Shinya silently said in his mind,
“Open it.”
[Starter Gift Pack opened.
Reward obtained: Yin Release Chakra.]
[Integrate now?]
“Yes!”
Shinya chose yes without the slightest hesitation.
The next second, a sharp pain stabbed through his eyes.
Two trails of blood slowly ran down from the corners of his eyes like crimson tears.
“Shinya, are you okay?”
Seeing the pain on Shinya’s face, Inabi immediately rushed over in alarm.
Shinya waved a hand, signaling for him not to panic.
A moment later, Shinya opened his eyes again.
Within his blood-red Sharingan, three tomoe slowly revolved.
Inabi froze.
Then his expression immediately turned to delight.
“Shinya, you awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan?!”
Even within the Uchiha clan, very few people possessed a fully matured three-tomoe Sharingan.
Including the elders of the older generation, there were only a little over a dozen of them in the entire clan.
Whether within the Uchiha or throughout the shinobi world, there was a common understanding regarding any Uchiha who awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan.
At minimum, they had the potential to become elite jōnin.
And many of them were elite jōnin capable of fighting several opponents at once.
There wasn’t a trace of jealousy in Inabi’s heart.
He was genuinely happy that his close friend had become stronger.
The instant Shinya’s vision returned, he realized that his eyes could see everything even more clearly than before.
His chakra reserves had also increased considerably.
And he had only absorbed a portion of the Yin Release Chakra from the Starter Gift Pack.
By his conservative estimate, once he completely absorbed it, all he would need was a little emotional stimulation and there was a very real possibility that he could awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.
“Heh…
hehehe…
hahahahaha!”
Shinya suddenly threw his head back and burst into wild laughter.
Perhaps it was because hope had appeared just when he thought he had reached a dead end.
Or perhaps the Uchiha clan simply had some kind of mad-laughter gene flowing through its bloodline.
Whatever the reason, immediately after awakening the three-tomoe Sharingan, Shinya performed the clan’s signature maniacal laugh.
Inabi watched him without finding anything strange about it at all.
If he had just awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan, he might have been acting even more arrogant.
Only then did Shinya begin examining the system’s functions.
[Starter Mission Issued: Become a Jōnin.]
[Reward: One Multiversal Lottery Draw.]
Aside from the mission notification, there was also Shinya’s personal status panel.
[Host: Shinya Uchiha]
[Kekkei Genkai: Three-Tomoe Sharingan]
[Chakra Natures: Yin, Fire, Lightning, Wind]
[Ninjutsu: Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu, Body Flicker Technique, Substitution Jutsu, Transformation Jutsu, Shadow Clone Jutsu, Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique…]
So it was the type of system that issued missions and rewarded him with lottery draws.
However, the system’s upper limit appeared to be extremely high.
Its lottery could apparently grant things from worlds beyond Naruto.
That meant Shinya’s own future ceiling had risen tremendously as well.
He might even gain the ability to cross dimensions someday.
“Inabi, let’s go.”
Shinya waved to the utterly confused Inabi.
Inabi blinked.
“Go where?”
“To see the elders.
I’m applying for the jōnin promotion exam.”
Inabi stared blankly at Shinya’s retreating back.
Hadn’t he just said he wasn’t interested in becoming a jōnin?
Why had he suddenly changed his mind and decided to apply?
Had awakening the three-tomoe Sharingan gone to his head?
Still, seeing that Shinya was already walking away, Inabi hurried after him.
The two soon returned to the Uchiha clan district and met one of the clan elders in his office.
Aside from Fugaku Uchiha, who served both as clan head and commander of the Konoha Military Police Force, there were three other major figures with significant authority within the Uchiha clan.
They were the clan’s three elders.
The man Shinya had come to see today was one of them.
Yashiro Uchiha.
Yashiro was somewhat surprised to see Shinya, a junior clansman he had always thought highly of, coming to visit him.
“Shinya, what brings you to this old man today?”
Yashiro even poured Shinya a cup of tea and gestured for him to sit.
Shinya didn’t accept the tea.
Instead, he directly activated his three-tomoe Sharingan.
The hand Yashiro was using to pour tea visibly trembled.
