Sasuke gasped for air.
His tears had already dried, but the emotion in his chest, nearly burning through his reason, grew even more turbulent.
Like magma churning at the mouth of a volcano, like floodwaters roaring behind a dam. Six years of faith in avenging his parents and clan had completely collapsed at this moment.
Then, that emotion found an outlet.
His eyes…
Those crimson eyes, bearing the Uchiha bloodline and its curse.
Sasuke felt his eye sockets burning, as if two red-hot coals were embedded in them.
A third tomoe, arranged in an equilateral triangle, slowly emerged in his crimson pupils.
Three-Tomoe Sharingan!
At this moment, catalyzed by the impact of the truth and six years of suppressed anger, it had completed its evolution.
"Oh?"
Gaara looked at the third tomoe taking shape in Sasuke's eyes and gave a light snort.
"Not completely useless, then."
He said this casually, even with a hint of mockery.
But Gaara himself knew how gifted a twelve-year-old with a Three-Tomoe Sharingan was.
In the years he had spent in the Land of Stars, he had come into contact with many Uchiha Clan's members.
Most of the Uchiha children in the Ninja Academy only awakened their Sharingan at thirteen or fourteen, after sufficient emotional stimulation or combat training.
One tomoe was the norm. Two tomoes was already considered excellent. Those who could reach three tomoes before the age of fifteen were few and far between!
And those who could awaken three tomoes at twelve.
In Gaara's memory, there were only two people.
Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Hikari.
Both had awakened their Three-Tomoe Sharingan at around eleven or twelve, and then, under extreme emotional stimulation, had given birth to the miracle of the Mangekyo.
Now, Sasuke had become the third.
But Gaara couldn't praise him.
Not only could he not praise him, he had to suppress him, to stimulate him, to make him see the gap in strength.
Because Mikoto had said: "That child is too proud, and also too fragile. If he knows I'm still alive, he'll definitely rush over recklessly. But Konoha won't let him go. He needs to become strong enough on his own… strong enough to see through Konoha's hypocrisy, strong enough to have the ability to make his own choices."
So, Gaara had never intended to kill Sasuke from the start.
But he also couldn't tell Sasuke everything directly.
The best method was to let Sasuke 'figure it out' himself, to 'decide' to leave Konoha on his own.
And the prerequisite for all this was—
To make Sasuke see just how weak he currently was.
"Sharingan—"
Sasuke slowly raised his head. His newly born Ocular Power flowed through his eyes, bringing unprecedented confidence.
"Genjutsu: Shackling Stakes Technique!"
Sasuke's pupils suddenly contracted. His Ocular Power transformed into invisible threads, spanning the distance, instantly piercing into Gaara's eyes.
In that instant, Gaara felt the scene before him begin to twist and fade.
The desert disappeared.
The sounds of Temari and Kankuro fighting faded away.
The world turned a dark red. The sky was a dark red like coagulated plasma, the earth was charred and cracked soil.
The air was thick with the smell of rust and ash.
And he was pinned in place.
Six arm-thick, blood-red stakes thrust out from the void, piercing through his shoulders, knees, chest, and abdomen.
The stakes were driven deep into the ground, fixing him like a specimen.
Pain.
An excruciating, real pain came from the pierced areas.
"Welcome to my world."
Sasuke's voice came from ahead.
Gaara, pinned in place, lifted his head with some difficulty and saw Sasuke standing three meters in front of him.
In this Genjutsu Space, Sasuke was no longer the disheveled loser bound by quicksand.
He stood tall and straight, his black hair moving without wind. The three tomoes in his eyes slowly spun, and the corner of his mouth held the confidence of one who controlled everything.
"This is an independent spiritual space constructed by the Sharingan's Genjutsu."
Sasuke raised his right hand, five fingers spread.
With his movement, the dark red sky around them began to flow, like an upside-down river of blood.
"Here, the flow of time is hundreds of times faster than outside. I can make you experience ten minutes of torment while only one second passes outside."
He lowered his hand, looked at Gaara, who was pierced by the stakes, and the corner of his mouth curled into a confident arc.
"And I have absolute control over this place."
Confidence.
Absolute confidence swelled, almost overflowing.
The moment the three tomoes were born, Sasuke felt the entire world had become different.
Those once obscure and difficult principles of Ninjutsu, those techniques that required repeated practice to master… now he could understand them with a single glance and master them with a single try.
This was the power of the three tomoes.
This was the power of the Uchiha!
In Sasuke's memory, every Uchiha who could awaken the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was, without exception, a powerful Ninja at the Elite Jonin-level.
Itachi was, Shisui was, and those Uchiha predecessors he had read about in Anbu files were as well.
Although he had just awakened the third tomoe, relying on the Ocular Power of his three tomoes, even if he encountered a Special Jonin, he would have the power to fight!
