Naruto Immersive Replay, The Curse of the Sharingan

"May 29th! I'll remember this!" As if receiving a top-level command, Naruto immediately imprinted the date firmly in his mind and unilaterally set it as the most important day of the coming year, a day that must be celebrated in a grand manner.

The others also silently recited the date in their minds, their expressions varying.

Neji wasn't used to being surrounded by people celebrating. After a brief reception and expressing his gratitude, he made an excuse to leave the room to the gradually loosening crowd and went alone to the courtyard corridor.

The sound of light footsteps broke the silence of the courtyard.

Neji didn't turn around, but he knew who it was.

Among the people he knew, there weren't many who could blend so seamlessly into the night.

He turned around and, sure enough, saw you standing quietly not far away.

“Thank you so much for the gift,” Neji said first, his voice soft in the night breeze. “I really like it.”

These were his true feelings, and the sound of flowing water in the music box unexpectedly resonated with his unspeakable state of mind.

Your expression remained unchanged. "It was Sakura's suggestion; it wasn't my original intention."

You clearly assign credit to others, unwilling to bear any unnecessary emotional entanglements.

Neji felt a faint sense of disappointment upon hearing this, even though he had already anticipated it.

He nodded slightly, maintaining his composure, and said, "Judging by actions, not intentions."

He appreciates the achievement; the motivation, perhaps, is not so important.

Hearing you sever ties with me still leaves me feeling a bit uneasy.

Just then, you suddenly spoke again, "I'll give you your gift now."

Neji was stunned, a clear look of astonishment flashing in his white eyes.

There was a gift? And it was given to him alone? He couldn't imagine what gift could be more thoughtful than that music box.

Did you prepare this at the last minute? His gaze involuntarily turned inquisitive and filled with a hint of anticipation that he himself was unaware of.

You didn't explain, you just gestured for him to come closer with your eyes.

Neji was puzzled, but he still took a few steps forward as instructed and walked up to you.

You raised your hand and removed the headband from his forehead, revealing the familiar cursed pattern in the cool night breeze, and also in your sight.

Neji's body stiffened instantly, his white pupils contracted sharply, and you bit your fingertip, drawing out a bead of bright red blood.

Ignoring Neji's astonishment, she touched the curse mark on Neji's forehead with her blood-stained fingertip, which seemed less like destruction and more like carving.

The moment the fingertips touched the curse mark, the originally dark eyes suddenly turned into a dazzling gold.

Neji felt an unprecedented, strange fluctuation emanating from the Caged Bird Seal on his forehead that had troubled him for many years!

The energy, imbued with a strong binding force, was being forcibly extracted by an ancient, unknown power. Though the cold was biting, it allowed him to see a glimmer of freedom.

He was experiencing all of this in disbelief, his gaze fixed on your golden eyes.

The process seemed extremely difficult. Just as Neji felt that the power of the cursed seal had weakened significantly, the gold in your eyes quickly faded and returned to the bottomless blackness.

Immediately afterwards, visible frost quickly condensed on your pale skin, centered on you, and your breath turned into white mist.

The surrounding air temperature plummeted, and even the wooden floorboards under the corridor made a faint freezing sound.

"...I'm still restricted," you murmured softly.

Neji had recovered from his initial shock, replaced by a complex mix of gratitude and guilt.

Of course he knew that the Caged Bird Seal was an absolute restriction set up by the Hyuga main family, and no one had ever been able to break it. Not only did you try to break it, you actually succeeded in weakening it!

What an enormous price this will cost! Judging from your current state, the price is clearly not light!

"Are you alright?" Neji rushed forward anxiously, disregarding etiquette and distance. He could feel you trembling slightly, a shiver from the cold.

He instinctively opened his arms and pulled you into a tight embrace, trying to warm you with the heat of his body.

At that moment, he forgot all about family rules and the separation of men and women.

"It'll be fine in a little while..." Your voice was broken, and your breath brushed against Neji's neck, carrying a chilling sensation.

Just then, another voice, clearly displeased and cold, abruptly cut in.

What are you doing?

Uchiha Sasuke arrived in the courtyard at some point. He had clearly seen Neji embracing you and strode over.

Without saying a word, he forcefully pulled you out of Neji's embrace.

The moment his skin was touched, Sasuke's expression changed drastically.

