"You're really willing to go that far. You even burned down your own old house just to set me up."
Uchiha Shingen turned at the sound.
Uchiha Setsuna was slowly wheeling himself toward him.
One hand rested on the wooden box in his lap while the other held the wheelchair. Seeing Uchiha Shingen suffer a setback, he was practically overjoyed.
"Besides, that house was already falling apart. The things inside had either been moved out or damaged beyond repair by the passage of time."
"Keeping it around was just an eyesore."
"Better to burn it down and be done with it. At least it gave an old man like me a bit of amusement."
Uchiha Setsuna pointed at Uchiha Shingen and laughed.
"At first, I felt a little heartbroken. But now, old man thinks it was worth it!"
"Honestly..."
Uchiha Shingen shook his head, feeling rather helpless about the old man's ways.
Not long ago, in his mind, Uchiha Setsuna had still been the powerhouse who had once stood as an equal to the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju—a major figure poised to shake things up after his release from prison.
Who would've thought he'd turn out to be such a malicious old geezer!
"Here."
When Uchiha Setsuna decided the timing was right, he casually tossed the wooden box in his lap toward Uchiha Shingen.
Uchiha Shingen instinctively reached out and caught it.
He weighed it in his hands. It was heavy, and a strange chill seeped from inside the box.
Even with his current strength, the hairs on the back of his hand stood up on end. He even had the uncanny sensation of being sliced by a sharp blade.
Uchiha Shingen's gaze sharpened at the sensation, and he reached out to open the lid.
Inside lay a long sword of the simplest design, yet clearly no ordinary weapon.
The chill he had just felt was coming from the blade itself!
"This is..."
"This one's called Kotetsu."
The smile vanished from Uchiha Setsuna's face, replaced by a more serious expression.
"Kotetsu was once Lord Izuna's sword. After Lord Izuna died, it passed through several hands before it ended up with me. It's helped me kill countless enemies, too."
"Unfortunately, I'm a cripple now, with useless legs. There's no way I can take it into battle anymore."
"So consider it a gift to welcome you as my student."
By now, Uchiha Shingen's attention was completely fixed on Kotetsu.
He had seen plenty of impressive weapons before.
But neither the short sword Kakashi had inherited from the White Fang nor the paired blades Flying Swallow wielded by Asuma Sarutobi had given him this same sensation.
Just looking at it had the power to make him feel as if he were caught in an illusion.
"Now that's a fine weapon!"
"Of course it is!"
Seeing his reaction, Uchiha Setsuna felt rather pleased with himself.
"This sword's quality is every bit as good as Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swords, if not better."
"I remember you were training with Shadow Clones before, right?"
"Yeah."
Without lifting his head, Uchiha Shingen replied.
"It puts a lot of strain on my body, but it's very efficient."
"Make one more clone from now on. This old man has something new to teach you."
Uchiha Setsuna stroked the white beard on his chin.
Then he remembered that Uchiha Shingen had already become Jiraiya's student before he had decided to pass on his own legacy.
He gave a cold snort and declared with great confidence, "What I teach you won't be any worse than what Hiruzen Sarutobi's student taught you..."
As he spoke, Uchiha Setsuna suddenly realized something was wrong.
"Wait a minute!"
"You're Jiraiya's student, which makes you Tobirama Senju's great-great-grandstudent! By that reckoning, doesn't that put me two generations below Tobirama Senju?!"
At the mention of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, Uchiha Setsuna immediately changed his tune.
"Give me back the sword. I'm not taking you on as a student anymore."
"Old geezer, what was that? I'm hard of hearing. Couldn't make it out!"
With a thump, Uchiha Shingen swiftly shut the wooden box and hurried up to the second floor, leaving Uchiha Setsuna with nothing but his dashing retreat.
"That brat..."
Uchiha Setsuna shook his head, but he couldn't suppress the smile tugging at his lips.
So what if he was a couple of generations lower? It wasn't as if he could compete with a dead man.
The one who survives is the winner, right, Tobirama Senju?
Click!
After closing the door, Uchiha Shingen set the wooden box on his desk and rubbed his hands together before opening it again.
Kotetsu's gleaming silver blade reflected his face, as well as the excitement in Uchiha Shingen's eyes.
In his earlier fight with Kakashi, he had suffered a major disadvantage because he didn't have a good enough sword. Kakashi's White Fang short sword had kept him pinned down.
Later, when he'd wanted to test the power of Sword Leap Flame, he'd had to give up because his Kunai couldn't withstand the heat.
Instead, he'd ended the battle with a large-scale ninjutsu.
But now that he had Kotetsu, everything would be different. From the very start of a fight, he'd be able to keep Kakashi completely suppressed.
Tap!
Uchiha Shingen gripped Kotetsu's hilt, and a strange chill immediately rose from the blade.
The illusion he'd experienced a moment ago appeared before him again.
He saw the last expressions of one person after another as they fell to this blade. He saw the disbelief in their eyes, the blood spraying through the air...
Then a silver-haired man appeared in the illusion, and everything came to an end.
"Was this everything Uchiha Izuna experienced? No, the old man's experiences must be in there too."
Uchiha Shingen realized this, but more questions crowded into his mind.
"But..."
"Why does a sword have an ability just like an illusion technique?!"
"Surprised?"
The locked door had been pushed open at some point. Sitting in his wheelchair, Uchiha Setsuna looked at Kotetsu, a hint of nostalgia in his eyes.
"This sword was made from special materials, and it's incredibly powerful. Even its sheer sharpness is enough to rank alongside Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swords."
"But more importantly, it gradually takes on traits similar to its owner's abilities."
Uchiha Shingen immediately recalled the illusion he had just seen. The sensation had been almost indistinguishable from being caught in a genjutsu.
"So your specialty is actually genjutsu, old geezer?!"
"No, Uchiha genjutsu mostly relies on ocular powers. It wouldn't make sense, and there'd be no need, to use a sword to cast genjutsu..."
"..."
Uchiha Shingen abruptly stopped mid-sentence. He suddenly realized he'd fallen into a misconception.
Who said that Uchiha had to use ocular powers whenever they cast genjutsu?
"Figured it out?"
"You little brat!"
Uchiha Setsuna nodded, growing more pleased with his student. Even the frustration of being knocked down two generations had faded somewhat.
"What do you think matters most in genjutsu?"
"Concealment."
Uchiha Shingen gave his answer. Thinking back to his consecutive fights against Obito and Kakashi, everything suddenly became clear.
"Taking control of an opponent with genjutsu at a glance only happens when there's a huge gap in strength. But in that situation, there's little difference between using taijutsu, genjutsu, or ninjutsu."
"When the opponents are evenly matched, they'll definitely be on guard against the Sharingan, so ocular genjutsu won't have a very high chance of success."
Before you continue