Uchiha Ken didn't want to admit the darkness in his heart. He knew it was irrational. His adoptive father had schemed against someone else's father, and if it were him, he would surely react the same way. However, when he put himself in that position, he found it unbearable. He hadn't been involved in any of it.
Seeing Uchiha Ken's expression, Fumori masaki knew it was because of Asuna and the others who had just passed by. He asked, "You must be very tired, Ken. Go back and rest quickly."
With that, Fumori masaki grabbed Uchiha Ken's arm and hurried back to the tent. Just before reaching it, Uchiha Ken slapped his hand away and said, "Leave me alone." After saying this, he walked into the tent without looking back.
Fumori masaki maintained the posture of his hand being slapped away, exchanged a glance with Kurihara Kana, who had followed them, then slowly lowered his hand and shrugged. He then turned and left, not speaking until he was far from the tent. "I understand Ken must be feeling bad, but I didn't expect such a strong reaction."
"He was always a relatively sensitive person, wasn't he?" Kurihara Kana said. "It was just hidden by his appearance. Although I'm not very good at psychological research in the Medical Department, I know that Ken's heart is far from as strong as it appears."
"And this matter was caused by his adoptive father. He greatly respected his adoptive father. After his biological father died, Uchiha Setsuna adopted him. I can imagine how shocking it must be for someone like that to be a traitor to the village," Fumori masaki said.
"But this has nothing to do with Ken. It's all Uchiha Setsuna's fault, isn't it? The truly bad person is Uchiha Setsuna. Ken was just deceived," Kurihara Kana said.
"I know, and others know too, but it's not that easy to accept," Fumori masaki whispered. "Of course, I think over time, most people shouldn't hold a grudge over this, but there will still be some who bring it up. It's not a big deal in itself, but if Ken can't get over it, he'll be very bothered by it."
"In that case, we should indeed let him undergo psychological treatment. The Hokage-sama established this precisely to prevent people like Ken from going astray," Kurihara Kana replied.
"Yes, my mother said that Hokage-sama has always been very farsighted. I really wonder if he knew that people like Ken would appear, which is why he proposed research into psychological treatment in the past," Fumori masaki said with a respectful tone.
Kurihara Kana didn't know if Hokage-sama truly knew, but either way, with psychological treatment available, there was a way to help Ken. As Uchiha Ken's teammate, Kurihara Kana was very supportive. She said, "I'll ask the seniors in the Medical Department if there are any good psychological medical ninja."
"Yes, please do. Ken's symptoms seem somewhat severe. The more skilled the psychological medical ninja, the more they should be able to help him," Fumori masaki said.
"Speaking of which, if this is the case, Ken will probably have to stay away from the front lines, won't he? It feels a bit lonely. After partnering with Ken for so long, it's not easy to find someone as capable as him," Kurihara Kana said, recalling other circumstances.
Although Konoha Ninja Village still used a three-person squad system, due to changes in the overall appointment system, it was more accommodating than the three-person squads in the original story. Even if one person left due to certain circumstances, a replacement could be found from the same department to form a new squad, offering greater flexibility.
"There's nothing we can do. Although proving his loyalty on the battlefield would be the best method for Ken, since he just came out of the Anbu, the higher-ups aren't too keen on using him," Fumori masaki expressed helplessly.
"But as you said, given enough time, the higher-ups' opinions should change, right? Honestly, with Ken's strength, he's bound to be recognized. He's accumulated quite a few merits in the past!" Kurihara Kana said.
"Yes, so it's still a matter of time. For now, let him rest properly," Fumori masaki nodded.
After the two gradually walked away, Uchiha Ken, still in the tent, threw himself onto the bed, staring blankly upwards. He still hadn't fully calmed down. He simply couldn't believe that his usually gentle adoptive father was such a person.
Uchiha Ken initially thought it was a slander against his adoptive father, but the relevant evidence was right before his eyes, making it impossible to deny. If this was all slander, how many people would have had to conspire to deceive him? Was it necessary to go to such lengths for Uchiha Setsuna? What was the purpose of such an elaborate deception?
Therefore, Uchiha Ken had to admit that Uchiha Setsuna's betrayal was a real possibility. This wasn't even the most painful part for him. The most painful part was that during the interrogation, perhaps to force him to reveal certain things, someone brought up the explosion that occurred years ago during the joint Chunin Exam, claiming that Uchiha Setsuna was likely behind it.
