Sharingan

The first day of school ended, and Uchiha Nagi returned to his shabby home.

"Had she already left?"

When he saw that Uchiha Eri was no longer home, Uchiha Nagi sighed.

She was only a thirteen-year-old child herself, yet she had to shoulder the burden of earning money to support them.

At six years old, he couldn't help with anything.

Shaking his head, Uchiha Nagi set down the pile of textbooks the school had handed out. The subjects they covered were incredibly broad.

By the standards of his previous life, they included mathematics, physics, and chemistry...

Unfortunately, the sole purpose of including these subjects in the textbooks was to help students learn how to kill more effectively.

For instance, they learned about parabolas so they could throw shuriken or kunai more accurately;

they studied the chemical properties of combustion to learn the various ways to use Fire Release, and so on.

Being a ninja was always a violent profession.

But for children still in elementary school, it would be difficult to master everything in those textbooks.

It seemed that if the Hokage's side really wanted to develop technology, they could advance rapidly. Unfortunately, the people in this world who possessed that knowledge had no interest in doing so.

Uchiha Nagi thought of the power the Six Paths figures of the future Shinobi World could wield. It really couldn't be compared to that of a low-level technological civilization.

Anyone capable of space travel, for example, would have to belong to at least a highly advanced civilization.

Here in the world of Naruto, quite a few people could do it.

Don't underestimate Summoning Technique—it's a form of Space-Time Ninjutsu!

Uchiha Nagi shook his head and recalled the basic lessons his teacher had taught that day.

"I should try chakra refinement first."

Uchiha Nagi's parents had both been Chunin. According to their original plan, they would teach him chakra refinement once he turned six.

It wasn't that they didn't want to teach him sooner. Chakra refinement simply wasn't something that was better to start as early as possible.

Everyone knew that chakra was formed by combining physical and spiritual energy. Refining it a few years earlier wouldn't increase one's total chakra reserves.

Physical energy was closely tied to one's constitution, and refining chakra too early meant taking energy away from the body's development.

If a child didn't know any better and extracted too much physical energy, the damage to their still-growing body would be irreversible.

So his parents had probably planned to wait until he was more mature, and understood the consequences, before teaching him.

Unfortunately, by the time Uchiha Nagi turned six, his parents were gone.

He still had Uchiha Eri, but she was only a Genin. Of course, she could teach him the basics.

But she was always out on missions, and came home exhausted. Uchiha Nagi didn't want to trouble her.

Besides, he would be starting school soon. It wouldn't make much difference whether he learned these basics a day earlier or later.

Following what he'd learned in class, Uchiha Nagi began to give it a try.

Technically, chakra refinement required no special preparations, but he still took a deep breath, sat cross-legged, and focused completely on the task.

Before long, Uchiha Nagi opened his eyes, slightly bewildered.

He hadn't failed—in fact, he'd succeeded. Chakra refinement was... much easier than he'd imagined.

It wasn't a particularly difficult skill to begin with, but learning to refine chakra from scratch in an instant had to mean something.

"Could I actually have pretty good talent?"

Uchiha Nagi raised an eyebrow. If that was the case, it wasn't bad.

So far, he hadn't found any sort of cheat ability.

And surviving peacefully in the world of Naruto wasn't easy, which was why he'd been so eager to cling to Namikaze Minato.

Now it seemed that relying on his own strength might not be a bad idea either, even if it meant more effort and trouble.

Uchiha Nagi clicked his tongue. Then it was settled.

He'd first see if he could become a strong shinobi on his own, while still keeping up his efforts to cling to someone powerful. That way, he'd have double insurance! What a deal!

"There's one more thing I need to try." Uchiha Nagi glanced around at his familiar surroundings.

Even though this was his home, and people rarely came to the outskirts of the clan grounds, Uchiha Nagi still checked carefully.

Only after confirming no one was coming did he walk solemnly to a mirror and channel the chakra he'd just refined into his eyes.

In no time, his eyes, black as ink, turned blood-red, and two Tomoe appeared in each.

That was right—he had a Two-Tomoe Sharingan!

If the Uchiha leaders found out, his peaceful life would be over for good.

To put it in perspective, Uchiha Itachi had awakened his Sharingan at the age of eight, and it had only been a One-Tomoe Sharingan.

Even so, Uchiha Itachi was a young genius of the Uchiha Clan, rivaled only by Uchiha Shisui.

Uchiha Nagi, on the other hand, had awakened a Two-Tomoe Sharingan at just six years old.

It was easy to imagine the uproar his eyes would cause in the Uchiha Clan if they were exposed.

