Opening Eyes

Inside the Root organization's base.

A ninja wearing an eagle mask pushed open the door and entered.

"Lord Danzo, Ryo has gone missing."

Ryo was the code name of the Root ninja Uchiha Yu had killed earlier.

"Ryo? Didn't he go to the Uchiha clan compound? The Uchiha clan hasn't been very well-behaved lately."

Danzo let out a cold snort; something must have happened to Ryo.

"Although Ryo's strength isn't top-tier, his reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance skills are quite excellent. The only ones in the Uchiha clan capable of making Ryo's mission fail would be Shisui or Itachi!"

The voice of the eagle-masked ninja was somewhat low.

"Shisui is currently on a mission and is not in the village. Itachi is a member of the Anbu and is under the control of both myself and Hiruzen Sarutobi; neither of them had the opportunity to act."

Danzo took a deep breath. "Perhaps there is a genius powerhouse in the Uchiha clan we don't know about yet!"

"Should we still seize Shisui's eyes?"

"Yes!" Danzo's gaze turned ruthless.

"Since they dare to kill our people, it means they have already rebelled! A coup is only a matter of time! Uchiha Shisui must die! And his pair of eyes must fall into my hands!" Danzo extended a hand and clenched it into a fist.

Ninja Academy.

Today, Iruka was leading everyone in a review of the Three Basic Jutsu.

For Uchiha Yu, these basic ninjutsu were child's play.

It was simply too boring.

He decided to just lay his head down and go to sleep.

Hyuga Hinata, sitting next to him, swallowed hard and gently nudged Uchiha Yu.

"Yu-kun, you shouldn't sleep in class."

Uchiha Yu sat up, dazed, and rubbed his eyes.

He formed hand seals.

He transformed directly into the likeness of Hyuga Hinata.

"Isn't this ninjutsu something anyone can do with their eyes closed? Wake me up when Iruka teaches an A-rank jutsu."

With that, he didn't even dispel the Transformation Jutsu and continued to lay his head on the desk to sleep.

Hyuga Hinata: "..."

Seeing that Uchiha Yu's Transformation Jutsu was so impressive—it was almost identical to her own—Hyuga Hinata's eyes widened.

Was Uchiha Yu already this strong?

"Um... Yu-kun, would you have time to practice taijutsu with me..."

Hyuga Hinata said, her face slightly flushed.

She also wanted to become stronger so she could earn her father's approval.

However, her talent for taijutsu, while not exactly poor, could only be considered average.

Yu-kun looked up at Hyuga Hinata.

He nodded.

A smile appeared on Hyuga Hinata's face.

Really?

"The tuition is five thousand ryo a month, no credit," Uchiha Yu said with a yawn.

Five thousand ryo was merely a month's allowance for Hyuga Hinata.

After all, the Hyuga were a prominent clan.

Moreover, Hyuga Hinata's daily expenses were very low; she spent less than one thousand ryo each month.

Five thousand ryo was definitely an amount she could afford.

Hyuga Hinata was stunned, seemingly not having expected such a request from Uchiha Yu.

But she still took out her wallet, counted out five banknotes, and handed them to Uchiha Yu.

Uchiha Yu's eyes lit up, and he snatched the money away.

"Call me when school ends this evening!"

Having said that, he lowered his head and fell back asleep.

A faint, rhythmic snoring sound drifted out.

"Yu-kun..." Hyuga Hinata didn't quite know what to say.

In the evening, Hyuga Hinata led Uchiha Yu toward the Hyuga clan compound.

Along the way, Uchiha Yu focused solely on counting the banknotes in his hand, flipping through the five dry sheets of paper more times than he could remember.

As for Hyuga Hinata's words, he merely offered perfunctory responses, barely listening to a word she said.

"Yu-kun, why don't you have dinner at our place tonight?"

"Whatever works."

"Yu-kun, what would you like to eat? I'll have my father tell the staff to prepare it for you."

"Anything is fine."

"Yu-kun, I'll introduce you to some people from my clan in a bit, like my cousin Neji and my little sister Hanabi."

"Whatever works."

"..."

For the first time, Hyuga Hinata felt incredibly awkward and speechless.

Hyuga Clan compound.

