Chapter 2: Let You See What is Despair

"Qin Yu, why are you doing this to me?" Shizune lifted her head, her eyes brimming with tears.

At this moment, she no longer resembled a composed medical-nin but instead seemed as lost and vulnerable as a child.

"You've done enough." Qin Yu rose to his feet and gently wiped away her tears. "Let me handle this from here."

Feeling the warmth of his touch, Shizune found herself momentarily frozen.

The Uchiha she knew—Qin Yu—had always been reserved, hesitant, even self-conscious.

But now, standing before her, he felt completely different.

His sharp, unwavering gaze exuded a sense of absolute confidence and security, something she had never sensed in him before.

Yet, realizing the unexpected closeness between them, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Quickly, she diverted the topic: "The wounded are in critical condition… what do we do next?"

"Unless we transport them back to Konoha or receive additional medical-nin support, the only option left is to retreat and abandon them."

"Rest assured, as long as I'm here, they won't be left behind. This war ends today, and we all go home together." Qin Yu released her shoulders and stood up.

Shizune watched in stunned silence as he turned away. She furrowed her brows, feeling an unfamiliar sense of unease.

"Hmph! Idiot." She rubbed her forehead, only then realizing how strange her tone had sounded. Her face burned even more.

At the cave entrance, the discussion among the shinobi continued.

As Qin Yu approached, he caught the final verdict.

"As captain, I formally propose we abandon the wounded and retreat immediately. Those in favor, raise your hand," said Yamanaka Fu.

Beside him, Aburame Torune raised his hand. "I agree."

"Transporting the wounded will slow the main unit's retreat. The logical choice is to leave them behind. Consider this carefully—don't forget what happened to Konoha's White Fang."

As those words fell, the room's atmosphere turned grim.

The death of Sakumo Hatake, Konoha's legendary White Fang, had been a devastating loss.

Yet in the end, his own village condemned him.

People were selfish—they focused on results, ignoring the sacrifices made along the way.

Torune's statement forced them into a moral impasse.

"There's no need for a vote," Qin Yu interjected. "We are not ROOT. We don't abandon our comrades."

"It's Uchiha Qin Yu! Wasn't he critically wounded? How is he even standing?!"

Murmurs spread as they recalled how Qin Yu had been found bloodied and motionless amid explosive tags.

Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune scowled.

They were both skilled operatives, regarded as prodigies in their own right.

Yet now, before all their peers, they were being publicly defied.

ROOT had drilled into them a simple truth—victory required sacrifice.

"Qin Yu, you're merely a genin. You have no authority here. Stand down," Fu ordered sharply.

"If you continue to disrupt the chain of command, I won't hesitate to take disciplinary action."

A heavy silence filled the cave as eyes darted between the two.

Qin Yu stood unfazed. The meek and unassuming boy they once knew was gone.

Instinct told them that something about him had drastically changed.

"Uchiha Qin Yu, are you ignoring a direct order?" Fu's voice rose.

Torune added coldly, "Don't forget—we're facing hundreds of Kumo-nin, including the AB Duo."

"This is a world where the strong rule over the weak. And you—a worthless genin—have no right to speak."

"You have two options: stand down and stay out of the way… or die."

A suffocating tension gripped the room.

"Qin Yu, please, step back!" Shizune rushed forward. "I'm sorry, everyone! He's still recovering—"

"Shizune, leave this to me." Qin Yu cut her off, his gaze locking onto Torune. "Did I hear that correctly?"

"You claim strength gives you the right to kill?"

"Then let me show you… true despair."

A chilling aura filled the cave.

His crimson Sharingan darkened, and in the next instant, the tomoe in his eyes began to shift—spinning, merging—until all nine coalesced into a single, ominous pattern.

A tsunami of raw ocular power erupted from Qin Yu, surging like a hurricane and shaking the very walls around them.

His black hair whipped wildly despite the still air, and his blood-red gaze sent an involuntary shudder through all who beheld it.

"W-What… What kind of eyes are those?!"

"Uchiha Qin Yu, weren't you only supposed to have the Sharingan? But now… 1, 2, 3… 9 tomoe?"

"This is impossible! Among the Uchiha, even a three-tomoe Sharingan is incredibly powerful, but a Nine-Tomoe…?"

A crushing force bore down upon them as Qin Yu's fully awakened Nine-Tomoe Mangekyō Sharingan glowed ominously.

The expressions of everyone in the cave changed in an instant.

The Uchiha clan was one of the most feared lineages in the shinobi world.

The evolution of the Sharingan was well understood—one tomoe, two tomoe, three tomoe.

This was the established path.

Even the Mangekyō Sharingan remained a mystery to most of their own kin.

And now, before them, an unprecedented phenomenon had manifested.

But none of that mattered now.

More than anything, the sheer, overwhelming force of his ocular power struck a deep and primal fear into them.

It felt as though calamity itself had arrived.