Before He Knew It, He Already Had Three Tomoe!

At those figures, Zongyan quickly ran through the numbers in his head.

Oh, weren't those minerals just enough to support his third awakening?

Then he thought of the contribution points Clan Elder Yashiro had registered for him during the day.

How many had there been, exactly? There had been too many zeros at the end. He had only glanced at them without counting carefully, and the more he thought about it now, the hazier it became. All he remembered was that it had been a long number.

He cleared his throat and looked at Uchiha Fugaku. "Father, since we have enough minerals, this month's awakening opportunity at the altar..."

Fugaku looked up at him.

"Why not let me use it?" Zongyan showed no embarrassment as he said this. "Two tomoe feel like they're not quite enough anymore."

Listening beside them, Yashiro nearly lost his grip on the list.

Two tomoe weren't enough? Was that something a person should say?

There weren't even that many people in the entire Uchiha clan who could awaken two tomoe, and he called that not enough?

Fugaku, however, wasn't surprised. His son had awakened two tomoe two years ago. It had been delayed because the altar hadn't been made public, and they couldn't spend so many of the clan's minerals without a reason.

Then he glanced at him and simply nodded. "Understood. Go to the Secret Chamber tonight."

Yashiro had no objections either. Just for bringing the altar to the clan, the entire clan still had no idea how to repay Young Master Zongyan.

As for using the clan's resources to awaken his Sharingan?

A trivial matter!

Night soon arrived.

The Secret Chamber housing the altar was bustling again, with all the clan's jonin present.

Usually utterly silent before a meeting, the place was filled tonight with occasional quiet exchanges, everyone's gaze directed toward the altar.

Someone leaned closer and asked quietly, "Are we really giving this month's use to Young Master Zongyan tonight?"

"Who else would it be? Who in our clan can compare to Young Master Zongyan in contributions? Besides, I heard he awakened two tomoe two years ago. It's time he took the next step."

"That's a good thing, too. No matter how well the clan head and the others describe the altar, we still need to see it verified with our own eyes to feel reassured!"

Not a single person present objected to giving this month's opportunity to Uchiha Zongyan.

Never mind that Zongyan was the clan head's son, he was also the one who had brought the altar back.

Wasn't it only right to let Young Master Zongyan use the altar once?

Standing at the front of the crowd, Fugaku glanced at Yashiro. Understanding, Yashiro beckoned Uchiha Inabi and Uchiha Tekka forward.

Zongyan stood directly before the altar, while Yashiro and the other two took quite a few Summoning Scrolls from inside their clothes and activated them with chakra.

After a puff of white smoke flashed past, the altar's location was piled full of rough iron ingots, and the patterns within the altar began to glow.

The ingots on the bottom layer, touching the altar's patterns, dissolved and faded at a visible rate, turning into a stream that vanished into the altar's ancient patterns.

One ton, ten tons... Only after a hundred tons of rough iron ingots had dissolved did a scarlet, blood-red light shine from the altar's core!

The light shot through the air, precisely enveloping Zongyan where he stood before the altar and wrapping around his entire body.

The familiar pain struck his eyes again. This time, Zongyan gritted through it, not wanting to lose face in front of his clansmen.

Fortunately, the pain lasted only a short while before a cool sensation filled his eyes.

Zongyan slowly opened his eyes and blinked.

When he opened them again, three scarlet tomoe were quietly spinning deep within his dark pupils. The entire world was clearer than it had been with two tomoe.

The beam of light slowly receded as well, retreating into the altar's core.

"It worked! Three tomoe!"

"This altar is simply miraculous! He really awakened them!"

"Young Master Zongyan is only eight now, isn't he? Three tomoe at eight..."

At the sight, Uchiha Tekka smiled so broadly that his face nearly creased all over.

"Good! Good! Good! Young Master Zongyan awakened those eyes with such ease!"

Zongyan blinked, familiarizing himself with his Three-Tomoe Sharingan before deactivating it, returning his eyes to ordinary black pupils.

Before the cheers inside had fully died down, Uchiha Tekka strode forward.

"Young Master Zongyan! How do you feel?"

Several nearby ninja couldn't help crowding around as well, all asking questions at once.

Looking at the expectant faces before him, Zongyan thought for a moment and answered honestly, "I can see more clearly than before, and I feel like my chakra has increased quite a bit."

"That's right, that's right!"

"Awakening through the altar feels exactly the same as awakening on our own before, doesn't it?"

Just then, Yashiro stepped out from behind the crowd.

"All right, all right. Young Master Zongyan's awakening is complete, and you've all seen what there was to see."

"That's all for tonight. I hope everyone keeps up their efforts. May every clansman have the Mangekyō."

He paused, then added:

"Also, the same rule applies to tonight's events. No one is to tell outsiders."

Everyone naturally understood the stakes and nodded in agreement.

People began leaving through the passage, one after another. Before departing, they didn't forget to look back at the altar, imagining themselves standing there next time.

On the way home, Zongyan began thinking about the resources needed for the Sharingan's subsequent awakenings.

Awakening one tomoe had only taken one ton, two tomoe had cost ten tons, and these three tomoe had consumed a full hundred tons of rough iron ingots. The next awakening, the Mangekyō Sharingan, would probably require a thousand tons.

"Resources..."

Lying in bed, he turned over and suddenly remembered something.

There was still an iron mine sitting in his system inventory.

When he had drawn it back then, he hadn't been able to find a location or anyone to mine it. Things were different now.

But the question was, how would he mine it?

Mine near Konoha? The Anbu weren't blind.

If the Uchiha dared to openly mine iron, Danzo would slap a report titled "The Uchiha Are Stockpiling Strategic Supplies with Intent to Rebel" onto the Hokage's desk that very night.

"We can't mine it ourselves, and it has to be somewhere beyond Konoha's reach."

Zongyan went through all his memories from his previous life, trying to find a suitable place in the Shinobi World.

Something suddenly occurred to him:

"Didn't Orochimaru establish Otokage Village in the Land of Rice Fields? Obito even took control of the Land of Rain."

"Orochimaru hasn't left the Akatsuki yet. Why don't I take control of the Land of Rice Fields ahead of him? Have them mine for me?"

"Then have a few clansmen make 'plausible sacrifices' and station them there permanently to manage it..."

The more Zongyan thought about it, the more feasible this approach seemed.

If Orochimaru could establish Otogakure and Obito could control the Land of Rain, why couldn't the Uchiha take control of a country outside to do their bidding?

He tossed and turned in bed, roughly sorting out the plan in his head before making up his mind. "I'll discuss it with Father first thing tomorrow morning. The sooner we do this, the better!"