The cold touch felt completely unlike that of a living person. His anger was instantly replaced by worry. He lowered his head and his tone softened unconsciously, carrying a rare hint of panic.

"What's wrong...? Where does it hurt?" He keenly noticed that something was wrong with you.

Neji Hyuga watched Sasuke's rude actions with displeasure, but at this moment he had no intention of arguing with Sasuke; your condition was the most important thing.

“She just now…” Neji tried to explain, but didn’t know how to bring up the secret about the caged bird and the golden eyes.

Fortunately, the eerie frost came and went quickly.

In just over ten seconds, the ice crystals on his body began to melt rapidly, his body temperature gradually rose, and although his face was still pale, it was no longer so frightening.

"I'm going back now. You guys have fun."

After saying that, you stopped looking at the two of them, turned around and walked out of the courtyard. Your back was still straight, but it inexplicably exuded a sense of loneliness.

Sasuke only came out because he was with you, and seeing you leave in such a bad state, he had no desire to stay here anymore.

He glanced coldly at Neji, said, "I'm not staying either," and immediately turned and hurried after you in the direction you left.

In the courtyard, only Hyuga Neji remained once again. The curse mark on his forehead, now free of its binding force, served as a stark reminder of everything that had just happened.

"Uchiha Nagi!" Sasuke's voice carried suppressed anger and barely perceptible worry as he quickly caught up and walked alongside you.

"What did you just do in the courtyard?" he questioned directly, not believing it was merely an ordinary conversation.

You kept your eyes straight ahead, your steps unwavering, too lazy to explain, and there was no need to report your actions to Sasuke.

Sasuke suddenly quickened his pace, turned around and blocked your way, forcing you to stop.

He carefully examined your face, and only after confirming that there were no other obvious external injuries or signs of pain did his anxiety ease slightly.

But that embrace in the courtyard still feels like a thorn stuck in his heart.

He took a deep breath and changed the subject, which was also what he cared about most at the moment, "At the summer festival ball, is your partner Nara Shikamaru?"

"Yes, it's him." In your view, this is just an agreement that has already been reached, and there is no need to hide it.

"Why him? I could have been your partner!"

The force on your wrist made you frown slightly, but you didn't struggle. "This is between Shikamaru and me."

You've gotten used to Sasuke's almost obsessive control and questioning. Perhaps it's because after he awakened his Sharingan on the night of the massacre that some of his nerves became different from ordinary people, you conclude.

“But he…” Sasuke wanted to argue urgently, wanting to say that Shikamaru’s gaze towards him was also not innocent, and that there were too many people around him who were eyeing him covetously.

"The night you took me back, I really can't remember what happened." You looked at Sasuke's expression, which changed slightly in an instant, "but that doesn't mean I didn't notice anything."

“Uchiha Sasuke, you are really strange.”

"Strange?" Sasuke seemed stung by the comment. "Between the two of us, who's the stranger?!"

You, someone shrouded in countless mysteries, who fascinates many yet remains a detached observer, actually call him strange?

"You know I like you," Sasuke thought, seizing the moment when you were lucid, determined to get an answer. He was fed up with being ignored. "Why did you pretend you couldn't see me?"

“I don’t like you,” your answer was direct and cruel, without any embellishment, “so keep your distance.”

This blunt rejection made Sasuke's breath catch in his throat, followed by an even greater surge of anger and a twisted possessiveness.

"You don't like me?" he repeated through gritted teeth. "Sakura Haruno is one thing! But what about Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, Neji Hyuga... and even that defector Itachi Uchiha?"

He rattled off these names in one breath, "Just how many people have you offended? Why can they all get close to you, but I can't?"

This was his deepest confusion and resentment for a long time. In what way was he, Uchiha Sasuke, inferior to those people?

Faced with his almost out-of-control questioning, you remained silent for a moment.

"When I first saw you, you gave me a very familiar feeling." You tilted your head slightly, as if savoring that feeling, "like meeting an old friend again."

Sasuke's heart skipped a beat at those words, and a faint glimmer of hope had just begun to rise.

But what you said next completely extinguished that glimmer of hope.

“But,” your gaze becomes clear and firm as you look at Sasuke, “my heart tells me that you are not him, and you are not someone I should get close to.”

