Chapter 105 (Patreon)

“Stop wasting time. If I tell you to activate your Sharingan, then hurry up and do it.”

Although the eight clansmen standing before him remained respectful, the looks in their eyes made it clear that they thought Fugaku had lost his mind. Their expressions irritated him so much that he nearly activated his own Sharingan out of anger.

Seeing that their clan head was beginning to lose his patience, the eight of them did not dare delay any longer. They followed the usual method, concentrating chakra into their eyes.

“Sharingan, activate!”

The three who had failed to awaken their eyes felt no change whatsoever.

The other five, however, immediately noticed that their vision had become far sharper. They could see even the pores on Fugaku’s face with perfect clarity.

“This... When did I awaken the Sharingan?”

“My Sharingan... I really awakened it!”

“But when did it happen?”

Hearing the commotion beside them, the three who had failed turned around in disbelief.

When they saw the single tomoe in each of their companions’ eyes, they were even more shocked than the five who had successfully awakened the Sharingan.

Had they not agreed to remain ordinary Uchiha together?

When had these five betrayed them?

A moment later, all eight of them turned toward Fugaku at the same time.

They were not fools. Fugaku had suddenly summoned the eight of them and ordered them to activate the Sharingan, which meant he must have known something beforehand. Otherwise, why would he have called them instead of anyone else?

Fugaku was thrilled to see that five of them had truly awakened their eyes, but his excitement quickly gave way to confusion.

He had planned to ask them what kind of training they had undergone so that he could learn the method and save the clan some money. Judging by their reactions, however, even they had no idea how they had awakened the Sharingan.

How was he supposed to uncover the secret now?

“Some time ago, the Fifth Hokage approached me and claimed that she had a way to help our clansmen awaken the Sharingan. I submitted the names of you eight. It seems her method truly worked.”

Fugaku turned toward one of them.

“Jien, what kind of training did you undergo?”

“Training?”

Uchiha Jien scratched his head, looking completely bewildered.

“Clan Head, what are you talking about? We haven’t done anything unusual.”

If they had discovered a more effective method of awakening the Sharingan, they would have shared it with the clan immediately.

Could Fugaku possibly suspect them of hiding it?

Even if he was the clan head, he could not accuse them without reason.

The three who had failed to awaken their eyes immediately turned toward the other five.

“You five aren’t being honest with us. How did you awaken the Sharingan while the three of us failed?”

“We really didn’t undergo any special training! We haven’t received any missions recently, so we’ve been training with everyone else inside the compound. You were there with us every day, weren’t you?”

The three thought back over the past several days and realized they were right.

They had all trained together inside the Uchiha compound. None of the five had attended any secret training sessions.

That only made the situation even stranger.

Why had those five suddenly awakened the Sharingan while the other three had not?

All eight turned toward Fugaku once again.

Unfortunately, if even the people involved did not know what had happened, Fugaku had even less chance of knowing.

“Enough. Since the five of you have awakened the Sharingan, spend some time familiarizing yourselves with its abilities.”

Fugaku then looked at the remaining three and hesitated.

They had failed to awaken the Sharingan naturally, and even the special training Kushina arranged had not been enough. That meant their chances of ever awakening it were likely close to zero.

Fugaku had never been good at comforting others, so he could only speak stiffly.

“As for the three of you, continue training. You may still have another opportunity to awaken your eyes in the future.”

He paused before asking, “Since the end of last month, have any outsiders entered the clan compound?”

Although Fugaku did not know how Kushina had carried out the special training, he intended to begin by identifying the person responsible.

If he could discover the identity of the instructor, perhaps he could approach them directly and obtain the training method without going through the Hokage.

“How could an outsider enter the compound without us knowing...?”

One of the clansmen suddenly stopped.

“Wait. Near the end of last month, a teacher from the Academy came to register the children who were old enough to enroll.”

Another person quickly added, “But she only registered a few children before leaving. She didn’t do anything else.”

