Another Uchiha Jonin Unworthy of a Name?

Among the Leaf’s ocular clans, the Hyuga’s attitude can be left aside for now, but the Uchiha looked down on them from the bottom of their hearts.

Objectively speaking, the Caged Bird seal did have its place. Even a useful thing, however, depended on whose hands used it.

At the very least, the current Hyuga main house was something the Uchiha held in utter contempt.

Not shinobi, never setting foot on the battlefield, yet monopolizing the power of the clan; their strength was plainly negligible, and still they carried themselves every day as though they were extraordinary.

It was as if they were mocking the entire shinobi class: so long as one was born well, even a useless coward could still stand high above others.

The existence of such a clan, such a phenomenon, was nothing short of a sneer at the Uchiha’s worship of strength.

Even Shisui, in his heart, did not approve of the Hyuga main house.

So when Orochimaru brought up the Hyuga as a comparison, Fugaku hurriedly denied it, saying he was ashamed to be placed in the same category as the Hyuga.

His fear that the future branch family might produce a Mangekyo Sharingan and bring disaster upon the clan was only one part of it. Deeper still was Fugaku’s worry that the so-called Uchiha main house would one day turn into that pack of useless Hyuga.

After all, power was the thing that corrupted the heart most easily, and power one was born with was even more so.

If he wanted such fools never to appear, then he should from the very start avoid this kind of system and destroy the conditions in which parasites could be born.

But if he did that, the vision of a clan-wide Sharingan would come to nothing.

Fugaku was somewhat disappointed. These past few days he had turned the matter over and over in his mind, one vision after another rising before him, and had thought the new bloodline eyes were the opportunity for the Uchiha’s true rise. He had never expected there to still be so many limitations.

Still, the Uchiha clan head was not discouraged. The appearance of the new eyes was, after all, a good thing. Even if the entire clan could not obtain them, could they at least be made available to every Uchiha jonin?

And besides, Uchiha Jinsuke had already obtained the new eyes. What would his children manifest upon awakening: the Sharingan, or the new bloodline eyes?

That was a question worth verifying.

Come to think of it, he should also have a fiancee...

Fugaku’s thoughts drifted outward at once, but the reverie lasted only a moment before Orochimaru’s next words dragged him back to reality.

“Clan Head Fugaku, aside from Uchiha Jinsuke, there is another Uchiha jonin who underwent the operation...”

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow and smiled. “During these days I have been training at the Snake Cave. I wonder whether this jonin has awakened the new eyes, or at least shown signs of doing so?”

“No awakening yet, but whether there are signs or not, I cannot say.”

Fugaku frowned. “You should take a look yourself.”

When Orochimaru nodded in agreement, Fugaku immediately sent someone to fetch that Uchiha jonin.

Before long, the jonin arrived before them, far sooner than expected.

In truth, the jonin named Uchiha Yusuke had been standing by outside ever since he learned that Orochimaru had returned to the Leaf and might visit the Uchiha compound.

There was a reason for this, naturally. As another successful recipient of the physique-enhancement surgery, Yusuke had been suffering in silence these days.

In the first place, his growth in strength had never matched Jinsuke’s, and he had not even learned Wood Release. Now Jinsuke had awakened a new form of the Sharingan, which only piled yet more pressure upon him.

Under the subtle gazes of his clansmen, he could do no more than train harder and harder, desperate to catch up with Jinsuke as soon as possible.

The gains were not nonexistent. In fact, compared with before, his strength had increased markedly. But against his expectations, it still fell short, and it was hard to be satisfied.

Now that the chief architect behind Jinsuke’s dramatic rise in power, the designer of this new ocular bloodline, had finally returned, Uchiha Yusuke naturally was not about to let the chance slip by. After arranging the duties of his Security Force squad, he came at once to the clan head’s residence and waited at any moment to be summoned.

Orochimaru took out an instrument from a scroll and carefully examined Yusuke’s physical condition. Then he smiled and said, “Compared with last time, your progress is extremely obvious. Truly unbelievable, for such change to occur in only a few days.”

