To make a good impression on his granddaughter's friend, Kaku had spent half an hour adjusting his expression in front of the mirror. At last, he found what he considered the kindest smile.
Meanwhile, Genichi had asked questions all the way there. He'd finally learned that Mikoto's grandfather was a doting grandpa and a member of the Uchiha Clan's peaceful faction. He wasn't nearly as difficult to approach as Genichi had imagined.
When Genichi opened the door, he saw an elderly man standing not far from the entrance, wearing a kindly smile. He hurried over and greeted him warmly.
"Gran—Good evening, Elder. I'm Chiba Genichi."
Gran? Grandpa? You little brat, who are you calling Grandpa? Uchiha Kaku's heart clenched, and his expression shifted. He had the feeling he was about to lose something important.
"Anyway, come on in." Uchiha Kaku fixed Genichi with a stare like he was watching a thief.
The atmosphere froze for a while.
"Ahem. Mikoto says the two of you get along well. She's been in your care at school." Kaku was the first to break the silence.
"Mikoto's very cute and popular, so we look out for each other." Genichi buttered him up, hoping to get closer and ease the tension.
"Some people in the village think our Uchiha Clan is arrogant, looks down its nose at everyone, and is hard to get along with. You've done well to treat Mikoto normally instead of judging her by a stereotype." Setting aside that little blunder, Kaku was actually quite pleased with his granddaughter's friend.
"Not at all. The Sharingan can cast genjutsu just by making eye contact, so it's incredibly intimidating. Looking down your nose at someone shows you don't plan to attack them. It's proof that the Uchiha Clan treats people with kindness." Genichi pressed his advantage.
He'd already casually looked through the Senju Clan's information. How long could it be before he got to the Uchiha Clan's?
Kaku had never imagined that after decades as an Uchiha, dedicated to helping his clan live in harmony with the village, he'd hear such an interpretation. He'd nearly given up on the clan because most of its members were so arrogant.
Could it be—could this kid really understand the Uchiha?
He wasn't sure. He'd have to wait and see.
"Mikoto told me you have some unique ideas about how the Sharingan awakens and evolves. If you don't mind, tell this old man more. If your ideas really work, the Uchiha Clan will reward you generously."
Genichi nodded confidently. "First, the Sharingan is fundamentally Yin Release... (Genichi repeated what he'd said at the training ground)...
"So we should develop our bodies with methods like Yang Release to increase our potential, while training in genjutsu and Yin Release to improve the quantity and quality of our ocular power. Then, we can give it a slight emotional push. That way, the Sharingan's evolution will come naturally."
Training in genjutsu could improve your strength and increase the chances of awakening the Sharingan? Kaku thought about the state of his clan. The Uchiha Clan was famous for genjutsu, but only a few actually studied it in depth. Lord Madara didn't use genjutsu much, either. The Uchiha of their generation had been influenced by him too deeply. Most had already awakened the Three-Tomoe before casually learning a little genjutsu. After all, with the Sharingan as a genjutsu amplifier, that was enough to take on most jōnin.
It was true that the Uchiha who studied genjutsu seemed especially formidable. Kaku recalled the most serious internal conflict in the Uchiha Clan's history. Hadn't it started with genjutsu and ended with genjutsu, too?
Sigh, genjutsu users are all monsters.
The more he listened, the more he understood—and the more he agreed. Kaku found himself nodding along. Genichi's ideas were gradually lining up with what he remembered, and he couldn't help blurting out, "So this is what the Sharingan really is! You're sure you don't have Uchiha blood? I'll send someone to investigate tomorrow. We'll get to the bottom of it."
Kaku felt as if they'd met too late. Looking at the child before him, who was truly only seven or eight years old, he almost wanted to become sworn brothers on the spot.
He exclaimed, "I never expected someone so young to appreciate the power of the Sharingan so much, Genichi."
"The Sharingan is so great, it speaks for itself!" Genichi summed up his thoughts on the Sharingan.
The One-Tomoe awakened the ability to perceive everything. The Two-Tomoe could observe chakra so clearly that it could even copy an opponent's ninjutsu. The Three-Tomoe greatly enhanced genjutsu.
