The Sharingan is the greatest foundation that has allowed the Uchiha clan to dominate the ninja world for centuries. It is also the universal standard used to measure talent within the clan.
In the original story, Uchiha Itachi was called a once-in-a-century genius when he awakened his Sharingan at the age of eight.
Although geniuses were far more common during the Sengoku Period, most people still had to wait until after the age of ten to awaken their eyes.
Last year, when Uchiha Madara awakened his Sharingan, the entire clan placed high hopes on him, regarding him as the future hope for the clan's revival.
If Kure remembered correctly, in the original story Madara only awakened his Sharingan after his first falling-out with Senju Hashirama.
But in this life, perhaps because of the pressure Kure had placed on him, Madara awakened his Sharingan at the age of five.
It could only be said that he truly lived up to the title of Indra's reincarnation—a genuine monster of talent.
As for someone like Uchiha Kure, who awakened his Sharingan at the age of two and possessed a Double-Tomoe Sharingan by the age of six, he would bet that such a case had probably never appeared before in the history of the Uchiha clan.
Of course, their ancestor Indra had to be excluded. According to legend, that great figure had awakened a Three-Tomoe Sharingan the moment he was born.
However, Kure seriously doubted the authenticity of that story.
Not because he doubted Indra's talent.
Rather, the claim that someone could awaken a Three-Tomoe Sharingan at birth sounded more like the exaggerated imagination of later Uchiha descendants.
If anything, with Indra's bloodline, being born with a Mangekyō Sharingan would actually make more sense.
But the current Uchiha clan had long since forgotten that there was a stage above the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
In short, no matter how one looked at it, Uchiha Kure could be considered a genius in every sense of the word.
In fact, calling him a genius among geniuses would not be an exaggeration.
Perhaps the word "monster" would be more appropriate.
If judged purely by the strength he had demonstrated so far, Kure had already become a chūnin at the age of five—earlier even than the future prodigy Hatake Kakashi.
Perhaps because of the pressure Kure exerted, the Madara of this world had also become a chūnin last year.
Although Kure didn't know exactly when Madara in the original timeline became a chūnin, it certainly couldn't have been earlier than in this timeline.
What was even more terrifying was that this lunatic was still dissatisfied with his progress.
Every single day in the clan territory, he was either eating, sleeping, training—or heading to the training grounds to challenge someone to spar.
Seriously, you might be the reincarnation of Indra, but isn't being dissatisfied with that level of progress a bit too absurd?
A chūnin who had awakened even a single tomoe of the Sharingan could already exchange several moves with an ordinary jōnin.
Let alone five-year-olds—among the current major clans, there were probably very few people under the age of ten who could defeat him.
And making things harder for himself was one thing…
But what was the deal with dragging Kure along every single day?
Uchiha Kure continued skipping stones across the river, complaining silently in his mind.
Madara, this cultivation maniac, not only set extremely high standards for himself but also expected the same from everyone in his age group.
At one point, he even wanted to impose his daily training schedule on all the Uchiha children.
Fortunately, that devilish training routine was far too extreme to be widely adopted and was quickly stopped by his father, Uchiha Tajima.
Since he couldn't force everyone else to follow his routine, Madara instead targeted the one person who could keep up with him—Uchiha Kure.
Every few days, he would drag Kure to the training grounds for sparring sessions, leaving Kure completely helpless.
There was no helping it.
If Kure couldn't beat Madara, he would simply be dragged to the training grounds and beaten up anyway.
And if he wanted to beat Madara, he had to maintain a training pace equal to—or even greater than—Madara's.
The fastest way to improve strength was also through constant sparring at the training grounds.
So in the end, Kure had no choice but to agree to Madara's frequent challenges.
However, they eventually reached a compromise: Kure would only spar with him twice a week.
Madara reluctantly agreed.
Mainly because, aside from Kure, there was no one under the age of eight in the entire clan who could fight him evenly.
Those older than eight had already begun leaving the clan territory to carry out missions.
Thus, in the vast Uchiha clan compound—among hundreds or even thousands of young ninja—the only person who could truly fight the young clan heir to his heart's content was Kure.
Naturally, this lone remaining "sapling" became the prime target of the young clan heir.
