"This is what the Third Elder asked me to bring you. It contains one hundred thousand taels."
Looking at the bulging wallet handed over by the visitor, Uchiha Renjiro nodded and took it.
"Thank you very much! What's your name?"
"Uchiha Izuni."
Uchiha Izuni replied with a forced smile, then explained the purpose of his visit.
"I am under the orders of the Third Elder. From now on, I will be responsible for supervising and guiding your growth, as well as... your personal safety!"
Uchiha Renjiro was shocked when he heard this. He was delighted and bowed slightly, saying:
"Then I'll leave everything to you from now on, Teacher Izuni!"
He now desperately hoped someone could guide his training. The knowledge taught in the Ninja School every day was limited and far too simple for someone like Renjiro, who possessed an adult's consciousness.
Having a Jōnin personally guiding his training was something Renjiro couldn't have even imagined!
He couldn't help but sigh in his heart and silently thank Uchiha Junko for his generosity.
"You're welcome, Lord Renjiro. The Third Elder has told me everything about your situation. It's my honor to be able to mentor a super genius like you!"
Uchiha Izuni said with a smile. From his very first contact with Renjiro, he felt he should not treat him as an ordinary child.
Renjiro's words and demeanor gave him the impression that he was facing someone of the same age. This surprised Uchiha Izuni, and at the same time, his doubts about the Third Elder completely disappeared.
After all, according to the description of the Third Elder, Uchiha Renjiro was astonishing, with great talent in ninjutsu, illusion, and taijutsu. At only five years old, he had managed to pin down a group of six or seven-year-old Uchiha prodigies!
When had the Uchiha children ever been humiliated like this? How talented were they usually? Which one among them wasn't considered a top genius in class? Yet a group of them couldn't defeat a single boy!
If the boy weren't of the Uchiha clan, those children would never be able to lift their heads again within the clan.
The Uchiha clan might even become the laughingstock of all Konoha, their pride and dignity shattered.
This situation made the more farsighted senior members of the clan break into a cold sweat.
They even felt lucky that Uchiha Renjiro was born into the Uchiha clan. Even if he beat fellow clansmen to death, he was still a member of Uchiha, still carrying the Uchiha name!
So, in the eyes of many, although Uchiha Renjiro had committed a serious mistake, he was only a five-year-old child!
Although many clansmen valued talent, very few were willing to stand up and speak for him.
Beating up a group of kids was one thing, but to actually strike down the Great Elder's most beloved heir, Uchiha Fugaku—leaving him bedridden and unconscious—was another matter entirely!
The Great Elder, Uchiha Retsuken, was the true ruler of the Uchiha clan. The power he held was enough to compete with the other five elders on his own. It could be said he controlled more than half of the clan's strength!
This was the biggest reason why no one dared to speak for this shocking young genius.
But in this atmosphere of suffocating silence, the Third Elder of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Junko, stood up. Ignoring the Great Elder's gloomy face, he spoke a fair word for Uchiha Renjiro!
He directly rejected the Great Elder's decision to punish Renjiro.
Originally, the Great Elder had accused Uchiha Renjiro of the crime of "disregarding the feelings of his clan and maliciously harming his own people"!
But considering Renjiro was only five years old, the elder surprisingly forgave him and chose not to pursue the matter further!
Yet the Sixth Elder, who was close to the Great Elder, suddenly suggested:
"At such a young age, he's already killing his own people.
There's no guarantee he won't do more harm as he grows older. I'm afraid he won't be able to live peacefully with the clan anymore.
Instead of leaving such an unstable element among us, why not destroy his chakra pathways? Letting him live as an ordinary person would serve as an explanation to the families of the victims, uphold the dignity of the law, and remove a hidden danger from the clan!"
Upon hearing the Sixth Elder's proposal, the Great Elder sighed deeply.
Then, as expected, he agreed with him. The two of them joined hands to stage a grand drama of 'weeping as they executed a genius'!
But this time, their plan was firmly rejected by the Third Elder, the so-called "old man who valued talent"!
Moreover, he harshly rebuked the Sixth Elder who made the proposal, even calling him a beast worse than pigs and dogs!
Many clansmen knew that Uchiha Renjiro did not belong to the Third Elder's lineage, and no one had ever heard of any past connection between them.
In the eyes of 99% of the clan, the Third Elder's fierce defense of Uchiha Renjiro was simply because he valued talent!
Looking at the white-haired, impassioned Third Elder, many clansmen sincerely urged him to take care of his health.
They weren't blind—they understood that if the Third Elder acted this way, he would inevitably become enemies with the Great Elder.
But he still pressed forward without hesitation. What did this mean?
It showed that he no longer cared for power. He did it to protect a true genius of the Uchiha clan!
This was the kind of broad-mindedness the Uchiha clan, as a great family, should have!
By firmly denouncing the Great Elder's lackeys in this incident, he won the respect of more than 80% of the clan!
A five-year-old child and an old man in his twilight years—both became symbols of respecting the old and cherishing the young.
Many Jōnin qualified to attend the clan meeting stepped forward to mediate, and most did not agree with the Sixth Elder's proposal.
Even the powerful Great Elder had no choice but to compromise under the combined weight of public opinion and morality!
He wasn't a fool. He could clearly sense the hearts of the clan. That was why, even though Uchiha Junko openly rebuked him (and everyone knew the Sixth Elder was his man), he couldn't lash out!
After all, Uchiha Junko had condemned him from the highest moral ground.
In the end, the Great Elder could only forgive Uchiha Renjiro's so-called "fault" with hatred, grinding his teeth as he pretended to magnanimously accept the lighter punishments proposed by the Third Elder!
"Is Uchiha Junko truly such a good man? Does he really embody the generosity of a great clan? Instead, he treats me and the families of the victims as villains—as petty, narrow-minded villains?"
"Good… very good! You old b*****d, I'll make sure you understand the price of being the first to oppose me."
The Great Elder, Uchiha Retsuken, clenched his teeth and muttered darkly.
Among the six Uchiha elders, Uchiha Junko was the oldest. For the first time, the other elders understood the meaning of the phrase: "Old ginger is still the spiciest!"
In Uchiha Izuni's mind, a five-year-old child should at most suffer light injuries from a fight. Normally, there would be no need for adults to step in…
Unfortunately, there existed a monster like Uchiha Renjiro, who had beaten the Great Elder's proud heir, the young genius Uchiha Fugaku, leaving him mentally scarred and unconscious!
The group of other children had also suffered serious injuries, something Izuni still found hard to believe.
If that were all, it would have been enough to make Uchiha Izuni marvel at Renjiro's genius.
But was the Uchiha clan really lacking in geniuses? No—the Uchiha had never lacked them.
This was a fact known to every clansman, acknowledged not only in the Uchiha but also in Konoha and across the entire shinobi world!
What truly shocked Uchiha Izuni was this—
The child of the clan who had stirred such commotion, the true genius everyone was curious about and amazed by, had already awakened a pair of Sharingan!
End of the chapter.