Slight to the clan

Dai found himself in a frustrating dilemma, displaying evident frustration from what happened moments ago. Shin, the little boy, who had recently been discharged from the hospital, had asked Dai for some water balloons to play with.

Emi maintained strict discipline inside the Orphanage. Dai sometimes helped her with disciplining the children when they were especially troublesome. However, he was also their only source of moral and financial support in the orphanage, making him quite popular among the orphans.

"I really want to get those water balloons for the kid, but I'm completely tapped out," Dai grumbled, his brow furrowed with worry. 'Why did I have to splurge on those dumbbells for that Akiko brat? Five percent of my savings gone just like that!' Dai thought while spilling imaginary tears. 

"It's all that kid's fault! He knows exactly how to push my buttons. Every time he asks for something, I come up with a plan to gently decline, but before I know it, I'm buying it anyway... Don`t even know how exactly I got teleported to that shop last time!"

Lost in his contemplation, Dai suddenly felt a familiar strike on his shoulder. "Kachak!" A bone-cracking sound echoed as a gruff voice commanded, "Come to the kitchen."

After distributing breakfast to everybody, Dai came to the kitchen. He saw Emi taking something out from behind the grocery supply. It was a small cloth pouch, slightly bulging with its contents. Emi carefully extracted a few notes and handed them over to Dai.

"Here, buy that brat some balloons," Emi's voice rumbled like that of a protective mama bear. A strange sense of warmth washed over Dai.

"Wow... she actually cares," Dai thought, wiping away his imaginary tears.

"Thank you, Emi! I'll definitely let Shin know about this special gift", Dai said with excitement.

Emi, however, swiftly interjected, "No, no, you will not!"

"Why not?"

"Just go, and make sure you're back before they return," Emi pushed him out of the kitchen with a swift kick. Still slightly bewildered, Dai made his way to the market, eager to fulfill his mission of acquiring those balloons.

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In the evening, as Shin, Hiro, and Akiko returned from the playground, Shin pushed open the door and came face-to-face with Dai, who was standing right in front of him.

With an excited grin, Dai handed Shin a packet. "Here you go, Shin!"

"Hey, let me see! Whacho get?...." Hiro eagerly approached, only to be promptly pummeled by Akiko.

"Open it, Shin!" Akiko insisted, giving his seal of approval while smiling, while Hiro managed a thumbs-up despite being knocked out.

Shin carefully opened the packet, marveling at how quickly Dai had managed to get it. Inside, neatly arranged, was a complete set of five hundred water balloons. Dai placed his hand on Shin's head and whispered in his ear, "Go on, kiddo, have some fun. Just don't go overboard or you'll be hearing from Emi."

"Thanks, Big Brother Dai... Thanks a bunch!" Shin beamed with gratitude.

'How did he manage to get the money? I thought Akiko cleaned him out last time,' Shin pondered, suspecting Dai of hiding a secret stash. 'Well, I guess I don't need to worry about my future needs anymore,' he thought with a twinkle in his eyes.

Uncomfortable with Shin's intense gaze, Dai quickly backed away. "Wait a minute! What is he thinking now? I sense some dark energy at play here," Dai thought, feeling a shiver run down his spine.

"Wait... wait, Shin... you know who bought these..." A dark glare from the kitchen sent a shudder through Dai's body, making it impossible for him to finish his sentence.

"You mean it wasn't you, Brother Dai? Then who was it?" Shin questioned, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"No, no... I meant, do you know how I bought them?" Dai stammered, feeling the perspiration forming on his forehead, desperately trying to divert the conversation by rambling about his trip to the market.

Shin looked at Dai with a skeptical gaze, thinking, 'It was definitely you, bro. Who are you kidding?.'

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After having his fun with Dai, Shin made his way to the dining hall for dinner. During the meal, Hiro proposed a water balloon battle, but Shin promptly rejected the idea and headed straight to his room afterward.

Once in his room, Shin practiced with some leaf concentration for a while and after getting used to the Chakra finger exercise, he spread the chakra around his palm. Picking up a balloon filled with water, he tried infusing some chakra inside. A small amount of chakra was sent inside the ballon through the middle part of his palm and started to rotate inside. However, after just two rotations, he lost his concentration and had to stop.

