In the courtyard of Uchiha Izumi's home, the evening breeze carried a hint of coolness, but it could not wash away the warmth on the young girl's flushed face or the brilliant light in her eyes.
Chiya set down his teacup and looked gently at Izumi, who was so nervous that she did not even know where to put her hands.
"You just said you've mastered the shape transformation of the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique?"
"Yes!!"
The girl looked at Chiya nervously as she accepted the book he handed her.
"It seems you've trained very hard, Izumi. Reaching this level at your age isn't easy. I've seen both your effort and your talent."
His voice was calm, yet every word carried undeniable weight, striking directly into the girl's heart.
Izumi's bright eyes instantly filled with tears of excitement, and her cheeks turned as red as ripe apples.
She twisted her fingers together, her voice trembling from overwhelming excitement and shyness.
She had worked so hard not only because she knew how cruel the ninja world was.
More than anything, she wanted the person she admired most to acknowledge all her efforts.
And to her, Uchiha Chiya had always been the sun that illuminated her world.
"Hokage-sama! I... I'll work even harder! I promise I won't disappoint your expectations!"
Watching her daughter like this, Uchiha Hazuki felt both proud and heartbroken.
She quickly spoke up.
"Clan Leader-sama, you flatter her too much. This child is just stubborn and relies entirely on sheer determination."
"Well... it's almost dinner time. If you don't mind, would you honor us by staying for a simple meal? It would also give you a chance to guide Izumi a little more."
Hazuki spoke with both enthusiasm and humility, her eyes filled with hope.
Being able to share a meal with the Hokage and the clan leader was the highest honor imaginable for the mother and daughter.
Chiya smiled warmly.
He slowly rose to his feet, the hem of his black Hokage robe brushing lightly across the table.
"I appreciate the offer, Lady Hazuki."
"But I still have some work to take care of tonight, so I'll have to decline dinner."
After a brief pause, he turned his gaze back to Izumi, his tone becoming gentler.
"Izumi, keep that focus and passion. The future of the Uchiha Clan depends on young people like you."
"Remember, the true meaning of strength is to protect. Protect everything you wish to protect."
Those words were engraved deep within the young girl's heart.
Izumi nodded vigorously, her little face tense with determination as though she had just accepted an incredibly sacred mission.
"Yes, Hokage-sama! I'll remember!"
"I'll become a strong ninja who can protect the people and things that matter to me!"
"Once your training improves even further..."
"If I have the time, I'll personally guide your training."
Hearing those unexpected words, both mother and daughter lit up with joy.
"Yes!!"
Chiya nodded without saying anything else.
Under the mother and daughter's reverent, almost worshipful gazes, he turned and left the small courtyard.
After walking out through the gate, Chiya did not stop.
Instead of heading toward the Hokage Tower or his own residence, he quietly changed direction and made his way toward another part of the Uchiha district.
His destination was Obito's home.
Obito's house felt rather lonely.
Since his grandmother had passed away, there were no longer any elders living with him.
He was all alone.
Chiya knocked on the door.
A short while later, it opened.
Uchiha Obito stood in the doorway.
Several bandages still wrapped around his body, and faint scratches from battle remained on his face.
When he saw Chiya standing outside, surprise flashed across his eyes.
It quickly disappeared as he respectfully bowed.
"Hokage-sama."
His voice was steady, carrying a calmness rare for someone his age.
The loud, reckless, and energetic boy he used to be was nowhere to be seen.
Chiya studied him for a moment.
It seemed this experience had changed Obito considerably.
Those once bright and carefree eyes now held many things.
The shadow of pain.
The fear of loss.
The confusion of suddenly obtaining immense power.
And the maturity that had been forced upon him before his time.
Deep within his eyes still lingered the timid hope of a child, but his overall demeanor had become completely different.
He had survived the brink of death, witnessed his closest friends die and return to life, and awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Each of those experiences had been like a massive millstone crushing his young mind, forcibly shaping him into the calm young man standing here today.
"Let's talk inside."
Chiya spoke calmly as he walked into the house first.
The furnishings inside were simple, even somewhat shabby, but everything had been kept neat and tidy.
Obito followed behind somewhat stiffly.
He silently poured a cup of water and placed it before Chiya before standing respectfully at the side, waiting for instructions.
