Reinforce +999

"Who is it?"

I opened the door to see a little shrimp standing there! Well, well—it was the "Telephone Pole Maniac" himself!

"Oh, it's Itachi, isn't it? Do you need something?" Uchiha Gen asked indifferently. With me here, that filial son no longer had a chance to wipe out the clan. When the time came, it wasn't certain who would be wiping out whom!

"Senior Gen, my father has requested your presence," Uchiha Itachi said respectfully.

Looking at the miniature adult that was Uchiha Itachi, I knew that no matter how respectful he acted on the surface, it wouldn't stop him from stabbing you in the back! I hoped that with my intervention, Itachi would have fewer dealings with the Konoha higher-ups. I didn't ask for glory, just for peace; it would be enough for him to be an ordinary Uchiha!

"Mm, I know. You go ahead first, I'll be right behind you." I had a rough guess as to why Uchiha Fugaku had sent Itachi to deliver the message. He probably wanted Itachi to get familiar with me. After all, I was the strongest expert in the Uchiha clan. Although Fugaku was arrogant, he understood that a "pay-to-win" player could never defeat a "developer-access" player!

And I, naturally, was that developer-access player. Heh!

At the Uchiha compound, in Fugaku's home~

"Father, I have notified Senior Gen. He said he will be here shortly," Itachi said, still maintaining that miniature-adult persona.

Fugaku was quite satisfied with his son's precociousness. He was worthy of being his son—superior to his peers in both strength and mental fortitude!

"Mm, Itachi, you should try to get closer to Gen in the future. He is the hope of our Uchiha clan!" Uchiha Fugaku instructed. After all, the clan would eventually be handed over to Itachi. Since Uchiha Gen, the clan's number-one powerhouse, was still so young, he would likely still be in his prime long after I was gone. It was indeed necessary for Itachi to build a good relationship with him.

"Yes, Father," young Itachi replied, looking earnestly at Uchiha Fugaku.

Knock, knock.

"That must be Gen. Itachi, go open the door!"

"Yes, Father."

In the courtyard~

Uchiha Gen and Fugaku sat facing each other. Lady Mikoto had come by once to serve tea before heading off to look after Sasuke, while the brother-obsessed Uchiha Itachi sat quietly to the side.

"Gen-kun, regarding the matter you discussed last time, the elders and I have come up with a plan. Currently, the clan has thirty spare Three-Tomoe Sharingan, which is sixty eyes in total. It's mainly because the clan didn't anticipate this situation before, and the Sharingan are not easy to preserve, not to mention the maintenance costs. Sixty Three-Tomoe Sharingan is the clan's absolute limit."

"Huh? Only sixty?" In the original story, Danzo had an entire arm full of them, and Obito had collected a whole wall! But considering they had ripped them directly from the living bodies of Uchiha, it made sense they had so many.

"Yes, sixty. These are all that remain from clansmen who sacrificed themselves in recent times. There are older Sharingan left over from further back, but they are no longer usable. These sixty are all we have left," Fugaku sighed with a look of regret.

"Although it's only sixty, it's enough. We are mainly looking to win over the major clans of Konoha; for the civilians, a gimmick is enough," Uchiha Gen nodded. It was a bit low, but it would suffice. After all, they could be refilled—it wasn't a single-use item!

Of course, for ordinary Three-Tomoe Sharingan, using Izanagi was indeed a one-time deal, but that didn't matter when my Mangekyo ability could forcibly refill them!

"We have already secured the location for the Konoha Sharingan Welfare Lottery Store. After a few days of renovations, it can open tomorrow. However, I will have to trouble you, Gen-kun, to replenish the ocular power for those Three-Tomoe eyes!" Fugaku looked at Uchiha Gen earnestly.

"That's no trouble at all. I'll just arrange for a Shadow Clone to handle it. If the Shadow Clone's ocular power isn't enough, I'll just top it up!" In the original story, Uchiha clansmen could use Shadow Clones to use the Sharingan, and Madara even used a Shadow Clone to manifest his Susanoo, which proved that Shadow Clones indeed possessed the ocular power of the original body.

Since that was the case, a Shadow Clone could naturally handle the task of transferring ocular power. It wasn't as if it needed to be done every day; it might not even need a refill once a week. Although the Ninja World was dangerous, who were the people who could afford a Three-Tomoe Sharingan? They were the heads of various clans and the higher-ups of Konoha. It wasn't easy for these people to die, so if they didn't need to use Izanagi, there would be no need for refills!

In truth, Uchiha Gen didn't want to open the Sharingan to the Konoha higher-ups, but he realized that if he didn't, they would just use underhanded methods to obtain them anyway. If they couldn't easily replenish the ocular power, they might end up like Danzo in the original story, hoarding an armful of Sharingan just to have enough uses, which was disgusting!

Therefore, it was better to open it to the higher-ups directly. This way, the Uchiha clansmen would be safer. After all, if they could buy them, the higher-ups wouldn't be stupid enough to risk public condemnation and offend Uchiha Gen just to persecute Uchiha clansmen!

Besides, in the face of my current super-reinforced, +9999 Susanoo, did having one or two extra lives even matter to the higher-ups? If they had two lives, I'd just have to swing my blade one more time!

Having figured this out, Uchiha Gen stopped worrying about it.

He picked up his teacup and drained it in one gulp, then stood up to take his leave.

"Itachi, go see Gen-kun out."

"Yes, Father." Young Itachi quickly stood up to follow. His small frame was exceptionally agile! At this point, Uchiha Itachi should have barely reached the strength of a Genin; after all, that guy Fugaku had been taking his child to the battlefield since he was four!

"Senior Gen, wait for me!"

Hearing the voice of the Uchiha filial son from behind, Uchiha Gen slowed his pace.

"Ah? Itachi? Is this another one of Fugaku's orders? What a pain!" Uchiha Gen muttered to himself while rubbing his hair. He hated this kind of political relationship-building the most! Living a simple, relaxed life was the key to longevity! Interpersonal relationships were just the worst!

"Itachi? Senior, my name is Itachi! Uchiha Itachi!" the filial son said, puffing out his cheeks.

"Alright, Itachi, I got it, Itachi." I completely ignored Uchiha Itachi's personal opinion.

"Hmph! If it weren't for Father's orders, I wouldn't want to talk to someone like you, Senior!" The young Uchiha Itachi still had a hint of childhood innocence; he lacked the gloomy, cold demeanor of his teenage self.

"Then why did you come?" Uchiha Gen walked forward nonchalantly.

Little Uchiha Itachi hurried to keep up with Gen's pace.

"Because Father said that Senior is the hope of the Uchiha clan and told me to get along well with you! I don't really understand, but I will follow Father's instructions carefully!" Uchiha Itachi looked at Uchiha Gen with an incredibly serious expression.

"Oh? Is that so? I hope you keep listening to Fugaku like that. As for being the hope of the Uchiha clan, with Fugaku's current strength, he can protect the Uchiha clan all by himself; there's no need to pin those hopes on others," Uchiha Gen said casually.