Precious Wealth

Uchiha Clan Grounds.

It was already late when Shamu returned to the Uchiha Clan. He did not want to disturb Fugaku's rest.

He planned to speak with him the next day.

Yet Keimei had stayed up waiting for him.

"Why are you waiting for me instead of sleeping so late?"

Shamu looked at the green young man before him. He had not expected him to possess the talent for the Mangekyō.

Keimei scratched his head. "Captain, I couldn't sleep when I didn't see you come back."

Shamu smiled and punched him lightly. "What does that have to do with me?"

Keimei lowered his voice. "I wanted to ask about my eyes."

Seeing that Keimei could not even wait a day, Shamu was somewhat puzzled, but he still nodded and had Keimei follow him into his room.

After sitting down, Shamu asked Keimei, "Go ahead."

Keimei asked Shamu, "Captain, the clan head said my Mangekyō is very useful."

"The clan needs me, and I'm very happy about that. But Clan Head Fugaku said the Mangekyō Sharingan's ocular power is fixed."

"Overusing it will reduce your eyesight, and eventually you'll go blind."

"I wanted to ask, Captain, will the Mangekyō Sharingan really cause blindness in the end?"

Shamu raised a brow. He had not expected Fugaku to kick this problem over to him as well.

Was he leaving it to Shamu to teach Keimei because he did not want to tell him there were other methods?

Or had Fugaku simply not expected Keimei to have such concerns right after awakening his eyes?

Shamu nodded. "In the end, the Mangekyō Sharingan really will make its user lose the light. Fugaku has already gone blind."

Keimei looked surprised and disappointed.

If even Clan Head Fugaku had lost his sight, then blindness was surely the only path awaiting him as well.

"That's such a shame. I wanted to use my Mangekyō to contribute more to the clan."

Shamu chuckled. He had never noticed before that Keimei loved the clan so deeply.

The Uchiha Clan was prone to extremes. Keimei was the rare kind of Uchiha who possessed love, and that love was for his clan.

"How did you awaken your eyes?"

Shamu asked.

Keimei put away his disappointment. Since he was going to go blind anyway, he might as well contribute something to the clan before then.

The clan head had said that Shamu was also a powerful Mangekyō Sharingan user.

It would be good to seek more guidance from his captain.

Keimei then told Shamu in detail about how he had awakened his eyes.

Shamu narrowed his eyes after hearing it.

The emotion that had triggered Keimei's Mangekyō should have been his desire to protect the clan.

Shamu opened the Faction Template again, where Keimei's Mangekyō Sharingan abilities were described.

Divine Guardian: Grants soul and dimensional defense, stabilizes the mind, and grants immunity to soul-based attacks.

Mercy of Life: Completely locks the target's state.

Keimei had already demonstrated the first ability. It had pulled Fugaku back from the brink of death.

Shamu still had questions about the second ability. The Faction Template's description was too simple.

For the details, he would have to ask Keimei himself.

"Keimei, tell me about your Mangekyō Sharingan's ocular abilities."

Keimei nodded and introduced both ocular techniques to Shamu.

When he came to the second one, he said, "I can lock the state of a target."

"What does locking mean?"

Keimei thought for a moment. "Once locked, they won't be injured or become fatigued."

Damn, wasn't that invincibility?

Saved by the light?

Shamu immediately grew excited.

After questioning him in detail, he learned that this ocular technique truly was powerful.

But it required an enormous amount of ocular power.

Keimei had only just awakened his eyes. Among ordinary Mangekyō users, his ocular power was at the peak.

Even so, he could only activate it for around twenty seconds before going completely blind.

The shortest activation time for Mercy of Life was one second. At most, it was equivalent to immunity against twenty attacks.

But he had to consciously activate it in time.

Used well, this skill was practically divine. It was just rather expensive on the eyes.

Shamu knew Keimei quite well. To be honest, he was not the kind of Uchiha who craved battle.

And the Mangekyō Sharingan he had awakened was far too precious. It would be too wasteful to use it directly in combat.

Shamu intended to transfer Keimei away from the front lines. He even wanted to send Keimei to Orochimaru right away.

To see whether Keimei's abilities could be of any help with experiments.

But he had to ask Keimei what he thought first.

"Keimei, I intend to transfer you away from the front lines and have you take a clerical position. What do you think?"

"A clerical position?" Keimei was stunned. Did the Uchiha even have clerical positions?

Hearing Keimei's question, Shamu realized he had misspoken. What the hell clerical positions did the Uchiha have?

Shamu simply changed his wording. "Keimei, your ocular techniques are too precious. Using them in battle would be too wasteful. I want to use them somewhere more important."

Keimei relaxed, and a smile bloomed across his face. "No problem, Captain. As long as I can contribute to the clan, I don't mind what I do."

Shamu looked at the simple young man, deeply moved. The Uchiha truly were a remarkable clan. Everyone said the Uchiha always placed power above all else.

But that was not the truth. No clan's love ran deeper than the Uchiha's, which was why they sealed it away.

Once an Uchiha understood love, the emotions they had restrained all along would be released. A power of love that could even surpass the Senju Clan's would awaken from within them.

But overly intense love concealed the possibility of losing control. Once an Uchiha who understood love lost that powerful love, it would be replaced by even stronger hatred, completely changing their temperament. Obito was like that.

The so-called Sharingan was synchronized with the power of the heart, allowing its user to rapidly become stronger alongside the power of hatred within them. Most Uchiha were sensitive and delicate by nature.

Those who awakened intense emotions were almost all swallowed by darkness and fell onto an evil path. The deeper the darkness, the stronger their ocular power, and the harder they were to deal with, just like Madara.

Yet where there was darkness, there was light. Though darkness had produced such extremes, the Uchiha Clan had also produced many people of great love, such as the creator of Izanami, Uchiha Chiri.

Although Shisui had been brainwashed by the Will of Fire back then, his true nature genuinely loved peace.

Now another Mangekyō had emerged within the clan, but this Mangekyō had awakened to protect the clan.

Shamu patted Keimei's shoulder. "Your Susanoo has awakened too, right?"

Keimei nodded. "The clan head said ocular power is limited, so I haven't used it yet."

Shamu said approvingly, "You did the right thing. Susanoo consumes a tremendous amount of ocular power and Chakra. Chakra can recover, but ocular power cannot."

"You'll be transferred out of a combat position from now on. You can still lead the barrier team, but once enemies are discovered, you are not allowed to fight. You are now one of the Uchiha's precious assets."

Keimei had never possessed a particularly strong desire for battle, so being barred from fighting did not make him feel dejected.

Instead, he felt honored and happy that he could help the clan.

It was getting late. After giving Keimei a few more simple instructions, Shamu sent him away.

He needed to get some sleep. Tomorrow, there was still much to do.