Chapter 6: Apprenticeship
Inside the room, Uchiha Ren had been standing in front of the mirror for over half an hour.
He wasn't looking at the scar Nono Yakushi had left near the corner of his eye.
Nor was it narcissism.
He was looking at his eyes.
His gaze was no longer the ordinary look of the past, but revealed a new sharpness and profundity.
In his pupils, the originally ordinary black irises were now covered by a small, magatama-shaped pattern. This magatama was deep red, as if a jewel embedded in his eye, radiating a mysterious glow.
This was a single-tomoe Sharingan!
The unique Kekkei Genkai of the Uchiha Clan!
Signifying that his eyes had entered the initial stage of the Sharingan.
The magatama's shape was simple and elegant. It was not merely a decoration, but a symbol of power.
The single-tomoe Sharingan granted Uchiha Ren superhuman perception. He could capture the most minute movements, predict an opponent's next step, and even replicate basic ninjutsu and taijutsu.
His eyes became even sharper, allowing him to perceive an opponent's chakra flow, granting him a prescient advantage in battle.
With every blink, he seemed to feel the chakra particles in the air pulsating; with every gaze, he seemed to see through the very essence of objects.
In Uchiha Ren's eyes, the world had become clearer. He could see details he had never noticed before and feel the subtle changes in chakra.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, feeling the changes his new eyes brought.
Meanwhile, in the restroom behind a New Yorker Family Burger Joint, Stephen Fang was also observing himself in the mirror.
[Sharingan (Single Tomoe): Grants Uchiha clan members enhanced basic dynamic vision, allowing precise capture of fast-moving objects, providing initial perception and reaction advantages in combat, and a certain strengthening effect on genjutsu.]
"These eyes look so cool!" Stephen Fang touched his eyelids. "Can we also release Amaterasu when the time comes?"
Pirate Ren Arakawa, looking at a bowl of Shirahoshi that had just been served, shook his head and complained, "Don't even think about eyes like the Mangekyo Sharingan for now."
"Gulp, gulp, gulp."
A viscous substance slid down his throat into his stomach. Pirate Ren Arakawa continued:
"Naruto World Ren Arakawa has done an excellent job. Here, I must mention the 'genius' youth Sasuke, who, after witnessing his entire clan massacred, awakened a single-tomoe Sharingan in a fit of rage."
"That's also true, I worried too much!" Stephen Fang nodded. "I now feel that the flow of time has slowed down quite a bit! I can clearly see the flight trajectory of even a fly! How amazing!"
"Go ahead and play," Pirate Ren Arakawa warned. "In less than half a minute, you'll be dizzy. The power conversion obtained in the anime world, compared to the American comic world, is far inferior to what I have here…"
As soon as he spoke, Stephen Fang suddenly felt the world spin.
The side effects of the Sharingan instantly made him vomit out the beef slices he had just snuck!
"Ugh! That's disgusting!"
"Overusing your eyes will do that. Unless it's absolutely necessary, don't keep them activated just for fun," Pirate Ren Arakawa reminded him.
"Mm."
After Pirate Ren Arakawa finished managing his alt account, he immediately started conversing with Naruto World Ren Arakawa. "The speed at which you awakened your eyes is faster than I imagined."
Uchiha Ren stepped away from the mirror. "Hmm, it should be related to the gene lock."
Pirate Ren Arakawa stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I feel it's also inseparable from Toge. That near-death struggle for survival isn't much different from losing someone important."
"However, if that's all there is to it, it's still far from enough."
Uchiha Ren nodded. "But at least it's a stepping stone."
According to incomplete statistics,
the Uchiha Clan had a total of eight hundred members.
Among them, only about seventy had awakened their eyes.
The vast majority still possessed only a single tomoe.
Like Uchiha Ren, a "genius" who awakened his eyes before even graduating from the ninja academy, he could be considered a rarity.
