"Hmm? Why are you going there?"
Mirei stared at him curiously.
But Kaito didn't say anything.
His mind was fully focused on how the Six Eyes would perform in this Naruto Universe.
It would be incredibly good if he could perform 'Infinity' as well.
That way, his defense would be absolutely impossible to penetrate.
Unless he encountered a powerful ninja with Space-Time abilities, like Obito or Kaguya.
But the chances of meeting them right now are extremely slim.
He could rest easy for now.
'Wait! Can I even still awaken the Sharingan if I have the Six Eyes?'
Surely his Sharingan wouldn't overwrite his Six Eyes, right?
Regardless, Kaito walked straight toward the Inner Compound.
There were not a lot of Uchihas walking around.
Although the clan's isolation and relocation hadn't happened yet, there was already friction between the Uchiha and the village higher-ups.
It made the air always feel tense and heavy.
Kaito stepped into one particular traditional building.
Inside, there were two people facing each other as they sipped hot green tea.
"What do you need here, brat?" a man in his twenties asked sharply.
Following his question, the other person slowly turned around.
He had gray hair and a deeply wrinkled face, clearly way older.
Kaito stepped forward and said, "I believe you are Elder Hondo Uchiha."
"This brat! He needs to be taught how to behave—!!"
"Quit it!"
The old man, Hondo, cut him off with a stern voice.
He looked at the boy and asked, "What do you want?"
Kaito grinned as he looked straight into the elder's eyes.
He said, "I wanted to know about what happened to my parents, Kuro Uchiha and Mukio Tsubaki..."
"...Or should I say, Mukio Senju?"
When Kaito said this, Hondo violently rose to his feet.
"How do you know this?!"
Mirei immediately hid behind Kaito, not wanting to get scolded.
Clearly, this old man Hondo had often scolded young Uchihas left and right.
Kaito calmly said, "That's not important. What I need to know is how they died."
Earlier, when Kaito was changing his clothes, he had found a hidden necklace in his room.
That necklace had the distinctive Senju Clan symbol carved into it.
Judging from his late father's Sharingan and dark hair, he was obviously a pure-blooded Uchiha.
His mother, however, had bright blonde hair.
She completely lacked the signature dark hair that almost every Uchiha possessed.
Naturally, Kaito knew something was up.
He didn't even know for sure if his mother was a Senju. He was merely gambling with his luck!
"Why would I tell you that?" Hondo asked, his eyes narrowing.
Kaito smirked and said, "You sure wouldn't want this news spreading out to the rest of the clan, right? Gramps?"
Hondo sighed deeply as he sat back down.
"So you also knew about that."
'???'
Kaito was utterly confused.
'What did he just say?'
Hondo continued, "Yes, that's true. I am your grandfather."
Kaito was about to drop his jaw to the floor.
What kind of massive misunderstanding is this?
He had simply said 'gramps' to make fun of the old man.
He had never thought it would lead to such a mind-blowing revelation.
Still, Kaito forcefully retained his calm and indifferent facade.
Hondo closed his eyes and said, "Kuro Uchiha was an exceptional ninja. He was supposed to be the next Clan Head, replacing me."
"Too bad he fell for that Senju witch. He provoked me and refused his destined fate as an Uchiha."
"The Senju and the Uchiha are eternal rivals. Despite the many peace treaties that were signed, we could never truly cooperate."
"If the other elders found out about your Senju blood, they were undoubtedly going to kill you. So, they compromised."
Hondo looked at Kaito with a complicated expression.
"In exchange for their lives, they wanted me to secretly take care of you. That's how your parents lost their lives."
Kaito listened carefully to every word.
'How tragic... Now that I think about it, almost every main character from Naruto has a tragic backstory.'
"Now that you know what happened eleven years ago, what are you going to do?" Hondo asked.
Kaito turned around as he confidently replied, "I'm leaving the Uchiha."
"You can rest easy, old man. I'm not going to stain your precious reputation."
He left the Uchiha Compound with a wide smile on his face.
Leaving this place actually hadn't crossed his mind before.
He said this because with his Senju lineage exposed, living inside the Uchiha compound was like sitting on a ticking time-bomb.
When they left the main gate, Mirei held his hand even tighter.
She looked up and said, "I will follow you, Kaito. I don't want to be left alone."
Kaito stopped and looked at her.
"Mirei, you don't have to do that. Unlike me, you're a pure Uchiha. You're not going to be bullied out there."
Mirei, however, stubbornly shook her head.
She said, "No! Since I was a kid, I was always alone. If not for you, I might still be alone. I need you, Kaito."
Kaito sighed helplessly.
"I guess that makes us both homeless now, eh?"
Mirei chuckled and said, "We are going to make it, somehow."
Kaito smiled.
"Yeah. But first of all, let's go to the Academy."
As Kaito stepped forward, a sudden, blinding pain struck his head.
[Ding! Mission successfully completed!]
[Distributing 'Six Eyes' Reward...]
Every single strand of dark hair on his head rapidly transformed into a snowy white.
His dark pupils dilated sharply.
Then, as if burned by an invisible fire, his irises turned into a piercing, brilliant bright blue.
"Kaito?!"
Mirei reached out and panicked, seeing his sudden transformation.
After several agonizing minutes, his pain finally subsided.
His appearance was completely transformed now.
He looked like a completely different person.
'It hurts! What just happened?'
Mirei asked with tears in her eyes, "Kaito, are you alright?"
Kaito blinked, adjusting to the terrifying amount of visual information flooding his brain.
"Yeah. I'm fine, don't worry, Mirei."
When he stood up again, a massive new surge of power flooded his entire being.
Atomic-level information gathered inside his head.
He could see the chakra flow in the air, the leaves, and even within Mirei's body.
He had finally acquired the absolute power of the Six Eyes!
Kaito looked at his hands and smiled confidently.
He said, "I think I just awakened something very powerful. Maybe this is a new Dōjutsu?"