Uchiha Chi Never Turned His Frustration Inward

Night fell, stars glittering overhead.

As the thick smoke dispersed, moonlight poured down, gradually brightening the dim courtyard.

The gentle moonlight contrasted with the youth's wild, unruly profile, making the scene seem somewhat strange, yet oddly harmonious.

Clang—

With a mournful ring of colliding metal, the kunai in his hand was knocked into the air, but Uchiha Yashiro had no time to worry about it.

He stared dumbfoundedly at Uchiha Chi's eyes, momentarily forgetting that they were still fighting.

"Looks like the outcome has been decided."

Even when the cold kunai pressed against Uchiha Yashiro's throat, he still had not snapped out of it.

"Three-Tomoe Sharingan..."

Uchiha Chi actually had Three Tomoe!

How was that possible?! Hadn't he just graduated from the Ninja Academy!?

"..."

[Shock detected from Uchiha Yashiro!]

[Obtained 20 points. Damage Increase raised by 4%!]

[Target's emotional fluctuation exceeded the standard. Host has received an additional reward: Sharingan Windmill Blade - Great Sword of Three!]

[Use threads to control thrown ninja tools. Launch the true attack the instant the threads are pulled tight. It will have remarkable effects when used together with the Sharingan.]

Looking at Uchiha Yashiro's shocked expression,

Uchiha Chi found it impossible to suppress the corners of his mouth. His maniacal grin rose even wider.

He looked up at the system, where lengthy notifications were displayed.

[Deducting points... Obtained one Kekkei Genkai upgrade!]

[Ding! Host's current state detected: Two-Tomoe Sharingan. The next stage is the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.]

[Please wait patiently...]

[Kekkei Genkai upgrade complete. Three-Tomoe Sharingan officially activated!]

When Uchiha Yashiro had knocked on the door, he had already begun activating his Three-Tomoe Sharingan!

The person outside had clearly sounded hostile, so why would he not make a few more preparations?

That was why Uchiha Chi had dawdled for quite a while before getting up to open the door.

He had been waiting to complete the Kekkei Genkai upgrade.

"Ha ha ha... Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

After his instinctive laughter finally subsided, Uchiha Chi's smile narrowed slightly, though it still remained curved.

"Senior Yashiro, is there something on my face? Why are you so surprised?"

He looked at Uchiha Yashiro, who had yet to recover, and asked gently.

"...When did you awaken your Sharingan?"

Uchiha Yashiro looked at the youth's Crimson Eyes with a complicated expression. He had awakened the Sharingan at such a young age, and it was even a Three-Tomoe Sharingan...

Even he had to admit now that the youth before him truly had the right to be arrogant.

"When?" Hearing the question, Uchiha Chi lowered his head and pondered for two seconds before looking back at Uchiha Yashiro. "From the moment Senior Yashiro interrupted me."

He lowered the kunai from Uchiha Yashiro's throat, spread his hands, and blinked. "I hate it most when people interrupt me."

What kind of ridiculous reason was that?

Uchiha Yashiro frowned. "I'm not joking with you."

"Senior Yashiro doesn't believe that reason?" Uchiha Chi sighed. "Then I suppose I'll have to tell the truth..."

The smile on his face gradually vanished, replaced by utter distance and indifference.

"My Sharingan awakened when my parents died in battle."

Uchiha Yashiro fell silent.

If he remembered correctly, Uchiha Chi had not even been five when his parents died on the battlefield.

So he had awakened his Sharingan back then?

Yet over all these years, not a single person in the clan had known...

A few seconds later, Uchiha Yashiro continued, "Then what about the Three Tomoe?"

No one could awaken a Three-Tomoe Sharingan all at once.

So something must have stimulated him afterward.

And it had to have been a trauma even more painful than losing his parents...

Faced with Uchiha Yashiro's question,

Uchiha Chi fell silent this time.

But Uchiha Yashiro did not urge him, merely watching the youth quietly.

When someone possessed a Three-Tomoe Sharingan, it meant they had lost something immensely important.

To Uchiha Yashiro, Uchiha Chi's silence proved exactly that. The youth had clearly recalled the past and fallen into grief once more.

As someone who had also awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he naturally sympathized deeply with Uchiha Chi.

Meanwhile,

Bathed in Uchiha Yashiro's sympathetic gaze, Uchiha Chi's mouth twitched slightly.

He did not have any painful past at all.

Uchiha Chi had never been someone who liked to agonize over himself. In his view, rather than wearing himself down, it was better to wear other people down. Lowering his moral standards and enjoying a shameless life was his creed.

Therefore, during the half month since he had crossed into the Ninja World, aside from spending the first few days wondering why the Old Lady in the clan grounds would not drop any gold for him, he had either been draining others or on his way to drain them.

For Uchiha Chi, the problem now was how to make up a believable reason for awakening his Sharingan.

This last-minute extra scene is really testing an actor's skills...

Uchiha Chi silently complained, though an outline had already formed in his mind.

"The Three-Tomoe Sharingan..." He covered one eye with one hand, a strange smile appearing on his face as his voice trembled slightly.

It sounded like fear, but also like anger.

"Probably when I discovered who had killed my parents."

"What!?" Uchiha Yashiro cried out, staring at Uchiha Chi in disbelief.

Uchiha Chi did not answer. Instead, he gave a bleak smile and softly asked, "During the Second Shinobi World War, my parents were on the Sunagakure battlefield. Which battlefield was Senior Yashiro on?"

"I was on the Amegakure battlefield then." Uchiha Yashiro thought for a moment before answering. "At the time, I was only a Chunin, following the troops led by the Konoha Sannin as we tangled with the Ninja World's demigod, Hanzo, outside Amegakure.

"...In the end, I was fortunate enough to survive."

A faint pain lingered in his eyes as he spoke.

During that war, one moment a companion had been discussing meat pies for dinner with him, and the next, that companion had been crushed into meat paste beneath a summoned beast called forth by Hanzo. The instant his emotions collapsed, he awakened his Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Uchiha Chi nodded and asked, "Then where was Clan Head Fugaku at the time?"

"Lord Fugaku was younger than me, but more talented. He was already a Jonin then. If I remember correctly, he led one of our Uchiha squads to Sunagakure..."

"Heh heh..." Uchiha Chi chuckled softly and looked up at the courtyard's only tree. "What a coincidence... My parents also died in battle at that time."

"You mean..." As though realizing something, Uchiha Yashiro loudly refuted it, "That's impossible!"

He looked urgently at Uchiha Chi, wanting an answer from him.

But the youth's face was hidden in shadow.

Uchiha Yashiro could not see what expression lay beneath that shadow. He could only feel the intense emotion radiating from the other's body, so dense it was nearly tangible.

"My parents were in Clan Head Fugaku's squad at the time."

Thud, thud.

Uchiha Yashiro took several steps back, an inexplicable fear rising in his heart. Then he violently shook his head.

"Wait, there must be some misunderstanding here!"