In the Mangekyō Sharingan Wars, Only Those With Cheats Can Take Part

The qualifications.

No matter what world you lived in or how beautiful the ideology it promoted might be, the fact remained: weakness was a sin.

Uchiha Qi strolled around casually, thinking about how his own strength compared with Fugaku's and Konoha's.

Three powerful-looking Uchiha followed at his side as bodyguards. His guard detail was smaller than the five-man squad directly under the Hokage, but still close to the four-man detail that Fugaku had started keeping after seeing Qi take on bodyguards of his own.

By head count, Fugaku's side won. In terms of quality, though, Qi came out on top.

Each of the three ninja at Qi's side was at least as strong as an elite Jōnin. Even against someone at Kage Level, they could force a fifty-fifty fight.

That showed just how afraid of dying Qi was.

In the world of Naruto, strength wasn't strictly divided by whether someone was a Jōnin, Chunin, or Genin. Plenty of Genin were incredibly powerful. Still, having a clear power system made it easier to judge things.

At least two of the three members of Qi's guard looked so strange that they couldn't possibly be Uchiha. But their eyes didn't lie.

That was because they weren't proper Uchiha in the first place. They were merely subordinates granted to Qi by his cheat.

Qi had a simple gacha cheat.

Green cards were Genin, with one tomoe added; blue cards were Chunin, with two tomoe; purple cards were Jōnin, with three tomoe; and orange cards were Kage, with the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Since Qi was an Uchiha, the ninja who appeared all came with a pair of Uchiha eyes. That made these paper characters, now turned into real people, even stronger.

Their strength wasn't fixed, either. They could be trained, but their card rank limited their potential.

Someone with a green card could only reach the level of a Special Jōnin or Anbu. They weren't even worthy of a name, so Qi had to give them the Uchiha surname and let them choose their own names.

Only purple cards and above were worthy of names. After all, they had all been famous figures in their original stories.

Every ten-pull guaranteed one purple card.

Qi had been in this world for nearly two years and had made a full 240 pulls, yet he still hadn't gotten a single orange card. He guessed that getting one required a hundred-pull all at once.

But time wasn't on his side. The tense situation in the village kept him on edge, and he truly couldn't afford to go a whole year without pulling, saving up enough summon scrolls for a hundred-pull.

Things were much better now. After sticking to ten-pulls, Qi had finally gathered twenty famous Jōnin from the original stories. Add a pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and they were undeniably elite Jōnin.

That was where Qi's confidence came from.

Never mind how strong he was himself. With more than twenty elite Jōnin, sixty Chunin, and over a hundred Genin, whether the other Uchiha liked it or not, Uchiha Qi had become the most powerful figure in the entire Uchiha Clan under Uchiha Fugaku.

Unfortunately, as powerful as this force was, it was nowhere near invincible. Otherwise, Qi wouldn't have to live under Uchiha Fugaku.

And that was without even considering Konoha, whose strength far surpassed the Uchiha Clan's.

Though the White Fang had already killed himself, and Tsunade had left Konoha because of her fear of blood—at least officially—

Konoha still had Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Minato, the Third Hokage, and a host of other Kage-level fighters. There were also strong fighters like Might Dai, who could gain Kage-level strength for a limited time at the permanent cost of their lives.

Then there was Shisui, who could hold off a Kage-level opponent through his clan's bloodline and secret techniques. These people should have been the trump cards of their respective clans, yet they were content to be the Hokage's lapdogs.

Qi believed that if the Uchiha Clan had people like that, then the other major clans in Konoha probably did too.

If a clan didn't have anyone like that, it could only mean that the clan was too weak for the Hokage to bother with.

A clan with traitors was a major clan. One whose entire clan stood united was on the verge of extinction.

Take the Hatake Clan, for example!

The Hokage's methods really couldn't be underestimated. He was practically a superhuman Yuri.

That was why Qi gathered his strongest subordinates around himself as bodyguards. What could he do? He was just a cannon fodder Genin who had only recently awakened his eyes and was at Chunin strength. He was genuinely afraid of dying.

Qi's guard detail was absurdly powerful.

First, there was the old woman who looked like a grandmother. Her name was Uchiha Gen. She was the leader of the Iga Tsubagakure Clan and could use every ordinary ninjutsu. Qi figured that when this old lady was young, she must have had the strength of an ordinary Kage. Unfortunately, she was now so old that she had hardly any teeth left.

Attributes: Ninjutsu S+, Taijutsu C, Genjutsu S+

Uchiha Oboro was the granddaughter of the grandmotherly Uchiha Gen and the future leader of the Iga Group. She was useless at Taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu, but she possessed the Eye of Breaking Illusions, which could break any ninjutsu.

Attributes: Ninjutsu F, Taijutsu F, Genjutsu F.

Don't look down on her just because her stats were terrible. She was a natural talent, the ultimate support, with a cheat of her own.

