Naruto: Lost to Hinata on Purpose, and Now Everything's a Mess Chapter 36 36 : Obtaining The Mangekyō Sharingan

If one wanted the Sharingan, the logical first choice should have been Uchiha Fugaku—not Uchiha Mikoto.

Just then, Uchiha Obito entered through the door. When he saw Uchiha Itachi, he asked, "What's going on? Was soone else here just now?"

Uchiha Itachi frowned, remaining silent for a long mont before replying in a low voice, "I think soone was trying to take my father's Sharingan... but they didn't succeed."

Obito narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Danzo's n?"

Itachi shook his head. "I don't think so, but I'm not sure."

Since Uchiha Fugaku's eyes were unhard, Itachi took no further action.

At that mont, Riku had already teleported back to his ho.

He stood in front of the mirror, staring into his reflection.

Focusing slightly, the pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan appeared in his eyes. Then, they shifted into the standard Three Tomoe Sharingan, before reverting again to the Mangekyō. Finally, he deactivated the Sharingan altogether.

Riku could now control the transformation freely.

"These eyes really are sothing else," he muttered. "But I probably won't be able to use them for a while."

"One reflects all genjutsu... the other lets teleport. These powers are insanely practical."

"Plus, since my eyes evolved into the Mangekyō Sharingan, my chakra reserves have skyrocketed—I'm at Kage-level now."

"It seems that sneaking into the Uchiha compound was totally worth it."

Though he had nearly clashed with Uchiha Itachi, and honestly wasn't sure if he could've escaped had a fight broken out, he had gotten away clean.

Not only that, he'd obtained a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan—and his chakra had surged to Kage-level.

He considered the gamble well worth it.

Still, Riku didn't plan on using the eyes often. They were far too conspicuous.

"If only I could find a sealing technique to mask the eye patterns…"

He still wanted to use the eyes' abilities. The illusion-reflecting and teleportation techniques drastically improved his combat effectiveness.

So, he was determined to find a way to hide the Sharingan's visual pattern when using it.

Unfortunately, he hadn't found such a sealing jutsu yet.

After testing the Mangekyō's abilities a few tis, Riku finally went to bed.

The next day, news of the Uchiha Clan Massacre spread like wildfire through Konoha.

Of the entire clan, only Uchiha Sasuke had survived.

He didn't show up to school that day—he was still in the hospital.

Itachi had placed him under a powerful genjutsu, and he hadn't woken up yet.

Hinata and Ino sat on either side of Riku.

"Riku-kun," Ino whispered, leaning close, "have you heard? The Uchiha clan's been wiped out—and the one who did it was Sasuke's big brother!"

Hinata nodded, her expression full of worry. "Sasuke-kun must be devastated…"

Hinata's kindness always showed in monts like these.

Riku paused a mont, then said calmly, "I don't know anything. I ca straight to school this morning."

Of course he knew. He'd witnessed the whole thing. If Riku had been part of the Uchiha clan, he would've wanted to kill Itachi himself.

That scene—it had been like hell on earth.

What was most terrifying… was that the clan had been slaughtered by their own kin.

Over a thousand people, all killed by Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Obito.

And yet, the Uchiha had always been radical. Whether it was Madara, Obito, or other mbers who had awakened the Sharingan, they all leaned toward extremism.

Riku wanted no part of it. So he kept his expression neutral.

Hinata, looking at Riku's unnervingly calm face, asked softly, "Riku-kun… could the sa thing happen to the Hyuga clan one day?"

Riku imdiately cut her off. "Don't worry. The Hyuga clan isn't like the Uchiha. Your clan is too conservative, too bound by rules. No one would get the chance to do sothing like that."

"And more importantly… no one could pull it off without help."

Hinata blinked. "You an Sasuke's brother wasn't acting alone?"

Riku glanced around. Everyone else was still gossiping, not paying attention to them.

Confirming there were no eavesdroppers, he leaned closer to Hinata and Ino and whispered, "Of course not. You think he killed the entire Uchiha clan by himself? His strength's only around Jōnin level."

"There were more than a dozen Uchiha with fully awakened Three Tomoe Sharingan. There's no way he could've taken all of them out alone."

"But keep this to yourselves. Don't tell anyone. There's sothing off about the whole thing—but it has nothing to do with us. Don't go digging."

Ino frowned. She wanted to ask more, but Riku's sharp gaze stopped her.

Hinata looked shocked, but nodded and kept quiet.

After a pause, she looked down, then glanced up shyly at Riku.

"Riku-kun… about what happened at my house last night—I'm sorry. I didn't know my father would act like that."

Riku waved it off. "It's fine. You're the Hyuga heiress. It's not surprising your father reacted that way."

"I would've been surprised if he hadn't."

Hinata hesitated, then finally asked the question she'd been holding back.

"Riku-kun… do you really not have any feelings for ?"

Seeing her summon the courage to ask, Riku smiled and gently patted her head.

"We're still kids. Don't worry about stuff like that yet."

Though Hinata was a little disappointed, she nodded. "Mm."

She really wanted to know his true feelings, but it seed Riku wasn't ready to give her a straight answer.

Still, Riku felt he had made himself clear enough.

Ino watched the exchange with a smile. She was pleased.

The Hyuga clan had strict rules—even more so than the Yamanaka clan.

Even among the Ino–Shika–Cho trio—Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi—intermarriage was rare, let alone marrying outside their clans.

For a common-born ninja like Riku, getting involved with soone like Hinata was basically impossible.

The Yamanaka weren't as rigid, but even they valued bloodline and tradition.

Ino was the heir of her clan, just like Hinata was.

If she ever tried to pursue a relationship with Riku, her family would object imdiately.

In her heart, Ino had always believed that she and Riku could make it work.

But deep down… she knew it was probably just wishful thinking.

Even her clan, without a kekkei genkai, would never willingly pass down their secret jutsu to an outsider.

So the thought of marrying Riku was already a fantasy.

And yet… Ino still hoped.