Moreover, the Sharingan's Genjutsu was already the top-tier spiritual attack in the Ninja World.
In this spiritual space that he dominated, even a Jonin would be at his mercy!
Sasuke looked at Gaara, waiting for the other to show fear, despair, or a plea for mercy.
He wanted to see this red-haired boy collapse, wanted to hear him personally tell him his mother's whereabouts, wanted to—
However…
Gaara's face held no fear whatsoever.
He was even… smiling.
Not a vicious grin, not a mocking smile, but a faint smile of nearly pity.
"So this is your limit?"
Gaara spoke. Even though he was pierced by six blood-red stakes, his voice did not tremble in the slightest.
"Then let me show you—"
His green eyes stared directly into Sasuke's three tomoe.
"How big the gap between you and me really is."
The moment his words fell…
Boom—!!!
The entire Genjutsu Space began to shake.
As if something were forcibly ramming against the barriers of this space.
Cracks, black fissures, split open in the dark red sky.
The charred black earth crumbled, revealing the endless void beneath.
"What?!" Sasuke's expression changed drastically. He frantically urged his Ocular Power, trying to stabilize the space.
But it was useless.
The cracks grew more and more, larger and larger.
And then, from those cracks, sand poured out.
Golden, thick sand grains radiating murky Chakra.
Like living tentacles, they spread from the depths of the void, entangling and eroding this Genjutsu Space.
And at the source of the sand, behind Gaara, the space was torn open, creating a massive gap.
Inside the gap was an eye.
A small yellow eye, full of savagery and mockery.
The owner of the eye slowly 'squeezed' out of the gap.
It was a giant tanuki-shaped creature, composed of sand and curse mark patterns.
It crouched behind Gaara, its body almost occupying half the sky. Its yellow eyes narrowed into slits as it sized up the tiny Sasuke opposite.
"Heh… hahaha!!!"
The tremendous laughter shook the entire space.
"So this is the Sharingan that made that damn fox suffer, huh? Hmm? Let this lord have a look! What's so special about it!"
Shukaku extended a giant sand claw and gave it a light wave.
Crack.
Like the sound of glass breaking…
A fissure that pierced the sky and the earth appeared in the Genjutsu Space Sasuke had constructed.
Then a second, a third—
"No… impossible…" Sasuke's eyes widened. His three tomoes spun frantically, trying to repair the cracks. "This is my spiritual space! I am the master! How can you possibly—"
"Spiritual space?"
Shukaku tilted its giant head, as if it had heard some funny joke.
"Kid, you have no idea what kind of existence you're using Genjutsu on."
It raised another claw, spread five fingers, and then clenched them into a fist.
Boom—!!!
The entire Genjutsu Space exploded.
Like glass smashed by a heavy hammer, like a sandcastle washed away by a flood. The dark red sky and the charred black earth fragmented in an instant, turning into countless pieces, then were swallowed and annihilated by the surging sand.
Sasuke's consciousness was forcibly 'dragged' back to reality.
He was still bound by the quicksand up to his neck, only his head exposed.
"Ahhh—!!!"
Sharp pain came from his eyes, ten times stronger than when they had evolved moments ago.
Warm liquid slowly flowed from his eyes.
Blood.
His eyes were bleeding.
His Three-Tomoe Sharingan could no longer be maintained, automatically deactivating, reverting to ordinary black pupils.
But deep within his pupils, a stabbing pain still came… the spiritual backlash from having his Genjutsu forcibly broken. Sasuke felt his vision blur, his ears ring, his brain turn into a mess.
And across from him,
Gaara stood still, surrounded by writhing yellow sand.
That sand had formed a rough layer of armor on his body surface, covered in bizarre patterns, making him look like some kind of inhuman monster.
The yellow sand began to peel off and disperse, turning back into ordinary sand, flowing back to the earth.
Gaara returned to normal.
"Hey hey, Gaara!"
A dissatisfied, coarse voice sounded directly in Gaara's mind.
"This lord hasn't had his fun yet! That kid's Sharingan is kind of interesting. Let's play a little longer!"
It was Shukaku inside Gaara.
Although it was only a newly evolved Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and its Genjutsu control hadn't yet reached the level of the Mangekyo Sharingan to affect Tailed Beasts and Jinchuriki, Shukaku still really wanted to play with this little guy. Later, when it saw that damn fox, it could brag about how it had tortured the Uchiha with the Sharingan.
Gaara snorted coldly in his heart: "Quiet! In a few days, there will be a chance for you to appear."
"Tch—" Shukaku drew out its tone, but ultimately didn't press the issue. "This lord will wait, then. But we have a deal. Next time there's another fun little guy like this, remember to call me."