This feeling is contradictory and inexplicable, yet it is your most genuine intuition.

"Is this the answer you're using to brush me off?" Sasuke's voice trembled slightly with suppressed emotions; he couldn't accept this vague and unreal feeling.

He suddenly pulled you even closer, so close you could feel each other's breath.

"I've always been in love with you," Sasuke's Sharingan uncontrollably surfaced, "My heart tells me I must get close to you, no matter what it takes, even if it means resorting to any means necessary!"

The moment he uttered those words, an extremely blurry figure flashed through his mind without warning.

That figure overlapped with the one before him in some indescribable way, carrying a deep-seated familiarity and... pain? This feeling came and went quickly, but it only made him more certain.

Chapter 331 Summer Festival Dance (5)

With a slight twitch of your fingertips, a golden light flashed, and with a clever force, you forcefully pushed Sasuke, who was tightly gripping your wrist, away.

The moment I took that first step, an image flashed into my mind like lightning, so clear it was chilling.

A handsome man with a deep, mysterious air about him is playfully pinching your chin, forcing you to look up.

He leaned down slightly, his thin lips close to your ear, as if whispering something intimate yet dangerous, his eyes filled with obsession and madness.

That face... it was clearly Uchiha Sasuke after he grew up! The similar features made your heart clench suddenly.

The sudden vision made you stop in your tracks, and your blood seemed to flow backward instantly.

You suddenly turned around, your movements so fast they created a gust of wind, and grabbed Sasuke by the collar before he could even react, the force so strong it made him stagger.

"You..." Your dark eyes, now swirling with surprise and scrutiny, were fixed intently on Sasuke's face. "Who exactly are you?"

In the deepest part of his pupils, golden light flashed uncontrollably once again.

Sasuke was taken aback by your sudden, intense reaction and questioning. The tightening of his collar brought a slight feeling of suffocation, but he did not resist. He simply asked in a hoarse voice, "Who do you think I am?"

Sasuke's eyes were filled with confusion, and a twisted tremor from the intense treatment he had received.

The moment his words fell, Sasuke felt as if his consciousness had been forcibly taken over by a divine majesty that did not belong to him.

His eyes instantly became vacant and unfocused.

You keenly sensed the drastic change in Sasuke's aura! He was no longer that persistent and naive boy, but rather... a more ancient and dangerous being! Alarm bells rang in your mind, and you immediately wanted to let go and retreat.

However, it's too late.

"Prajna..."

A deep, tender call escaped Sasuke's lips, a voice hoarse and nostalgic, carrying a sense of having transcended a long period of time.

He took the initiative, suddenly raising his previously limp hand and grabbing your wrist as you tried to pull it back.

His other hand caressed your cheek, his fingertips icy cold, yet the movement carried an almost obsessive tenderness, as if touching a rare treasure that had been lost and found again.

Your astonished face was reflected in his eyes, his gaze complex and unreadable, containing nostalgia, pain, and madness, but none of the emotions that belonged to Uchiha Sasuke.

Hannya? Who is that! You tried to activate the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan to break free from this strange confinement, and a power far beyond comprehension suddenly erupted from Sasuke's body.

It wasn't chakra, but a primal pressure. The chakra that had just gathered around you instantly dissipated, and the pattern of the Mangekyou Sharingan was forcibly suppressed back into the depths of your pupils before it could even fully appear.

At this moment, you finally realize with profound clarity that what Uchiha Sasuke said before might very well be true.

His own complicated and mysterious background seems even more elusive than he imagined, and may even be intricately connected to the ancient being that has taken over Sasuke's body.

So, what about Sasuke himself? Was he merely an innocent vessel caught in this unknown vortex?

Just as your thoughts raced, trying to sort out this chaotic situation, the terrifying divine pressure suddenly receded.

The unfamiliar light in Sasuke's eyes quickly vanished, replaced by extreme exhaustion and emptiness.

His hand, which was holding yours, slipped weakly, his body went limp, and he fell straight forward, only to be caught instinctively by you as you regained your mobility.

"Sasuke!" you called out instinctively, shaking him a few times, but the boy in your arms had his eyes closed, his face as pale as paper, and he didn't react at all.

You quickly checked and found that this was a deep coma caused by the chakra being instantly drained or even completely depleted by some force.