For a long while, he tried rotation inside the ballon, but to no avail. He had to put a lot of focus just to put the chakra outside his body, but to then rotate, it was a bit difficult for him. 

"Even though, I have already tried doing rotations in my body, it still isnt working outside. I guess have to practice more on the rotation inside. Only after mastering the rotation inside, that I will try doing it in the balloon exercise."

Over the next couple of hours, Shin kept rotating the chakra from the neck to his stomach, again and again until he could do it without much concentration. 

Finally, a bit more confident then before, he attempted the balloon exercise again, this time, succeeding by a narrow margin. It was still a big strain on his mental prowess but he managed, until the process became more familiar with each rotation. 

'Now the next step was to increase the rotation fast enough so that it creates enough bouyancy and strain that the balloon explodes.'.

Despite his prolonged training, Shin didn't observe any significant improvement in his chakra rotation. Feeling mentally and physically drained, he decided to take a break and recuperate his chakra supply.

"The main problem is still due to my low chakra reserves and for rasengan practise, I need a decent amount of chakra as well chakra control" Shin pondered. 

'Although this practice itself improves chakra control, I need enough precision to complete the first step... which means... starting the meditation again'

Just as the idea came to his head, dread soon followed, but he consoled himself, 'Its okay, I already vanquished all of the evil, it will be okay this time'

He sat up in the meditation posture, and started meditating, immediately feeling a bit of his surroundings. 'Okay nothing within 10 cms, thats a relief... nothin within 1 meter.... Good, good... that`s refreshi...'

As his senses extended to a two-meter distance, he felt it—a disturbance in the force.

He sighed noticing it was just one bug. He tried to ignore it but couldn`t. He had already taken notice of it and it was hard to not follow up on the usual procedure. Thus even the smallest of dangers were eliminated with a swift response. 

He started meditation again with every few minutes getting interrupted by the infestation around him. 

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In the middle of the night, Hiro woke up, feeling thirsty all of a sudden. He went out of the room and put his feet into his sleepers.

'Ahh, my sleepers are back.'

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"Captain, It would be one thing if you were nominated for the role and then did not gain enough acceptance afterwards from the Jounin Council. We would be content with the outcome. But those village elders didn`t even put you up for nomination. It`s clear that they dont trust the Uchiha clan." 

"Yashiro is right, Captain. It's a great slight to the Uchiha," another clan member chimed in, adding to the growing anger within the crowd.

Fugaku looked wearily at the crowd, despite finding some much-needed rest and recovery, both mentally and physically, at his home. His duties to the clan didn't wait for his mental state to fully recover.

"Enough, everyone," he announced firmly, commanding attention.

Gradually, the voices of dissent quieted down, allowing Fugaku to speak. "The Fourth Hokage is a unique and powerful shinobi, whose prowess can even be likened to that of the First Hokage. He already has my approval. Considering the big picture, he will be a great leader for the village."

Deep down, Fugaku had already decided to keep the existence of the Mangekyo Sharingan hidden for now. He planned to announce it at a more suitable time, during a period of peace.

"His excellence can be seen by the fact that the Third Hokage even overruled his favor for Orochimaru, his own student, in favor of Minato," Fugaku continued, trying to sway the crowd.

"But, Captain, at least Orochimaru was nominated. You were not even considered for the position," Yashiro persisted, attempting to reignite the debate.

"That is enough, Yashiro," Fugaku interjected firmly. "I am going to visit the Hokage tomorrow and update him on the clan. We shall not discuss this issue any further. It is decided. Now, back to your duties."

As everyone left the gathering place. Fugaku remembered the legend of the Mangekyo Sharingan. 

When the visual prowess of the Uchiha advances, more secrets are unveiled from the sacred stone tablet. 

"Mangekyo Sharingan," Fugaku whispered. The three tomoe spiralled into a fan like shuriken surrounded by three dots around the pupil. 

The text on the stone tablet transformed before his eyes, revealing the information that became available to him.

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Author Note: 

Thank you dunkinB, Aurora_borealis12, ParadoxMind and DarkApple for your power stones. 

If you like the story so far, please review, and comment, and yes please send power stones. 

Please share your thoughts in the comments and reviews. 

The chapters 1-3 have been revised.