[Half a month later, the news of your return to Konoha after a seven-year absence spread throughout the ninja world. Meanwhile, the Four Great Ninja Villages rejected the Five Kage Summit.]
[A month later, Konoha hosted the Chūnin Exams, inviting over ten ninja villages, including the Five Great Nations, with the intent to intimidate the other villages.]
[Three months later, your relationship with Hinata Hyūga grew closer. If not for your age, you could have already been married.]
[Six months later, rumors spread across the ninja world that several Tailed Beasts had been stolen.]
[A year later, the entire Akatsuki organization invaded Konoha. You hid and did not participate in the battle.]
[Konoha was destroyed by the Super Shinra Tensei. Countless shinobi died, but you did not intervene.]
[Fugaku, the clan leader, led the Konoha shinobi in a desperate defense. The old man had his soul ripped out by the Human Path and died. You did not intervene, and you felt deep sorrow.]
[Fugaku perished in a mutual defeat with two of Pain's bodies. You witnessed it with your own eyes but did nothing. You felt deep sorrow.]
[Hinata Hyūga was killed in an explosion by Deidara's clay. You still did nothing and felt deep sorrow.]
[Konoha was destroyed, and the casualties were immense.]
[Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha returned from their training at Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave, respectively, but they were too late.]
[Upon seeing his parents' corpses, Sasuke awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan.]
[Black Zetsu discovered your presence, and you could no longer hide. Naruto and Sasuke confronted you, questioning why you stayed in the shadows without helping. You had no words to respond.]
[Deidara used his final art, CO, self-destructing and taking you down with him. You died.]
As the life simulation ended, Akira Uchiha sighed softly as he looked at the final result.
What the hell? He had witnessed his grandfather's death and Hinata's death in the simulation, yet he still didn't awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Instead, Sasuke had awakened his Mangekyō after seeing his grandfather's dead body.
"So, is it that my bond with the old man and Hinata isn't strong enough? That the emotional impact wasn't enough to trigger my Mangekyō?"
"Or is it because I know this is just a simulation, and not real, so it's not enough to awaken the Mangekyō?"
In the end, Akira still hadn't awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan, which made him let out a long sigh.
The most frustrating part was that not only did he fail to awaken his Mangekyō, but he had also inadvertently helped Sasuke awaken his. What kind of joke was this?
Was fate mocking him?
Shaking his head, without the Mangekyō, his bloodline didn't evolve either. In terms of the rewards from the simulation, Akira chose to enhance his chakra reserves.
He could feel that his chakra had increased significantly.
"Is it possible that I'll never have a chance to awaken the Mangekyō?"
Akira sighed again. Even after witnessing the deaths of his grandfather and Hinata in the life simulation, he still couldn't awaken the Mangekyō.
There was no way he would go so far as to harm them in real life just to open the Mangekyō, right?
After thinking about it for a long time, Akira finally shook his head in resignation. It seemed like the Mangekyō Sharingan was not something he could force.
He would just have to take things one step at a time.
However, this life simulation did provide some new information.
First, the Four Great Ninja Villages had rejected the Five Kage Summit. Even though he had been mentally prepared for this, Akira still sighed when he saw it.
Then, there was the matter of the Chūnin Exams. After the rejection of the summit, Konoha quickly organized the exams.
It seemed like Fugaku wanted to show off a bit of Konoha's strength.
Akira agreed with this. Due to the early death of the Third Hokage, the Chūnin Exams in the original story were never held.
Hosting the exam now was the perfect time, allowing the other villages to witness Konoha's current power.
Additionally, some kind of butterfly effect seemed to have taken place.
In previous simulations, the Akatsuki would invade Konoha about a year and a half later. But this time, the simulation showed the invasion happening six months earlier.
As a result, Akira's chakra growth was much less than expected.
If the invasion had occurred after a year and a half, the increase in his chakra reserves would have been much more significant.
It also seemed that Deidara still had some lingering feelings for the Third Tsuchikage.
After all, Akira had been the one to sever the Third Tsuchikage's leg. But in this simulation, Deidara chose to blow himself up to take Akira down with him.
"Well, no point in obsessing over the Mangekyō. I should focus on enhancing my Wood Release and chakra reserves for now."
