Uchiha orphan, so what if I'm ruthless?

Uchiha Taiga met his gaze. The two simply stared at each other, as if trying to discern something from the other's expression.

Unfortunately for Setsuna, Taiga's expression remained perfectly calm. He showed absolutely no emotional fluctuation upon hearing the true cause of his parents' deaths.

This surprised Uchiha Setsuna, but it mostly left him with a profound sense of awe. For someone so young to conceal his true thoughts so flawlessly—especially an Uchiha—was truly rare.

As time ticked by without a direct response from Taiga, Setsuna's heart inevitably began to sink.

He had stepped forward today, stood before Taiga, and laid everything bare because he was prepared. As long as Taiga made the resolve, Setsuna would pour everything he had into helping him succeed.

But now, it seemed... that was nothing more than his own wishful thinking.

Sure enough, Taiga's next words completely shattered his illusions.

"I refuse."

Taiga's face was placid as he spoke, devoid of the slightest emotional ripple.

He pushed the book and scroll on the table back toward Setsuna and stood up.

"I appreciate you telling me all this, and I understand your intentions. But... the affairs of the Uchiha are not my responsibility, nor should they be borne by a child who hasn't even come of age."

With that, Taiga turned and walked toward the door without a hint of hesitation.

Setsuna's face instantly darkened.

"Uchiha Taiga!"

He barked out a low shout. The crimson in his eyes grew starkly pronounced as three tomoe spun wildly, faintly threatening to connect.

Taiga paused his steps. He didn't turn around, only tilting his head slightly.

His own eyes were equally crimson, though his gaze didn't land on the old man.

"Don't treat me like a child just because I'm young. Your manipulative leadership tactics won't work on me. So, for the sake of your own dignity, I suggest you refrain from doing anything unnecessary."

Staring at the three tomoe in Taiga's eyes and feeling the visual prowess that faintly threatened even him, Setsuna forced himself to calm down.

Only in this moment did he truly begin to grasp the sheer power of the youth before him.

This was no longer just a matter of talent; he felt a genuine threat.

Who was Uchiha Setsuna?

He was the man within the Uchiha clan who had inherited Uchiha Madara's will. He was a veteran ninja of the clan. He might be old now, but to say he was incapable would be a massive underestimation.

Yet, a man like him was currently being intimidated by Taiga's mere gaze.

The more of an Uchiha someone was, the better they understood what visual prowess truly represented.

Setsuna, in particular, felt the visual prowess radiating from Taiga. His previously darkened expression suddenly broke into a smile.

"Heh..."

"Hahaha..."

It started as a light chuckle, but soon escalated as if he had lost all control, bursting into uproarious laughter.

Taiga simply assumed the old man was having a psychotic break and ignored him, continuing toward the door.

After all, they were Uchiha. No matter how normal they seemed on a daily basis, they all had their moments of madness. It was perfectly normal.

Just as Taiga reached the doorway, Setsuna's voice rang out from behind.

"Those fools in the clan are truly laughable. They all think you just have a unique talent, yet not a single one of them ever considered those eyes of yours. If my senses aren't failing me, that's the Mangekyo, isn't it? I couldn't possibly be wrong."

Although Taiga had only displayed the three-tomoe state just now, as a veteran powerhouse of the Uchiha—and someone who had seen the Mangekyo Sharingan before—Setsuna knew all too well what that level of visual prowess signified.

"A true powerhouse is right beside them, yet those fools ostracize you from the family. It's utterly laughable."

Seeing that Taiga was ignoring him, Setsuna offered one last remark. "Uchiha Taiga, I will be waiting for you. The day will come when you will need my power."

Unfortunately, Taiga remained entirely unmoved. He walked straight out, never once looking back.

Once the door clicked shut and the room returned to its cold silence, Setsuna's smile slowly faded.

Staring in the direction Taiga had left, a crimson light flashed in his eyes. The three tomoe completely linked together, forming a pattern resembling a four-bladed windmill.