Although there was no concrete evidence for this, the people involved were already dead, and it was a long time ago, Uchiha Ken's thoughts were guided towards it, and he began to consider what it would be like if this incident truly was Uchiha Setsuna's doing.
Uchiha Setsuna had always treated him very well, often saying that he was the future hope of the Uchiha clan and that he had the ability to become clan head. Looking back now, Uchiha Ken realized that the plot to harm the current clan head might have been planned by him a long time ago.
Although he didn't know why Uchiha Setsuna had such high expectations for him, it proved that he indeed could have plotted against his own father.
If that were truly the case, then what was his life for? A life used and deceived by others. His biological father was murdered, yet he treated the murderer as his second father, always showing him respect, only for it to end this way.
Uchiha Ken suddenly felt a dull ache in his eyes. He couldn't help but cover them with his hands, his breathing gradually growing heavier. In the darkness, a scene he hadn't thought of in years seemed to replay once more: witnessing his father die in the explosion—
"Ugh—" Uchiha Ken felt a burning sensation in his eyes once more. When he released his hands, his eyes involuntarily transformed into the Mangekyo Sharingan. He could clearly feel the power surging through his pupils. "What is this power…?"
Uchiha Ken didn't know why his Sharingan had changed like this. After a while, he suddenly recalled what Uchiha Setsuna had told him in the past. At that time, Uchiha Setsuna had said that to become even stronger and the undisputed master of the Uchiha clan, he must possess a level beyond the ordinary Sharingan, a level called the Mangekyo Sharingan.
"Could these eyes be the Mangekyo Sharingan?" Uchiha Ken's fingers slowly traced his eyelids, his eyes slightly closed. He could almost feel its active power with his fingertips. "Why did I suddenly gain this power?"
Uchiha Ken couldn't understand the reason. All he could remember was feeling this burning pain the moment he heard the news of Uchiha Setsuna's death. His emotions at that time were like those when he watched his father die years ago, filled with unbearable pain. Similarly, he had awakened the Sharingan back then, and this time he had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
"Does the awakening of the Sharingan always come with pain?" Uchiha Ken recalled that there seemed to be such a rumor in the clan, but those who deliberately tried to achieve it yielded no results, so not many believed it. However, Uchiha Ken felt that pain might be a factor in the Sharingan's awakening, but not the fundamental cause.
"But I'd rather not have this thing," Uchiha Ken's body trembled slightly. If his father hadn't had to die, if he hadn't had to endure Uchiha Setsuna's deception, let alone the Mangekyo Sharingan, he wouldn't even care about the Sharingan itself.
Yet, ironically, Uchiha Ken now possessed a power that ordinary Uchiha clan members could only dream of, but it came at the cost of his father's death and the deception of others.
"It really is… too ironic," Uchiha Ken buried his head in his pillow, the pain in his heart still tormenting him, and he didn't know when he would be free from it.
Meanwhile, in a cave in the Land of Rivers, a person lay quietly on the ground. A faint black shadow flowed around his body, like living things crawling on him. His chest initially rose and fell slightly, but then began to heave violently, as if trying to suck all the surrounding air in.
Zetsu, almost one with the darkness, watched this scene silently. The person before him was the corpse of someone who had defected with Uchiha Setsuna. He had been stabbed all over with kunai during the skirmish, bled to death, and later fell into the mountains due to the tremors caused by ninjutsu.
Zetsu secretly found this corpse and swapped it with another disguised body. Because it had fallen from a great height, the original corpse was already dismembered, and the Sharingan was also considered accidentally destroyed. The search party incinerated it directly—this was also a punishment for traitors. They couldn't enter the Uchiha clan's burial ground; they were simply incinerated as rogue ninja, without much inspection.
Zetsu also guessed that for such a severely damaged corpse of a rebel, it was impossible to meticulously check if it was the same person, which gave him an opportunity to fish in troubled waters. Originally, he thought Uchiha Setsuna's body was better, but because the people arrived too quickly, he didn't dare show himself.
And why did Zetsu steal this person's corpse? In fact, this was also an unexpected event. While Zetsu was traveling through the ninja world, he accidentally found something very interesting, and an idea immediately formed in Zetsu's mind: this was an exploitable target.
