Konoha Year 50.
The Land of Fire, Uchiha clan district.
Inside the training grounds of the Konoha Military Police Force, two members of the Uchiha clan were locked in a sparring match.
Shinya Uchiha wielded a short blade, its edge crashing against a kunai with a sharp clang.
The instant his attack was blocked, Inabi Uchiha abandoned close combat.
He stepped back and rapidly formed hand seals.
“Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!”
A blazing fireball roared toward Shinya.
There wasn’t a trace of fear in his eyes.
Flipping the short blade into a reverse grip, Shinya used the Body Flicker Technique to evade the fireball.
By the time Inabi realized what had happened, the blade was already resting against his throat.
Seeing this, Inabi could only raise both hands in surrender.
“Still can’t beat you.”
Shinya withdrew his blade as the two tomoe in his eyes slowly faded away.
“I only won because of the Sharingan.
When it comes to ninjutsu, I’m still not as good as you.”
Inabi laughed heartily.
“The Sharingan is part of the Uchiha clan’s strength too.
Judging by your speed just now, you’re probably getting close to Senior Shisui.”
“Why don’t you apply for the jōnin promotion exam soon?”
Shinya shook his head without answering.
His thoughts, however, drifted far away.
That was right.
Shinya was a transmigrator from Earth.
In his previous life, he had been crossing the street when his attempt to cosplay as a speed bump ended in catastrophic failure.
A massive truck sent him straight into another world, where he was reborn as a member of the Uchiha clan.
While he was still attending the Ninja Academy, the Third Shinobi World War broke out.
Naturally, he had been forced to graduate early and became an honored member of the front-line meat grinder.
His parents died during the war.
Their deaths directly caused him to awaken the Sharingan.
As expected, being the parents of a transmigrator was an extremely high-risk occupation.
Perhaps because he had lived two lives, Shinya possessed an exceptionally powerful soul.
Translated into shinobi terms, that meant he had an extraordinary talent for Yin Release.
As a result, awakening and developing his Sharingan on the battlefield had been almost as easy as eating and drinking.
The slightest emotional stimulation caused his ocular power to increase.
By now, he had already awakened the two-tomoe Sharingan and could be considered a genius even within the clan.
Of course, Shinya himself didn’t think much of that talent.
Compared to Itachi, who entered the Academy at six, graduated at seven, became a chūnin at ten, and joined the ANBU at eleven, an ordinary genius like Shinya could only be considered decent by Uchiha standards.
Besides, Shinya’s exceptional talent was mainly limited to Yin Release.
When it came to most ninjutsu involving the five basic nature transformations, his aptitude was thoroughly average.
Of course, by average, he meant average by Uchiha standards.
Thanks to the Sharingan’s copying ability, learning ninjutsu wasn’t particularly difficult for him, but techniques above B-rank became noticeably more demanding.
His talent for genjutsu and taijutsu, however, was excellent.
Combined with his Body Flicker Technique, his overall combat ability was barely enough to reach the level of a jōnin.
Seeing that Shinya had fallen silent, Inabi didn’t press the issue.
He knew his childhood friend had been like this ever since his parents died.
Even on the battlefield, Shinya had always been the type who was ruthless with his hands and stingy with his words.
Inabi had gotten used to it long ago.
“Even if you don’t like the idea, you should still take the jōnin exam.
The more jōnin our Uchiha clan has, the more cautious the village will have to be when dealing with us.”
The Third Shinobi World War had already ended.
And yet, somehow, the position of Fourth Hokage had gone to Minato Namikaze.
Because of that, the Uchiha clan—whose relationship with the village had already been strained—was even more furious than before.
During the Third Shinobi World War, the Uchiha had been transferred to the Land of Water front, an especially unfavorable battlefield for them.
The result had been devastating casualties.
Even worse, the Third Hokage hadn’t given them so much as token compensation or public recognition afterward.
It was as though the Uchiha clan’s contributions to the war had simply been erased.
Such blatant suppression had enraged the clan.
Within the Uchiha, the hawkish faction had completely overwhelmed the moderates and gained the upper hand.
But the growing division inside the clan wasn’t even the greatest problem.
Shinya knew the future.
He knew that relations between the Uchiha and the village were already extremely tense.
And during the approaching Night of the Nine-Tails, Minato Namikaze and his wife would both die.
Afterward, because the Nine-Tails had displayed the pattern of the Sharingan in its eyes, the village’s suspicion would immediately fall upon the Uchiha.
The clan would become a powder keg waiting for the slightest spark.
And after that would come the night of the clan massacre, courtesy of a certain famously “filial” son.
Then there was Danzō, that scheming old bastard lurking in the shadows.
As far as Shinya knew, several Uchiha had gone missing during missions in the Third Shinobi World War, their bodies never recovered.
Shinya didn’t even need to think about who was responsible.
It had to be Danzō!
He even suspected that if he awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan, there was a real chance he might also mysteriously “disappear” during some future mission.
That was why Shinya had nothing but contempt for Inabi’s way of thinking.
The Uchiha clan’s real problem was that they had no one capable of standing up and making the village listen.
Fugaku might have been able to do it.
With his Mangekyō Sharingan, all he needed was to show enough resolve.
Even Danzō wouldn’t casually risk having Root headquarters attacked by a Susanoo just to push forward the destruction of the Uchiha.
If people accuse you of possessing weapons of mass destruction, then you’d better actually have them.
More importantly, you had to convince everyone that you were willing to use them.
Unfortunately, Fugaku was simply too spineless.
He kept retreating, again and again, until he had backed both himself and the entire Uchiha clan to the edge of a cliff.
It just went to show that even if you possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, if you acted like a coward, people would still dare to plot against you.
Shinya had already started seriously considering whether he should seize an opportunity to defect from Konoha.
The Uchiha might not be welcome here, but their bloodline should be quite valuable in the other hidden villages.
Especially Kumogakure.
Their hunger for shinobi with kekkei genkai was practically legendary.
They were perfectly willing to steal, kidnap, or outright snatch people away if it meant acquiring a powerful bloodline.
If Shinya defected to Kumogakure now, he might even end up being treated as a prized breeding stud.
As a transmigrator, Shinya felt absolutely no loyalty toward Konoha.
Considering that his parents’ deaths might even have been connected to Root, a part of him would have been delighted to watch the village burn to the ground.
He had some affection for the Uchiha clan that had raised him, but his status was too low and his strength too limited to change the clan’s fate.
Uchiha who had awakened the Sharingan tended to possess one particularly obvious trait.
Once they had made up their minds, nothing short of death could change them.
Shinya had therefore made preparations long ago.
He had no intention of sinking alongside the Uchiha ship.
His only regret was that, despite being a transmigrator, he apparently hadn’t received any kind of cheat ability.
Otherwise, who would willingly flee Konoha with their tail between their legs like some homeless dog?
Just as Shinya was preparing to head home and rest, an unfamiliar voice suddenly rang inside his mind.
[Ding!
System initialization complete!]
[Starter Gift Pack detected.
Open it?]
Shinya stopped dead in his tracks.
Excellent.
The defection plan was officially canceled.
And to think Hiruzen Sarutobi actually had the nerve to occupy Konoha—a village that rightfully belonged to me!