Except for Him

"I have!" came the matter-of-fact yet puzzled reply.

"..."

"What's wrong?" What was the point of asking someone that out of nowhere?

Konan looked at Uchiha Fuyou in confusion. "When Nagato, Yahiko, and I were wandering around, we saw them every day! Sometimes, we couldn't even sleep for several days."

"...That's right. That's the difference." Uchiha Fuyou suddenly sighed with emotion. "Even when life becomes prosperous and easy, you mustn't forget the diligence you had when you were struggling. That's what I mean. No matter how good life gets, always remember the hardship and effort you went through for a better life. Don't start indulging in pleasure just because things have gotten a little easier." Seeing Yahiko deep in thought and Konan looking enlightened, he worried he had pumped them up too much and quickly changed the subject. "Where's Nagato? Why don't I see him?"

They had started indulging in pleasure?

"Yesterday, he went with Jiu Zhu to blast open mountains and dig tunnels. He went to sleep especially late today, so he's still resting." Yahiko smiled helplessly, then became excited again. "The Nenjutsu you taught us—Digging Pill—is really useful, Brother Fuyou! It can dig a huge pit in an instant, and you can even throw it and control it from afar. It's greatly reduced our workload. It's just too difficult to learn. It would be even better if we could reduce its power." He sighed again. "Brother Fuyou once said that, in the era of the Sage of Six Paths, ninjutsu was used to transform the world. I just don't understand why... it became a tool for killing."

"..."

Yahiko was just too sentimental. He still wasn't a successful capitalist.

Fuyou patted his shoulder and said earnestly, "That's why you must lead everyone back onto the right path!"

If he wanted to develop the Land of Rain, he could never have too many ditch diggers.

"Make all ninjas use ninjutsu the right way."

"I will, Brother Fuyou!" Yahiko declared confidently. "I definitely won't disappoint you!"

"Not disappointed, not disappointed!"

As long as they worked.

Uchiha Fuyou took a quick look at the Land of Rain that Yahiko and the others had been managing. Though the territory was small and mostly low-lying, flooding whenever it rained, things were not bad. At the very least, Hanzo of the Salamander paid them no attention whatsoever.

And quite a few refugees had come here now. If factories could be built here, that would be excellent.

The wages were low, there were plenty of workers, and the costs were cheap. It was just that everything was a mess right now, and transporting goods over such long distances was far too dangerous. The shipping costs were too high.

As a merchant, he could only put that plan aside for now.

After wandering around for a while, he casually collected the Explosive Tags and kunai. Then the group arrived at Yahiko's base, where Nagato had also woken up.

Thinking about the three little ones... they had lost their parents at a young age and wandered the Land of Rain. Later, they became Jiraiya's disciples and finally gained the ability to stand on their own. Then the eldest brother died, the second brother was crippled, and the youngest sister lost her dreams entirely, listening instead to Nagato's dream of a bag of rice after he became mentally unstable from his disability.

That was why parental education was so important. Children had to be properly taught from an early age and given the right values. Using the destruction of the world to create peace... was indeed more reliable than the God of Shinobi's idea.

If everyone was dead, wouldn't there be peace?

It was just that he wasn't very bright and believed a madman's words. In the Uchiha Clan... aside from him, Uchiha Fuyou, everyone else was somewhat mentally abnormal.

Uchiha Fuyou sighed and patted Nagato, who had gotten up to eat. "Nagato! Stay away from crazy people in the future. You need to have your own opinions."

After those words.

Nagato silently picked up a steamed bun, looked at Uchiha Fuyou, thought for a moment, nodded, and walked over to sit across from him.

"..."

This kid was really cheeky.

Sure enough, the eyes weren't his. He couldn't judge people properly!

Uchiha Fuyou also sat down and began eating lunch. Kushina Uzumaki had prepared it, and it tasted quite good. Especially the Land of Rain specialty—Ibuse. It was tender, juicy, fresh, and springy. It made an excellent fish soup or grilled dish.

The problem was that the thing was poisonous, like pufferfish. If someone without professional training prepared it, one careless mistake could poison the entire family to death.

Kushina Uzumaki... before the Third War had begun, he had encountered this wandering woman of the Uzumaki Clan while traveling to the Land of Grass to establish a branch store. After some thought, he had brought her to the Land of Rain to join the three little ones.

