Discovery

I stared blankly at the latest congratulatory notification that had just popped up after I successfully performed the Great Fireball technique. I didn't really know what to think about the apparent achievement I had just accomplished. Moreover, oddly enough, the Sharingan doujutsu was even unlocked by the gamer system.

Stroking my chin, I opened up my status page to check the new title, perk and naturally the new skill I had just received.

[Title:]

[Uchiha Clan Member]: As a member of the Uchiha clan, you are naturally talented in wielding fire nature chakra and will not receive penalties from using [Sharingan].

+50% EXP gain to all fire-related skills.

Gain access to [Uchiha Natural Dungeon]

[Perk:]

[Natural Fire Affinity]: You have acquired an affinity towards fire nature chakra.

-50% CP cost to all fire-related skills

+100% EXP gain to all fire-related skills

+100% effectiveness of all fire-related skills

+100% CP cost to all water-related skills

-100% EXP gain to all water-related skills

[Skill:]

[Sharingan] (Active) LVL: 1

CP Cost: 10 per second

When active, user gains incredible clarity of perception and superhuman dynamic vision.

Allows user to track fast movement and copy any jutsu they see within limits.

Able to cast genjutsu through sight.

Improved proficiency in the skill increases potency of skill effects.

While I was sufficiently impressed with the abilities of the Sharingan, as well as the benefits of my new title and perk, what caught my eye were the words, [Uchiha Natural Dungeon].

Finally! The time has come! I was finally given the chance to grind levels in a dungeon!

What struck me as odd ever since my reincarnation was the conspicuous lack of dungeons that had been so prevalent in The Gamer anime. That was the plot device that had allowed for the main character to grind his levels in order to challenge the big threats in his world. But I had never encountered one nor was I able to create them in the Naru-verse.

I assumed that it was entirely possible when the Gamer ability I wished for had been 're-balanced' by the omnipotent entity that granted me the wishes, the existence of dungeons was excluded. However it seemed that I was wrong, only that there were pre-requisites involved in unlocking these dungeons.

The question now was the exact location of the [Uchiha Natural Dungeon].

I pondered over it for a few moments and was able to narrow it down to a few locations – locations which I would find it difficult to access at this point in time. Since I had no feasible way to test out my theory, I could only shelve the idea for now.

The [Natural Fire Affinity] intrigued me as well, and now I was curious how much the perk boosted the power of my Great Fireball technique.

Forming the required hand seals, I prepared to fire off the technique again. I pumped in the same amount of chakra I had used before, roughly 300 CP worth.

Once more, I gathered the required chakra in to my chest. However, this time, the utter ease in kneading the accumulated chakra and turning it into fire could not even compare to my first try. I almost made a mistake handling the fiery chakra in my mouth before I managed to push forward and expel the created fire.

"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!"

It must have been the result of the [Natural Fire Affinity] perk which halved the CP cost and doubled the effectiveness of the jutsu, functionally tripling its strength. The resultant fireball that was unleashed was easily twice the size of my first attempt and unlike the previous try, it did not stop at dissipating before hitting the surface of the lake.

No, it crashed into the center of the water body, exploding in a sea of steam and vapor that did little to hide the accompanying turbulence in the lake. More importantly however, was the resounding blast of air and sound that followed the explosion.

Skill [Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu] has levelled up!

Damn, the [Uchiha Clan Member] title and [Natural Fire Affinity] really boosted the EXP gain for fire-related skills, seeing how it levelled up after only the second usage. I had no time to appreciate the power of the jutsu as I quickly realized that had been a very conspicuous explosion in an area which was restricted to all but one other person. My heart pounded in my chest, but just before I could turn away and make my escape, I heard a distant shout.

"That jutsu? Who are you!"

I blanched and nervously turned around. A familiar figure ran into the clearing from the surrounding forest.

"Oh, hey Sasuke... What are you doing here?" It took every shred of my acting capabilities to swiftly transition into a nonchalant demeanour as I casually waved at the boy.

"It's you? You, what are you doing here! And how did you learn that jutsu!?" Sasuke shouted at me, his eyes glaring at me in suspicion and anger.

[REP has decreased with Uchiha Sasuke]

Shit! What was Sasuke doing here? He was supposed to be in his clan compound around this time of the day, not exploring the training grounds for no apparent reason! Was I wrong? Damnit, I should've guessed it wasn't impossible for the boy to stray from his self-imposed routine.

Seeing that I was taking a moment too long to answer, Sasuke furiously pressed me again, "Answer me, Shinji! Where did you learn the Great Fireball technique? That is a Uchiha jutsu!"

"Wa-wait a minute, why are you acting like this? First off, I just randomly wandered into this area and was training here, what's the issue?" I pulled myself together to give what I thought was a convincing answer.

Sasuke's glare did not lessen one bit, "This is not a place just anyone can enter! This is my clan's exclusive training ground."

"Ah, my bad, I hadn't realized. Sorry." I apologized, hoping to placate the boy before things got too heated.

"That I can excuse, but more importantly, how did you learn that technique, huh!? Did you break in to my clan's jutsu library and steal it!? You bastard! How dare you!" Sasuke began stomping towards me, I could see his clenched fists trembling in barely withheld fury.

[REP has decreased significantly with Uchiha Sasuke]

"Hold on a moment, hear me out-"

"Shut it! I don't want to hear your lies!"

He wasn't even giving me any chance to explain before his eyes went red, metaphorically, and with a yell, the last Uchiha ran at me.

'This fucking brat, is he crazy!?'

