Uchiha Teuchi was the son of Uchiha Tesho, whose family ran a pancake shop.
Although he had some assets, he had never awakened his Sharingan and wasn't a ninja, so Yan had only given him a credit limit of one hundred thousand ryō.
Compared with those who had credit limits of hundreds of thousands or even millions, his limit was practically insignificant.
At first, Uchiha Teuchi had managed to exercise some restraint, spending that hundred thousand ryō rather slowly.
But as time passed, and with Uchiha Tekka deliberately steering him in that direction, Teuchi began to spend more and more recklessly.
Especially when he was in the casino.
Throwing money around with abandon and listening to the flattery and praise of those around him—it was intoxicating. He was deeply immersed in the feeling, unable to pull himself away.
Before long, the hundred thousand ryō had all gone up in smoke.
But he didn't choose to leave the casino. Partly, it was because Yan had ordered him to stay; partly, he simply couldn't bear to leave the place.
So he had no choice but to work at the casino, taking a job that paid one thousand ryō a day.
Before he came here, that kind of salary had been an amount he wouldn't even have dared to imagine.
But now, his outlook had changed dramatically.
He didn't have any money himself, but that didn't stop him from looking down on a mere one thousand ryō.
In the casino, clan members with high credit limits wore splendid, custom-made outfits.
Stacks of chips piled up like little mountains in front of them. Their faces were full of pride and smug satisfaction, and the air around them seemed to radiate an aura of supreme nobility.
Uchiha Teuchi looked at the scene before him, his eyes filled with envy and longing.
There were several others like him in the casino.
Just then, a deafening cheer suddenly erupted inside.
Uchiha Teuchi looked up.
Uchiha Tekka stood on the raised platform, with a clan member beside him.
Teuchi knew this man. Like him, he had been given a low credit limit—an even lower one, in fact.
He had spent it all before long and ended up working here alongside Teuchi.
Just yesterday, he had said he couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to become one of the casino's high rollers, and planned to steal some money from home.
Together with the twenty thousand ryō he had saved by scrimping and saving while working here, he would enter the casino's competition, which offered a ten-million-ryō prize.
And now Teuchi was seeing that very clan member, who had once been just as dissatisfied as he was, standing beside Uchiha Tekka with a smug expression.
A frightening suspicion surfaced in his mind.
D-did he really succeed?
Uchiha Teuchi hurriedly shook his head, trying to drive the thought away.
Impossible. It can't be!
How could he?
Although he kept denying the suspicion to himself, unease continued to linger in his heart.
His gaze fixed on the man on the platform. Watching his smug expression, Teuchi felt jealousy and resentment surge through him like a tide.
His hand clenched without him realizing it, his nails digging deep into his palm.
Just then, Uchiha Tekka announced loudly, "This clan member has won the championship of our ten-million-ryō competition!"
The crowd below erupted into an uproar. Exclamations of astonishment and envy rang out one after another.
Boom!
A bolt of lightning flashed.
Uchiha Teuchi's head buzzed, as if countless flies were swarming around his ears.
He watched the clan member who had once been as down on his luck as he was now standing at the pinnacle of glory, and bitterness filled his heart.
"Why wasn't it me? Why could he do it, but I couldn't?" Uchiha Teuchi frantically demanded of himself.
His eyes gradually reddened, and he began to pant like a beast.
Bang!
The casino doors were suddenly shoved open. Several guards came in, pushing a small cart.
It was piled high with silver, like a little mountain.
"Do you see all that money?" Uchiha Tekka's booming voice rang throughout the casino.
Then he patted the clan member beside him and said, "It's all yours."
The clan member stared at the mountain of silver before him in disbelief, his body trembling slightly.
First, astonishment spread across his face, then uncontrollable elation.
"I-is all of this mine?" he stammered, his voice trembling.
Uchiha Tekka smiled and nodded.
The clan member could no longer contain his excitement and threw his head back, laughing.
"Hahahahahaha!"
Just then, a strange power surged inside him.
His eyes burned, and his vision grew clearer and clearer, as if the whole world had taken on a new appearance before him.
The people around him noticed the change too, and the crowd burst into an uproar.
"The Sharingan! He awakened the Sharingan!" someone cried.
Watching the scene unfold, Uchiha Teuchi felt his resentment deepen, his eyes full of jealousy.
He knew that once the clan member had awakened the Sharingan, the two of them would belong to entirely separate worlds.
Gradually, a dangerous idea formed in his mind.
He struck it rich overnight and awakened his bloodline. If he could do it, then so can I.
He could steal money from home. So can I—and I have assets, too.
Right... assets. I still have assets. I can win it all back. I can do it!
As if he had grasped a lifeline, Uchiha Teuchi suddenly shoved aside the clan member beside him and ran toward the door.
Seeing this, Uchiha Tekka smirked from the platform.
Once the feverish excitement around him had gradually died down, he headed for Yan's office.
He pushed open the office door.
Yan was sitting in his chair, holding a thick stack of documents.
They contained analyses of the information gathered on the clan members during this period.
"Lord Yan!" Uchiha Tekka walked up to the desk. "The Uchiha Teuchi you told me to keep a close eye on should be trying to find a way to raise money now!"
Hearing him, Yan set down the analysis report and looked up at Uchiha Tekka, nodding thoughtfully.
"Mm, I know. Next, we'll need to set up a special performance for him. I'll leave that to you as well!"
"Understood!" Uchiha Tekka nodded, unsurprised by Yan's order.
He had done this sort of thing many times over the past half month and was already well practiced.
"Tekka!" Yan suddenly called out.
"Here!" Uchiha Tekka answered at once.
Yan pushed the reports on the desk toward Uchiha Tekka. "Three clan members have awakened their Sharingan during this period, but they were all ordinary clan members."
"Not a single ninja has awakened theirs, let alone any of the clan members who had already awakened the Sharingan."
"You'd better go back and think about why!"
Before you continue