I Have a Bunch of Relatives Who Want to Be Hokage Chapter 37

"Shingen, let me confirm something first. You mastered Sage Mode, didn't you?"

"Of course I did." Uchiha Shingen nodded. "Why else would I have gone all the way to Dragon Cave if I wasn't going to train it?"

Beside them, Uchiha Itachi looked up blankly.

His teacher had gone into a cave? A sage?

This touched upon a gap in his knowledge.

"You really insist on walking this path to the bitter end." Uchiha Fugaku let out a long sigh, sounding a little exasperated at his failure to live up to expectations. "Honestly, if you'd put your energy into the clan's traditional arts, by now you'd probably..."

"Clan Head, you've got it wrong. I trained this precisely for the sake of the clan's arts." Uchiha Shingen said helplessly. "It was because I couldn't get anywhere training the clan's arts normally that I took this route."

He had actually said this eight hundred times already. Unfortunately, these people never believed him.

But today, he could produce solid proof.

Men Need to Pilot Zakus

"You said you had no way forward?" Uchiha Fugaku's eyes widened.

When he had first noticed Uchiha Shingen, he had not been clan head for long and was still brimming with enthusiasm. Then he heard that there was a child in the clan who, unlike the other clansmen who used Yin Release to train their spiritual energy, was instead diligently using Yang Release to develop his physical energy.

In keeping with his broad-minded principle of "I should employ talent without sticking to convention," as well as his family's long-standing investment philosophy of "diversify your investments; don't put everything into one basket," he had approved a subsidy.

At the time, he had thought the child was rather interesting.

He had assumed it was merely the sort of passing interest common among children. But Uchiha Shingen was different. He was not unruly, but he was stubborn.

He really had kept at it for more than a decade.

And he had actually produced results. His taijutsu and ninjutsu were incredibly polished, his genjutsu was not bad either, and he had landed several crushing blows during the Third Shinobi World War.

That was when Uchiha Fugaku had begun to pay closer attention to him.

Otherwise, when Namikaze Minato had visited the clan compound, Shingen would definitely have been properly punished for having the nerve to skip the welcome ceremony—his salary would have been docked.

This guy was truly obsessed with money.

Most importantly, he had started visiting those places when he was only ten! Who taught him that? I gave you a subsidy, and you went off to drink tea?

Did he force himself to drink just because he was gifted? Awakening the Sharingan in one of those places—now that was truly unprecedented!

But deep down, Uchiha Fugaku felt that an Uchiha who could develop his body's potential to this extent would have soared long ago if he had properly focused on spiritual energy.

Look, he had even learned senjutsu!

The clan's arts could no longer be trained normally? What nerve. Did he have the Mangekyo Sharingan yet?

Could he use Susanoo?

If he couldn't, Fugaku could! Why didn't he come ask for guidance?

"Shingen, that's an extremely arrogant thing to say." Uchiha Fugaku laughed in anger. "You clearly know that the three tomoe are not the limit of the Sharingan, yet you gave up on it. Is it because you don't want to dirty your hands?"

"No. I simply believe there's no need to choose that kind of path." Uchiha Shingen said. "After all, all roads lead to Leaf Village."

No, it's because I don't want to go blind, brother. I don't even have any brothers.

But he could not say that aloud. It would invite misunderstandings and make it sound as though he would slaughter his own brother if he actually had one.

Besides, what kind of idiot mindset was that? To first assume that both brothers would definitely awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan?

Even if they really did, wouldn't it be better to just swap eyes? It was clearly double the happiness, yet they had to turn it into double the self-torture.

"Too naive. No, it seems you haven't even realized it yourself." Uchiha Fugaku looked at the young man he thought so highly of and decided to pull him back onto the right path. "I know exactly what you're thinking, but do you think no one has tried this path before? There's a reason the clan abandoned it. Your persistence only proves that you aren't as unique as you think."

"That's exactly why I learned senjutsu." Uchiha Shingen sighed. "I understand what you mean, Clan Head. Relying solely on Yang Release won't work. There's a limit."

"Oh? You've already reached that limit?" Uchiha Fugaku's eyes lit up. "Your talent truly is impressive. It's not too late to turn back. What you're clinging to now is merely the pride inherent in our clan."

Pride was Uchiha Fugaku's strongest impression since becoming clan head.