Her innate Eye of Breaking Illusions made her Sharingan's Three-Comma Pattern appear blue. Because of that, Uchiha Fugaku had once mistaken them for a newly awakened Mangekyō Sharingan.

And a particularly powerful one, at that.

Qi guessed that Fugaku had made this mistake because the clan leader, who had already awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, had used his own eyes to investigate the strange-eyed newcomer, Uchiha Oboro.

But then he discovered that he'd been "silenced," which led to the misunderstanding.

That's right. Oboro's Sharingan came with an innate ability to silence others' powers.

And so Uchiha Oboro became a powerful, promising clan member who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. Uchiha Fugaku even suppressed the news, just as he had suppressed the fact that he himself had awakened the Mangekyō.

Qi couldn't understand his motive, but that didn't stop Uchiha Oboro from becoming a nuclear deterrent with which Uchiha Qi could intimidate Fugaku.

Qi also understood that nuclear deterrence was only for intimidation. It was best not to use it lightly.

That was because Oboro was a hopeless romantic. Her thoughts were entirely occupied by her lover, Uchiha Gennosuke.

In her mind, everyone now served under Lord Qi, and the Iga Clan no longer had to fight the Koga Clan. In a few years, she'd be able to marry Gennosuke of the Koga Clan. So Oboro had no interest whatsoever in becoming a skilled ninja.

Her abilities looked powerful—powerful enough to turn a mighty ninja into a useless one. But as far as Oboro's own strength went, even if she fought alone against a complete weakling, she could still die at that weakling's hands without hesitation, simply because she was even more useless.

So, although she was Qi's bodyguard now, only Qi himself knew which of them was really protecting the other.

"What a high-maintenance nuclear weapon!"

Watching Uchiha Oboro, so innocent and gentle, buy Three-Color Dango, Qi was speechless. She was a purple card, for heaven's sake. How could she be worse than a green card?

Qi sighed silently.

The last bodyguard was the big, fat Uchiha Josuke.

One of the Koga Ten, he had thick skin and flesh but was surprisingly agile. He was a master of the "Expansion Technique," and his strange Meat Bag Technique let him float in the air like a balloon. Ordinary physical attacks were ineffective against him. He was practically an Akimichi Clan member with a pair of Sharingan.

Ever since he appeared, Konoha's proper Akimichi Clan had been suing the Uchiha nonstop.

The Akimichi clan head had even brought out secret family records to prove that, during the Warring States period, an Akimichi had eloped with an Uchiha. He used that to claim that the Akimichi Clan was related to Uchiha Josuke and had a legitimate claim to him.

Their attitude was extremely forceful. They were even willing to offend the Uchiha.

After all, every clan dreamed of having a pair of Sharingan legally and legitimately, without any side effects. But Uchiha women never married outside the clan, so no other clan had ever managed to achieve that.

Without Uchiha blood, the Uchiha Clan's eyes were nothing but a burden.

Now that they finally had a chance, the Ino-Shika-Cho wouldn't be afraid, even if the Uchiha in question was a fallen member of the clan who was constantly being suppressed. They wouldn't have backed down even when Uchiha Madara was alive and the Uchiha Clan had shaken the Shinobi World. For the sake of their clan's evolution and strength, they weren't about to be scared off.

Perhaps more importantly, Uchiha Josuke's "Expansion Technique" and the Akimichi Clan's "Expansion Technique" seemed to belong to the same system. The clan's secret techniques couldn't be allowed to leak out.

Besides, the Akimichi Clan's "Expansion Technique" was easy to activate, had obvious effects, and came with no side effects. They had to reclaim a clan secret technique like that.

The Akimichi had made a convincing case, backed by detailed records. They'd even dragged out a hundred-year-old clan elder to prove their claim.

They had witnesses and physical evidence in abundance. If Qi hadn't known where his subordinates came from, he might have believed them himself.

And so, something ridiculous happened: Uchiha Josuke became an Uchiha-Akimichi. The Akimichi Clan even managed to secure the right to arrange his marriage.

What had Uchiha Fugaku gotten in return for selling out his clansman?

It seemed Fugaku had grown used to compromising.

But what was the point of compromising with a clan that had been the Sarutobi Clan's henchmen since the Warring States period?

At a crucial moment, the Akimichi might say they'd help you. But in Uchiha Qi's opinion, anyone with a brain knew better than to trust them.

Uchiha Qi wasn't the only one troubled by the matter. The big, fat Uchiha Josuke was troubled too.

Josuke had a good personality and was a solid, straightforward fellow. He was also as strong as a Jōnin, a natural counter to Taijutsu users. Now that he had a pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he was even stronger—a definite elite among the Jōnin.

But he was lecherous and somewhat careless. He might be fat himself, but he definitely didn't want to marry a fat Akimichi woman.

Ever since the issue came up, he'd been afraid that one day someone would knock him out while he was out, then drag him home to breed.

