The curse bit down and the ultimate weapon of the Uchiha, the sword that was forged to kill Sukuna, broke in half.
_Kira-chan - Uchiha Mikoto's voice rang in her head.
She could not remember the last time she heard it. It had been far too long. Long enough for Kira to doubt if it was actually her mother's voice. And where was she? Why did Madara or Father show themselves, but not Mother? She wanted to see her Mother again. Although she was beyond happy to meet some clan members this way, it drove her nuts when one after another kept showing up. At this rate, she would probably see her entire clan again.
"Wait" - she paused, pondering hard as everything slowly clicked.
Madara showed up after she retrieved the katana, he was the one who forged it. Father appeared when she acquired the necklace, which was his. And now, it was Mother's voice after she retrieved the pendant. Mother used to carry this pendant in her pocket, a gift from Father. For each artifact she retrieved, someone else appeared, someone who was attached to the artifact.
It all made sense now. The artifacts were in fact remnants of her family, of the Uchiha clan.
Ding..Ding…Ding..Dang..Dang..Dang~~~~CRACK
The ground beneath broke and she fell into a sea of murky freezing water. No matter how much she tried to swim, she kept sinking deeper and deeper. Just when she was about to give up, thousands of tiny sparks surrounded her body, slowly lifting her up toward the light.
_Remember, my child - Mother's voice vibrated her mind again, but this time like an angry tsunami, bringing with it waves after waves of memories.
The core of the Uchiha Eyes of Death and Souls could be broken down into 3 components: the eyes itself, then the Death and Soul powers. Although it was rare, the eyes could be inherited, while the user must earn the 2 powers.
A thousand years ago, she was collecting souls across Japan through assassination's missions under the Uchiha name. She needed 9 souls in order to activate the Souls power, while the Death power was earned through the sacrifice of her loved one. Once activated, the power would forever embedded within the user and could never be taken away.
That's why her Eyes were so rare and mighty. Only those who were willing to push past their humanity and accept the prices could become the strongest.
"You really never let me rest in peace" - she could feel the burn of bile in the back of her throat.
The Uchiha clan spitted the Soul power embedded within her flesh and bound them into artifacts so that once she reincarnated, she could collect her own soul and activate the Soul power in the new body.
She was just like Sukuna.
_Kira…this is not the time, you have to wake up - Mother's voice oscillated and circulated within her mind like an annoying ball that endlessly bounced in a room without escape.
She knew she had to wake up and fight, but she could not. She used to criticize and have so much hate for Sukuna and Kenjaku when they insulted Kami-sama by going beyond the boundary of death and life. Now, she learned that her clan was basically the same.
"Maybe that's why my fate is to die all along. Both me and Sukuna are creatures that are not supposed to exist. That's why Kami-sama sent me to kill him."
She felt dirty at the realization that they used her flesh to… She did not want to imagine.
She felt betrayed. How could her family allow it?
_I'm sorry, my child. I could not convince them to let you go - her Mother's voice echoes in the vast space - please forgive me, my child. But please think about humankind, you need to live so humanity can have a chance to live.
Duty..duty…duty, it's always the same reason. But truthfully, it was also her fault as she could not finish Sukuna last time. If she killed him back then, she and her clan would not have to endure such a cruel fate. All this mess was because of her.
What seemed like an eternity in her conscious world, was barely milliseconds outside. When Kira opened her eyes, the curse was still holding her tightly, intending to squeeze her into juices. Its face is right next to her. Its foul breath filled her nostrils, somewhat waking her up even more.
As the third fragment of her Soul resonated with her body, she sensed the Soul energy returning and increasing rapidly.
_Amaterasu.
A black flame ignited in the middle of the curse's face and quickly combusted into a big fire, covering its entire body. It tossed Kira aside, shrieking in pain and trying to rub itself against the dirt but it was useless.
As the dark flame burned brighter and brighter, the curse's struggle became weaker and weaker until there was nothing but a pile of ashes.
The Eyes of Death and Souls Ability 1: Amaterasu - "The fires from hell" which burns as hot as the sun.