Once clansmen awakened the Sharingan, they easily became arrogant. And it happened gradually. The Uchiha Clan had always lived in a semi-isolated environment, so the people involved often did not notice it themselves.

Uchiha Fugaku had not noticed it either at first. But after becoming clan head, he had to deal with the Hokage Building often. As he went out more, he slowly became aware of it.

In his eyes, Uchiha Shingen was a typical example of Uchiha-style pride. Pride led to excessive self-absorption and made it easy to get trapped in one's own tunnel vision.

"No, no, no, Clan Head, you've misunderstood me again. I'm very down-to-earth." Uchiha Shingen did not want the two of them to keep arguing like idiots over such meaningless things. He just wanted to collect his money and leave. "Clan Head, I'm different today. I can prove it now."

"Prove what? If you mean senjutsu, there's no need." Uchiha Fugaku was somewhat disappointed.

It was not as though he had never seen senjutsu before. He understood the entire system well enough, but it ultimately could not bring a qualitative improvement to the Sharingan.

What was so impressive about turning one's eyes into frog eyes?

"What you've seen is only Mount Myoboku's senjutsu. Dragon Cave's is a little different." Uchiha Shingen said.

Then he activated Sage Mode.

Ever since leaving Dragon Cave, he had continuously maintained his absorption of natural energy.

Flame-like patterns surfaced across his face, completing the bizarre markings.

There was no way to call this eyeshadow. Could it still be called eyeshadow when it covered his whole face?

Even Uchiha Fugaku was startled. This truly was different from the Sage Mode he knew.

Moreover, as someone who pursued culture and art, he personally felt that this style was quite wild—rather tasteful, even.

After all, he was also a man with excellent calligraphy. He had at least that much artistic discernment.

But he absolutely would not praise Uchiha Shingen. The kid was already floating high enough!

"So?" Uchiha Fugaku frowned. "Is this the difference you were talking about?"

Ignoring his clan head's sarcastic tone, Uchiha Shingen activated his Sharingan. Boosted by Sage Mode, his ocular power rose rapidly, beginning to approach a certain threshold.

Then, the change occurred.

It started at his shoulders, then spread to his arms, quickly covering Uchiha Shingen's entire body.

A white substance like ice crystals formed into armor. If there was one flaw, it was the lack of a helmet.

"Ice Release again? Shingen, you..." Uchiha Fugaku was growing impatient, but halfway through his words, his eyes widened.

This was not Ice Release.

[No way...]

As if answering the thought in his heart, Uchiha Shingen clenched his right hand. Empowered by sage arts, a mass of white chakra in his grasp was shaped by an invisible force into the form of a katana.

"Susanoo..." Uchiha Fugaku's expression finally slipped for once.

This had to be Susanoo, right? Although this supreme ocular technique—which members of the Uchiha Clan could potentially master after awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan—manifested as a giant warrior god, completely unlike this method of merely covering one's body in armor, its underlying principle was indeed that of Susanoo, wasn't it!?

At the very least, this chakra blade was absolutely a shaping ability that only emerged after the Sharingan's ocular power broke past its limits!

"Well, Clan Head? I came up with a name for it." Uchiha Shingen asked smugly.

He had successfully tested this technique in the Dragon Cave.

Sage Art: Majestic Attire.

Using Sharingan ocular power as its foundation, amplifying it with sage arts, then combining it with the Dragon Cave sage arts' unique power of form, he had created this knockoff product.

Tailed Beasts were not scary at all. It was not as though he lacked chakra. When the time came, he could make a Zaku with Ice Release, use the Dragon Cave Form Technique as its drive, then equip it with Sage Art: Majestic Attire armor, an axe, and a shield. That would be enough to beat up those dumb, adorable Tailed Beasts.

That was what it meant for a man to pilot a Zaku!

The Approaching Turning Point

"What do you call this technique?" Uchiha Fugaku stared fixedly at Uchiha Shingen's armored form.

"Sage Art: Majestic Attire." Uchiha Shingen spoke as he dispelled the technique.

The white chakra dissipated from his body, and the sage markings on his face swiftly faded as well.

"This of yours..." Uchiha Fugaku struggled to reconstruct his understanding of reality. "It certainly is unusual."

Majestic Attire? The name gave it away!

Majestic Attire: Susanoo was precisely the ninjutsu Uchiha Madara had once used.

Uchiha Madara had taken the ocular technique Susanoo to extraordinary heights, crushing everyone of his time except Senju Hashirama.

