What Do You Want?

When Shin-getsu woke again, the sharp smell of medicine filled his nose.

He was lying in a clean hospital bed.

A white ceiling stretched above him.

The sky outside the window was growing light.

It must have been early the next morning.

"Awake?"

A low voice sounded.

Shin-getsu's eyelids twitched. He turned his head and looked over.

A middle-aged man sat beside the bed.

He had short black hair, a stern face, and wore dark clan robes.

His eyes weren't activated Sharingan, yet he still gave off a powerful air of oppression.

Uchiha Fugaku.

The current head of the Uchiha Clan.

And the father of Uchiha Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha.

In the original story, Fugaku was a complex man.

He possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, yet he never truly fought back against his son, not even on the Night of the Clan Massacre.

Some said he was weak.

Others said he was thinking of the greater good.

But whatever the case, he was no ordinary man.

To have kept the Uchiha Clan going for so many years under pressure from the Konoha High Command, Fugaku couldn't possibly be an ordinary ninja.

Shin-getsu remained wary inside, but let an appropriately bewildered look cross his face.

"Clan Head..."

Fugaku looked at him and fell silent for a moment.

"Your injuries are severe."

"A knife wound to your left shoulder, an impact injury to your chest, a fracture in your right wrist, and two broken ribs."

"You also have minor internal bleeding."

"Under normal circumstances, you shouldn't have woken up this soon."

Shin-getsu's thoughts stirred.

This was a test.

Fugaku suspected how quickly he was recovering.

After the system merged the traits into him, it hadn't healed him instantly, but it had strengthened his physical foundation and Chakra Control.

That was why he was recovering faster than an ordinary child.

Shin-getsu lowered his eyes and spoke in a hoarse voice.

"I don't know."

"I just... didn't want to die."

Fugaku stared at him.

Silence settled over the room.

After a long while, he finally spoke.

"How much do you remember about last night?"

Shin-getsu had been prepared for this.

He knew he had to tell the truth.

But he couldn't tell all of it.

Lies were easy to see through.

A truly clever lie was nine parts truth and one part falsehood.

Shin-getsu spoke softly. "When I woke up, I heard people talking outside."

"They said I was an orphan and no one would care."

"And they said... they were going to take me away."

Fugaku's expression darkened.

"And then?"

Shin-getsu continued. "One of them came in and grabbed me."

"I was scared, so I stabbed him with a kunai."

"Then I knocked over the oil lamp, and the room caught fire."

"I don't know how I killed the first one."

"The second one was strong."

"He nearly killed me."

"Later, the room collapsed, and I stabbed him in the neck with a kunai."

At that, Shin-getsu raised his head and looked at Fugaku.

"Clan Head, who were they?"

Fugaku didn't answer at once.

But Shin-getsu saw the fingers resting on his knee tighten slightly.

Clearly, Fugaku knew the answer.

Or rather, the entire Uchiha leadership knew.

They just hadn't had any evidence before.

Nor had they had a reason to drag the matter into the open.

But last night was different.

Two unidentified ninjas had infiltrated the Uchiha Clan Grounds and tried to abduct an Uchiha orphan.

One of them had even said the word "specimen."

This was no longer surveillance.

They had trampled right onto the Uchiha's dignity.

Fugaku asked gravely, "Have you awakened the Sharingan?"

Shin-getsu nodded.

The next instant, Chakra flowed through his eyes.

His pupils turned crimson.

A single Tomoe began to rotate slowly.

A complicated look flashed through Fugaku's eyes.

Awakening the Sharingan at nine wasn't unprecedented.

But to awaken it after killing two adult ninjas in a life-or-death situation—that kind of temperament was terrifying.

Fugaku suddenly asked, "Do you hate them?"

Shin-getsu didn't hesitate.

"I do."

Fugaku asked again, "Do you know who they might have been?"

Shin-getsu fell silent for a moment.

Then he said quietly, "They looked like Anbu."

Fugaku's gaze turned icy in an instant.

Shin-getsu quickly added, "But they didn't have any Anbu insignia."

The atmosphere in the room grew heavy.

Fugaku understood what he meant.

They looked like Anbu.

But they had no Anbu insignia.

In Konoha, there was only one place that fit the description.

Root.

Shimura Danzō's Root.

Fugaku rose and walked to the window.

Outside, the Uchiha Clan Grounds had fully woken.

Many clan members had gathered in the streets.

Their faces were all taut with suppressed anger.

Shin-getsu's words from the night before had already spread.

"I'm a specimen."

Those four words could provoke the Uchiha more than any evidence.

Because the Uchiha were most sensitive about their eyes.

If the Konoha High Command really saw the Uchiha as experimental specimens, then the conflict between them was no longer a simple political dispute.

It was a blood feud.

With his back to Shin-getsu, Fugaku spoke slowly. "The clan has taken custody of the bodies from last night."

"They had no identifying marks."

"But their weapons and equipment, as well as their methods, were clearly not those of ordinary rogue ninjas."

Shin-getsu sneered inwardly.

Of course they had no identifying marks.

Root handled dirty work. Why would they leave evidence behind?

Still, he'd never expected two bodies to bring Danzō down.

What he needed to do now was make the Uchiha wary.

Make Fugaku wary.

Make those in the clan who still clung to their illusions understand that the Konoha High Command had already drawn its blade.

That was enough.

Fugaku turned and looked at Shin-getsu.

"Starting today, you'll move to the inner part of the clan grounds."

"I'll arrange for people to protect you."

Shin-getsu's thoughts stirred.

This was the first step of his plan succeeding.

He'd gone from an orphan on the fringes to someone in the Uchiha's inner circle.

But outwardly, he still let a trace of hesitation show.

"Clan Head, can I still be a ninja?"

Fugaku furrowed his brow.

"After what you've just been through, you still want to be a ninja?"

Shin-getsu raised his head. His voice was quiet but firm.

"If I wasn't strong enough, they would have taken me away last night."

"If I'm still not strong enough in the future, they'll come again."

"Clan Head, I don't want to be left with no choice but to fight for my life like I did last night."

Fugaku fell silent.

He looked at the boy on the hospital bed.

Bandages covered his body.

His face was pale.

He was clearly still a child, but his eyes held none of the fear or dependence one would expect from an ordinary child.

Only calm.

And a ruthlessness buried deep within.

It reminded Fugaku of many members of the Uchiha Clan.

The Uchiha had never lacked geniuses.

Nor had they lacked the extreme.

But he had never seen a child like Shin-getsu: at nine years old, able to calmly calculate his moves in a life-or-death situation, kill his enemies, and then clearly analyze his circumstances upon waking.

"What do you want?"

Fugaku asked.

Shin-getsu's heart gave a jolt.

Here it came.

Those words mattered.

Fugaku hadn't asked if he was afraid, nor had he merely offered comfort.

He'd asked what Shin-getsu wanted.

That meant Fugaku was beginning to recognize his value.

Shin-getsu said quietly, "I want to learn the Uchiha's true fighting techniques."

"Shurikenjutsu, Fire Style, Genjutsu, and how to use the Sharingan."