Chapter 1: A Failed Attempt
Huff... Huff...
Heavy breathing echoed through the dark room. Uchiha Kei opened his eyes and looked into the mirror at his crimson Sharingan, the three tomoe spinning slowly. He couldn't help but sigh.
Another failure.
He had lost count of how many times he'd failed. Despite the disappointment gnawing at his heart, Kei forced himself to stay focused and began writing down his observations in a notebook.
The language he used wasn't Japanese—it was pure Chinese. After all, Kei wasn't originally from this world. He had once been an ordinary Earthling, but due to a strange accident, he ended up in this bloody, unforgiving world.
When he first realized he had become a member of the Uchiha clan, Kei had been ecstatic. But the joy didn't last. Reality hit hard—and fast.
In this world, weakness was a sin.
Maybe it was because he was used to modern society, but Kei found it difficult to accept the brutality of this era. And in terms of talent, he was only average. If not for his identity as a transmigrator, blessed with unusually strong spiritual energy, and his ability to barely scrape by with his Sharingan on the battlefield, he might've been dead and buried long ago.
Sometimes, he truly admired the ninja of this world. Kids were trained to kill by the age of six or seven. It was normal for ten-year-olds to be thrown into war. Look at Kakashi—he was already a jōnin with countless kills by the age of twelve.
Kei knew his limits. That's why he had never dared to reveal his Sharingan lightly. Even when he went to war, he kept it hidden, cautious to the extreme.
Until he had the Mangekyō Sharingan, he didn't believe he had the qualifications to act recklessly. With that kind of power, maybe—just maybe—he'd have some hope of surviving.
As for what to do after obtaining the Mangekyō? That was a problem for another time. If he couldn't even reach that level, then he had no right to think any further.
"Maybe the emotional stimulus just isn't strong enough?" Kei muttered, jotting down his most recent experience.
He knew the Sharingan better than most. He understood how it awakened, and how it evolved. Simply put, the Sharingan responded to intense emotional trauma—grief, rage, desperation. It wasn't surprising people called the Uchiha a clan of lunatics.
Especially the Mangekyō—it needed even more extreme emotional upheaval. The brain's chakra needed to violently stimulate the optic nerves, triggering a reconstruction that resulted in new abilities.
Because he understood all this, Kei had been trying to awaken it himself.
Compared to the Hyuga clan next door, the Uchiha actually had it easy. If he'd been born a Byakugan-wielding Hyuga instead, he might've already been six feet under.
In his memories, even prodigies like Neji Hyuga were nothing more than background characters—strong, sure, but ultimately disposable. The rest of the Hyuga weren't even worth mentioning.
If you didn't count the whole clan massacre thing...
"So what exactly is going wrong?" Kei stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Is it that my emotional stimulus isn't deep enough? Is my genjutsu not strong enough? Or is it because I know it's fake, so my subconscious just rejects it?"
It was frustrating. Kei had been using genjutsu on himself—subtle, immersive illusions designed to trick his own mind. It worked to some extent. His Sharingan had reached the third tomoe, proving the method had merit.
But that last step... the leap to Mangekyō... he just couldn't cross it.
He'd never heard of any other Uchiha using this method, so maybe it only worked for him. But no matter how often he tried, no matter how real the illusion, he could never quite trigger the necessary emotional surge.
Worse yet, the war outside was nearing its end—or rather, entering its most dangerous phase. Most of the smaller villages had already surrendered. The few that remained were throwing everything into one final, desperate assault.
It was the most dangerous time of all.
Kei had managed to survive the battles so far, but he wasn't confident about what came next.
"Maybe I've hit some kind of threshold?" he thought as he packed away his journal. "Or has my mind developed a resistance? But mental energy doesn't work like an immune system... right?"
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find a clear answer. All he knew was that the days ahead would be anything but peaceful.
It was already Year 47 of the Hidden Leaf calendar. In another year, the Fourth Hokage would take office. And for now, the war was at its most chaotic.
The Battle of Kikyo Pass had ended. Sunagakure had surrendered. The only major enemy left was Iwagakure.
Ironically, Kei had to thank the bizarre tactics of Iwagakure. If they hadn't sneak-attacked the Kumogakure, forcing the Third Raikage to hold the line alone for three days and nights before dying of exhaustion, Konoha might've been crushed in a pincer attack.
But thanks to that mess, Konoha only had one enemy left. And with Minato Namikaze stalling the enemy single-handedly, the odds were finally shifting.
Still, Iwa and Kumo were not to be underestimated.
"The Kannabi Bridge battle should be happening soon," Kei murmured. "That's when Kakashi inherits Obito's Sharingan and becomes the 'Copy Ninja'…"
He carefully sealed all his journals with a hand sign, then stored them away with utmost caution.
Japanese and Chinese had many similarities. If these records ever got lost, Kei would be in serious trouble.
He had written down everything he could remember about the Naruto timeline, to keep his mind sharp and avoid missing any important events.
This way, he could avoid disasters—or take advantage of opportunities—no matter when they arose.
With everything packed up, Kei sighed deeply.
Three-tomoe Sharingan just wasn't enough.
Without the Mangekyō, how could he possibly face the monsters that were coming?
He wasn't even talking about the major threats yet. Just surviving the Uchiha Massacre in a few years would be nearly impossible.
"I need to figure something out soon," he muttered, eyes narrowing. "Otherwise, I'll be just another name on Uchiha Itachi's kill list."