She lay on the ground, letting out a huge breath to back-fill her almost collapsed lungs. Her eyes went up, looking heavenward. She doubted that she could go there after learning what her clan had done. What else had they done that she did not know about? How much more did they plan to make her endure even after they were gone? How much more could she endure before she broke?
"Maybe Satoru was part of their plan too, to ensure she had someone in this life to call to sacrifice" - the thought of Satoru made her smile bitterly, what would he think if she told him the truth about her? - "But I do want to see his stupid face."
She started healing with the Reverse Rotation technique, which had become much easier now that the third soul fragment returned.
_Miss…. - a person approached her from behind.
She raised her head toward the voice.
_Are you a sorcerer? - the man swallowed hard. She could see his trembling hands intensively. Did he witness her battle with the curse?
She shook her head.
_Did you kill the thing here? - another person approached, he looked younger and less scared.
She nodded this time.
_Thank you so much, thank you so much! - the old man burst into tears took her hands into his and shook them violently. Her nose scrunched, showing that she was in pain. He released immediately and both helped her back to their house.
After being offered dinner and a nice shower (which she had not had for a few weeks because of a money shortage), her healing was done and she sat down with the Satsuya family for tea. They started:
_That field belonged to our family for a few generations now. Until a day 70 years ago, that object appeared out of nowhere and started killing all our crops. We asked a few people in the village to remove it. However, everyone disappeared after touching it. After that, nobody dared to come near that thing so we asked the Jujutsu Organization to send someone to exorcise it but, one by one, they disappeared too.
"Were Jujutsu sorcerers that weak?"
_We tried to ask for high-grade sorcerers but they refused to send them up here. They said since the object did nothing bad, it should be fine if we leave it be - the son slammed at the table, anger filled his face.
"Heh? These motherfuckers. Maybe I should tell Satoru to kill them all."
_So it did not kill anyone actively, just sat there? - she asked, her voice was soft.
_Yes… - the son admitted - but we could not grow crops on that piece of land, while it is the biggest farmland that our family inherited.
_So what did you do to earn a living until now? - she was genuinely curious.
_Our family works for the Tomita farm next door and, during their peak seasons, we can make a decent amount to last us through the winter. When we don't work for Tomita farm, our family works for the Sapporo beer factory seasonally. But since you exorcised the object, we should be able to return to work for ourselves. Thank you so much.
Everyone was in tears, making Kira flustered hard.
_It's nothing. You give me a place to sleep and a shower, that's more than enough. Please don't mention it - she scratched her head, did not know to receive the gratitude from them.
They spoke for another 20 minutes before she excused herself to bed.
Before her back could hit the pillow, a knock on the door came.
_Hi, I want to express my gratitude to you - the farmer's son flustered and pulled out a comb.
She looked at the comb for a long time. Was it a trend lately for people to gift each other comb or something? They probably did not know the meaning behind it right?
_I'm sorry, Satsuya-san - she bowed and smiled gently - I already received one from someone else.
She pulled out the white marble comb that Satoru gave her and stared at it for a long time that night. Would he despise her if he knew the truth about how she came back to life?
She left the Satsuya residence silently in the morning and headed back to Sapporo.
She glared at the broken katana blankly for a long time. How could a mere normal curse break this katana? She recalled even when she fought Sukuna a thousand years ago, even he could not break it. It was named "the ultimate Uchiha katana" for a reason, damn it.
Anyways, she needed to mend this katana or Madara would rise from his grave to kill her before Sukuna could. And she definitely did not want to see any of her clan members right now.
She was in luck as Madara had detailed descriptions of how the katana was made in his journal. The Muraoka clan, who were infamous for their sword-smith skill, could mend this katana. Maybe they could remedy the reason why this katana broke.
The good news was that the Muraoka clan still existed based on the phonebook, they resided in Nagasaki. Finding them should not be an issue right now, though she was not sure if there were any swordsmiths left within the clan. Guess she would have to find out later.
The biggest issue was the material. According to Madara's journal, the Zen'in clan was the one that supplied the material back then. This led to 2 bigger issues to which she had no solution: how to get into the Zen'in clan and where the heck was the material?