As the person at the center of that uproar, his life would inevitably change course.

At the very least, he could no longer expect to live peacefully. He might even be force-fed brainwashing rhetoric about the glory of the Uchiha...

That was why Uchiha Nagi didn't want anyone to know he'd awakened his Sharingan—not even Uchiha Eri.

"So it really is a Two-Tomoe Sharingan."

Uchiha Nagi looked at his eyes in the mirror, still a little surprised. It was his first time seeing his Sharingan, after all.

He'd known he had probably awakened it, but since he couldn't refine chakra, he hadn't been able to use it.

He'd awakened the Sharingan at the moment his memories of his previous life returned. The enormous difference in his understanding and the shock of having his worldview upended had stirred his spirit and awakened his Sharingan—and it had become a Two-Tomoe Sharingan right away.

He even suspected that if his spiritual energy hadn't been insufficient, his Sharingan might have gone straight to Three-Tomoe.

After all, Uchiha Sasuke had awakened his "Three-Tomoe" Sharingan from the shock of his clan's massacre.

Uchiha Nagi felt a little relieved.

"Good thing the special chakra needed to awaken the eyes is produced instinctively by the body. Otherwise, once I'd gotten used to this world, I'd need some new kind of shock to awaken my Sharingan."

For now, it seemed that with enough time, evolving his Sharingan to the Three-Tomoe stage would be fairly easy.

The real problem was going from Three-Tomoe to Mangekyō Sharingan.

As far as he knew, apart from Sarada in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, every Uchiha in Naruto who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan had done so by killing a close friend or family member.

If he followed that method, Uchiha Nagi did have someone in mind: Uchiha Eri.

But...

"If awakening the Mangekyō means killing someone close to me, I'd rather not awaken it at all."

Uchiha Nagi shook his head. That was impossible. It went completely against his values.

He sought strength so he could live peacefully and not have to work so hard.

And now he was supposed to kill someone he cared about just to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan?

Wouldn't that defeat the whole point?

So even if he did need to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, he would only try Sarada's method.

Besides, he didn't think Uchiha Eri had yet earned a place in his heart that could awaken the Mangekyō.

Once he was done thinking, Uchiha Nagi checked his chakra reserves. The Two-Tomoe Sharingan had almost used them all up.

"It uses less than I expected."

Uchiha Nagi muttered to himself. He'd only refined a portion of his chakra, yet he'd managed to keep his Sharingan active for this long. If he refined as much as he could, he'd be able to keep it up for quite a while.

Even if he hadn't used any of its abilities, he was still only six years old, and the amount of chakra he could safely refine was pitifully small.

Once he graduated at the usual age and his body had developed properly, the Sharingan's chakra consumption shouldn't be a problem at all.

"So Hatake Kakashi's Sharingan drains him because he isn't a member of the Uchiha Clan, and he can't turn it off. The two factors compound each other."

"If the Sharingan is only being maintained, the chakra drain actually isn't that much for the Uchiha Clan."

Uchiha Nagi nodded with satisfaction. The Sharingan really did belong with the Uchiha.

And with a Two-Tomoe Sharingan, a lot of things would be easier.

For example, learning ninjutsu. With the Sharingan's ability to copy techniques, he could replicate the ones he wanted.

He'd been wondering how he could get his hands on a technique like Shadow Clone Technique, which could speed up learning and training. Now that he had a Two-Tomoe Sharingan, that was no longer a problem.

There were plenty of shinobi in Konoha who knew Shadow Clone Technique. Even if he couldn't learn it by watching once, like Hatake Kakashi, he could just watch a few more times.

Uchiha Nagi smiled.

"Starting out as an Uchiha doesn't seem so bad. If I'd become an ordinary person, even getting my hands on ninjutsu would be a hassle. I might've even had to build a genius reputation just to get the higher-ups to invest in me..."

Thinking about it made Uchiha Nagi shudder. That would be exhausting and troublesome, completely at odds with his desire to live peacefully!

He absolutely couldn't let that happen!

"Rumble..."

Just then, Uchiha Nagi's stomach suddenly growled.

"It's still half an hour before my usual mealtime, and I'm hungrier than usual. It must be the toll from refining chakra."

Rubbing his stomach, he realized there wasn't time to cook now, so he'd make do with instant noodles.

As long as he didn't eat instant noodles every meal, every day, his nutrition should be fine.

Still, he'd have to increase his intake of meat, eggs, and milk. That would cost...

Uchiha Nagi sighed. Being a ninja really was an expensive profession!