Now, it seemed she was doing quite well. At least Nagato had an older sister around, and he had become much more mischievous.

"You should avoid using those eyes too much." Uchiha Fuyou thought for a moment before speaking. "They place too much burden on your chakra. You're still growing, and if you're not careful... if you overload yourself, I might have to arrange for someone to make you a wheelchair. Learn some other ninjutsu too, and cultivate a positive, optimistic mindset."

The Rinnegan really did deserve to be called an evolution of the Sharingan. The angrier one got, the stronger one became.

Uchiha Fuyou guessed that Nagato's later extremism might have had something to do with those eyes as well.

So.

Was the Sharingan the source of the Uchiha Clan's madness?

And the Sharingan came from the God Tree... He remembered that some people had speculated that Kaguya Otsutsuki had gone from being a goddess to an extremist not merely because she had children and entered menopause. Perhaps... she had also been infected by the Rinnegan.

The Uchiha Clan's madness was hereditary.

"I understand." Nagato nodded.

Those eyes... really were strange. Whenever he used them, he became unusually energetic, and his head easily grew hot. If he was not careful, he would do something impulsive. He had not thought much of it at the time, but now that he considered it... it was extremely dangerous for a ninja to be unable to stay calm.

"Sister Kushina examined me. Whenever I get excited, my eyes produce a kind of chakra similar to the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan. It makes it easy for my heart to be led astray."

"..."

Uchiha Fuyou gave an awkward laugh.

Sure enough, the Uchiha Clan's mental health and psychological development also needed special attention!

After lunch, he and Kushina Uzumaki went to the underground laboratory. He had spent a great deal of money building it.

Unfortunately.

There were too few researchers.

And too few experimental samples...

"Lord Fuyou, please." Wearing a white lab coat, Kushina Uzumaki smiled gently and pointed at a bed resembling an operating table. "This time, we only need to conduct a simple examination."

Most of the data on his Sharingan and chakra was stored here. He had awakened his eyes differently from other Uchiha. He had not awakened them by witnessing the deaths of family or companions and relying on emotional turmoil. Rather, after graduating elementary school... he had started making money, leveled up for the first time, and awakened them himself.

After that, he had relied on system upgrades. As his attributes increased, his eyes awakened naturally.

Maybe he had been so excited about making money that it counted as an emotion too!

Uchiha Fuyou kept his eyes open as Kushina Uzumaki leaned closer and carefully examined them. Her distinctive red hair, along with a gentleness unlike Sister Kushina's fiery red pepper personality...

Was soothing to the heart.

She was unlike Suzune, his soft and sweet childhood friend. Instead, she was very much like Sister Nonō, with the air of a gentle older sister.

A moment later.

"Are you really not staying in the Land of Rain?" Kushina suddenly asked softly. "Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan all hope you'll stay."

"Wait a little longer."

How could he leave before squeezing all the money out of them?

Uchiha Fuyou smiled and shook his head. "I can't let other people know I'm in the Land of Rain!"

"Kushina understands." Kushina Uzumaki pursed her lips and smiled, her eyes fluttering slightly. After a moment of silence, she said, "Thank you."

Before Fuyou could speak, she smiled again. "Your Dojutsu has grown stronger, but there have not been many other changes." As she spoke, she removed her rubber gloves. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, her eyes a little unfocused, and she extended her jade-like hand toward Uchiha Fuyou. "Lord... please!"

"Actually, you can just bite your wrist..."

"Lord, please!"

"...Th-thank you for the meal!" Looking at Kushina's smiling face, Uchiha Fuyou directly took her fair, slender index finger into his mouth and gave it a light bite. At once, something warm and liquid flooded his mouth, as though it had filled his entire mouth in an instant. His body, as if it had been starving for decades, frantically absorbed the energy flowing from Kushina.

A soft, muffled moan echoed through the sealed laboratory.

Uchiha Fuyou wanted to pull away, but... the finger did not withdraw. It remained in his mouth and even seemed to lightly scratch inside.

"???"

What was going on?

Meanwhile.

Inside a somewhat more luxurious house somewhere in the Land of Rain.

A man wearing a heavy gas mask looked at the intelligence report on the table and muttered, "Did those brats make any strange moves today?"