“But Lord Orochimaru, when will I be able to obtain the new bloodline, just like Jinsuke?”

Uchiha Yusuke stared fixedly at Orochimaru, his gaze mingling anxiety and anticipation. It was as though he were back at the ninja academy, asking an elder of his clan when he too might awaken his eyes, fearful all the while that the answer would be that he lacked the talent.

“That will require some time, and some stimulation as well.”

After updating the new bodily data on the file, Orochimaru raised his head and smiled. “It is much like the awakening of the Sharingan: it requires a trigger. Before that, you should simply train diligently.”

Orochimaru did not merely speak in empty terms. He took out a sheet of paper and swiftly wrote down a detailed regimen, mainly focused on further developing the physique.

After sending away the excited Yusuke, Fugaku turned and asked, “Lord Orochimaru, how long will it take for Yusuke to awaken the new bloodline?”

As clan head, he was not so easily fooled. He had heard that Orochimaru’s words were vague and amounted to little more than polite formality.

“In the short term, it is impossible. I am afraid it will take one or two years, and that is only if he is lucky.”

Orochimaru shook his head. “The physique-enhancement surgery itself was already something of a strain for him.”

To ensure the success rate of the operation, the First Hokage’s cells used on Yusuke were a stripped-down version of the ones used for Jinsuke.

The materials were inferior to begin with, and unlike Uchiha Jinsuke, Yusuke had not been fortunate enough to suffer a little stimulation. Naturally, the time needed to awaken the new eyes would be pushed far into the future.

In fact, the fact that Uchiha Jinsuke had awakened so quickly had also been beyond Orochimaru’s expectations. One could only say that his talent was indeed excellent.

Glancing at the disappointed Fugaku, Orochimaru gave a cold smile. “After all, this is a new bloodline limit power. Merely spending a few years on it, and Clan Head Fugaku cannot even wait for that? Isn’t that a little too greedy?”

The reasoning was sound enough. Fugaku naturally understood it as well, but Uchiha Jinsuke had simply been too fast, awakening only a few days after the surgery, which made it seem as though it was not all that difficult.

Uchiha Yusuke’s restlessness came from precisely that.

“Of course, if Clan Head Fugaku truly wants speed, that is not impossible either...”

Orochimaru licked his lips.

“The surgery used on those two was, in truth, somewhat conservative. If one disregards life and stacks the numbers, I could also produce several successful cases for the Uchiha in a short time.”

“This... no, absolutely not.”

Fugaku hurriedly shook his head. What a joke. The Uchiha did not even have that many jonin. Where would he find lives for Orochimaru to waste?

“Not jonin.”

Leaning forward, Orochimaru’s lips pulled into a smile on both sides, and that smile turned dark and cold.

“In fact, chunin, genin, even ordinary Uchiha can undergo the operation. The death rate would simply be higher.”

“But if we lose a few hundred people and gain one successful case, I... still have confidence in it.”

Hearing this, Fugaku was struck by a chill, not only because of Orochimaru’s mad proposal, but also because he himself had, for a moment, been tempted.

Indeed, as clan head, if he looked at it with absolute rationality, sacrificing more than a hundred clansmen in exchange for a new bloodline that could be inherited was actually worth it.

However, that thought appeared only for an instant before Fugaku cast it out of his mind.

The Uchiha’s current situation was good. There was no need to make such a choice. They could simply cultivate the clan steadily, step by step.

So Uchiha Fugaku once again rejected Orochimaru’s proposal with righteous determination.

“Good. It seems Clan Head Fugaku has not lost his wits.”

Orochimaru sat back down on the cushion, the coldness on his face receding as though the one who had made that blood-soaked proposal earlier had not been him.

Yet he was still smiling, and the smile was strangely unsettling.

“However, Clan Head Fugaku may keep his reason. What about your clansmen?”

“If someone were to tell them that they could undergo an operation and leap far ahead in strength, just like Uchiha Jinsuke, what choice do you think they would make?”