He was immune to most Taijutsu damage, but he was naturally useless at genjutsu. So Uchiha Josuke had voluntarily become Lord Uchiha Qi's bodyguard, hanging around with him every day.

Even though he wasn't officially part of the guard detail, he still showed up to work with his own packed lunch.

After all, attacking an ordinary Uchiha was one thing. Attacking an Uchiha Clan elder was another.

Even if it meant mixing with the Iga Group, he didn't mind, despite being one of the Koga Group.

"Marrying a beautiful woman—that's the way of the ninja for me, Uchiha Josuke!"

That was Qi's guard detail. With them protecting him, Qi's safety was no problem. Oboro could use her silencing ability, Josuke—immune to physical attacks—could sweep through everything, and the grandmotherly Uchiha Gen barely needed to fight. She only had to stay by Qi's side, fill in any gaps, and keep him company.

Small-scale attacks were as fragile before a team like this as the Daimyo's soldiers, who had put down their hoes and picked up weapons. They were utterly helpless.

And Qi had more than twenty other ninja of their caliber under his command.

So even though Uchiha Qi, with his newly awakened One-Tomoe Sharingan, was as weak as a low-level character who'd just left the starting village, no one dared disrespect him to his face.

In this world of the strong ruling over the weak, Qi might have only been barely good enough to count as cannon fodder. But as he walked Konoha's streets, everyone had to bow respectfully, then step aside to let him pass, no matter what they thought of him.

Anbu, Root—so what?

"What do you mean, 'Lord Danzo requests your presence'?"

Get lost. If Danzo had something to say, he could tell me to my face. He was the head of Root, and I, Uchiha Qi, was a squad captain in the Konoha Military Police Force.

How many divisions did Root have, anyway? How dare they talk to me like that?

A bunch of rats who couldn't stand the light. Once I have a ninja above orange rank, I'll purge the lot of you sooner or later!

That was Uchiha Qi's confidence. He had a gacha cheat.

That was what gave Uchiha Qi the nerve to act so arrogantly in this world.

Because of this cheat, everyone was baffled. Uchiha Danjō was clearly the powerful one and a proper elder. Failing that, Uchiha Gen, Uchiha Danjō's lover, was also a worthy leader.

She might be a woman, but a powerful Uchiha woman still had a voice.

Take Lady Uchiha Naori, who developed Izanami. She ended the Uchiha Clan's civil war, though countless clansmen died in the infighting, and she lost her own life as well.

But because she was powerful, the Uchiha Clan still respected her, even though she was a woman and a sinner.

So why?

Why did these newly arrived Uchiha clansmen refuse to follow such powerful figures, yet respectfully call an orphan named Qi "Lord"?

It really made no sense.

It especially bothered the handful of people in Uchiha Shisui's branch. Every time they saw Qi, they felt deeply unbalanced. Compared with the strength of their leader, Shisui, Qi was someone Shisui could kill in an instant.

They were about the same age, but whenever Qi went out, he had a huge entourage. His powerful and flourishing faction made every clan member proud.

Qi hadn't even obtained his position as an elder through the clan head.

His faction, which controlled one-fifth of the Uchiha population and consisted entirely of ninja, had a seat at clan meetings whether Fugaku liked it or not. And Qi's seat was the first one to Fugaku's left.

To put it bluntly, in terms of ninja numbers, the other Uchiha had no right to speak with Qi unless they united under Clan Head Fugaku.

After all, not everyone among their eight hundred people was a ninja. Uchiha Fugaku could only mobilize three or four hundred ninja.

By contrast, the people in Shisui's branch were the same age as Qi. Shisui could attend clan meetings too, but only because of his own powerful strength.

He was from an Uchiha branch, too. His ancestors had even produced Kagami Uchiha, a powerful figure who had been the Second Hokage's disciple, a Hokage guard, and a strong contender for the position of Hokage.

And yet, his branch didn't even have an elder's seat.

That left the handful of people in this branch feeling bitter. Their branch had no elder, and their leader, Lord Shisui, didn't seem to care about them either.

No one would fight for their rights at clan meetings. Were they supposed to just hope good things would fall into their laps?

Lord Shisui had a great love for the people, but the people he loved were the entire village. Their little group was just one part of it.

Anyone would feel resentful in their position.

So the people in Shisui's branch got along well with the orphans who technically belonged to Qi's branch.

There was a reason for their closeness. They wanted to find out how Qi had recruited so many Uchiha who'd been scattered outside the clan.

After all, they couldn't understand how an orphan like Qi, with so little strength, had become a "lord" commanding powerful figures.

It was unfair.

But how could they know? The world had never been fair.

If you wanted to survive in a shōnen anime, you either needed a good background, a burning spirit, or a cheat.

Someone like Shisui, born into the Uchiha Clan but from the branch that sided with the Hokage and Kagami Uchiha, was expressionless and lacked a fiery spirit. Sooner or later, the plot would kill him off.

But I, Qi, was different. I had a cheat!