47 Subversion

In the Yating on the other side of Konoha, Fugaku paid a visit, accompanied by his son, Uchiha Itachi.

Fugaku did not mind why Qi had not come to welcome him, the clan head, but Itachi was quite dissatisfied that they were being received by an Uchiha he did not recognize.

It was not that he felt slighted, but rather that for Qi, who had just branched off, to act this way felt like an overly negligent attitude toward the Uchiha clan.

A divided clan could never reach a unified consensus, and without a unified vision, they would never be accepted by Konoha.

"Where is Qi-kun? Now that you have moved out, are you no longer Uchiha? How dare you treat the head of the Uchiha clan with such neglect."

Tenshen ignored the child.

Lord Qi had once commented that this boy was a good child, but he lacked a healthy environment in which to grow.

When a sensible five-year-old child has not yet established his own values, it is easy for him to be spurred on by the words of others, mimicking adults and becoming exactly what they expect him to be.

Thus, children who should be innocent but appear precocious are always favored by adults.

Adults use verbal encouragement, demands, and behavioral validation to guide these children into doing things they should not be contemplating at their age.

The things they guide the children to do are merely tasks they themselves failed to accomplish in their youth, which they now hope the next generation will fulfill.

The idea of "expecting one's son to become a dragon" has always been a fallacy; if the father is a dragon, the son will likely be fine, but if the father is not, the son likely won't be either.

Uchiha Itachi is only five years old; he has not yet seen the world, so what kind of insight could he possibly have?

When someone with no experience considers a highly complex problem, it leads them to a "truth" they are firmly convinced of, but which is, in reality, absurd. The ultimate result is that a good child will rely on his own fantasies to fulfill the expectations of adults, only to end up completely distorted.

Itachi is a good child; he wants to be what the adults expect him to be.

Konoha encourages him to become Hokage, and the Uchihas expect him to become Hokage, so he demands of himself that he act according to his own imagination of what a Hokage should be. Therefore, his anti-human thoughts cannot be blamed on the child; it is the environment that molded him into that shape.

"Praising to kill" is truly a disgusting tactic.

So, although Tenshen did not like the little fellow, he did not blame him either.

After all, Lord Qi had said all of this to the pregnant women of the Iga and Koga clans, with the goal of ensuring they would not become adults who project their own failures onto their children, raising them to be like Uchiha Itachi.

As for reforming Uchiha Itachi, Tenshen felt it was none of his business; he wasn't his son anyway.

He politely invited Fugaku to take a seat. Without offering any explanation as to why Lord Qi had not appeared, he simply activated his Mangekyo, which was enough to prove he was qualified to host Fugaku.

Fugaku, who had initially felt a bit of dissatisfaction due to the child's words and the perceived rudeness of Qi, immediately felt all his annoyance vanish.

Fugaku's pupils dilated.

"What, you have also awakened the Mangekyo! How did you do it?" In Fugaku's mind, the young girl named Uchiha Oboro had also awakened the Mangekyo long ago, though he did not know that those eyes had been fake—though they had now become real.

After speaking, Fugaku sighed and shook his head, realizing his own question had been even more impolite. Before Tenshen could answer, Fugaku continued on his own.

"Ah, it is I who am rude. Having awakened the Mangekyo myself, how could I not know the hardships you must have recently faced? My sympathies, Tenshen-kun!"

As he spoke, he bowed to Tenshen, expressing both his condolences and his gratitude for the contributions Tenshen had made to the Uchiha clan.

As an Uchiha, being able to awaken the Mangekyo was the greatest service one could render to the clan.

Yet, every pair of Mangekyo awakened represented a human tragedy, and asking someone about the misfortunes they had suffered was indeed quite impolite.

Fugaku's look of empathy made Tenshen feel somewhat embarrassed.

"Lord Fugaku, I am fine. I have not suffered any misfortune. Lord Qi asked me to receive you specifically to inform you of the correct way to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan, as this might prevent many unnecessary tragedies."

Tenshen was truly speechless; he hadn't said a word, yet Fugaku was acting as if his entire family had died, which made him feel very awkward.

Upon hearing this, Fugaku excitedly grabbed Tenshen's hand. Having been plagued by the curse of the Sharingan for decades, he found it hard to believe what he was hearing.

"What do you mean? Are you saying you awakened your eyes without encountering any tragedy?"

This was a matter capable of rewriting the clan's history; Fugaku had to be certain.

Tenshen did not answer, simply pulling his hand away and saying casually, "Lord Fugaku, how did you awaken your Mangekyo back then?"

Tenshen's question made Fugaku uncomfortable.

Such secrets were not meant to be shared with outsiders; after all, battles between ninjas were mostly battles of intelligence. When combat strength was similar, whoever possessed more information about the other had the upper hand.

But Fugaku felt compelled to accept Tenshen's inquiry.

If what Tenshen said was true, the Uchiha would undergo a earth-shattering change. For so many years, how many madmen had destroyed their own families in pursuit of awakening their eyes, only for the results to be disappointing?

If there were a solution now that allowed the clan to gain more Mangekyo Sharingan users without paying the price in blood, it would be more important than anything else.

After all, the Uchiha clan's population was already dwindling. Fugaku had to know what Tenshen's method was.

However, recalling his own misfortune was not a pleasant experience. Fugaku's mood sank. He patted Itachi's head, looked at the ancestral land—once dilapidated, now prosperous—and let out a long sigh, appearing to find some relief.

"That year, Itachi was still in his swaddling clothes, and you had not yet arrived. My parents passed away one after another. On his deathbed, my father held my hand and entrusted the Uchiha clan to me!"

As he spoke, Fugaku reached out to straighten Itachi's collar, as if he were describing his elders while they were watching his son, and he could not allow his son to be impolite in their presence.

"In my father's dying eyes, I saw reluctance and unwillingness. The Uchiha had survived under his leadership, but had lost its former glory. My father did not consider himself a qualified clan head, so he pinned all his hopes on me."

At this point, Fugaku clenched his fists.

"I knelt before my father's spirit. The pain of losing a loved one and the sudden weight of the burden pressed down on me until I couldn't breathe. I didn't even dare to look into my father's regretful eyes. The moment he left this world, I suddenly felt that I was too incompetent and had failed his expectations. So, I swore that I would lead the Uchiha to glory."

With that, Fugaku activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. Three ripples with three red dots—that was the appearance of Fugaku's eyes.

"Amenotsuzumi. That is the ocular technique of my Sharingan. But ironically, it is the most useless technique in all the Uchiha's records regarding the Sharingan. It has no combat capability; it only increases fertility. And the Uchiha... there aren't many people of childbearing age left!"