Chapter 337: Fugaku's Mangekyō — Jiraiya's Urgent Visit!
In the bustling capital city, nestled among the grandeur, stood an estate dedicated to genjutsu arts.
After sending Kakuzu away with Oyashiro En's envoy to undergo interrogation,
inside the teahouse,
Uchiha Kagami turned his head, looking at Uchiha Fugaku with surprise as he asked:
"Fugaku,"
"After our last clan assembly, you were supposed to remain stationed within the family, overseeing the temporary disassociation of Ci from the clan's affairs. It was meant to prevent ill-intentioned individuals within Konoha from seizing the opportunity to stir up trouble."
"Why, then, have you suddenly come to me today?"
Uchiha Fugaku remained silent for a moment before letting out a long sigh.
The reason he had come here was because of an extreme warning from his right eye.
It was the ability of his Mangekyō Sharingan, known as Kuraokami.
Ever since he relinquished the struggle for the clan leader position to Uchiha Ci nearly a month and a half ago, he had been freed from the constant worries and sleepless nights over the clan's future. During that time, he ate heartily, slept soundly until noon, and waited happily for Uchiha Ci to officially take charge. He even tossed aside his duties at the Konoha Police Department, happily embracing a domestic life at home, playing with the soon-to-be-born eldest son he and Mikoto were eagerly expecting — truly a blissful period.
Unfortunately, good times never last.
After the battle at Hell Valley, news arrived that the young clan head, Uchiha Ci, had fallen off a cliff and was presumed dead.
That day, countless Uchiha clan members gathered at his door, pushing him forward to lead once again. The crushing pressure almost made Fugaku suffocate.
The heavy burden returned to his shoulders.
Adding to the disaster, the clan's best aides were ambushed and killed by an unknown force during the attack on the Gold Exchange headquarters. Meanwhile, Mikoto was nearing her due date.
It was as if the birth of the child they planned to name Itachi would also herald the arrival of misfortune.
One piece of bad news after another overwhelmed him to the point of snapping.
In a state of panic and helplessness, he awakened those ominous eyes—
The Mangekyō Sharingan!
The left eye's dojutsu, Tsukuyomi, was a genjutsu ability born from his feelings of fear and helplessness, capable of interpreting everything through the shortening of time in his heart.
The right eye's dojutsu, Kuraokami, was a passive precognition-like ability.
Kuraokami, also known as Ukanomitama-no-Kami, the Inari deity from myth who governed harvests, had the unique power to detect, with fox-like sharpness, the key threads that could unravel prosperity — and hunt down harmful threats — the "rats" that endangered the family's flourishing.
This time,
Fugaku was alerted by his right eye, sensing an imminent catastrophe—
Uchiha Kagami, Uchiha Seijiro, and the group of Uchiha members stationed in Yunming City preparing to assist Uchiha Ci were all fated to die today.
And in a fleeting vision akin to a hallucination,
he saw Uchiha Ci, like him, awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan and stand upon a grand battlefield, descending into a frenzied massacre!
And the lynchpin of it all was—
the arrival at the Genjutsu Estate of this guest named Oyashiro En's envoy.
After his daughter was taken away by Uchiha Kagami, Oyashiro En's envoy would fly into an uncontrollable rage, slaughtering everyone at the estate, and then betray the Akatsuki organization in a quest for vengeance against Uchiha Ci!
Uchiha Kagami had thought that with himself and Seijiro, both wielding fully matured three-tomoe Sharingan, supported by a group of Uchiha Chunin and cat shinobi, plus Kakuzu — an elite of near Kage-level strength — overseeing the situation, they could suppress the envoy, force him into submission, and establish cooperation with the Uchiha clan.
However, what he failed to anticipate was that the envoy possessed an eye forbidden on par with the Mangekyō Sharingan. In his berserk state, none of them would be a match, and they would all pay with their lives.
This was why Uchiha Fugaku had risked everything, even braving the pressure from the Third Hokage and the various noble houses, to leave the village and come to the Land of Lightning.
Back in the underground cavern, Seijiro had been right.
In the face of the clan's fate, Fugaku had hesitated far too much, to the point of losing what was truly precious.
Recalling the moment before Uchiha Ci left the village, when he called out "Brother Fugaku," Fugaku had steeled his resolve.
He would not allow such a tragedy to happen!
Now, as Uchiha Kagami questioned him, Fugaku felt a brief moment of confusion.
Had he truly changed everything?
Would such reckless actions really benefit the clan?
Was he helping Uchiha Ci, or hindering him?
By preventing Uchiha Ci from experiencing the profound grief necessary to awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan, was he doing more harm than good?
And more importantly—
Had the future shown by Kuraokami really been averted?
"Hey!"
"Fugaku, even if you're no longer going to be the clan head, you're still going to be a clan elder."
"Don't start slacking off on me now, got it?!"
Uchiha Kagami gave Fugaku a shove and grumbled in annoyance,
"What's with that look in your eyes? You're looking at me like I'm already dead or something!"
Cough, cough! Caught off guard by the shove, Fugaku choked on his tea, waving his hand frantically.
"Big Brother Kagami, don't joke about something like that!"
"Hmph!"
Uchiha Kagami shot Fugaku a glance, his expression easing a little as he shook his head.
"But actually, it's good that you're here. Tomorrow, Uchiha Ci will launch his revenge against the Land of Lightning. Kumogakure still has plenty of elite fighters. With you here, there'll be better protection for him."
"Our own people are always more reliable than outsiders."
As he spoke, a grim expression flickered across Kagami's face, and he hesitated for a moment before asking Fugaku in a low voice:
"By the way... about that matter... Have you thought about how you're going to explain it to Ci once he gets back?"
At this, Fugaku's face immediately froze.
"This..."
However, before he could finish, the sound of rapid footsteps suddenly echoed outside the teahouse.
Soon, Seijiro poked his head in through the doorway.
"Elder Kagami, Lord Fugaku!"
"There's a visitor outside the barrier. I didn't dare make the call myself, so I came to ask you—"
"Visitor?"
Uchiha Kagami blinked in surprise.
"Kakuzu came back again? He's the only one who should know about this estate."
"No, it's not Kakuzu!"
Seijiro's face twitched awkwardly as he scratched his head, still unable to figure out what was going on, and said directly:
"It's one of the Legendary Three Shinobi — part of the Fire Country's Konoha envoy delegation."
"Lord Jiraiya!"
"And he looks like he's in a real hurry."
At these words,
Uchiha Kagami and Uchiha Fugaku both froze, exchanging baffled glances.
"Jiraiya?"
"Why would he be looking for us?"
"And how did he even know about this place?"