sweating, was clueless. He'd visited Uchiha Gin yesterday, and he'd seemed fine.
Both turned as Elder Mio emerged. "Uchiha Gin's pupil power has increased," Mio said, incredulous. "And I detected the seal loosening."
Tajima and Yan exchanged heavy glances.
"Impossible!" Yan insisted. "Forget the seal—his eyes were taken from random corpses. They can't awaken Sharingan!"
Tajima, less concerned with the eyes, pressed, "What's the seal's status?"
That seal was his handiwork, its overuse leaving lasting damage to his own eyes.
"Something's faintly touching the seal, slowly eroding it," Mio said, shaking his head, at a loss.
"Find out what secrets Uchiha Gin hides," Tajima ordered, eyes narrowing.
"Is that necessary?" Yan, wiping sweat, questioned. "Blind as he is, he's not worth our time. Our priority is locating that 'weapon.'"
At "weapon," fear flickered in their eyes.
"How's the Sarutobi prisoner's interrogation?" Tajima asked.
"Results soon. Ryuei's handling it personally—even the Sage of the Six Paths couldn't resist him," Yan said confidently.
"Don't fail me again, Elder Yan," Tajima said, a crimson glint in his eyes. His chilling gaze and oppressive aura made Yan struggle to breathe.
"Mio, research that person's remaining data. When the 'weapon' emerges, we'll need a leash, or…" Tajima's eyes grew colder, revealing not three tomoe but a peculiar four-pointed shuriken pattern.
"The 'weapon' could devour its master."
The strange pattern vanished quickly. Yan and Mio held their breath, frozen.
"Father, Cousin Gin's awake!" Izuna's frantic entrance shattered the tension.
"Elders Yan and Mio, carry on. I'll check on Gin," Tajima said, donning a warm smile.
"R-right," the elders stammered, fleeing gratefully.
"Izuna, let's go," Tajima said, entering the room.
Seeing Uchiha Gin sit up, Tajima opened his mouth to speak, but Uchiha Gin, face odd, spoke first, dropping a bombshell.
"Uncle, Madara's got a thing for guys. It's a problem—he needs help!"
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