"Gin, try to recall carefully, how did you awaken your Sharingan?"
Unable to get the answer he wanted from the two elders, Tajima turned to Gin and questioned him directly.
That question truly stumped Gin. His Sharingan had been forced open by the Itachi illusion in the backyard system—a secret he'd take to the grave.
"Don't be nervous. I'm just curious, after all… awakening the Sharingan at your age…"
Seeing Gin's furrowed brows, Tajima spoke in a soothing tone.
The three before him now appeared calm, as if the icy aura earlier was nothing but his imagination. The two elders even looked like kind, gentle old n, their eyes full of warmth. It all seed so harmonious.
But Gin still felt sothing off deep down.
"Hopefully just my imagination," Gin thought to himself, relaxing his expression. After a mont of thought, he spoke:
"It happened when the Senju wounded and I was on the brink of death. In that life-and-death mont, I awakened the Sharingan."
A strong emotional stimulus to awaken the Sharingan—his explanation was perfectly reasonable, leaving no room for doubt.
"You've had a rough trip, Gin. Didn't expect the Senju's defenses to be so tight even in their own territory."
Tajima nodded slightly, seemingly accepting the answer. Though suspicion lingered in his heart, pressing further would seem too deliberate.
After all, it was just a two-tomoe Sharingan—not enough to mobilize the clan leader's full suspicion.
The two elders also tacitly kept silent, though their eyes never left Gin's spinning tomoe.
"Clan head, about this Senju kid…"
Sensing Tajima about to dismiss him, Gin quickly pushed Senju Itama forward.
Tajima glanced at the unconscious boy and said warmly:
"Since he's your prisoner, you watch over him for now. Keep him alive—he might prove useful as a bargaining chip against the Senju."
Hearing this, Gin was overjoyed that the boy's life was safe for now. Before Tajima could change his mind, he hoisted the boy up, bowed quickly, and hurried out.
As the door shut, Tajima's gentle expression turned cold, and the two elders' kindly faces beca stern.
"Elder Mizu, you oversaw the operation back then. You shouldn't have forgotten the result. Gin shouldn't possibly be able to awaken the Sharingan," Tajima's voice was frosty.
"I swear on my life there was no mistake in that operation. But… that person hadn't been captured yet. Could it be…"
Mizu's sunken eyes flickered with unease.
"You an that person?" Tajima rubbed his aching eyes, looking weary.
"Is he still alive?"
"He's still locked up in the dungeon," replied the round elder, En.
"For now, leave this matter be. The decisive battle with the Senju is near. I'll arrange for Gin to stay behind in the clan." Tajima massaged his temples.
Lately he'd been having strange headaches, but the clan doctors could find no cause, so he assud it was stress.
Carrying Senju Itama on his back, Gin walked through the clan grounds toward his ho, sorting through the original's mories to recall who those two elders were.
After a mont, he rembered: the round one was Uchiha En, once the previous clan head's personal guard and a mighty warrior in his youth. Now he trained recruits and oversaw patrols.
The gaunt elder was his brother Uchiha Mizu, head of the clan's research departnt, responsible for developing dojutsu and ninjutsu. They also supposedly had an elder brother who died years ago during clan strife, but no other details.
The original's mory had nothing more, and Gin couldn't see any clues.
The other Uchiha in the streets all avoided eting his gaze as he passed.
Following the mories, he soon arrived at a modest, sowhat run-down wooden house on the edge of the settlent. Pushing open the worn door, he stepped into the simple one-bedroom ho. The furniture was old but well-kept.
On the bedside table was a well-preserved family photo. Gin picked it up and studied it—a three-person family. The young original looked like a cute, smiling little boy with a head of fluffy curls. On his left was a man with warm eyes and a gentle smile; on his right, a cold but beautiful woman whose gaze at her son was full of affection.
Sighing, Gin put the photo down.
"Looks like the original really was a sunny, cheerful boy back when his parents were alive… what turned him into what he beca?"
Shaking his head at the cruel twists of fate, he dropped his things, cleaned the dusty house, and felt his stomach growl.
He wasn't about to leave the Senju boy alone though—if word got out, there was no guarantee so vengeful clansman wouldn't sneak in and kill him.
So he hoisted Itama again and set off for the clan's market.
People whispered and pointed at him as he walked through the streets, but no one dared approach. He preferred it that way.
At the market, he quickly bought so groceries, tossed so coins at the fearful vendor, and humd a tune as he headed ho:
"Chicken in my left hand, duck in my right, and a fat little baby on my back, ya yi ya yo~"
But as he neared his house, he noticed a figure waiting at his door.
"Yo? Isn't this little Nii-san?"
A boy of about ten, with jet-black hair spiking up, stood at his door. Looking at the boy's familiar little face, Gin felt like reality was warping.
The kid looked so much like a certain future 'what is gay' lord that Gin wondered if he'd been transported again.
The boy shot up to his feet as Gin approached. But before Gin could say anything, a familiar system voice sounded in his mind:
"Detected host entering combat situation. Heart of Steel chest accumulating…"
(End of Chapter)
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