Chapter 134: Obito Attacks

Mental energy, chakra, and the more intangible spiritual energy. These elements were far more complex than Aoba had initially imagined.

The reason this experiment failed lay in an oversight.

Aoba had previously held a fixed belief: the reason Sharingan ocular power couldn't be transferred or fused was due to spiritual energy.

Spiritual energy, after all, represents the projection of one's deepest inner desires, and as such, it varies from person to person.

This variation made Sharingan ocular power incompatible and unable to combine.

The ability of Mangekyō Sharingan to fuse between blood relatives was merely a superficial phenomenon. In truth, the creation of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan wasn't just about combining ocular power but rather was about the completion of the spirit.

As Aoba had discovered in his research, every Sharingan contained an incomplete aspect of spiritual energy. This incompleteness was the root cause of the Mangekyō Sharingan's side effects.

The fusion between blood relatives fundamentally completed this incompleteness, a process of completion starting at the genetic level and extending to the spiritual.

While this concept wasn't wrong, Aoba had overlooked one critical detail.

Though spiritual projections vary from person to person, mental energy is just as unique.

Aoba had been trapped in a misconception, treating mental energy as a kind of neutral, attribute-less energy similar to chakra.

But this was only half-true. Mental energy is indeed a form of energy, but it carries a hidden attribute: personal uniqueness.

This uniqueness is the true reason primal ocular power couldn't be transferred or fused.

As a ninja capable of actively manipulating mental energy, Aoba could erase these individual attributes from the ocular power.

However, since personal attributes were integral to ocular power, removing them caused the power to quickly dissipate.

The ocular power synthesized in Sasuke's body carried his own mental imprint, so it didn't have this issue.

Once Aoba activated his backup plan, he couldn't stop.

He directly used his mental energy to force his way into the Sharingan he had collected, erasing the residual mental imprints left by their original owners.

Before the ocular power could completely dissipate, he extracted it and infused it into the final pair of Sharingan.

This process could only be applied to ownerless Sharingan. Using this method on Sasuke's ocular power would likely kill him outright.

The process also resulted in significant power loss. However, even with this loss, the power of ten Sharingan concentrated into two, pushing this pair of eyes to their absolute limit.

Yet, this pair of Sharingan didn't immediately awaken as Mangekyō. The final step remained incomplete, a deliberate choice by Aoba.

As the "eyes reflecting the soul," the Mangekyō Sharingan requires a powerful surge of spiritual energy to guide and fuse the ocular power into a unique Mangekyō ability.

However, because Aoba had forcibly fused four other Sharingan into these eyes, their spiritual energy had become chaotic.

Each pair of eyes retained fragments of their original owner's spiritual projection. Although small, these remnants still existed.

The conflicting spiritual energies prevented the final step of awakening.

Aoba's task now was to wait for these conflicting spiritual energies to wear each other down and dissipate. Only then could he infuse his own spiritual energy and complete the process.

His plan had ultimately succeeded. In the near future, he would have a fully artificial pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.

And these Mangekyō would be tailor-made for him.

The only downside was that he had originally aimed to create five pairs of artificial Mangekyō, but in the end, he could only manage one.

Humans, after all, shouldn't be too greedy.

Elated by the progress in his experiments, he was fully absorbed in his work. Meanwhile, outside, the changes in Konoha hadn't gone unnoticed by the Five Great Ninja Villages.

There was also another person who had detected Konoha's transformation.

Late at night, in Konoha's cemetery, a figure wearing a swirling mask slowly materialized from thin air.

Obito Uchiha.

During the period when Aoba was driving Konoha's reforms, Obito hadn't paid much attention. He had been preoccupied with manipulating Kirigakure and didn't have time to care about Konoha's changes. In his eyes, no matter how Konoha changed, it would never escape his control.

But as reports of Konoha's changes grew more numerous, Obito eventually sensed that something was amiss.

Coupled with the earlier disappearance of a White Zetsu in Konoha, Obito decided it was time to investigate personally.

Compared to Itachi, Obito was a far colder, more ruthless figure.

While Itachi could be considered a "beast," he still harbored feelings for Sasuke, Konoha, and even his parents. Emotionally, Itachi had weaknesses.

Obito, however, was different. His only emotional bond had been Rin Nohara, and her death had left him with virtually no emotional vulnerabilities.

Kakashi might hold some relevance, but not enough to matter. Let's not forget Obito had casually orchestrated the deaths of his own teacher, the Fourth Hokage, and his wife.

Itachi would fight the entire world for Sasuke's sake. Obito, on the other hand, was ready to destroy the entire world.

With Kamui's abilities, Obito's presence went undetected in Konoha.

After a brief pause in the cemetery, noting the changes in Konoha's layout, he set his sights on the Konoha Research Institute and phased inside.

Aoba and Sasuke were still in the institute.

Ever since learning how to enhance his ocular power, Sasuke had thrown himself into rigorous practice, practically living in the lab.

Karin was also present today, having come to fetch Aoba for dinner.

As Aoba noted the time and began wrapping up his work, his movements paused for a moment. Then he reached out and pulled Sasuke and Karin behind him.

At some point, a figure wearing a swirling mask had appeared in the lab.

"When did he get in here?"

Aoba's training had had some effect. At least this time, Sasuke didn't charge in recklessly. Instead, he began analyzing the intruder's purpose and strength.

The ability to appear silently in the lab indicated an opponent of considerable power, one with hostile intent.

"Sasuke, Karin, step back," Aoba said, his tone unusually serious.

Obito. From the first day Aoba began reforming Konoha, he had been preparing for this man's arrival. But nothing had happened... Until now.

Just when Aoba thought Obito wasn't interested in Konoha's changes, the man had appeared like this.

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