Without even looking at the cup, Chiya met Obito's eyes directly.
"Obito, I came today to ask you something."
"Would you be willing to become my disciple?"
Obito's body trembled almost imperceptibly.
His head snapped up, his eyes filled with unconcealable shock and disbelief.
Become the Hokage's disciple?
Become the personal student of the clan leader who had saved Rin and Kakashi and possessed power that seemed almost godlike?
To him, that had once been an impossible dream.
Something he had never even dared imagine.
If this had happened before, he would probably have jumped around in excitement, shouting, "Really? Really?!" while running all over the house.
But now, he merely pressed his lips tightly together, forcing back the excitement threatening to burst out.
Taking a deep breath, he felt the newly awakened Mangekyō Sharingan faintly stirring deep within his eyes.
The slight pain reminded him of everything he had been through.
He remained silent for several seconds, digesting the news and weighing the meaning behind it.
When he finally looked up again, the excitement in his eyes had been replaced by far more complicated emotions.
Honor.
Responsibility.
Gratitude.
And a trace of weariness that did not belong on someone his age.
"Hokage-sama."
His voice had grown even quieter.
"I... I'm honored. But... I was always the dead last. And these eyes..."
Instinctively, he reached up to touch them, where the lingering soreness from overusing them still remained.
"I'm afraid I'll disappoint your expectations."
This hesitation and self-reflection would have been unimaginable for the old Uchiha Obito.
Chiya understood.
Wounds like these needed time to heal.
If Obito had immediately returned to his old carefree self, that would have been far more abnormal.
Perhaps this newfound calmness was a gift fate had forced upon him.
Though bitter, it was not entirely a bad thing for a ninja.
"What I value isn't who you were."
"It's who you can become."
Chiya's voice left no room for doubt.
"Your eyes are both your strength and your responsibility."
"And I will teach you how to control them, how to make them a tool for protection rather than destruction."
"You only need to answer one question."
"Will you, or won't you?"
Obito clenched his fists.
He remembered Rin's warm smile.
He remembered Kakashi saying, "I'm sorry, Obito."
He remembered his own helplessness in the face of despair and the power that had finally erupted, twisting space itself.
He needed strength.
The strength to truly protect his companions.
Not to keep struggling on the edge of losing them.
Without another moment of hesitation, he bowed deeply.
"I will!"
"Hokage-sama, please teach me!"
"I'll give everything I have and never let your guidance go to waste!"
The instant Obito finished speaking, the familiar system notification echoed inside Chiya's mind.
[Ding!]
[Mission: Accept Uchiha Obito as a disciple. Completed.]
[Mission Reward: Kamui Mangekyō Dojutsu has been granted.]
A completely new understanding of space-time distortion quietly flowed into Chiya's mind.
Kamui.
After being absorbed by Chiya, this Mangekyō ability was not the power to become intangible or travel through space.
Instead, it became the power of the other eye.
The eye capable of tearing and twisting space itself.
It was the very same ability Kakashi possessed in the original story.
"Very good."
A faint look of satisfaction appeared on Chiya's face.
"Starting tomorrow, after your daily training is over, come to the Third Training Ground behind Naka Shrine and wait for me."
"Yes, Hokage-sama!"
Obito bowed once again, his voice filled with determination.
"Still calling me Hokage-sama?"
"Yes... Teacher!"
Chiya nodded.
Without another word, he stood up and left.
Obito respectfully escorted him to the door.
Only after Chiya's figure disappeared around the corner of the street did he slowly straighten his back.
Touching his still-racing heart, he could hardly believe that the legendary Chiya, the pride of the Uchiha Clan, had chosen him.
There could be no greater honor.
Only then did a smile finally spread across his face, one that mixed overwhelming joy with the heavy burden of responsibility.
Leaving Obito's home, Chiya continued walking without pause.
He headed straight toward the former residence of Uchiha Mikoto.
He had visited several times before, making the route quite familiar.
Pushing open the slightly weathered courtyard gate, he found the white-haired Uchiha Sosuke reclining in an old rocking chair, his eyes half closed as he quietly enjoyed the last rays of the setting sun.
Hearing the gate open, the old man lazily cracked one eye open.
The moment he saw Chiya, he let out a dissatisfied snort through his nose.