What Zetsu found was a mysterious entity from the Pure Land, the Land of Yomi, that had been summoned during a ritual held by the Jashin cult in the Land of Demons long ago. Because the ritual was interrupted, it was only a remnant soul, barely sustained by possessing a child at the time.
Life in the Pure Land world is very special, making it difficult to discern whether they have concrete consciousness. At least the remnant soul Zetsu encountered was only a vague consciousness. He even suspected that this consciousness might be the remnants of the believers who performed the ritual years ago.
After Zetsu managed to keep its soul from dissipating, he wanted to find it a body that could move. Due to his ultimate goal, he set his sights on the Uchiha clan members. Zetsu was going to discard Uchiha Setsuna anyway, and he was still troubled about who to use for his future plans, but now one had conveniently presented itself.
Zetsu painstakingly stole the Uchiha clan member's corpse and gave it to the entity as a vessel to descend into the human world. The entity was only a remnant soul, and Zetsu didn't know how powerful the beings in the Pure Land world were. Even as an extension of Otsutsuki Kaguya's will, it was not a Six Paths level powerhouse after all.
Even if the Sage of Six Paths possessed the power to interfere with the Pure Land, the origin of the Pure Land was unrelated to him, and he couldn't possibly know everything about it. After his death, he could only dutifully go to the Pure Land world. Except for the eternally immortal Otsutsuki Kaguya, no one else could defy these rules of life and death.
If one were to utilize the power of the Pure Land, no matter who it was, they would have to pay a price, such as the Reaper Death Seal, which condemns one to eternal suffering. Even the Rinnegan, which wields the power of life and death, could use the King of Hell from the Pure Land world to harm others with no apparent cost. However, its Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, while able to revive a large number of recently deceased people, or even those long dead as long as their souls haven't reincarnated and they have a body, can only be used on a single person.
As long as the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique is performed, whether for the former or the latter, one must pay with their own life. The rules of life and death are so strict; even the Sage of Six Paths could not reverse them.
When beings from the Pure Land are summoned into the world through certain secret techniques, they are essentially still Pure Land beings and can borrow the power of the entire Pure Land. Not to mention living people, even Tailed Beasts, which are akin to natural phenomena, cannot resist them. In his search for Asura's reincarnations, Zetsu had visited the Uzumaki clan's territory and once saw them summon the Shinigami from the Pure Land, an entity that even he was wary of.
Zetsu had no doubt that if someone were to use the Reaper Death Seal on it, the Shinigami would surely devour its spirit, separating them forever and making it impossible to return to the human world.
However, once the Pure Land entity fully descends into the human world, it will be interfered with by the power of the living world, losing its Pure Land characteristics. It can then only rely on the power of the living world. Because of this, the entity, summoned in an incomplete state, couldn't even properly maintain its body and needed Zetsu to find a solution for it.
"Alright, you can go now," Zetsu said to a nearby plant. This was a rare plant that, through a secret method, could seal a soul within it, preserving it very well. The entity had maintained its soul in this way.
A purple light leaped from the plant and entered the corpse. After a while, the "corpse" slowly opened its eyes. Its dark eyes carried a strange purple glow, then transformed into blood-red Sharingan. He climbed off the ground, and the once cold blood in his body gradually became active.
"How do you feel?" Zetsu asked.
"Where is this…?" the other party murmured, seemingly disoriented.
"Do you remember who you are?" Zetsu asked again.
"I…" The person clutched their head, their eyes somewhat dazed. "I am Uchiha Kokuya, but why do I feel a sense of unreality?"
Uchiha Kokuya was the name of this corpse. Zetsu confirmed at this moment that after Pure Land beings come to this world, they can only attach themselves to ordinary people and act according to the ordinary person's body, much like the Shinigami controlled by the caster of the Reaper Death Seal. Perhaps they might have one or two special abilities, but without the power of the Pure Land world, how powerful could they truly be?
"What exactly did they plan to do by summoning this thing? Never mind," Zetsu whispered. "As long as it's usable."
"However, I remember there's someone I absolutely must settle a score with," Uchiha Kokuya, who had been in thought, suddenly said. Under Zetsu's surprised gaze, he slowly uttered the person's name: "Fumori masaki."