A moment later, undisguised joy appeared in his eyes.
Another member of the clan had awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan!
Given the current situation, this was excellent news.
“Elder, I’ve awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan.
I came here today to request permission to take the jōnin promotion exam.”
“Good!
Good!
Excellent!”
Yashiro said it three times in a row.
After Shisui, another genius had finally emerged among the clan’s younger generation.
“Since you’ve awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan, I’ll take you to see the Hokage immediately and arrange your jōnin exam.”
…
On the way to the Hokage Building, Yashiro remained silent for quite a while.
Eventually, he suddenly asked,
“What do you think of the current Hokage?”
Shinya answered almost without thinking.
“He’s a good man.”
Yashiro hadn’t expected Shinya to describe Minato that way.
His footsteps even paused for a moment.
A good man.
Among shinobi, that wasn’t necessarily a compliment.
But that genuinely was how Shinya viewed Minato.
Minato Namikaze had only recently succeeded the Third Hokage, and Shinya wasn’t particularly interested in him.
Becoming Hokage at just twenty years old looked incredibly impressive.
He had even married the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki, effectively gaining control over Konoha’s most powerful weapon of war.
From the outside, it looked like the perfect life.
But youth also meant…
A lack of political experience.
The Third Hokage had not yet truly grown old.
Together with Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Danzō Shimura, Hiruzen Sarutobi still held enormous influence over Konoha’s affairs.
On top of that, Tsunade and Jiraiya, both of whom might have supported Minato, had left the village one after another.
Orochimaru had also gradually become disillusioned and stopped involving himself in village politics.
As a result, Minato was essentially a figurehead pushed out in front of the public.
On the battlefield, Minato Namikaze had undoubtedly been dazzling.
But in Shinya’s opinion, that didn’t mean he was suited to being Hokage.
Of course, those thoughts weren’t something Shinya intended to say aloud.
Not even in front of an elder of his own clan.
Yashiro walked for a while longer.
When Shinya offered no further opinion, he asked another question.
“Then…
what do you think of Danzō Shimura?”
Shinya’s response was just as immediate.
“He’s a despicable man.
The kind who’ll use any means necessary to achieve his goals.”
“And…
he’s extremely hostile toward the Uchiha clan.”
Without Danzō Shimura, Shinya doubted Hiruzen Sarutobi would ever have truly made up his mind to eliminate the Uchiha clan.
Yashiro nodded.
He didn’t ask anything else.
…
Smoke filled the Hokage’s office.
Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi sat on a nearby sofa, continuously puffing on his pipe.
Meanwhile, the poor blond Hokage sat behind the enormous desk, drowning in paperwork while being forced to breathe in Hiruzen’s smoke.
Seeing this scene only strengthened Shinya’s earlier judgment.
Minato really was nothing more than a figurehead.
Shinya even suspected that Minato might need Hiruzen Sarutobi’s approval just to mobilize the ANBU.
There was absolutely nothing normal about this arrangement.
When he saw the visitors enter, Hiruzen revealed a kindly smile.
“Yashiro?
What brings you here?”
Yashiro glanced at Minato, who had raised his head from behind the desk, before turning toward Hiruzen.
“It concerns this child’s promotion to jōnin.”
Shinya stepped forward at the appropriate moment and bowed respectfully.
“Konoha chūnin Shinya Uchiha greets Lord Third.”
Hiruzen nodded at him.
“Shinya Uchiha.
I’ve heard of you.
You’re a very promising young shinobi.”
He gestured for a nearby ANBU operative to bring over Shinya’s records.
As he flipped through the file, Hiruzen continued,
“If I remember correctly, Shinya performed very well during the war and awakened the two-tomoe Sharingan?”
Yashiro calmly corrected him.
“Actually, the boy has already awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan.”
“I also intend to promote Shinya to squad captain within the Military Police Force after this examination.”
With the three-tomoe Sharingan, a skilled Uchiha would possess at least elite-jōnin-level combat power.
And Shinya was still extremely young.
Yashiro doubted many people would oppose the proposal when he brought it before the clan council.
The hand Hiruzen was using to turn the page abruptly stopped.