Then he closed his eye again and deliberately continued rocking in his chair, pretending not to notice him.
His feelings toward this grandson-in-law were extremely complicated.
In terms of ability, strength, and status, there was absolutely nothing to criticize.
He was the greatest man Sosuke had ever seen, someone capable of making the Uchiha name resound throughout the entire ninja world, and deep down, the old man could not have been prouder.
But whenever he thought about his gentle and considerate granddaughter, Mikoto, along with all those vague rumors about the women surrounding Chiya...
His heart would feel stifled, and he could not help feeling that his precious granddaughter had been terribly wronged.
Even though Mikoto herself had never once complained and had already moved in with Chiya.
That still did not stop the old man from occasionally putting on a sour face to express the tiny bit of dissatisfaction expected from her family.
Chiya knew the old man's temperament well and paid it no mind.
He walked over to the small table beside him, picked up the teapot, and naturally refilled Sosuke's half-cold cup with hot tea before pouring himself a cup as well.
"Hmph. The Hokage must be busy with countless affairs every day. So what brings you here to keep an old man like me company in the sun today?"
Unable to hold back any longer, Sosuke finally spoke first.
His tone was dripping with sarcasm, though his eyes remained closed.
Chiya took a sip of tea.
It tasted ordinary, just the cheapest coarse tea.
Setting the cup down, he got straight to the point.
"Elder Sosuke, I've come to look through some of the clan's oldest records and documents."
"Preferably anything dating back to the Warring States Era, especially records about the clan cultivating 'special combat forces' or... 'weapons.'"
The moment he heard the word "weapons," Sosuke's rocking chair came to an abrupt stop.
He finally opened his eyes, his cloudy yet still sharp gaze settling on Chiya with a trace of curiosity and suspicion.
"Why are you suddenly interested in something that happened so long ago?"
"Hardly anyone remembers that old history anymore."
"I happened to come across a few incomplete records and became curious."
Chiya answered calmly, revealing little emotion.
"They might help me better understand certain changes in the Sharingan."
That was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Although Sosuke still found it somewhat strange, considering Chiya's current status and strength, it was not surprising that he would want to explore the clan's deeper history.
The old man slowly climbed out of his rocking chair, his movements somewhat sluggish.
Seeing this, Chiya instinctively reached out to help him.
"Get lost!"
Sosuke slapped his hand away and glared at him.
"I'm not so old that I need someone to hold me up!"
Despite his words, he could not completely hide the faint satisfaction deep in his eyes at his grandson-in-law's instinctive concern.
Leaning on the cane beside him, he slowly made his way toward the back room.
Chiya simply withdrew his hand without any embarrassment and quietly followed behind him.
After passing through a corridor, they stopped before a secluded room.
Sosuke took an old key from his robe and unlocked the door.
A stale scent mixed with dust and old ink drifted out.
The room was not large.
Ancient scroll boxes and bookshelves filled every corner, all buried beneath thick layers of dust.
It was obvious that after Mikoto moved away, the old house had been left almost completely unattended.
"There. It should be somewhere in that pile."
Sosuke pointed toward several old wooden chests stacked in the corner that looked older than everything else before coughing twice.
"They're all things the clan stopped looking at long ago. Whether what you're after is in there or not, you'll have to search for it yourself."
"My old bones aren't built for this sort of work anymore."
As he spoke, he waved his hand dismissively.
It was as if staying another second would only leave him covered in even more dust.
Then he slowly turned around and made his way back, clearly intending to continue enjoying his evening tea beneath the setting sun.
Chiya watched the old man's stubborn yet slightly unsteady figure disappear beyond the end of the corridor.
Only then did he turn toward the dusty wooden chests.
Walking forward slowly, he brushed his fingers across one of the lids, leaving behind a clear trail.
Dust floated through the dim sunlight filtering in through the cracks in the windows.
The only sound in the silent room was the soft rustling of ancient scrolls as he turned their pages.
It was as though the mysteries of history lay hidden within the dust and silence, waiting for him to uncover them.
"Uchiha weapons..."
The corner of Chiya's mouth twitched slightly as he murmured the words to himself.
After searching through countless records, he finally opened an inconspicuous old book.
His hand suddenly stopped turning the pages.
"...Found it!"