Chapter 36: Suppressing Amaterasu

This person came and went quickly. After a false alarm, Uchiha Gin closed the door and pondered the intentions of his clan leader and cousin-in-law.

"Little cousin Izuna, why do you think the clan leader sent me to work in the dungeon?"

Unable to fathom his thoughts, Uchiha Gin turned to ask Uchiha Izuna, who was currently locked in a staring contest with Senju Itama.

"Perhaps he's afraid of you going out."

Izuna stroked his chin and thought for a moment before saying,

"Because your strength is truly..."

Looking at his little cousin who stopped mid-sentence, his answer coincided with the speculation in his own heart.

From the original owner's memories, ever since that tragedy in his childhood, his strength had remained stagnant; he did not know if it was because his Dao heart was shattered and he lacked the drive to improve, or if it was due to limited talent.

In any case, because the original owner's strength was insufficient, Uchiha Tajima had always assigned him simple tasks within the clan.

Such as guarding the clan leader's building, patrol teams, and other such posts that would not take him far from the clan grounds; the only reason this recent mission was arranged for him was because the original owner had threatened to die if he didn't go.

"Is it really just a disguised form of protection? I hope I'm just overthinking it."

Uchiha Gin muttered to himself.

Having rested enough, Uchiha Izuna saw that it was getting late, made a face at Senju Itama, and the young man rose slowly to take his leave.

Uchiha Gin went to the door to see him off. As he was leaving, Izuna suddenly turned his face away and said with a somewhat awkward tone,

"Thanks, the food was delicious."

After saying this, he fled in a panic without looking back.

"Are all Uchihas tsunderes?"

Uchiha Gin touched his own curly hair and thought.

Turning back into the room, he saw Senju Itama immediately straighten up, eyes moving stiffly, and stubbornly said,

"What exactly is your goal?"

"Kid, you are safe for now, but only while you're with me."

Uchiha Gin did not give him much of an explanation,

"In any case, before the war begins, you had better stay here quietly."

Not many people knew of Senju Itama's identity, and he figured Uchiha Tajima would not make a big scene of this matter.

Since he had been entrusted with watching this kid, it meant the war had not yet reached a fever pitch; once the decisive battle was on the verge of breaking out, this kid's fate would be hard to say.

Thinking of the trash system's mission, Uchiha Gin felt another headache. Making an Uchiha protect a mortal enemy from the Senju clan—was he really being forced to play the role of a mole?

"Starting today, you sleep in the bedroom."

Uchiha Gin looked at the flustered kid and assigned him the only bedroom in the house. He then entered the bedroom, rummaged through the wardrobe for a long time, and came out holding a stack of clothes.

"These are from when I was a child; you should be able to wear them."

He handed the clothes to Senju Itama, as the boy's own clothes had long been tattered from the journey.

"I'm going to rest now. You can try them on tomorrow."

He had spent the whole day traveling, and there had been that interlude with Uchiha Izuna.

Now that he was relaxed, Uchiha Gin felt somewhat exhausted. Ignoring Senju Itama, who was standing there stunned while holding the clothes, he lay down on the living room sofa and fell asleep.

Senju Itama looked at the clothes in his hands, hesitated for a long time, walked into the bedroom, and a burst of snoring soon drifted out.

At this moment, Uchiha Gin, who should have been fast asleep, quietly opened his eyes. After listening to ensure Senju Itama was sound asleep in the bedroom, he got up and pushed the door open to leave, his footsteps making not a single sound.

The sky was pitch black, with only faint firelight flickering from the distant construction guard towers. He circled his house, finally chose a spot in a blind corner behind the building, and used a few pieces of firewood to build a simple fence.

Dusting off his hands, Uchiha Gin looked at his "masterpiece" with satisfaction; after all, time was tight, and being able to make this much was already not bad.

He then sat cross-legged inside the fenced area and closed his eyes to doze.

He did not know how much time had passed, but feeling the air around him suddenly stagnate, Uchiha Gin, having experienced this twice before, knew this was the precursor to a skill refresh.

He quickly opened his scarlet eyes and scanned his surroundings. With the aid of his dynamic vision, everything in the dark night was clear, yet he discovered nothing.

