Acknowledgment

When school let out, Toru packed up his things and prepared to head home.

Just then, Kurenai noticed him getting ready to leave and reached out to say goodbye.

"See you tomorrow, Toru."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Kurenai."

Yuhi Kurenai called Toru by his given name instead of his surname mainly because there was already another Uchiha in their class.

To avoid sounding too familiar, she had even added "classmate" as a suffix.

But she hadn't expected Toru to call her by her given name. In the Land of Fire's culture, that was so familiar it could even be considered a little rude.

After all, they had only just met.

Usually, only classmates who knew each other very well disregarded those conventions.

So Kurenai blushed at the way he addressed her, while Toru, having teased her and run off, was already far away.

In truth, Toru hadn't been deliberately flirting with her.

There were two reasons he had called her by her given name. First, he had disliked such conventions in his previous life and had always called people by their names. Second, he thought of Yuhi Kurenai as a child, so he hadn't given a thought to whether it seemed too familiar.

Meanwhile, Asuma was so angry his face turned green.

He'd called her by her given name after only one day. Asuma couldn't imagine what would happen after a few more.

Suppressing his jealousy and anger, Asuma said to Kurenai, "Kurenai, let me walk you home. It's getting late."

Asuma seemed to be trying to compete with Toru, calling her by her given name too.

Kurenai finally came to her senses after hearing Toru call her that. She saw the eagerness in Asuma's eyes, then turned him down. "No, I'm going home with Anko."

With that, Kurenai trotted over to Anko, and the two headed home together.

"Your new deskmate is amazing, Kurenai. If you don't like him, why not let me have him?"

"What are you talking about?!"

"So you do like him? Hee-hee!"

Asuma watched Kurenai and Anko laughing and horsing around. He slammed a fist on his desk, then grimaced as his hand hurt.

The Uchiha district was practically a village within the village. It even had its own walls and gates, as well as its own shopping street.

As Toru walked through it, his keen mind, honed in his previous life, told him that the Uchiha Clan had grown too powerful for Konoha to manage.

From his textbooks, Toru had learned the village's history and knew that the Uchiha had been a major clan since the village's founding.

And ever since the Senju Clan had declined, they had remained Konoha's most powerful clan.

Yet despite their strength, the clan had never produced a Hokage. On top of that, Uchiha Madara, who had led the Uchiha in joining forces with the Senju to found the village, had gone rogue. All of this was enough to show that Konoha's leadership didn't trust the Uchiha.

Toru turned into a narrow alley, still pondering the matter.

After all, he was already one of the Uchiha. When the nest fell, how could the eggs remain intact? If the Uchiha declined, he wouldn't benefit either.

Then Toru noticed something was off and raised his head. Several children had blocked both ends of the alley.

"So you're that half-breed? You really do have white hair! Hmph!"

Toru gave a self-deprecating laugh. "I was so deep in thought that I let a bunch of kids surround me. I guess turning into a kid really has affected me. Even my senses have gotten dull."

The children looked about his age. They were probably all five- or six-year-old students at the Ninja Academy.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Toru wasn't angry at their insults. What adult would get mad at a child?

"You don't even know who I am? I'm Uchiha Dohka!" the boy in front announced.

Another, quieter boy then gave his name. "Uchiha Tekka, Dohka's younger brother."

The other children introduced themselves too.

"So what exactly are you here for?" Toru asked again.

Dohka, the boy in front, gave a reason that left Toru speechless. "I heard you beat Hatake Kakashi. Hmph! I'm sick of you showing off, so we're here to teach you a lesson!"

"So you came to fight?" Toru asked with a smile.

"That's right. We came to beat you up," Dohka said.

"Then this should be easy."

Toru's smile grew brighter.

Dohka felt a chill run down his spine.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

A dozen seconds later, Dohka and the others were sprawled on the ground, unable to fight back.

Toru piled them up, then plopped himself down on top.

"You're so weak. Why were you confident enough to pick a fight with me? I don't get it."

Toru looked toward the alley entrance. A few seconds later, a member of the Konoha Military Police Force passed by and noticed the commotion inside.

He took a closer look and saw Toru sitting on top of the other children, all sporting bruised and swollen faces. He immediately rushed in.

"I'm Uchiha Yakumi of the Konoha Military Police Force! What are you doing? Get off them!"

The children beneath Toru saw their rescuer and burst into grateful tears.

Toru obediently got up.

Uchiha Yakumi hurried to help the children to their feet and asked, "What happened? How did all of you end up beaten like this?"

Uchiha Dohka shakily pointed at Toru. Toru didn't try to hide what happened and admitted it outright.

"They were going to beat me up, so I struck first and beat them all."

Only then did Uchiha Yakumi recognize him. "So you're Uchiha Toru. Come with me. I have to report this to the clan head."

A while later, inside the clan head's residence, Fugaku listened quietly as Uchiha Yakumi gave his report. Ignoring Uchiha Dohka, who was still complaining, he went over to Toru.

"This isn't your fault. It's a problem with the Uchiha. Don't worry, I'll make the Uchiha acknowledge you."

Fugaku turned and instructed Yakumi, "Gather every shinobi in the Uchiha Clan. Have them meet at the Naka Shrine before sunset."

"Yes." Yakumi seemed to be one of Fugaku's loyal subordinates and followed his orders without question.

The Uchiha Shrine, also known as the Naka Shrine, stood at the edge of the village. Though it was called a shrine, it actually enshrined the Uchiha's ancestors.

Toru followed behind Fugaku, climbing one step after another and passing through the red torii that marked the shrine's entrance. The sun was setting, and its dusky light enveloped the entire shrine, adding an air of divinity to the already ancient building.

Inside, a statue stood enshrined at the center of the shrine.

The figure wore a long robe adorned with Tomoe, and two small braids hung down on either side of his face. His features had become indistinct, but the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes remained clear.

"He was our Uchiha ancestor. No one remembers his name anymore, but we still carry his bloodline. So do you," Fugaku said, noticing Toru looking up at the statue.

Toru looked up and asked, "Is the Three-Tomoe Sharingan the highest level?"

He remembered that his father also had a pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Fugaku had assumed Toru was admiring their ancestor. He hadn't expected Toru's attention to be on the Sharingan, but he quickly answered, "Beyond the Three-Tomoe Sharingan lies the Mangekyo. But that's not something you can concern yourself with yet."

Toru nodded and said nothing more.

The two waited in silence as members of the Uchiha Clan arrived one after another. Yakumi came to report, "Clan head, everyone has been notified except those away on missions."

Fugaku gave a few more instructions, and Yakumi left again. When he returned, he brought a black coat.

By then, everyone had arrived. The Uchiha Clan had more than two hundred shinobi, and the vast majority had gathered inside the shrine.

Toru used his Six Eyes to survey the crowd. Most of them were fairly strong. He also noticed that the area beneath the shrine was hollow, with what seemed to be a secret chamber below.

Fugaku spoke in a clear, resonant voice. "I called you here today because of him: Uchiha Toru."

"I want you to acknowledge that Uchiha Toru is one of us, a member of the Uchiha Clan."