"I need to master the Wood Golem Jutsu. Once I do, it'll be like piloting a giant robot," Akira mused.
Unlike other forms of training, awakening the Mangekyō was different. For something like opening the Eight Gates or mastering Sage Mode, even if you failed, you could at least accumulate experience.
Try once, try five times, try ten times…
Eventually, the experience would lead to a breakthrough, allowing you to successfully open the Eight Gates or master Sage Mode.
But with the Mangekyō Sharingan, it wasn't the same.
Take Akira, for instance. The first time he witnessed his grandfather and Hinata's deaths, though he felt sorrow, it wasn't enough to trigger the Mangekyō.
So, even if he simulated ten more times, or even dozens or hundreds of times, it still wouldn't happen.
In fact, the more times he simulated, the more desensitized he would become to the sight of his grandfather and Hinata being killed.
The emotional impact would lessen with each simulation.
As a result, the chances of awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan would become even slimmer.
Lost in thought, Akira's eyelids grew heavier. After an unknown amount of time, he finally drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Akira had breakfast with his family. Even though he kept telling himself not to obsess over the Mangekyō and to let things happen naturally, the thought wouldn't leave his mind.
After all, being born into the Uchiha clan, despite the rapid growth of his power, Akira still felt a deep sense of regret for not unlocking the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Relying solely on the life simulator didn't seem to be the answer.
The problem was, Akira knew that the events in the simulator weren't real.
But if he couldn't awaken the Mangekyō in the simulator, did that mean he would have to do something drastic to Hinata and his grandfather in real life?
Akira shook his head. He wasn't willing to go to such extremes just for the Mangekyō.
"Wait a minute, maybe there's another way?"
Just as Akira felt trapped in his thoughts, an idea suddenly sparked in his mind.
He remembered the "Lost Tower" from the Naruto movies!
In that movie, the Dragon Vein in Rōran had the power to manipulate time and space.
If he could somehow harness that power, could he use it to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan?
Moreover, in the plot of "Road to Ninja," there was another similar ability to travel between parallel universes.
Naruto had crossed into a different world, where he experienced the warmth of being with his parents again.
If Akira could enter a parallel world, could he also find a way to awaken the Mangekyō there?
But then, Akira shook his head again.
No, in the life simulator, he knew it was fake, so even though he felt sadness, it wasn't enough to trigger the Mangekyō.
The same logic applied to a parallel universe.
Even if he felt sad, he would know that the important people there weren't from his real world. So, it wouldn't be enough to awaken the Mangekyō.
"So, how exactly can I unlock the Mangekyō?"
"What are you thinking about, grandson?" His grandfather asked, noticing Akira's distracted expression at the breakfast table.
"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about last night's Deep Forest Emergence and wondering who else could use Wood Release." Akira casually gave an excuse.
After exchanging pleasantries with his grandfather, Akira left the house and went to find Hinata.
Feeling frustrated about the Mangekyō, he decided to forget about it for a while and enjoy his time with Hinata.
Akira didn't use the remaining 1 million ryō for life simulations. After all, dating also required money, right?
Although Hinata was gentle and wouldn't mind paying for things, Akira, as a man, wanted to be responsible for the expenses.
And so, ten days quickly passed, with Akira spending all his time with Hinata.
During this time, his 1 million ryō quickly ran out.
Hinata, noticing his financial troubles, thoughtfully began covering the costs of their dates.
"No, I can't keep this up. I need to take on some missions and earn some money," Akira thought, realizing he was about to run out of funds.
Even though his grandfather would give him money if he asked, Akira had always seen himself as independent and didn't want to rely on his grandfather unless absolutely necessary.
One day, while lying in bed, contemplating how to make more money, a snake as thick as his arm suddenly appeared in his room!
The snake opened its mouth and spat out a large scroll.
"Is this… Kakuzu's payment?"
Seeing the scroll, Akira's eyes lit up with excitement.
Before leaving, he had arranged for a snake to wait at the spot where he and Kakuzu had made their deal.
Now, the snake had appeared in his room with a scroll. Akira knew exactly what this meant.
With anticipation and excitement, Akira reached for the scroll.
He couldn't wait to see how much Kakuzu had sent him this time.
*********
Note: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 218 at patreon.com/Emik01.