After dinner, the servants swiftly cleared away the bowls and chopsticks.
The family did not disperse right away, but sat together on the veranda, enjoying the evening breeze for a while.
Leaves from the red maple swirled up in the night wind, drifting over the courtyard before settling into the cracks between the flagstones.
Sasuke sat on Mikoto's lap, his eyelids drooping as his little head bobbed deeper into her arms, his mouth still mumbling something in his sleep.
As the night deepened, Mikoto looked down at Sasuke, who was almost completely asleep in her arms, and stood up.
"Sasuke can barely keep his eyes open. I'll take him inside to bed. You two shouldn't sit out here too long either. It's chilly at night."
"Mm," Fugaku acknowledged.
Mikoto turned and carried Sasuke inside. Her footsteps receded down the corridor until they vanished entirely into the depths of the inner courtyard.
The courtyard suddenly fell quiet, with only the rustle of wind through the leaves remaining.
Zongyan sat on the veranda, feeling the night breeze brush his face as he slowly drew a breath.
He had been slouching against a pillar, but now he straightened. The casual expression of a six-year-old vanished from his face, replaced by a seriousness in his eyes utterly at odds with his age.
Once Mikoto's footsteps had faded completely, he listened again to make sure no servants or clan members were approaching before lowering his voice.
"Father, I got something today. It seems... pretty extraordinary."
Fugaku had been gazing absently at the red maple in the courtyard. At those words, he turned to look at Zongyan.
Moonlight fell on his son's face. His expression was even more solemn than those of the elders Fugaku saw at clan meetings.
Fugaku frowned slightly, reached out, and took Zongyan's wrist, sending a thread of chakra into him through his fingertips.
This was a habit he had developed over the years-check for anything abnormal first.
He had seen far too many things of unknown origin. If Zongyan had accidentally touched something dangerous, picked up a Cursed Seal, fallen under a genjutsu, or become entangled in someone's machinations, the sooner he discovered it, the better.
His chakra circulated through Zongyan's body without obstruction or contamination. Both his soul and body were fine.
Only then did he release his hand. His expression relaxed a little, though his voice still held the amusement of an elder looking at a child who had found a pretty rock and wanted to show it off.
"Oh? What extraordinary thing?"
It had to be said that, perhaps because he had two genius sons, Fugaku was usually nowhere near as stern at home as he was in the original story.
Zongyan did not answer. Turning his arm, he drew a Summoning Scroll from inside his clothes.
He pressed his hand onto the formula on the scroll and channeled chakra into it. White smoke burst out with a poof.
The altar landed steadily on the courtyard's flagstones.
"Huh!"
Every hair on Fugaku's body suddenly stood on end. Instinctively, he leaped backward, putting several meters between himself and the altar.
His pupils contracted sharply as his Sharingan activated-one tomoe, two, then three. The patterns overlapped before abruptly transforming into something else.
Scarlet light spread from his eyes as intricate Mangekyō patterns slowly revolved within them, carrying a heavy, oppressive force that made them difficult to look straight at.
Standing beside the altar, Zongyan watched his father's Sharingan shoot straight to its highest setting, and his heart lurched.
...Father really does have the Mangekyō Sharingan.
The original story had never explicitly stated that Fugaku had awakened the Mangekyō, but on reflection, it was hardly surprising.
As the Uchiha Clan Head, he had lived through three Shinobi World Wars and personally witnessed countless clansmen die horrible deaths. The mental trauma had long since accumulated to the threshold.
He had simply kept it hidden too deeply and for too long, never revealing it lightly in front of others.
Had the altar's bloodline aura not provoked him today, there was no telling when Zongyan would have gotten to see those eyes.
Fugaku stared fixedly at the broken half of the cracked black stone platform on the ground. Through his Mangekyō, he could clearly see countless dark red threads slowly drifting from the cracks, floating in the air and seeping into it strand by strand.
That power bore no aggression, but when it swept over his body, his Uchiha bloodline felt as though something had plucked at it. It grew faintly hot, and his chakra stirred slightly. The sensation was far too strange.
"...What exactly is this?"
Fugaku's voice was extremely low, his tone filled with wariness and shock.
Zongyan raised his hand and slowly pressed it downward, signaling him to relax. "Father, don't be nervous. This is the good thing I was talking about."
Fugaku did not move, and his Mangekyō remained active. His gaze swept back and forth between Zongyan and the altar several times before his trust in his son finally allowed him to relax a little.
Zongyan exhaled and gathered his words.
"This is called the Bloodline Altar. It's incomplete, but it still has two heaven-defying abilities."
"First, if it stays in one place for a long time, it will gradually nourish the bloodlines of all living things within a hundred-meter radius."
"Second, as long as enough minerals are put into it, it can give one person a bloodline ability awakening each month-without side effects, without needing to watch a loved one die, and without enduring that kind of heart-rending pain."
He paused and looked into Fugaku's eyes, saying solemnly, "In other words, you can awaken the Sharingan without personally witnessing a loved one's horrific death or enduring heart-rending grief."
Fugaku froze in place as though he had been immobilized.
His Mangekyō pupils abruptly contracted. He could no longer keep his expression composed, and his mouth fell wide open.
As the Uchiha Clan Head, he knew better than anyone how much suffering the Sharingan's curse-like awakening conditions had brought upon the clan.
Countless geniuses had died in misery, countless clansmen had been swept along by hatred, and Konoha had even branded them an "evil clan."
If this thing was real... if that curse really could be bypassed...
"...Is everything you said true?"
Even Fugaku's voice carried a barely perceptible tremor.
Zongyan did not beat around the bush. "Father, haven't you already felt it yourself?"
Those words silenced Fugaku at once.
The warmth that had flowed through his entire body still lingered in every limb, too real to deny.
He had seen those dark red threads with his own eyes and personally felt the tremor as his bloodline was stirred.
He stepped back toward the altar, his Mangekyō slowly fading, and bent down to examine the crooked ancient runes on the stone platform's surface. His fingers hovered above it without touching.
"If word of this gets out..."
He fell silent for a moment, his voice turning low. "The entire Shinobi World will go mad. When that happens, our entire Uchiha Clan will become the common enemy of the Shinobi World!"
Zongyan did not reply, because he knew Fugaku was right.
But that was not the most urgent issue right now. The most urgent issue was how to turn it into strength for the Uchiha Clan.
As long as they were strong enough, what did it matter if the whole world stood against them!
Before you continue