Enslaving Uchiha Izumi

A knock came at the door, leaving Uchiha Shūichi slightly puzzled.

By now, Uchiha Shūichi had returned to Konoha Village and was at his own home.

As mentioned earlier, the place where Uchiha Shūichi lived was the most remote and isolated spot even within the secluded Uchiha Clan compound.

On ordinary days, Uchiha Shūichi kept to himself within the clan, and due to his facade, he had a cold relationship with the vast majority of the Uchiha. Thus, even though he was considered a genius of the clan, almost no one interacted with him.

In fact, even Uchiha Shisui, the clan's strongest ninja, and Uchiha Itachi, the clan leader's son, faced plenty of cold stares and ostracism within the Uchiha Clan.

With talent inferior to Uchiha Shisui and status below Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Shūichi's position in the clan went without saying.

As for Konoha... the village's higher-ups also treated Uchiha Shūichi as a pawn, and one that was a backup after Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi.

Even if the village had secret missions on ordinary days, they were mostly handed to Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi, with little connection to Uchiha Shūichi.

Now, his two "close friends," Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi, had both become Orochimaru's experimental subjects. Uchiha Shūichi had no idea who could still be coming to his door.

The door opened, and Uchiha Shūichi paused slightly. Standing at the entrance was a clear-featured Uchiha girl, her face carrying a hint of worry. When she saw Uchiha Shūichi, she seemed a bit flustered.

"You're... Uchiha Izumi?"

Uchiha Shūichi's mind turned for a moment before he recalled the girl's name.

Uchiha Izumi—in the original story, Uchiha Itachi's rumored girlfriend, who later died at his hands during the clan massacre.

In the original manga, aside from his parents, younger brother, and Uchiha Shisui, she was probably the Uchiha closest to Uchiha Itachi.

But this Uchiha girl also had a fairly distant relationship with the clan itself.

She wasn't originally a pure-blooded Uchiha. Her mother was a commoner of the Uchiha Clan, and her father was an ordinary ninja. Normally, she would have been outside the clan's scope.

Later, during the Nine-Tails Night, Uchiha Izumi lost her father and awakened her Sharingan, which led the clan to semi-forcibly pull her back in. Because of this, her bond with the Uchiha Clan wasn't particularly close either.

"Is there something you need, Miss Izumi?"

Uchiha Shūichi asked flatly. Though both were fringe members of the Uchiha Clan, their situations differed, and as a result, they had almost no prior contact.

Uchiha Izumi looked a bit nervous. After taking a couple of deep breaths, she spoke hesitantly:

"Jonin Shūichi, do you know how Itachi is doing right now?"

Uchiha Shūichi's expression showed slight impatience:

"Chunin Izumi, you should know that Uchiha Itachi has already joined the Anbu, right?"

The identity of Anbu ninja was normally confidential, but the Uchiha Clan's situation was special—almost everyone knew Uchiha Itachi's role.

"I... I know, Itachi joined the Anbu, but..."

Uchiha Izumi's expression grew even more tense. Despite being an elite ninja of the Uchiha Clan, her speech came out a bit stammered.

"Please don't casually pry into other ninja's information. I believe you should have learned that in your first lesson at the Ninja Academy! Especially Anbu ninja intelligence—it's top-secret among top secrets."

"Prying like this could get you directly judged as a spy and sent to the Intelligence Division!"

Uchiha Izumi took a deep breath, her slightly pale face gradually calming. She gritted her teeth and said:

"Enough! A while ago, I saw Uchiha Itachi walk in here... one of his eyes was already blind! There's no way he could be carrying out missions now!"

Hearing the hint of hysteria in Uchiha Izumi's voice, Uchiha Shūichi's gaze dropped slightly, his tone tinged with resignation:

"So you found out, huh. That Uchiha Itachi guy—he's way too careless!"

Under normal circumstances, with Uchiha Itachi's ability, he naturally wouldn't let others notice anything unusual.

But back then, Uchiha Itachi's mind was practically a mess, and on top of that, he'd lost an eye. Just making it to Uchiha Shūichi's place had taken everything he had.

By sheer chance, being spotted by this girl who always cared about him was perfectly normal.

Hearing Uchiha Shūichi admit it, Uchiha Izumi's spirits lifted, and she quickly asked:

"Uchiha Itachi—where is he now?"

But before she finished, Uchiha Shūichi had already raised his head. The three tomoe in his eyes spun and shifted, transforming into a bizarre, unpredictable four-pointed shuriken pattern:

"Kotoamatsukami!"

The immense Mangekyo dojutsu instantly shattered Uchiha Izumi's mental defenses, completely twisting her thoughts and will.

Uchiha Izumi froze for a moment, then her body trembled. The anxiety on her face suddenly calmed.

"I'm sorry, Lord Shūichi! It was my fault—I shouldn't have pressed you... Uchiha Itachi's matters mean nothing to me. I was out of line, Lord Shūichi!"

In an instant, Uchiha Izumi's attitude had completely changed. Her face was full of deference, and her gaze toward Uchiha Shūichi was utterly submissive.

Now, Uchiha Izumi was entirely Uchiha Shūichi's person. It could be said that no matter what he did to her, she wouldn't resist.

But Uchiha Shūichi didn't have any particularly sordid thoughts. Uchiha Izumi was about the same age as Uchiha Itachi, just thirteen or fourteen—he wasn't about to commit a crime.

"Alright, stop apologizing. By the way, aside from you, have you told anyone else about Uchiha Itachi?"

"I haven't told anyone. Back then, I suspected Uchiha Itachi might have gotten into some trouble, so I didn't dare speak of it."

"It's only because I haven't seen Uchiha Itachi around lately, and the food you bought, Lord, was only enough for one person, that I grew suspicious and came to question you."

"I see. So the news hasn't spread—that's for the best."

Uchiha Shūichi nodded, relieved, then took a closer look at Uchiha Izumi.

This girl, despite not having pure blood, had awakened her Sharingan early and trained it to the Three Tomoe level. In terms of talent, she was only slightly inferior to Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui. It wasn't a waste of his Kotoamatsukami.