Just as he frowned, wondering what it would be this time, a hand quietly landed on his shoulder.

In an instant, Uchiha Gin felt a chill run through his entire body, his hair standing on end. The owner of the hand made no further move, and Uchiha Gin stiffly turned his head to look at the hand resting on his shoulder.

The palm was extremely pale, and the long, slender fingers revealed protruding knuckles, but this was not what terrified him the most.

Glancing at the black nail polish on the fingertips and the ring embedded with a gemstone on the ring finger, Uchiha Gin felt his heart turn ice-cold.

He didn't even need to look closely at the character "Zhu" (Vermilion) engraved on the ring to guess who had come.

Knowing he was no match, Uchiha Gin did not want to sit and wait for death. He secretly channeled chakra to gather in his arms,

Strength of a Hundred, activate!

Following Uchiha Gin's hate-filled elbow strike, the person behind him turned into a flock of crows that scattered and fled, then gathered in the distance into a figure wearing a black cloak with red clouds.

Although he already knew his fate, Uchiha Gin just wanted to land a punch on this great filial son, Itachi.

With his Sharingan active, he did not hesitate. Determined to land a punch even if it meant being caught in Tsukuyomi, he used the Strength of a Hundred with both hands and smashed toward the dazed Itachi Uchiha.

Strangely, this time Itachi Uchiha only opened his right Mangekyo Sharingan. As a trail of blood tears flowed down, Uchiha Gin realized he had not been pulled into a genjutsu space.

Just as he was puzzled, he suddenly felt a heart-wrenching burning sensation in his hands, as if his soul were being scorched.

Looking closely, he saw that his fists were covered in a layer of black flames. The fire was not large, but the burning sensation was extremely intense, making him wish he could chop off his own hands.

【Amaterasu】: The ability residing in Itachi Uchiha's right Mangekyo eye, possessing black flames said to be able to burn everything to ash.

Damn it, what happened to the promised Tsukuyomi? Uchiha Gin rolled on the ground in pain; he had no means to deal with Amaterasu.

The Fire Sealing Method from the original work was created by the Uzumaki clan and was specifically designed to target the Uchiha clan; he certainly did not know it.

Did he really have to sever his arm to survive like the Fourth Raikage?

Just as Uchiha Gin was losing his mind from the torture of the flames on his hands, a cool sensation suddenly came from his right hand.

He barely managed to open his eyes and saw a faint blue light emerging from the back of his right hand, which was covered in black flames.

Then, a spiral-shaped mark appeared. As the mark rotated slightly, obscure runes extended from within it.

As soon as the black flames touched the runes, they seemed to encounter a natural enemy; they were driven by the runes to shrink into a ball, and finally, they were completely wrapped by the runes and slowly drawn into the spiral mark.

His entire right hand was suddenly relieved of the burden, and the spiral mark dimmed, flickering a few times before sinking back into the back of his hand.

The crisis in his right hand was temporarily resolved, but the black flames on his left hand were intensifying and were about to spread to his body.

Uchiha Gin had no choice but to use his right hand to draw a Flying Thunder God kunai, preparing to sever his palm to survive. He gritted his teeth and swung down.

Better a short pain than a long one; in any case, once the skill ended, everything would return to normal, and the severed palm would heal itself.

At the same time, in a narrow, dark space, a black shadow slowly opened its scarlet eyes.

Feeling the fetal movement in his eyes, the shadow seemed somewhat anxious. A moment later, following a tremor of his body, the shadow gasped for air, and a bewitching pattern flashed across his eyes.

At the very moment he was about to "break up" with his "Little Left" that had accompanied him for many years, Uchiha Gin's left hand flashed with a rose-colored crimson, and a mark identical to the one on his right hand appeared.

But unlike the Uzumaki clan mark he knew, he had never seen this mark on his left hand in the original owner's memories.

Although there were no memories, his body did not seem to reject this mark, and there was even a faint sense of intimacy.

The mark consisted of a pattern of three swallow-shaped boomerangs surrounding a central red dot.

The tyrannical black flames became docile and gentle with the appearance of the mark, and as time passed, they finally turned into a faint red light and disappeared without a trace.

"Backyard daily refresh random skill 【Amaterasu】, obtained Amaterasu*1"

(End of chapter)