Uchiha Yatsuhashi's scalp prickled.
He had never imagined that the clan head would suddenly attack him without warning.
Even more shocking was the fact that
Uchiha Fugaku also possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Gulp."
Uchiha Yatsuhashi's throat bobbed with difficulty.
He quickly suppressed his shock. This was no time to investigate.
He had to get out of here first. Staying alive was what mattered.
As long as he was still inside Konoha,
even someone as bold as Uchiha Fugaku would never dare attack him openly under the Anbu patrols' noses.
So once he left the Ancestral Grounds, he would be safe.
With that thought, Uchiha Yatsuhashi decisively activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Then he kicked off with all his strength, leaving a large crater in the ground.
His whole body shot toward the center of the village like a cannonball.
Watching this unfold in the vision,
Uchiha Fugaku, seated in the tea room, laughed in disbelief.
"Is this kid really that cautious?"
Just as Yatsuhashi was about to burst out of the courtyard, the scene before him gradually vanished.
That was the unique ocular technique of Uchiha Fugaku's left Mangekyō.
It allowed him to glimpse the near future.
So when Uchiha Yatsuhashi activated his Mangekyō Sharingan—
"Wait!"
Uchiha Fugaku hurriedly spoke up, stopping him from going any further.
"Be careful. This floor is expensive!"
Uchiha Yatsuhashi, who had just been preparing to launch himself, froze.
He cursed inwardly. Was the tea room's wooden window not expensive, too?
Uchiha Fugaku slowly emerged from the shadows.
His gaze fell on Yatsuhashi's crimson eyes—
a distinctive pattern of three fan-shaped marks joined end to end around the central pupil.
"That much power..."
Fugaku was surprised. "Is this your unique ocular technique?"
But it seemed awfully plain.
Thinking of Yatsuhashi's humble origins, he guessed that his bloodline was impure, which had likely made his ocular technique less impressive.
Still, anyone who could awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan was an outstanding shinobi of the Uchiha Clan, no matter how good or bad their ocular technique was.
Uchiha Fugaku stopped dwelling on it.
Uchiha Yatsuhashi didn't answer.
Seeing that, Uchiha Fugaku continued, speaking to himself.
"My ocular technique lets me see the future, so whether you tell me or not, I'll find out."
"The future?"
Yatsuhashi was startled.
That was an incredibly powerful ability.
Every Uchiha gained a unique ability after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan.
His own ability was [Return to Basics].
After activating his Mangekyō Sharingan, his body grew significantly stronger.
And the more chakra he had, the greater the enhancement.
What's more, Uchiha Yatsuhashi had discovered
that he could also restore ninjutsu painstakingly formed from someone else's chakra
to its original state.
"Now, let me see your future..."
Uchiha Fugaku's right eye opened wide.
In an instant, a grand scene unfolded in Fugaku's vision.
He saw an Uchiha clad in a Hokage cloak,
tall and imposing, radiating authority.
Uchiha Fugaku was overjoyed. He hadn't expected that he would become Hokage someday.
But as the scene drew closer,
the face became less and less like his own.
At last, the face came clearly into focus as Uchiha Yatsuhashi's.
Disappointment showed plainly on Uchiha Fugaku's face.
Then he reconsidered. Yatsuhashi was still an Uchiha, after all.
Even if he wasn't the one to become Hokage, that was better than an outsider taking the position.
But what happened next made Fugaku's heart clench.
In the vision, Uchiha Yatsuhashi used the Uchiha Clan's unique ocular technique, Susanoo.
The pitch-black Perfect Susanoo held a giant sword,
and its opponent was none other than the Four Great Nations' alliance, poised to attack!
Fugaku's heart shook.
But before he could make out who was in the allied forces of the Four Great Nations,
Uchiha Yatsuhashi, with Susanoo activated,
simply turned and glanced his way, as if he had sensed Fugaku's presence.
"No way!"
Uchiha Fugaku was shocked.
"Crack."
With a crisp sound, the scene before him shattered like a mirror and vanished.
"Uh..."
Maybe he had simply seen it wrong.
Uchiha Fugaku reassured himself.
He wanted to restore the Uchiha Clan's former glory,
but in his eyes, making enemies of the Four Great Nations was far too extreme.
Besides, the farther into the future he looked, the less accurate his visions became.
He had once seen an absurd vision involving his own child, Uchiha Itachi—
a scene in which Itachi slaughtered every member of their clan.
Uchiha Fugaku was used to things like that by now. He didn't trust his ocular technique completely.
Still, with two Mangekyō wielders in the Uchiha Clan,
contending for the position of Hokage wasn't impossible.
Restoring the Uchiha Clan's glory was well within reach!
At the thought, Uchiha Fugaku grew excited again.
The Mangekyō in his eyes gradually faded, and they returned to normal.
"What was that?"
Uchiha Yatsuhashi stood outside the courtyard, on guard.
He couldn't understand why the clan head had suddenly attacked him, only to stop just as abruptly.
In response to Uchiha Yatsuhashi's question,
Uchiha Fugaku simply said, "I just wanted to see your eyes."
He had originally planned to spar with Uchiha Yatsuhashi.
After all, as a Mangekyō Sharingan wielder of the Uchiha Clan,
he had also longed to test his ocular technique against someone with the same eyes.
But Yatsuhashi's Mangekyō Sharingan enhanced his raw strength,
while Fugaku's own technique was more suited to support and prediction.
There was no point in the two of them sparring.
If they really fought, he might not come out ahead—
and he might even get hurt by the kid's monstrous strength. That would be humiliating.
Back in the tea room,
he had simply activated his eyes first and launched a surprise attack.
If they both activated their eyes at the same time, the outcome wouldn't be so certain.
With that, Fugaku tossed him a scroll decorated with the Uchiha's Gunbai crest.
"This is a scroll containing the Uchiha Clan's exclusive ocular techniques. Remember to return it once you've finished studying it."
Uchiha Yatsuhashi accepted the scroll containing the Uchiha Clan's ocular techniques.
He deactivated his Mangekyō Sharingan as well.
He was even more confused now.
Had Uchiha Fugaku really just activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, slapped him, then tossed him a scroll of the Uchiha Clan's ocular techniques and called it a day?
But the scroll in front of him didn't seem like a trap.
Fugaku changed his tune faster than a page could be turned.
"Be careful with your eyes. As a Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan can resonate with other Sharingan."
Fugaku continued to caution him. "For now, don't let the other clan members know you've awakened your eyes."
So that was it!
Uchiha Yatsuhashi immediately thought of Uchiha Tekka.
He had revealed his awakened eyes right in front of Uchiha Fugaku back then.
After that, Uchiha Fugaku personally taught Uchiha Yatsuhashi how to activate only the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
That would let him conceal his Mangekyō Sharingan from others.
Uchiha Fugaku suddenly looked toward the distant forest.
"Get to the Hokage Building."
Turning his back, Fugaku didn't look around. "Don't keep the Fourth Hokage waiting."
Before you continue