“A female teacher from the Ninja Academy?”

Fugaku frowned, his mind filled with questions.

He collected the money he had promised and returned to the Hokage’s office to pay the remaining balance.

After Fugaku requested leave and departed, Kushina appeared to continue working, but her mind had already wandered elsewhere.

She had discovered that Roy had become much stronger during the half month he spent away from the village.

The previous night, she and Kaorui had used every ounce of their stamina, yet both of them could still tell that Roy had been holding back.

That would have been unimaginable before.

Both Kushina and Kaorui possessed the powerful vitality of the Uzumaki Clan, and their stamina recovered far faster than that of an ordinary person.

Roy had done so much for the village and for Kushina personally. She wanted to repay his efforts properly, but if even the two of them together could no longer satisfy him, something had to be done.

“I need to find someone to help us!”

For an ordinary person, stamina was closely connected to physical strength.

Roy, however, possessed a body formed entirely from his soul. His stamina was therefore determined by the strength of his Reiatsu, which was also a reflection of his spiritual power.

After absorbing the soul energy of the artificial summoning beast, his Reiatsu had risen directly to captain level. It was no different from his physical strength increasing several times over.

His stamina had not multiplied to the same extent, but it was still far beyond what it had been before.

Even so, Roy had not been dissatisfied the previous night, as Kushina imagined.

On the contrary, because neither Kushina nor Kaorui had held anything back, he had been completely satisfied.

After finishing his examination of the changes within himself, Roy followed the sound of explosions and found Deidara destroying targets at one of the training grounds.

Naturally, Roy could not simply abduct the child. He was not Orochimaru.

There was nothing wrong with guiding a promising talent, however.

If Roy could leave Deidara with the impression that Konoha would never restrain his pursuit of art—and might even appreciate his belief that art was an explosion—then Deidara might remember it in the future.

If Deidara eventually left Iwagakure and sought refuge in Konoha, Roy would have a reasonable defense prepared when Ōnoki inevitably came demanding answers.

“Yes, that should work.”

Having settled on his plan, Roy first went to check on Chiyuki and Haku, as well as Fūshin.

They had only just arrived in Konoha, so everything around them still felt unfamiliar. Even when Kaorui offered to take them around the village, they preferred to remain inside the courtyard.

Yugito, on the other hand, had long since grown accustomed to life in Konoha.

She left early that morning to speak with Mabui and the others from Kumogakure. Watching a hostage casually walk out of the house on her own left Chiyuki completely stunned.

Meanwhile, in Kirigakure, Mei Terumī suddenly reported that Fuguki Suikazan, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, was suspected of betraying the village’s interests.

Although the Elder found the accusation difficult to believe, he still ordered a thorough investigation into Fuguki’s activities over the past six months.

To his surprise, the investigation uncovered several serious problems.

Kirigakure might have been isolated from the outside world, but the village still relied on trade to acquire essential supplies. Many of those transactions contained signs that officials within the village had been accepting bribes and secretly taking a share of the profits.

Minor corruption alone was not enough to shock the Elder. He understood that such behavior could never be eliminated completely.

What truly concerned him was the discovery that intelligence regarding several missions crucial to Kirigakure’s future had been leaked before the missions even began. Each leak had resulted in failure and the deaths of numerous Mist shinobi.

During one of those missions, the jōnin Mei had mentioned, Kisame Hoshigaki, had been forced to kill his own comrades to prevent classified information from falling into enemy hands. He had then escaped by throwing himself from a cliff.

Viewed in that light, Fuguki Suikazan could no longer be trusted.

As a high-ranking member of the ANBU who had betrayed Kirigakure, he was no longer worthy of wielding Samehada or holding a place among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

Kisame Hoshigaki, on the other hand, had proven himself worthy of further cultivation.

More importantly, Mei Terumī had not only uncovered a traitor within the village but also recognized the loyalty and potential of an overlooked shinobi.

She truly possessed the qualities needed to become Mizukage.