Uchiha Yu followed behind Hyuga Hinata, still counting the banknotes in his hand.

He hadn't converted these five thousand ryo into recharge points yet.

He planned to save up over one hundred thousand to exchange for one hundred recharge points at once.

By fusing Earth Release nature transformation with Water Release nature transformation, he would create Wood Release.

With the Sage Body and Wood Release, Uchiha Yu would essentially be a mini Hashirama.

When that time came, he would use the Wood Human Technique to kick Danzo all the way from the Land of Fire into the sea of the Land of Water with a single blow.

He could feed him to the Three-Tails, Isobu!

Suddenly, a boy with a far-from-friendly expression appeared before them.

"Hinata, how could you just bring an outsider into our home like this?"

Neji questioned her, his tone devoid of any kindness.

Neji was a year older than Hinata and was currently eight years old.

However, Neji's talent far surpassed Hinata's.

If it weren't for the fact that he belonged to the branch family, forced to bear the Caged Bird seal on his forehead, and that his own father had been sacrificed as a scapegoat, Neji might not have harbored such resentment toward the main family.

In a few years, during the Chunin Exams, Uzumaki Naruto would use his "friendship-shattering, personality-correcting" fist to knock some sense into Neji.

Uchiha Yu couldn't be bothered to argue with Neji.

Could he give him money?

No!

Neji scrutinized Uchiha Yu carefully and recognized him.

"You're Uchiha Yu?" Neji frowned. "The guy who defeated Tenten with shuriken?"

Uchiha Yu gave a slight nod, though his eyes remained fixed on the banknotes in his hand.

He was still calculating how to save up one hundred thousand within half a month.

Seeing Uchiha Yu's attitude, Hyuga Neji grew a bit angry.

"Hinata, is this the kind of rude person you bring home?"

Neji shoved Hinata aside, causing her to fall to the ground, and stood directly in front of Uchiha Yu.

Watching Hinata stumble to the ground, Uchiha Yu frowned.

"Is that how you treat my financial benefactor?"

Hyuga Hinata hurriedly stood up and said, "Neji-niisan, he's here to help me with my taijutsu. He's my friend from the Ninja Academy."

"Taijutsu?" Neji scoffed.

He directed the resentment he felt toward Hinata onto Uchiha Yu as well.

"I only know he's decent at throwing shuriken; I have no idea what his taijutsu is like!"

Neji threw a punch toward Uchiha Yu.

Seeing Neji suddenly attack, Uchiha Yu didn't say a word. Clutching the banknotes in his hand, he slid his arm along Neji's, pressed his hand onto Neji's shoulder, and used the strength of his waist to shove him away.

With a thud, Neji stumbled back several steps.

Although he hadn't used his full strength, being defeated in a single move still left Neji somewhat surprised.

After a moment of contemplation, the resentment he held toward Uchiha Yu dissipated quite a bit.

"So you really do have some skill." A smile tugged at the corner of Neji's mouth, and the hostility in his eyes faded significantly.

Even so, he took a step forward and launched another attack at Uchiha Yu.

Clutching his banknotes, Uchiha Yu parried and neutralized Neji's storm-like assault one move after another.

Suddenly, Neji placed his palm against Uchiha Yu's fist.

"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"

A wave of chakra erupted directly from Neji's palm!

To Uchiha Yu, an attack like this was nothing more than a tickle.

However, he suddenly remembered that this Vacuum Palm was supposed to deal piercing damage.

He hurriedly opened his palm.

He saw that the banknotes he had been clutching were already pulverized by the chakra wave.

Uchiha Yu's pupils constricted, and his body swayed slightly.

Damn it! My money!

I hadn't even had a chance to warm it up yet!

Uchiha Yu could be ignored, belittled, or beaten.

But no one could take the money out of his hands!

Under the influence of intense emotional turmoil, a surge of abnormal chakra suddenly flooded from his brain into his eyes.

Uchiha Yu's eyes gradually turned blood-red.

One tomoe, two tomoe, three tomoe!

Having directly awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Yu grabbed Neji by the collar and backhanded him with a punch to the chin.

"You little brat! That's going too far!"

Neji's mind went completely blank.

Damn, is it really that easy for the Uchiha clan to awaken their eyes?