Three Sentences, Make an Uchiha Open Their Sharingan for Me! Bang!

Steel of the Heart was a powerful piece of equipment from some game.

Its effect was very straightforward: smack someone with it, and you got stronger.

Uchiha Ci was no stranger to this thing—he was a veteran player of ten thousand ARAM matches, a seven-badge Sion main of the Steel Gate.

His whole style was about baiting: you dare hit me once? Fine, this kill is yours, big bro!

The more he fed, the stronger he got; the more he fed, the tankier he became!

Now, just when he wanted to die, this kind of talent showed up.

It... it shouldn't mess with his insurance fraud plan, right?

Uchiha Ci kept his face blank, but deep down, a sense of dread was already creeping in.

Still, he knew nothing about this talent yet, and the Will of Heaven hadn't sent him a user manual for the cheat.

For now, the urgent thing was to take the mission from the Great Elder, Uchiha Setsuna.

Before the cheat could react, he'd get himself to the battlefield and let Iwagakure or whoever chop him down fast.

Complete the insurance fraud plan!

That was the top priority!

But Uchiha Ci couldn't shake a nagging unease in his heart.

He turned around, and found the source of that unease standing right next to him.

This guy named Uchiha Shisui, a real little devil in disguise, suddenly curled his lips in Ci's eyes, gave a gentle smile, and whispered in a very yasashii tone:

"Uchiha Ci, don't worry. I'll take on the mission the Elder's rallying for!"

"You should stay in the clan for now and train yourself."

In an instant, the hairs on Uchiha Ci's back stood on end, sweat beading on his forehead. He thought to himself, Big bro, why don't you go mess with Fugaku's eldest son instead? Why are you always staring at me?

Without a moment's hesitation, Ci shot out of the crowd, before Shisui could react, and excitedly raised three fingers, swearing to the heavens in a booming voice:

"Elder!"

"To restore the Uchiha's glory, I'll shoulder the duty without hesitation!"

"I'm not afraid of danger—let me go to the battlefield!"

Ci lunged forward, shouting at the top of his lungs, his voice so melodious it lingered in the air.

He raised his arm with conviction, his face resolute:

"Whether it's the pouring rain of the Land of Rain or the soft hot springs of the Land of Hot Water, nothing can shake my will to give everything for the Uchiha Clan!"

"If someone has to be sacrificed, then I hope that person—"

"Will be me!"

As his words fell, the crowd couldn't help but glance his way, a hint of admiration in their eyes.

Whose subordinate was this, and why was he so brave?

"Ci-kun! How could you—"

Shisui wanted to stop him but was too late, his face twisting into shock, his tone full of sorrow.

Though their time together had been short, he'd already decided

that Uchiha Ci was a comrade with the same will, someone he could trust with his back.

But, how had he just thrown himself away like that?

???

Ah, was this the feeling of losing a companion?

This, this, this.

Shisui's face flushed red, a fierce urge rising in him to drag Ci home, hang him up, and give him a good thrashing.

His eyes, already pushed to a critical point from training, turned a deep crimson without him noticing.

A single tomoe spun rapidly in those scarlet Sharingan, exuding an air of sorrow.

The trigger for awakening: the loss of a comrade.

As if by fate, it had activated early in him.

But—

"You're no good. Too trashy."

The Great Elder, Uchiha Setsuna, frowned and glanced down at Ci, thinking, Where did this idiot come from?

An Uchiha genin who hadn't even awakened his Sharingan—what difference was there between him and trash?

As his words fell, Uchiha Ci's resolute expression froze.

The sharp edges of his face seemed sharp enough to cut a man dead!

The youth's awkwardness was deafening!

Did you hear that? Uchiha Ci's heart is crying~!

[Uchiha Setsuna looks down on you.]

At that moment, in Uchiha Ci's eyes, a massive red dot suddenly lit up on Uchiha Setsuna's face.

It blotted out the sky and obscured the sun, nearly hiding Uchiha Setsuna's expression behind it.

But that pair of eyes, brimming with contempt, were exposed, as if carved into Uchiha Ci's heart.

It stirred a surge of anger within him.