Then, the pattern faded, the Sharingan vanished, and his eyes returned to their usual dim, elderly state.

"How fascinating. I wonder what kind of expressions those idiots will make when they learn this secret. I'm looking forward to it."

...

Taiga didn't take the encounter with Uchiha Setsuna to heart.

Honestly, he understood Setsuna's intentions, but those matters had nothing to do with him.

His parents were his parents, and their ideals were their ideals. As a transmigrator, his connection to the Uchiha clan had already become incredibly tenuous following his parents' deaths.

After all, he wasn't the cause of any of this.

Shimura Danzo coveted his talent, and even his body, which naturally led to friction between them. But wasn't the Uchiha clan doing the exact same thing?

It was simply that their covetousness had morphed into a vain attempt to control him as an individual. And their method was to emotionally blackmail him in the name of family and bloodline glory.

During that time, the clan had spent quite a bit of effort on him.

Through proactive personal care and emotional bonding, they had tried to brainwash him into becoming a proper, obedient Uchiha.

Put simply, before Uchiha Mikoto, there had been two nannies assigned by the clan to take care of him.

Both of them carried a mission from the clan, subtly instilling the glory of the Uchiha into him. It looked like care, but it was actually brainwashing.

He had kicked both of them out.

Only after that did Uchiha Mikoto come knocking, and she never brought up those matters again.

If it had been anyone else...

No!

If it had been any normal child, subjected to such education before their worldview had fully formed, they would have easily been molded into whatever shape those schemers desired.

But Taiga was a transmigrator. He already possessed a fully formed worldview and mature self-awareness. He could clearly distinguish who had ulterior motives and why certain people did certain things.

Fortunately, Uchiha Mikoto was a gentle person, which was why he gradually accepted her.

It was just a pity that no matter how good Mikoto was, her surname was still Uchiha.

That was the ultimate reason he had grown estranged from the Uchiha and chosen to live alone.

Upon returning home, he tossed all these thoughts to the back of his mind and focused his attention on the scroll.

Izanagi.

This was the most miraculous jutsu within the Uchiha clan, an existence akin to a cheat code in the ninja world. It was hard not to be tempted by it.

As for the fact that Setsuna had given him the jutsu, or that Setsuna harbored ulterior motives—so what?

What he held in his hands was real; everything else was irrelevant.

Call him cold-blooded or unsympathetic, but the fact that a transmigrator hadn't already turned into a walking calamity was a blessing in itself. The Uchiha should be content, and the sentient beings of the ninja world should be grateful.

Izanagi was one of the ultimate visual jutsu of the Uchiha clan. It could take any disadvantageous events that occurred to the user within a certain timeframe and rewrite them as if they had never happened, turning only advantageous outcomes into reality.

The effect was game-breaking, but the price was equally extreme.

After use, the caster's Sharingan would go blind. It was highly dangerous.

Generally speaking, every Uchiha who had awakened their eyes could use it twice. But if they underwent an eye transplant, they could continue to activate it.

This was where the ability truly became a cheat.

In a ninja world where "plug-and-play" eyeball swapping technology existed, pairing it with Izanagi often yielded terrifying results.

Shimura Danzo had demonstrated this in the original storyline. It was just a pity that Danzo was too incompetent to bring out the jutsu's true potential.

But if this jutsu were in Taiga's hands, he was confident he could easily reach the endgame.

The difficulty of learning this jutsu was incredibly high, but for an Uchiha who had already awakened their eyes, it wasn't insurmountable.

In Taiga's case, it took him less than half a day to completely master it.

The essence of this jutsu lay in using the Sharingan to record the caster's current state. This state was constant; as long as there was chakra, the jutsu would not fail.

That's right—once activated, this thing essentially became an unsolvable passive skill.

At noon, Uchiha Mikoto visited once again. Carrying a food box, she brought Taiga a piece of news that left him utterly speechless.