The Name of a Genius, a Pyrrhic Victory

Warm orange firelight tore through the battlefield's gray haze, reflecting off Fugaku Uchiha's grave, conflicted face.

His heart was being torn apart by two utterly opposing emotions.

One was a sense of gratification born from deep within his bloodline.

The young figure before him, Shisui Uchiha, was undoubtedly a genius the Uchiha Clan saw only once in a century.

At such a tender age, the strength he displayed had already surpassed Fugaku's own.

That near-miraculous Body Flicker Technique was so fast it made one's heart tremble. Even with his Three Tomoe Sharingan activated, Fugaku could not fully track its path!

What gratified him even more was that Shisui had already reached the peak of the Three Tomoe.

If this continued, then touching that legendary forbidden power belonging to the Uchiha—the Mangekyō Sharingan—might not be some unattainable dream.

Shisui's strength had now surpassed the limits of an ordinary Jonin.

If... if those Sharingan could bloom with the legendary power of the Mangekyō, then just how far would his strength reach?

At the thought, the heat in Fugaku's chest nearly burned him alive.

Yet after that blazing anticipation came worry and a headache.

Shisui was simply too sharp, too dazzling!

In order to end this quickly and reinforce the other endangered fronts, he did not conceal his strength in the slightest, launching an all-out assault against Two-Tails Jinchuriki Yugito Nii.

In Fugaku's eyes, this was practically plucking at the tautest string in the hearts of Konoha's upper ranks and its various ninja clans.

Ever since Minato Namikaze had donned the hat symbolizing the Fourth Hokage, the relationship between the Uchiha Clan and the village had indeed seen an unprecedented glimmer of reconciliation.

But that absolutely did not mean the ice of estrangement and suspicion had melted away.

Fugaku knew well that the