Sure, I'm a bit of a waste right now, But Great Elder, tearing open old wounds like this—this bro here, he's gonna get mad too!

If you break my wings, I'll destroy your paradise, ahhh!

"Great Elder!" Uchiha Ci's expression turned stern as he took another big step forward and said sharply:

"This isn't about whether I'm trash or not!"

"I know my abilities are limited, and I haven't awakened the Sharingan!"

Uchiha Ci raised his tone and declared loudly:

"But, for a genin to participate in war,"

"They're not supposed to handle frontline defense in the first place!"

"Mostly, they hover on the edges of the battlefield, doing some auxiliary work."

"Besides, other clans have sent genin into the Land of Rain battlefield,"

"If our Uchiha don't send any, won't that make the other clans look down on us Uchiha?"

Hearing this, everyone was momentarily stunned, then looked at Uchiha Ci in horror.

The words weren't wrong, But the guy you're going toe-to-toe with right now, Is a monster who once assassinated the Second Hokage!

And he's the leader of the hawk faction, the Uchiha Great Elder!

His influence within the Uchiha Clan can only be described with—

Power, Influence, Overwhelming, Heaven!

Four words to sum it up!

And you, kid, you're just charging in like that?

Who gave you the guts?

Uchiha Setsuna's face darkened instantly after hearing this, and he thought grimly, have I been giving this kid too much face?

A waste of a genin who hasn't even awakened the Sharingan, Dares to talk back to him?

This, this is really like a little sow climbing a tree—he's gotten way too cocky.

But, Uchiha Setsuna suddenly had a change of heart.

Wasn't he looking for exactly this kind of talent?

Uchiha Setsuna narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment.

He, As the hawk faction leader, was responsible for developing hawk faction members within the clan, And this, of course, wasn't just about talent.

Personality was even more critical!

Especially the kind of, Stubborn-headed, hot-tempered young man who would throw his head and spill his blood for the Uchiha's future, fighting on until the next eighteen years!

And this kid, the more stubborn he acts now, the more loyal he is to the clan!

When the coup comes, won't he be screaming wildly as he chops Hiruzen Sarutobi's dog head into a bowl?

For Uchiha Setsuna, a coup specialist, he could slap his chest and guarantee:

No one understands coups better than him!

Someone like Uchiha Ci was practically premium cannon fodder for a coup!

So, there was absolutely no way

to let a talent like this

die on some laughable mission of dying for Konoha!

With that thought, the expression on Uchiha Setsuna's face instantly shifted from overcast to clear, and he even let out a sinister chuckle.

Everyone present saw Uchiha Setsuna's smile and couldn't help shrinking their necks, a chill running down their spines.

Even Uchiha Ci felt a twinge of unease in his heart.

It wasn't that he was afraid of the old bastard, he was just wondering

if the old man flew into a rage and chopped him down, would that count as covered under medical insurance?

[It counts.]

The Will of Heaven immediately gave him the answer in his head.

Uchiha Ci's eyes lit up on the spot.

Now, his heart wasn't racing, his breath wasn't short—he straightened his back and stared right back.

Uchiha Setsuna was almost amused into anger by that little look from Uchiha Ci.

Uchiha Setsuna forcibly suppressed the overwhelming urge to string this brat up and give him a beating. Thinking of his vision, he took a long breath.

Decided

to give this kid one more way out.

He immediately shot a cold glare back and snapped in a harsh tone:

"Naive, laughable!"

If the battlefield were really as rosy as Uchiha Ci described, the Uchiha wouldn't mind sending a few genin for training.

But reality was often crueler—those sent to the battlefield couldn't even be called ninjas anymore; they were called cannon fodder.

Uchiha Setsuna stared coldly at Uchiha Ci: "You little brat, can't you understand human speech?"

However, Uchiha Ci bared his teeth in a reckless grin, stretched out his neck, and patted it like a slab of meat on a butcher's block:

"What's it to you, Great Elder? If you've got the guts, chop me down!"

"If you can't kill me, then let me go to the battlefield!"

The moment he pushed back like that, it was as if he'd touched some critical threshold.

Uchiha Ci immediately heard a crisp sound ring out beside his ear—

[Clang!]