Blind, Uchiha Gin keenly felt the survivors' raw hostility, their malice crashing over him like a tidal wave, plunging the usually upbeat teen into despair.
Though his actions weren't conscious, the Mangekyo's power had wrought agony on his clan.
His uncle, Uchiha Tajima, had lost his family and now faced the clan's wrath, his leadership at risk.
"Gin, don't speak!" Hikari, worried, tore at his clothes to check him. Seeing his blood-soaked, emaciated body, she trembled with anguish. "It's not your fault. I fell for the enemy's diversion. If you hadn't stopped them, the clan might've been wiped out."
After a long silence, Tajima spoke, his bleak tone devoid of blame. "This won't end easily, but I have an idea," Gin said, shaking his head, his hollow eyes fixed on Tajima.
"What are you planning?" Tajima frowned, sensing resolve. He didn't fault his nephew—Gin had done all he could.
"I'm blind now. Let me take the blame," Gin said with a bitter smile, aware his overused eyes had permanently failed.
"No! You saved us!" Hikari's eyes welled, clinging to his frail arm, sensing him slipping away.
"Grandpa Miao, when I'm gone, transplant my eyes to Hikari so she won't go blind," Gin said, ignoring her, addressing the air.
"I'm right here…" Miao replied, not mocking Gin's blindness but feeling a pang of sorrow.
Gin had read Yao's war weapon plan, its final pages detailing an ultimate weapon completion strategy.
When one weapon's body reached its limit, their Mangekyo could be transplanted to another, potentially granting both eyes' full powers without vision loss.
As aer versed in the lore, Gin knew this theory's validity, though non-blood relatives risked rejection.
Having died once, maybe he'd close his eyes, open them, and—bam— again, maybe to a harem anime!
"Alright," Miao agreed, seeing Gin's resolve, nodding after a deep breath.
"Hikari, I'm sorry. Even without me, live freely. With my eyes, see the world," Gin said, patting her head, his heavy words hammering her young heart.
"No! Please, don't!" Hikari begged, clutching at him as he pulled free, ignoring her pleas, and stepped toward Tajima.
"I've lost four kin today…" Tajima's voice wavered. "I can't lose another."
Treating Gin like his own, Tajima couldn't bear to act.
"Your parents died saving me. If I do this, your mother and father in the Pure Land won't forgive me," Tajima recalled. A botched mission, ambushed due to bad intel, cost heavily. Gin's parents sacrificed themselves to give him a chance to escape.
"But…" Gin frowned at Tajima's refusal. "I awakened the Mangekyo too."
Tajima, grieving profound loss, had also unlocked the clan's legendary eyes.
"My dojutsu, Betsutenjin, can permanently alter memories and wills," Tajima revealed.
Gin paused—his uncle had the same power as that naive, curly-haired guy from the future.
Then he considered his own dojutsu and relaxed. His was worse—Itachi's.
"I'll use Betsutenjin to erase everyone's memory of the clan grounds' destroyer," Tajima proposed, eyeing the group.
"Clan Head, can you alter so many at once?" Miao, a Sharingan researcher, questioned. Betsutenjin's power couldn't be limitless, or the Uchiha would've unified the Warring States.
"I can only change one person's memory at a time, with a cooldown," Tajima admitted. "But we have Gin."
He pointed at the baffled Gin.
"???"
"You mean his Tsukuyomi?" Miao realized.
Gin's Tsukuyomi was versatile. If it synced with Hikari's Yachihoko, it might work with the similar Betsutenjin.
"But my eyes…" Gin gestured at his dimmed sockets, his body a wreck.
"If you're blind, let Nameless boost your chakra and pupil power," Miao, the resident scientist, suggested.
Hikari quickly channeled chakra through a seal on Gin's hand.
"Ah~!" Gin moaned as her chakra revived his withered body, making Hikari blush.
As cold pupil power flowed, his blind eyes glimpsed blurry shapes.
"Not clear, but better than nothing," Gin said, thrilled, pouring chakra into his eyes. A faint crimson glowed. "The Sharingan works!"
Feeling power surge, Gin was vibrant, his spirit soaring.
"Uncle, let's do this!" He clenched his frail fist, brimming with energy.
Everyone cheered for him—except Miao, who frowned, subtly shaking his head, whispering to Tajima.
Tajima's brow furrowed, guilt flashing in his eyes.
"Gin, decided how to alter their memories?" Tajima asked the excited teen.
Gin fell silent. The invasion was fact—fabricating a meteor strike wouldn't explain the Kaguya's slaughter.
The invasion memory had to stay. That left…
He glanced at Hikari, clutching her hem, and formed a plan.
Hikari's blackout caused his aunt's death; his rampage razed half the clan, killing many.
Tajima could erase their actions from the clan's minds, but as the caster, he'd retain the painful truth.
"Uncle, make it: enemies invaded, you were away fighting, too late to defend. As for me, spice it up—alter their subconscious," Gin said, a strange glint in his eyes. "Uchiha Gin, the clan head's guard, too weak to stop the slaughter, broke his resolve, becoming a despised scum, loathed by all."
Guilt couldn't be erased by dojutsu—that wasn't the Uchiha way.
Those who awakened the Sharingan were deeply emotional, cherishing bonds, their love fueling hate upon loss, forging the Sharingan's unique bloodline.
"Let this spur me forward," Gin said, resolve in his ruined eyes. Blind, he'd need unyielding grit to progress.
"You sure?" Tajima's face softened. Making the clan subconsciously hate him? Gin would need thick skin to survive.
"You don't have to…" Knowing Gin's condition, Tajima couldn't bear it.
Feeling a tug, Gin met Hikari's tear-streaked eyes, gently pressing her forehead. "Hikari, forgive me this time."
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