Chapter 58: Working for Free? No! Just Earning a Little Less.
"It truly is a cursed power!"
Blood and tears streamed continuously from Naruto's eyes. Looking at Uchiha Hōtai, who died with his eyes wide open, he bent down to pick up the ninja sword from the ground and secured it to his back.
"A power that only awakens through loss. No matter how misunderstood they are, the deep-seated sentimentality within the Uchiha's heart can never be erased."
Having been an Uchiha for over a decade, Narutogave a relatively fair assessment of this misunderstood clan.
"But I still can't help but hate myself!"
Naruto crouched down to remove Uchiha Hōtai's Sharingan. Scenes kept echoing in his mind, causing deep, intersecting cracks to form in the heart he had personally frozen over.
"But now is not the time for sentimentality. Thank you for gifting me the supreme power of the Uchiha twice in a row. I need to do something..." Naruto quickly regained his composure. "For instance, preserving as much of the Uchiha's heritage as possible!"
Because Naruto's Mangekyo Sharingan had been modified by the System, aside from being slightly harder to awaken, evolving the Mangekyo into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan did not require the eyes of a blood relative, which saved Naruto a lot of trouble.
As for Uchiha Fugaku's extra pair of Mangekyo Sharingan, they had many uses. Whether left for Uchiha Itachi or Uchiha Sasuke, they were an excellent way to preserve the Uchiha's heritage.
As for the Uchiha documents destroyed or lost during this incident, Naruto remembered them all perfectly in his mind; he just needed to find an opportunity to transcribe them for Uchiha Sasuke.
Without further ado, a lifelike Transformation Jutsuaccompanied by a puff of smoke turned Naruto into Uchiha Itachi. With a few leaps, he quickly headed toward Uchiha Fugaku's residence.
"Itachi, you've come!"
Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto sat quietly kneeling before Naruto, seemingly not surprised at all by "Uchiha Itachi's" arrival.
The Mangekyo in Naruto's eyes rotated slowly, the unique aura of the Mangekyo Sharingan lingering throughout the study. "Yes, Father, I've come!"
"You're a bit different, Itachi!"
Uchiha Mikoto was a woman and a mother, after all; her intuition was far sharper than Uchiha Fugaku's.
Although the pattern of the Mangekyo Sharinganin Naruto's eyes was identical to Uchiha Itachi's, the feeling given off by two different people was absolutely distinct.
"I am not the Uchiha Itachi of this timeline!"
Naruto didn't care what these two "former" parents thought; he intended to lay his cards on the table from the start.
"I have experienced the same situation as this, but I found a better way to handle it than the Itachi of this timeline!" Naruto bowed deeply to the two of them. "For the future of the Uchiha, Father, please entrust your Mangekyo to me!"
"An Itachi from a different timeline..." Uchiha Fugaku remained unperturbed. "Though it's incredible, the power of the Mangekyo Sharinganand its unique pattern cannot lie. However... may I hear your plan?!"
"I can!" To save time, Naruto's Mangekyo Sharingan spun rapidly, and a genjutsu built upon the trust between the three of them slowly unfolded.
In the previous life experience game, although Naruto wasn't known for genjutsu, as a temporary member of the Uchiha Clan, he couldn't have avoided dabbling in it. It wasn't surprising that he had some level of proficiency in genjutsu.
"Is that so..." Uchiha Fugaku watched most of Naruto's experiences from the previous life experience game. "It is indeed handled better than the current Itachi. Moreover, you've pushed the protection and continuation of the Uchiha to the absolute limit of what you could do."
"Take them!" Uchiha Fugaku gouged out his own eyes without changing his expression. "I hope you will make good use of them and look after Sasuke. After all, he is innocent in this tragedy!"
Naruto took out a pre-prepared bottle of saline solution, placed the two Mangekyo Sharinganinside for preservation, and sealed them into a scroll before nodding.
"However, to avoid leaving any flaws, please take this pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan!"
After a moment's hesitation, Uchiha Fugaku took the eyes Naruto handed him. With a swipe of his hand over his eye sockets, Uchiha Hōtai's eyes were installed.
Blinking his eyes, Uchiha Fugaku still felt a bit uncomfortable, but at least on the surface, there were no flaws.
Furthermore, Naruto was certain that Uchiha Itachiwould never desecrate his parents' corpses and would do his utmost to prevent others from tampering with them!
In this way, this small interlude during the night of the clan's massacre would be completely buried along with the deaths of Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto.
"I still need to retrieve our clan's Divine Artifacts. I'll take my leave now!"
After bowing to the two of them again, Narutoflickered out of the study and headed straight for the Uchiha's secret chamber.
"Do you trust him that much?" Uchiha Mikotosmiled bitterly after Naruto left. "It's obvious there's still a layer of Transformation Jutsu over him..."
"It is indeed a Transformation Jutsu, but so what?" Uchiha Fugaku pulled Uchiha Mikoto into his arms. "The power of the Mangekyo cannot lie, and that unique feeling cannot lie..."
Uchiha Fugaku sighed. "As a mother, you have a mother's intuition, but as a father, I have my own judgment! Even if what he said was a mix of truth and lies, I believe he didn't deceive me about anything in that genjutsu!"
Patting Uchiha Mikoto's back, Uchiha Fugakulooked up into the distance. "That alone is enough for me to trust him. Besides, our story is about to end. Let the children walk their own paths in the future. I don't think they will fare too badly..."
Although Naruto achieved two of his intended goals, he came up empty on the last one. The Yata Mirror and the Sword of Totsuka were already gone, seemingly taken by Uchiha Itachi in advance.
"He certainly moved fast!" Naruto shook his head. "Still, completing two-thirds of the original plan can be considered quite successful. Yet, I feel a bit uneasy... it seems like I'm doing all this work for the Uchiha Clan for nothing..."
It wasn't surprising Naruto felt this way. Aside from Uchiha Hōtai's ninja sword being somewhat useful, both the various Uchiha documents in his head and Uchiha Fugaku's Mangekyo were essentially useless to him—he was just keeping them safe for others.
"If this isn't working for free, what is?!"
"But no matter. After this blow, Uchiha Sasuke's personality will definitely undergo a massive change, and my nurturing plan should begin..."
Naruto merely grumbled before preparing for his next plan. "Every hero needs help. Teacher Liu Renju used to nag me about this all the time. Building my own team early on will definitely be a huge help in the future!"
"Hinata goes without saying. Although it feels a bit like kidnapping a little girl, given her feelings for me, she'll likely stand firmly by my side no matter what happens in the future. Love really can make people lose their minds!"
"But for Sasuke, I'll need a more targeted approach, though that shouldn't be difficult for me..."
"So, who should be the final candidate... This is indeed a difficult question. I'll have to take a good look at the potential candidates in my class..."
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