"Brother Yuzuru, please, stop training me already!"
"Can I just rest for one day?"
Watching the pleading Uchiha Obito, Yuzuru snorted coldly. "No one succeeds without effort. If you don't put in the work, what right do you have to seek true power?"
Obito immediately shot back, "Then how come I never see you training?"
"Me?" Yuzuru folded his arms and said calmly, "I've met a lot of geniuses—but all of them call me one."
"And you?"
"You've met plenty of dead-lasts—and every one of them calls you dead last."
"That's the difference between us."
It was a blow that hit body and soul.
Obito felt like dying might hurt less.
'Honestly, Brother Yuzuru, do you have to be that blunt? Can't you at least say it nicely?'
Still, curiosity got the better of him. "Brother Yuzuru, is it really good to chase after power too much? Back in the Academy, our teachers said that relying too much on power is what caused so many wars and tragedies in the shinobi world."
"We should learn to use love to change everything."
Yuzuru smacked Obito across the head and said in a cold voice, "It's because we can't erase conflict that we need power even more."
"Without strength, you can't do anything. You can't protect anything."
"Putting your hopes in others is where tragedy begins."
"From now on, forget all that nonsense they teach you at the Academy."
"...Okay, got it."
While they were talking, Yakumi Uchiha came running up in a panic. "Lord Yuzuru! Someone's here!"
————
Yuzuru Uchiha hadn't expected that the first visitors to come knocking would be from Sunagakure—the village farthest from the Land of Rice Fields.
He walked forward slowly, eyes narrowing at the group of dozens of Sand shinobi ahead.
"What's going on?"
Seeing Fugaku Uchiha's dark expression, Yuzuru frowned slightly.
Fugaku pointed at the Sand-nin standing in front. "Those guys are getting way too arrogant."
"Oh?"
Yuzuru arched an eyebrow, then looked toward the Sand ninja Fugaku had indicated. "Shinobi of Sunagakure, state your purpose for coming here."
The leading Sand-nin stepped forward. "My name is Shoji Kogai. You're the one in charge of the Uchiha clan?"
When Yuzuru nodded, Shoji immediately said, "Our Kazekage heard of your clan's defection from Konoha and has decided to take you in."
"From now on, would you be willing to serve Sunagakure?"
Yuzuru's brow creased. "Watch your tone."
"My tone?" Shoji barked out a laugh. "You're nothing but a pack of stray dogs. The fact that Sunagakure is willing to take you in should make you grateful."
"Hand over your ninjutsu scrolls and supplies, and in return we'll—"
Before he could finish, his mind went blank for a split second.
When he came to, Yuzuru had him by the neck, hoisted up.
Shoji's eyes met the crimson whirl of Yuzuru's three-tomoe Sharingan. He struggled to breathe. "W–What are you doing? Think carefully about the consequences! You can't afford to provoke Sunagakure's wrath!"
"Apologize."
"What?"
"I said," Yuzuru's grip tightened, "apologize for what you just said."
Blood rushed to Shoji's head. His lungs burned. The cold killing intent in Yuzuru's gaze told him this wasn't a bluff—he would die here.
"I—I apologize!" he choked out at last. "I was rude, I'm sorry!"
But Yuzuru's hand didn't loosen. It only tightened.
Shoji's eyes widened in disbelief.
Why?
He'd already apologized!
Seeing the confusion on his face, Yuzuru said evenly, "I told you to apologize. I never said I'd forgive you."
Crack.
With a sharp snap, Shoji's neck twisted, and Yuzuru tossed the corpse aside like a dead dog.
The Sand shinobi erupted in fury.
"Damned Uchiha! You dared kill a shinobi of Sunagakure—unforgivable!"
"We'll kill you and avenge our comrade!"
"You'll face the wrath of the Kazekage himself! Your clan will be wiped out!"
To them, the Uchiha were nothing more than exiles—rootless strays anyone could trample.
A once-great clan, now reduced to beggars before a village's power.
They hadn't come to rob them outright. That, in their minds, was already mercy.
But now—
These bastards had slain one of their own without hesitation.
Unbelievable arrogance!
Looking at the furious Sand-nin, Yuzuru's lips curved into a faint smile. "It's been far too long since the shinobi world has spoken the name of the Uchiha."
"Today, we'll use these Sand shinobi's lives to remind everyone—"
"That the once-great clan, bearers of the strongest kekkei genkai in history... has returned!"
At his words, the Uchiha behind him roared with excitement.
Some trembled with anticipation they could no longer contain.
Battle. At last.
"Madmen..."
Facing the rows of crimson three-tomoe Sharingan, the Sand-nin felt a chill that came from the depths of their souls.
They had five jōnin among them, including Shoji himself—a strong formation by any standard.
But against this many Uchiha? Even ten jōnin wouldn't make a difference.
Before they could react, over a dozen Uchiha with fully awakened Sharingan formed seals simultaneously behind Yuzuru.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
The massive fireballs collided and merged into a roaring inferno that engulfed the Sand-nin.
In an instant, the battlefield turned into a sea of flames.
Screams rang out. Death swept through the Sand's ranks.
When they finally blew the flames away with Wind Release, the surviving Sand-nin found themselves staring straight into a wall of spinning Sharingan.
The Uchiha were already upon them.
At the front, Yuzuru's blade sliced cleanly through one throat after another, each arc leaving a trail of blood like scattered crimson petals.
A Sand-nin shouted, "Take him down or we're all dead here!"
Before the words finished, Yuzuru's hand closed around his neck.
"You want to dance too?"
Crack!
The sound of shattering bone echoed as the man went limp.
Explosions of kunai, senbon, and paper bombs filled the air, swallowing Yuzuru in a cloud of smoke and fire.
Then—
BOOM!
With a thunderous blast, the smoke cleared.
The Sand-nin froze, eyes wide with horror.
Yuzuru stepped through the haze, blade in hand, completely unscathed.
And the pattern in his crimson eyes was no longer the familiar three tomoe—
but something far more intricate and terrifying, unlike anything they had ever seen.
T/n:
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