_Ughhhh what to do? - she flopped down on the bullet train chair, thinking hard. In order to get in and have enough time to look around the entire Zen'in estate, she needed a big, no, a very big distraction. Who could help with that? Satoru? No, he might end up killing everyone.
Then, a familiar face crossed her mind as the train entered Tokyo.
Horse Racing Stadium, Tokyo
_Old man! - Kira sat down, grinning foolishly at the one and only Sorcerer Killer, Fushiguro Toji.
_Oh - he recognized her - the kid with a death wish. You are still alive?
_Ha… - she mentally cursed at him - you are funny! Of course, I'm alive. You are still here, how could I die?
He smirked, turning his attention back to the race. He was losing.
_Well, old man, I have a proposal, something you would love to do - she peeked at his betting ticket, trying to contain her laugh.
_Do enlighten me, kid - he huffed out of frustration when the horse he bet on came second.
_It's simple. I need you to take me into the Zen'in estate and I will fulfill your one wish.
He glared at her before smiling devilishly. This was indeed an interesting proposal.
_And why do you want to get into the Zen'in estate? - Toji asked, walking toward the stadium exit. She followed.
_Well, I need to steal something. But more importantly, I want to give you a chance to reunite with your beloved clan - she punched his arm playfully. She gasped. Damn, that was one hard muscular arm. She lowkey compared him and Satoru, who would win in a fight - You take me there, you create a distraction, and I will deal with the rest. We will be gone before anyone knows. Very easy!
_Heh. Sound fun, kid - he picked his ear, already heading toward the Zen'in clan estate. After losing the bet at the horse racing, he needed to release his frustration and her proposal was not half bad. He would actually go as far as saying it's a good proposal if that meant he could mess up his old clan.
"He is easy to agree…Weird~ but alright, the first step is done." - she touched her parted lips but quickly moved on to the next part of her plan, where could the Zen'in clan hide the material?
_We are here - he stopped in front of a normal-looking house.
_You sure? - she doubted. She did not expect the Zen'in clan to live in such a small house.
_Heard about concealing barrier?
_Oops. Okay, this is how we are going to…. - she was about to explain the plan she had meticulously thought through before coming to Toji when he just casually kicked the front door wide open.
"Didn't I mention to this asshole that we have a plan?" - her mouth made an O-shape.
While Toji was causing a huge commotion that gathered the attention of everyone up front, Kira quickly went through the entire estate to locate the material to mend her katana.
"Got it!" - with mere coincidence, she successfully stole the material in the storage at the very back of the estate. Unfortunately, she bumped into a pair of short and green-haired twins on her way to escape.
_THEFT! - one of the twins yelled loudly while the other one ran to alert the adults.
_I'm so sorry - she had no time to waste so she needed to end this quick. She ran toward the screaming kid and smacked the back of her neck with a little too much force, sending her to the slumberland instantly. Lucky for her, after the twins, she did not bump into anyone else on her way out. Toji was still fighting. She stopped quickly at the front door and whistled, signaling him to retreat then ran.
_Got what you need? - Toji flexed his bulging biceps and exceptionally muscular arms, while grinning happily after causing some ruckus at the Zen'in estate.
_Yep, old man!- she chirped happily, working with Toji was not half bad. He was bold, quiet, and effective. He reminded her of Satoru, minus all the dirty talks and foolish smirks that made her stomach feel weird all the type - so, what do you want in return?
_Heh… - he ruffled her hair, he was borderline gentle - how about you marry my son when you both grow up?
_You are married and have a kid? - her jaw dropped so low that it almost touched the ground. Damn, she tried to imagine what his kid would look like, hoping he did not inherit his poor temper.
_Brat! - he murmured and gave her a look of "Of course, I'm married and have kids."
_Well, um…um, to be honest - she stuttered, putting her hands inside the jacket and touching the comb that she had been carrying around - …ehem….I've promised someone else already.
_Heh…are you promised to the Six Eyes kid? Aren't you kids moving too fast? - he chuckled without looking at her - How about you promise to protect my son?
_That should be easy! I can do that - she agreed immediately, then thought to herself whether she would live long enough to fulfill this promise - What is his name?
_Hm….I forgot.
"WTF"