"You really haven't awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan?" Uchiha Fugaku asked again.

This was not right. This was not Uchiha.

Without the Mangekyo Sharingan, relying solely on the ocular power of a three-tomoe Sharingan, he should not have been able to use even something at this level.

And judging by how effortlessly Uchiha Shingen had done it, Fugaku would not believe it was his limit even if beaten to death.

Did that mean his understanding of sage arts had been wrong?

"Sage arts can actually reach this extent..." Uchiha Fugaku suddenly felt another mountain weighing upon his heart. "Then Jiraiya-sama's strength needs to be reassessed."

Though he knew he should not, a wave of discouragement inevitably rose within him.

One must not harbor the intent to harm others, but one must also not let down one's guard against them.

Strategic-level experts from the Hokage's faction emerged one after another, yet their attitude toward the Uchiha Clan was equally hard to put into words...

The Uchiha Clan still had a long road ahead if it wanted to enter Leaf Village's inner circle.

The gloom building in his chest made Uchiha Fugaku deeply uncomfortable. Then he heard Uchiha Shingen speak.

"Clan Head, you may have misunderstood. Jiraiya-sama's Sage Mode isn't the same as mine."

Uchiha Fugaku abruptly looked up, his question urgent.

"How so!?"

"Sage arts do share common traits, but the sage arts of the three great sacred lands also possess genuine differences in nature."

Uchiha Shingen noticed that the clan head seemed somewhat dejected. He could roughly guess what the man was thinking and decided to offer him some reassurance.

"To put it simply, Mount Myoboku's sage arts are relatively perfect, but they cannot directly use natural energy to enhance one's own strength. So the clan's assessment of Jiraiya-sama is in line with reality. There is no real issue with it."

Uchiha Fugaku pondered for a long while, then shook his head.

"You should explain it in a more complicated way."

"Mount Myoboku's Sage Mode is perfect in terms of combat ability, but its use of natural energy is comparatively simplistic." Uchiha Shingen repeated the information the White Snake Sage had once told him on this matter.

Uchiha Fugaku waved a hand. He felt like the explanation was making his head spin.

That was only natural—Uchiha Shingen had spent more than a week digesting all of this.

"What does this have to do with the clan not needing to reassess Jiraiya's strength? And how should I understand this 'integrating senjutsu into oneself'?"

"Mount Myoboku's senjutsu is like a powerful 'weapon.' Though strong, it is relatively fixed, because it cannot directly train one's own power," Uchiha Shingen said. "But Dragon Cave's senjutsu can use natural energy to develop the body's potential, and it can also be stored. The stronger the body, the greater the amount it can store. In battle, it can be directly used to create senjutsu chakra."

"I think I understand a little." Uchiha Fugaku nodded. He had truly learned something new today.

"So Dragon Cave is stronger?"

"It's not really a matter of which is stronger. Dragon Cave senjutsu has room for growth in the long run, and its nature also happens to possess shaping capabilities. If I had learned Mount Myoboku's, I wouldn't be able to do this now."

"I see, but it still needs to be reassessed." Uchiha Fugaku understood a little more now. "The clan has always considered Orochimaru the strongest of the Legendary Sannin, placing Jiraiya below him. That conclusion must be wrong."

He let out a breath, as though expelling all the pent-up frustration in his chest, and Uchiha Fugaku felt much better.

He felt that he was indeed a man fit to become clan head—his comprehension was flawless. In his understanding, while Dragon Cave senjutsu had certainly been indispensable for Uchiha Shingen to achieve this much with the ocular power of three tomoe, the fundamental reason was still that Shingen's own ocular power was strong enough.

Yet trying to force Uchiha Shingen to abandon this path now seemed rather unconvincing.

It would have been easier before, but now he had forcibly used this path to wield abilities that three tomoe should absolutely never have possessed.

He really was... stubborn!

But if he were not that stubborn, he probably could not have created such a miracle.

For some reason, Uchiha Fugaku felt that he might have begun to acknowledge Uchiha Shingen a little.

He forced himself to calm down. This path was not necessarily something others could replicate.

He still stood by his original belief: following the clan's traditional path directly was far more reliable.

The Uchiha Clan had never treated adventurism as the foundation of its mainstream.

"Forget it. I can't persuade you." Uchiha Fugaku no longer intended to ask what Uchiha Shingen's current limits were. He was exhausted, and besides, there was something even more troubling at hand.