Shrine Recognition

The crowd erupted in an uproar. Several clan members stood up and pointed at Uchiha Toru, shouting, "Why should we accept this bastard?!"

"Sit down!"

Fugaku, who was usually mild-mannered, rarely lost his temper.

Fugaku was only in his twenties, but he was powerful. Combined with the tear troughs that made him look older, he still commanded considerable authority.

The clan members fell silent and sat back down.

Fugaku continued, "I don't want to hear the word 'bastard' again. Can any of you guarantee that none of your ancestors had blood from another clan?"

"Toru's father was indeed expelled from the Uchiha, but Toru wasn't. That means he is still one of our clan members."

"It's true that Toru has an unusual appearance, with white hair and blue eyes, but Uchiha blood isn't defined by those things. Yashiro, your hair isn't black either—it's brown. Does that mean you're not one of us?"

A brown-haired Uchiha ninja below answered, "The clan head is right."

Seeing this, Fugaku continued, "Besides, Toru is a once-in-a-generation Uchiha genius. Today, he defeated the son of Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang of Konoha, bringing honor to our clan."

"Do you really want to drive this genius away?!"

Fugaku's reasoned argument, capped by that final question, left the Uchiha clan members silent.

Fugaku's tone then shifted. "All right, this matter ends here. Before our Uchiha ancestors, I officially accept Uchiha Toru into the clan on behalf of the Uchiha."

As he spoke, Fugaku displayed the jacket in his hands. Its back bore the Uchiha crest: the Gunbai.

Fugaku then draped the jacket over Toru's shoulders.

Toru had remained calm from beginning to end.

Fugaku had played this shrine recognition scene quite cleverly.

First, he had officially brought Toru, a genius, into the Uchiha clan in front of its members, establishing his authority as clan head while also bringing the Uchiha a powerful future ally.

Second, he had created the impression that his own efforts had brought Toru into the clan. That made Fugaku Toru's benefactor.

If Toru had been an ordinary child, even a genius, Fugaku would have won him over this way.

Unfortunately, Toru wasn't an ordinary child. Though he still hadn't recovered his memories from his previous life, he had retained an adult's way of thinking.

Toru would be grateful to Fugaku, but he wouldn't develop any other feelings toward him because of this. It was simply a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Toru put on the jacket. It fit him perfectly.

"Thank you, Clan Head."

Fugaku smiled and patted Toru on the shoulder. "From now on, you'll be a member of the Uchiha. Help restore the Uchiha to glory."

Toru put on an excited expression and replied, "Yes!"

Fugaku nodded with satisfaction, then looked toward the gathered clan members. "Does anyone have any objections now?"

"No objections." "None." ...

"Good. Dohka, bring your companions up here to apologize to Toru." Fugaku gestured for Dohka and Tekka to come forward.

With his face bruised and swollen, Dohka glared at Toru resentfully. But under Fugaku's stern gaze, he silently looked away, lowered his head, and bowed. "I'm sorry. We were wrong."

Toru stepped forward and helped them up. "It's all right. I've already forgiven you. Besides, I was partly at fault for hitting you. Let's put the past behind us and make peace. We're family from now on."

His gracious and composed attitude earned the approval of most of the clan members.

"That kid's not bad after all."

"Yeah. He beat the White Fang's son, so he's clearly talented. And he's so humble and well-mannered, too."

"We were too harsh on him before."

Even the few troublemaking kids had changed their opinion of Toru.

"He even spared us some dignity. Maybe he's not so bad after all," Dohka thought.

Tekka had only come because his older brother had dragged him along. Now that Toru had forgiven them, he felt relieved, and his opinion of Toru had improved considerably.

The other children felt much the same. Toru's performance had won nearly all of them over.

Seeing how brotherly everyone was acting, Fugaku was satisfied. "Good. This is the future of the Uchiha."

"From now on, you must get along peacefully. Don't fight like that again."

Toru, Dohka, and the others obediently lowered their heads to show they would comply.

Fugaku gestured for them to return to their places, then addressed all the clan members. "I hope every Uchiha can get along. Only then can we make the Uchiha great again!"

"Uchiha!" "Long live the Uchiha!" "Long live the Uchiha!" ...

A few passionate young men below started the chant. Others joined in, until everyone was shouting the Uchiha name.

The scene looked just like some kind of cult gathering. The fervent atmosphere forced Toru to pretend to join in, shouting "Long live the Uchiha" with the rest.

Fugaku eventually calmed everyone down and dismissed the gathering, but he specifically kept Toru behind.

"I was at fault earlier. I didn't realize those clan members were ostracizing you. But don't worry—nothing like that will happen again." Fugaku's voice was gentle, like a patient homeroom teacher.

Toru put on a deeply moved expression and choked out, "Thank you for helping me, Clan Head..."

Seeing this, Fugaku added, "If you ever need anything, just tell me. I'll do whatever I can to help."

Toru hesitated before speaking. "When I was fighting Kakashi, I realized I didn't know any ninjutsu..."

"You want to learn ninjutsu? No problem. But there's no rush. Once you've learned to mold Chakra, we'll test your Chakra nature. I'll give you ninjutsu for every nature you have." Fugaku thumped his chest as he promised.

Satisfied, Toru returned home and immediately took out the book on Chakra extraction to continue practicing.

Toru had been working on Chakra for two days. Today was the third, and he hoped he would finally succeed.

Compared to Cursed Energy, which came purely from negative emotions, Chakra—which combined physical and mental energy—was clearly harder to extract.

Of course, that was true for Toru. Not everyone had the aptitude to awaken Cursed Energy, either.

Toru closed his eyes and let his mind settle completely, focusing on sensing the combination of physical and mental energy within him. After a while, he opened his eyes.

"I did it."

Toru sensed an energy inside him that was completely different from Cursed Energy.

Chakra and Cursed Energy were easy to distinguish.

Chakra was a purely neutral energy, while Cursed Energy was the energy of "curses" extracted from negative emotions.

Toru took out a sheet of Chakra testing paper and infused it with a trace of the Chakra inside him. The paper quickly changed.

The sheet was divided into five sections. One caught fire, one split apart, one crumpled up, one became damp, and one crumbled to pieces.

These five sections represented the five Chakra natures.

Toru was pleasantly surprised. He was no longer completely ignorant of the ninja arts, after all. He knew that the more Chakra natures a ninja had, the more ninjutsu they could use.

So, early the next morning, Toru went to find Fugaku and told him that he had all five natures.

Fugaku was astonished. At first, he even thought Toru had made a mistake. Only after having Toru test again did he accept the truth.

"Your father was considered a genius for naturally having both Fire and Water Release. I never expected you to surpass him. Don't worry—I'll give you ninjutsu for all five natures."

Satisfied with Fugaku's answer, Toru left the Uchiha compound and headed to the Ninja Academy for class.

Watching Toru walk away, Fugaku couldn't help but marvel. "What terrifying talent."