Even jōnin who weren't skilled at genjutsu would be caught in the Sharingan's illusion the moment their eyes met. On a battlefield where everything changed in an instant and the fighting was fierce, losing focus for even a moment often meant death was right behind you.
Among shinobi of this level, one truth had been passed down for a long time: in a one-on-one fight against an Uchiha, you had to run.
Jōnin were already an elite class in Konoha, able to attend jōnin meetings and vote for the Hokage. That showed just how intimidating the Sharingan was.
And beyond that was the Mangekyō form of the Sharingan, hailed as the "eye that reflects the heart."
Awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan usually caused the ocular power to transform the user's chakra. Then, according to each person's strengths and deepest desires, they awakened two unique ocular techniques.
If both eyes had only one technique, that was even more unbeatable. It usually meant they'd encountered an overpowered mechanic: one technique was better than two.
And if ocular techniques were too unpredictable, there was always the ultimate power dwelling within every Mangekyō Sharingan—Susanoo.
Everything in this world had a weakness. What was hard was brittle; what was flexible was soft. Nothing was perfect. So the user could use ocular power to materialize immense chakra into a towering war god.
This was the ultimate technique, combining offense and defense in battle. Susanoo also grew through stages as its user's ocular power strengthened. Later, it could even be combined with the Wood Golem, Senjutsu, or a Tailed Beast. There was nothing it couldn't do—only things you hadn't thought of yet.
There was no need to go further. Only an incarnate of Indra's chakra could awaken the Rinnegan, by transplanting the body or cells of an incarnate of Asura's chakra and drawing out the Sage of Six Paths' power. Most ordinary Uchiha would never get that far.
"Haha, excellent!" Kaku laughed happily, not hiding what he was thinking. "Even though relations between the village and the clan are growing more strained, I can rest easy knowing Mikoto has a friend like you, Genichi."
"Are relations between the village and the clan strained?" Genichi wondered. "The Uchiha Clan doesn't seem to have been very popular in the village for a long time.
"But compared to decades from now, when the village will force them into a corner and have the Anbu watch them day and night, things should still be all right at this point.
"Sure, Madara Uchiha brought the Nine-Tails back to the village, indirectly causing the First's early death; Setsuna Uchiha tried to restore the Uchiha Clan's glory and rebelled against the graceful Second; and the Police Force enforced the law strictly without showing any compassion, acting a little harshly and offending a lot of civilians.
"On top of that, the village leadership is currently keeping the Uchiha Clan under tight surveillance. Some bandaged man who prefers to remain anonymous has been working hard behind the scenes. The gulf between the clan and the village has already become impossible to mend.
"Now that I think about it, there's no hope. We might as well wait to die."
Mikoto sat nearby, listening in a daze. The two of them talked about everything, from the Sharingan to the Byakugan, the Uchiha to the Senju, and the Warring States period to the founding of Konoha.
As Genichi listened to the old man share all kinds of stories from the Warring States period, he sensed both his reverence for and regret over the previous clan head, Madara Uchiha. Unable to hold back, he asked, "When the village was first founded, Madara Uchiha must have had a lot of influence. Why did he end up leaving Konoha alone, without a single clan member following him?"
Kaku sighed. "In Konoha's first year, Lord Madara personally persuaded the clan to put aside their hatred and build Konoha together for the sake of the future. In the second year, Lord Madara suddenly said the village wasn't the clan's future and told us to leave with him. Everyone had only just settled down and experienced the joy of peaceful life. And the clan head didn't explain anything more. That's how it happened."
"And here's a secret: it wasn't that no one wanted to follow Lord Madara. I saw it myself that day. That guy Setsuna packed up his things and waited by Konoha's back gate all night. The next day, he found out the clan head had left through the front gate."
"Haha, I've laughed at him for decades over that."
Night had fallen, and Genichi had no choice but to say goodbye.
"Genichi, come visit often from now on. Whenever you come back to the Uchiha Clan, you can treat it like your own home."
Before you continue