Despite all his complaints, Kure still understood just how much Madara had contributed to improving his own strength.
Having someone constantly progressing alongside you—someone who continuously pushes you forward—could bring out an incredible amount of competitive potential.
After all, before transmigrating, Kure had only been in his twenties.
A trace of youthful competitiveness still remained within him.
He felt that since he was half a year older than Madara—and technically Madara's cousin—his strength absolutely had to surpass Madara's.
Besides, in this era—or rather, in this world dominated by ninjas—becoming stronger was always the correct path.
Even if he was currently labeled a genius, it still wasn't enough.
Because true geniuses never remain geniuses for long.
They use the shortest time and the fastest progress to shed that title and become true experts recognized by the major clans of the Sengoku period.
Only fake geniuses cling to that title until the very end—until they die in some unknown battle or fade into mediocrity over time.
No matter how much Uchiha Kure wanted to slack off in his heart, he ultimately didn't want to die a meaningless death in this unfamiliar world.
Although he didn't yet have a clear goal in this life, increasing his strength could never be wrong.
The place where Kure had been skipping stones was not far from the clan territory.
After walking only a short distance, he arrived at the main gate of the Uchiha compound.
"It's little Kure. You came back at just the right time—Madara has been looking for you everywhere."
The guard stationed at the clan gate looked at Uchiha Kure with a smile.
The speaker was Uchiha Mon, an elite jōnin in his early thirties.
Among ninjas of this era, he could already be considered relatively old, so calling them "kids" was perfectly reasonable.
Strictly speaking, leaving or entering the clan territory freely during wartime was not permitted.
But he had watched these two children grow up since they were young and was quite fond of them, so he often turned a blind eye.
In a sense, he quite literally had to turn a blind eye.
About five or six years ago, during the last large-scale war between the Senju and the Uchiha, he had been surrounded by five jōnin from the Hatake clan—a situation that was practically certain death.
The Hatake clan's obsession with the Sharingan had never stopped.
After all, the enhancement the Sharingan provided to the Hatake clan's sword techniques was simply terrifying.
Ten years ago, the then leader of the Hatake clan, Hatake Sakumo, had relied on Lightning Release sword techniques combined with a Three-Tomoe Sharingan to sweep across the ninja world.
At that time, people claimed his strength was no less than that of Senju Butsuma or Uchiha Tajima.
Of course, throughout history there had been countless people who had borrowed those two names to boost their own reputation.
After all, the heads of the Senju and Uchiha clans had always been regarded as the pinnacle of combat power in the Land of Fire—and even the entire ninja world.
Riding on their fame had long become a tradition.
From what Kure had heard, people who had once claimed comparable strength included Hatake Sakumo, Hyūga Genjin, the Yin-Yang clan head, the Kaguya clan head, and the Sarutobi clan head.
Even figures from outside the Land of Fire—such as the Suikazan clan head and the Ōnoki clan head—had joined the trend.
But regardless of the exaggeration, being able to make such claims during this era meant possessing real strength.
Even if they couldn't truly rival Butsuma or Tajima, someone like Hatake Sakumo could easily defeat the heads of many smaller clans.
Ten years ago, the rapidly rising Hatake clan frequently led elite forces to ambush isolated Uchiha ninjas.
Poisoning, ambushes, sneak attacks—every method imaginable was used in their attempts to obtain the Sharingan.
The proud Uchiha clan naturally couldn't tolerate such humiliation.
At that time, their hostility toward the Hatake clan even surpassed their hatred of the Senju.
They would rather give an entire mine to the Kaguya clan to have them restrain the Senju while they seized the opportunity to deploy eighty percent of their high-level combat forces to nearly wipe the Hatake clan out.
In order to prevent the enemy from successfully stealing his Sharingan, Uchiha Mon had stabbed his own left eye.
Just as he was about to destroy his right eye as well, Uchiha reinforcements finally arrived.
He survived—but his left eye was lost forever.
Without both Sharingan, his strength dropped significantly. Now he was only comparable to an ordinary jōnin.
The clan head simply waved his hand and assigned him to guard the main gate.
Otherwise, an elite jōnin of his age would normally be one of the pillars of the clan.
During wartime, it would have been impossible for him to have such a leisurely post.