The Uchiha Clan still offered quite good treatment to such awakened geniuses.
One only needed to look at Obito, that dead last, to know this.
Before participating in the war, Obito was also an ordinary ninja who hadn't awakened his eyes.
Yet the Uchiha Clan still granted him many conveniences.
For instance, Uchiha-exclusive ninjutsu like the Great Fireball Jutsu could only be accessed by civilian children after graduating from the ninja academy.
But any Uchiha ninja could learn it with priority.
"While guys like Toge likely won't pay you any mind, you should still be careful. Heaven knows if he's noticed your presence," Pirate Ren Arakawa warned.
"I can only take the risk. If I don't display some strength and gain the clan's attention, in ten months, I still won't escape death."
Just then, Stephen Fang, who hadn't spoken for a while, interjected, "If that's the case, why can't we escape Konoha?"
"Heh heh. Run?" Pirate Ren Arakawa replied disdainfully. "Escaping Konoha would be certain death."
Uchiha Ren patiently explained, "The Sharingan is inherently a Kekkei Genkai coveted by every village in this Ninja World."
"Unlike other Kekkei Genkai, it's not that difficult to research; a simple eye transplant surgery is enough to make the Sharingan one's own."
"After the Night of the Clan Annihilation, if there are only two pairs of Sharingan left in the world outside Konoha Village…"
"One pair is with Itachi."
"One pair is in my eye sockets."
"Then what do you think my fate will be when that time comes?"
Stephen Fang shrunk his neck. "I'll stop offering bad ideas."
Uchiha Ren shrugged. "It's fine. People who grew up in a happy educational environment and people like us, who grew up in a world where we lick blood from a knife's edge, still differ a bit in our sense of crisis."
The night passed without a word.
The next day at dawn, Uchiha Ren woke up very early.
Today, all students in the ninja academy's [Practice Class] had an assessment.
Uchiha Ren specifically left the assessment time for the afternoon.
Because he had something very important to do in the morning.
An hour later, the head of the Konoha Military Police Force, the clan head of the Uchiha Clan, and also the father of Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha—Uchiha Fugaku—nodded with a solemn expression.
"A genius among geniuses."
He said to Mikoto Uchiha, who was pouring tea beside him, "A great genius like this, one in a hundred years for the Uchiha Clan. Our son Itachi awakened his eyes at eight years old."
"While most clan members only get the chance to awaken their eyes after the age of ten."
"This kid only studied for two years at the ninja academy and completed his eye awakening at the age of nine."
"Remarkable! Truly remarkable!"
Mikoto Uchiha finished pouring the tea and handed it to Uchiha Ren. Uchiha Ren quickly thanked her with a nod, "Thank you, Clan Head's wife."
Although he was polite, Mikoto Uchiha still didn't show him a good face.
"Awakening eyes early doesn't prove anything," she said. "Lord Madara Uchiha awakened his eyes at fifteen, and his achievements are unmatched by anyone save the First Hokage."
"That's true," Uchiha Fugaku said with a displeased look. "Wouldn't it be better to give this child more encouragement?"
"I'm afraid he'll get complacent," Mikoto Uchiha said, her lips downturned, yet her peripheral glance darted towards her youngest son, Sasuke Uchiha, who was secretly listening behind the screen.
Uchiha Ren finally understood why Mikoto Uchiha harbored such strong jealousy towards him.
She felt that her seven-year-old son's aptitude was mediocre, far inferior to Itachi's, and perhaps not even as high as a civilian orphan's talent.
Uchiha Ren thought of a joke and shared it mentally with the other two Ren Arakawas.
"What is she rushing for? In ten months, after my good son Itachi Uchiha personally kills his clan, Sasuke, who will witness it all, will become the first in history to awaken his eyes at the age of seven."
Marvel Ren Arakawa: "This is truly hell."
Pirate Ren Arakawa: "You won't be going to heaven."
(end of chapter)