Pain, It Hurt So Much

"Wait, there must be some misunderstanding here!"

Looking at the anxious Uchiha Yashiro.

Uchiha Chi, standing beneath the shade of a tree, almost wanted to laugh.

A misunderstanding?

Of course he knew there was a misunderstanding.

No one understood that better than he did.

But...

Since the Clan Head had sent someone to come find him.

Wasn't it perfectly reasonable for him to misunderstand things a little?

"A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding could there be? Facts are facts. There is no room to hide them!"

Uchiha Chi stepped out from beneath the tree's shade. His gaze was like a sharp blade as he stared directly into Uchiha Yashiro's eyes, as though he wanted to pierce his heart. "My parents died on the Sunagakure battlefield, while Uchiha Fugaku, who led the team, returned safe and sound. He even awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan and became the Uchiha Clan Head after returning to Konoha!"

Faced with Uchiha Chi's aggressive questioning.

Uchiha Yashiro instinctively looked away. "That isn't how it was. It can't have been like that..."

His expression remained firm, but there was a trace of hesitation in his voice.

And Uchiha Chi accurately caught that hesitation.

"That isn't how it was?"

"Heh heh!"

As if he had heard some joke, Uchiha Chi curled his lips in mockery.

"I used to be as naive as you, placing my hopes in Lord Fugaku... until he disappointed me again and again!"

Uchiha Yashiro could not help freezing as he stared blankly at Uchiha Chi.

"You mean... you used to be one of Lord Fugaku's supporters too?"

"That's right. I was once a follower of Uchiha Fugaku." Uchiha Chi nodded and smiled faintly, but his eyes became even more scarlet.

As though recalling the deceptions he had suffered, the emotions buried deep within him surged forth uncontrollably. Covering his face, he let out a miserable laugh.

"Do you know who I told first after awakening my Sharingan?"

"Was it... Lord Fugaku?" Uchiha Yashiro's throat bobbed as he forced out the question.

For the first time, he heard how dry and trembling his own voice was, like a riverbed baked dry beneath the blazing sun.

"You guessed right. It was him."

Uchiha Chi raised his head toward the hanging moon. His voice sounded distant, light as a feather, yet every word fell clearly into Uchiha Yashiro's ears.

"That was the first time I learned how terrifying a person's expression could become... At the time, I thought I was about to be killed.

"He warned me not to tell anyone about awakening my Sharingan, saying I absolutely could not reveal it to anyone. He even told me it was all for my own good...

"But I still saw it." A flicker of fear passed through Uchiha Chi's eyes. "The killing intent hidden in his eyes."

"This..."

Uchiha Yashiro was visibly moved.

A few seconds later, as if realizing something, he said in sudden understanding, "Is that why, despite awakening the Sharingan, you've remained unknown all these years...?"

That was one way to put it?

Uchiha Chi gave him a slightly surprised glance. After pondering for a moment, he slowly nodded.

"That's right. That's exactly it."

Uchiha Yashiro's expression became even more complicated.

A secret unknown to outsiders. An Uchiha genius hidden away and buried in obscurity.

What had Uchiha Chi gone through all these years...?

At that moment.

The familiar figure of Uchiha Fugaku gradually blurred in his heart, growing farther and farther from the image of a dignified, dependable Clan Head.

Yet his years of work in the Security Force still preserved the last thread of his rationality.

"Maybe Lord Fugaku really did want to protect you?"

Uchiha Yashiro clenched his fists and said unwillingly, "Lord Fugaku had no reason to harm his own clansmen. Though he truly hasn't accomplished any great deeds over the years... his intentions were good. The Uchiha have always been on his mind."

No reason to do it?

Uchiha Chi smiled calmly.

Simple. He only needed to alter his position.

"It's normal for you to think that way. After all, I used to think the same."

Uchiha Chi nodded faintly without denying Uchiha Yashiro's thoughts. "That's why I listened to him all these years and never showed my abilities before the clan."

"But..."

Uchiha Chi sighed and said quietly, "It was only after I discovered that he was colluding with outsiders that I gradually came to understand everything."

"What!?"

Colluding with forces outside the clan!?

Uchiha Yashiro's pupils contracted in shock. "How is that possible?"

Uchiha Chi did not answer. Instead, he turned to another question. "Has your Security Force recently stepped up patrols around the clan grounds?"

Uchiha Yashiro's mouth fell slightly open. "How did you know?"

They had indeed increased their patrols recently.

But they had been like headless flies, wandering around without any purpose...

The next second.

As though he could read minds, Uchiha Chi directly voiced the questions in his heart.

"Do you feel like you're looking for someone, but have no idea who you're looking for?"

"Do you feel like you're always being watched, but no matter what you do, you can't find where the watcher is?"

"Did you privately ask Uchiha Fugaku about it, only for your respected captain to remain evasive and tell you not to keep digging?"

The string of questions was like a barrage of bullets, each one striking Uchiha Yashiro squarely in the heart.

His mouth opened and closed, and for a moment, he even forgot how to speak. Only one question remained in his mind.

Why...?

Why did Uchiha Chi, who was clearly not part of the Security Force, know everything?

"As for why I know, it's simple." Uchiha Chi said, "Because I was the one who discovered the informants planted within the clan grounds by outside forces."

"Huh?"

"I reported it to him. But to silence me and gain my trust, he sent you out to search for those informants."

"Huh??"

"Because he tipped them off every time you searched, you could never find them."

"Huh???"

"And it was after discovering this truth, unable to accept reality, that I awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan."

"Then, some time ago, I ignored his warning and investigated on my own... which is why he wanted you to capture me and bring me to him."

"..." At this point, Uchiha Yashiro's brain had completely shut down. He stared blankly at Uchiha Chi, with wisps of steam practically rising from his head.

Looking at Uchiha Yashiro, who was now questioning his entire life.

Uchiha Chi slightly clenched his fist.

He pressed down the corners of his rising lips, trying hard to suppress his laughter.

Hold it in... hold it in a little longer...

But... how could he possibly hold back from something this funny!?

"Senior Yashiro, even now, you still refuse to believe the truth and think I might be lying...

"In that case... feel my pain!"

Uchiha Chi threw back his head and burst into laughter. It was as though he were mocking Uchiha Yashiro, yet also mocking his former self. His voice gradually rose from low and heavy to high and sharp.

"The Uchiha may lie... but the Sharingan will never lie!"

Like windmills facing a gale, the six tomoe in his eyes spun wildly in unison. Dense ocular power nearly burst forth in a dazzling blaze.

Genjutsu: Sharingan, activate!

Seeing Uchiha Chi's scarlet eyes, Uchiha Yashiro instinctively activated his own ocular power and tried to resist. Yet he felt like a tiny sailboat caught in a storm.

No matter how he struggled, he could not defy nature's overwhelming might. He was battered, washed away, and shattered by massive waves.

One unfamiliar scene after another flashed through his mind. They were memories Uchiha Chi had sent him after casting the genjutsu. The more Uchiha Yashiro saw, the more alarmed he became, and the colder his heart grew.

Pain... it hurt so much...

A few breaths later.

Uchiha Yashiro stopped struggling and collapsed onto the ground.

He looked up at the dark night sky, his right hand clutching his chest as scalding tears streamed uncontrollably down his face.

At that moment, this Uchiha who had been a Jonin for ten years cried like a three-hundred-pound child.

"Captain Fugaku... what have you done...?"