“A thirteen-year-old with a three-tomoe Sharingan…
there are very few of those in the entire history of the Uchiha clan.”
“The sparse few who did achieve it basically all reached another realm later on.”
Uchiha Fugaku stopped there, making his point clearly as he stared intently at Uchiha Shingen.
“Another…
realm?!”
Shingen repeated the key phrase in Fugaku’s words.
He had originally thought that the three-tomoe stage was the absolute limit of the Sharingan, but looking at it now, it seemed these eyes possessed the possibility of further evolution.
He was just about to open his mouth and press for more details when Fugaku abruptly changed the subject, asking about Jiraiya:
“I heard you’ve been getting quite close to Lord Jiraiya lately.”
Hearing this, Shingen shot Shisui a deeply annoyed glare.
The boy’s small face instantly flushed red all the way to the roots of his ears, and he buried his head, acting like a frightened quail.
“Shisui, does this have to do with you?!”
Seeing this scene play out, Fugaku found it somewhat amusing in his heart and shifted his heavy gaze to Shisui.
“I…
I…
I just…”
Shisui trembled all over, stammering so badly he couldn’t form a coherent sentence for half a day.
He dragged it out for a long while.
Seeing that he couldn’t just bluff his way through, he decided to just throw caution to the wind and spill everything:
“It was Captain Shingen.
He was the one who said that book contained the secret to becoming Hokage!
I just wanted to buy it to try and find out, but I never expected to run into Lord Jiraiya!”
“So you sold me out without a second thought?!”
The corner of Shingen’s mouth twitched violently.
I really went too easy on him just now!
I shouldn’t have pulled my punch on that last hit!
“I…”
Shisui didn’t know what to say for a moment, simply burying his head even lower.
Hearing this.
Fugaku roughly reconstructed the sequence of events in his mind:
“So ever since that day, Jiraiya sought you out, and he’s been dragging you around all day to discuss creative writing?!”
“You knew?!”
Shingen’s old face flushed red.
Getting caught slacking off on the clock by your ultimate boss was absolutely not a wonderful experience.
Am I going to be fired over this?!
Damn it!
I never should have been so blinded by the money!
Fugaku swept a calm glance over him, instantly grasping the reality of the situation in his heart.
Combined with the previous reports from his second-in-command, Uchiha Yakumi, it seemed Jiraiya and Shingen truly were just innocently discussing creative writing.
It wasn’t the Third Hokage attempting to secretly extend his reach into the Uchiha clan.
Right now, the tension between the Uchiha and the Konoha higher-ups was gradually easing.
The Third Hokage had absolutely no logical reason to pull such a stunt at this specific juncture.
And even if he did, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to do it so openly and without disguise.
As for Danzo, it was even more impossible.
Jiraiya’s utter lack of interest in Konoha’s internal political struggles had been clearly laid out on the table for years.
The stern expression on Fugaku’s face softened considerably:
“Regarding tonight’s events, I will personally go to Lord Hokage to demand an explanation.”
“In the future, if you encounter anything similar, you can have someone notify me immediately.
No matter what happens, the Uchiha clan will always be your strongest backing.”
“Of course, if there is anything you need right now, you can ask me.”
Shingen naturally caught the olive branch Fugaku was extending.
He immediately let out a massive sigh of relief.
At the very least, his cushy official position at the Police Force wasn’t in jeopardy for the time being.
With the Clan Head actively offering rewards, Shingen’s mind quickly began to turn.
Tonight’s sudden crisis had served as a brutal wake-up call.
If he didn’t possess sufficiently overwhelming power, his dream life of coasting and slacking off at the Police Force could be permanently buried at any moment, simply on a whim by a big shot like Danzo.
Abilities like his Kekkei Genkai and Chakra could be forcefully leveled up using his Attribute Points, but when it came to actual Ninjutsu, he would likely have to rely on his own resources to acquire them.
Speaking of Ninjutsu.
Shisui’s Uchiha Style: Halo Dance from tonight had left an incredibly deep impression on Shingen.
That technique of aggressively compressing Fire Release chakra directly onto the edge of a blade and launching a blazing slash was incredibly fast—it practically required zero hand seals.
At the very least, Shingen hadn’t seen Shisui perform a single hand seal to cast it.
In other words, it was highly likely a seal-less jutsu.
In high-speed shinobi combat, the side that mastered seal-less jutsu would hold an absolute first-strike advantage.
And more often than not, a first-strike advantage was enough to completely dictate the outcome of an entire battle.
Besides, since the Clan Head was actively showing his favor, outright refusing him now would only make him look suspicious.
Thinking of this, Shingen spoke up:
“I want the scroll for the Halo Dance.”
“A jutsu?
Understood.”
Fugaku wasn’t surprised by this request in the slightest.
He immediately stood up, reached toward the bookshelf behind him, and pulled out a crimson-red scroll.
He paused slightly, then casually pulled out a few other scrolls and brought them all over, placing them on the tea table right in front of Shingen.
“This is the scroll documenting the Halo Dance technique.
Fugaku picked up the crimson scroll, waved it slightly, and then pointed to the other scrolls beside it:
“Since you’ve now awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan, participating in the Jonin promotion exams is merely a matter of time.
You should find these commonly used high-level jutsu quite useful as well.”
“Thank you, Lord Clan Head.”
Shingen nodded, reaching out to accept the scrolls.
Feeling the heavy weight in his hands, Shingen finally realized just how monumentally significant a thirteen-year-old with a three-tomoe Sharingan truly was to the Uchiha clan—far more than he had initially assumed.
As for the “other realm” of the Sharingan that Fugaku had casually mentioned earlier, Shingen wasn’t in any rush right now.
After all, with his current setup, even if he just rigidly stuck to his daily routine and clocked in every day, he could eventually force his Sharingan to level up entirely through Attribute Points.
Fugaku turned his head and asked Shisui what he needed.
Following Shingen’s lead, Shisui asked for a few secret Fire Release ninjutsu exclusive to the clan.
Right at the end, he gathered his courage and added:
“Lord Clan Head, I also bear a large portion of the responsibility for what happened tonight.
Please do not punish Captain Shingen.
He is incredibly important, both to the Uchiha and to Konoha.”
Hearing this, Fugaku reached out and warmly rubbed the top of Shisui’s head.
A gentle, benevolent light appeared in his eyes as he nodded, implicitly agreeing to the boy’s plea.
…
By the time Shingen and Shisui walked out of the Clan Head’s grand estate, it was already well past midnight.
The night had grown incredibly deep.
The temperature had dropped sharply, and cold dew clung to the leaves lining the path.
A chilling breeze blew past.
Shingen tightened his jacket around himself, couldn’t suppress a yawn, and then turned his head to look at Shisui, laughing mockingly:
“You little brat, selling me out so cleanly and efficiently?!”
As he spoke, Shingen reached out and vigorously rubbed Shisui’s hair into a messy bird’s nest, completely ignoring the boy’s helpless struggles:
“Alright, with that, we’re completely even!”
“Don’t be late for work tomorrow!”
The moment his voice faded.
Shingen’s figure blurred and vanished at the fork in the road.
Shisui stood in place for a long time.
He reached up to smooth out the hair Shingen had just mercilessly ruffled, a warm, genuine smile blooming in his eyes.
He turned and walked toward his own home.
His footsteps were light and brisk, as if a heavy, invisible shackle had finally been lifted from his shoulders.
Uchiha Fugaku, who had just received an urgent summons from the Hokage and was preparing to head to the Hokage Building for an emergency meeting, caught sight of this scene.
On his usually stern, rigid face, a rare, fond smile appeared:
“They’re both good kids.”