I made to retreat backwards from the enraged boy, but the sharp pain that shot through my leg reminded me again of my current disability.

Sasuke launched a kick at my as soon as he was within range, which I barely blocked, distracted by the throbbing pain. I've never had to fight while being in pain before; the [Gamer's Body] always removed any pain from any injuries I had sustained. But not this time.

"Oi! Listen, to, me!" With every word, I had to duck or lean away from his attacks, the gap narrowing with each exchange.

But Sasuke wasn't listening to reason; he wasn't listening at all. Gritting my teeth, I lifted up my left leg and gave him a front kick which was handily avoided with ease. I stumbled as my supporting right leg shuddered from the pain of the torn up muscles barely holding up my weight.

Taking advantage of the opportunity created from my overextended leg and momentary distraction from the pain, Sasuke swooped in to deliver two crushing blows to my face and another in my gut.

-261 HP!

That does it. [Power Strike]!

I countered with a punch that was blocked but still did some damage.

By now, we were already used to each other's fighting styles from our various spars over the year. Both of us generally used our speed to our advantage and fought our opponents by overwhelming them with fast attacks while manoeuvring into advantageous positions around them. We also heavily relied on counter-attacks to damage our opponents.

The Uchiha clan's fighting style was one that relied on the Sharingan to predict an enemy's movements, allowing the user to duck and weave around their attacks while landing fast but accurate blows to the opponent's vital points.

Whereas I, relying on my superior physical abilities, tended to out-manoeuvre and overwhelm my opponent with sheer brute force.

However, due to my injury, I was not able to rely on my fast movements to deal with Sasuke. I could only fall back on the power of my hits to hopefully deter the boy and buy myself some time to come up with an acceptable excuse.

I followed up on my attack with a hook to his face, trying to bypass his defence. But Sasuke was indeed a sharp kid as he had already noticed I was hobbling on my right leg. Ducking under the hook, he smashed a vicious low kick against my right leg that caused me to scream in pain.

'This fucking kid! He's really driving me crazy!'

Biting down the pain, I stepped forward and caught him trying to back away. Before he could however, I threw a jab that landed square on his nose. The [Power Strike] infused punch threw his head back, but Sasuke only returned with vengeance.

The Uchiha circled around me, delivering rapid fire hits that I could barely block or avoid due to my limited mobility. Some snaked through and I saw my HP slowly but surely being whittled down. He also occasionally threw ruthless kicks at my ruined leg, which always crumpled in pain whenever they landed.

Thoughts of defeat and the countless possible consequences following it raced through my mind. What would happen if Sasuke knocked me out and reported my presence to the authorities? What if they decided to investigate how I truly learned the C-ranked Katon jutsu? Or what if Sasuke didn't stop at rendering me unconscious, the crazed kid looked like he wanted to murder me – what happens when my HP reached zero?

Fuck this shit, I wasn't about to risk all that. But what was I supposed to do under his relentless barrage? I had been trying to talk him down the entire fight, but it didn't look like a single word was getting through his rage.

I had no choice; I could only use my latest acquired skill. There was the possibility that he might calm down, or at least be shocked into it, once he saw them. Or he could also very possibly mistake me for Itachi in disguise or something equally ridiculous and try to slit my throat. But either way, using it was the only way I could possibly get out of this mess.

I gave a mental command, and my black irises slowly morphed into a crimson red while a single black tomoe revolved around an equally black pupil.

There was an instant shift in my perception of the world around me. Suddenly I saw everything – everything in perfect detail. From the most minute rustling of the grass beneath us, to the near imperceptible beating of a cicada's wing as it took flight off of a tree in the distance.

And Sasuke, who had been overwhelming me with his speed just a moment earlier, was looking like he was trying to move through mud. Right now he was sneakily throwing a low kick at my right leg, but he was moving so slowly, or rather through the Sharingan eyes, he looked like he was moving so slowly that I felt I had more than enough time to avoid it.

I lifted my feet up, giving a wide birth from Sasuke's kick, before snapping them up to catch him in the face. The unexpected counter attack launched the Uchiha away from me, who gracefully flipped and landed on his feet, snarling.

But I watched as his scowl vanish, distorting first into confusion and then rapidly into incredulity. He had been focusing on my leg when I first activated the Sharingan. Only now did he take a proper look at my face, or more specifically, my almost glowing red eyes.

"You- those eyes, who, how did you-" Sasuke stammered out, before forming a hand seal and yelling, "Kai!"

But there was no change to the appearance of my eyes even after he tried dismissing the non-existent genjutsu. "I, I'm not under a genjutsu… then that means… how? How did you get those eyes!"

I was in a dilemma. How should I play this? There was really only two ways I could go about doing this: the first being, 'now you know my secret – I was an Uchiha all along!'. Or two, 'what eyes, oh wait I have the Sharingan? I have no idea how that happened.'

The decision to reveal my doujutsu was impulsive, yes, but it was something I had put some thought into as well, or at least much thought as I could muster while being barraged by strikes from a 9 year old child. There were similar merits and demerits to either choice I made.

First and foremost, I could get out of the previously dicey situation if I handled what would come forth well. Secondly, if I managed to assuage the kid's questions well enough, I could also gain access to the Uchiha Clan compound and their jutsu library, which could also give me the chance to locate the [Uchiha Natural Dungeon]. Next, being recognized as a family member, however distant, would be tremendous in acquiring Sasuke's trust and confidence. Not to mention being able to henceforth influence the Uchiha's decisions and ensure he makes it to the final war as strong as he needed to be.

Although the cons to the decision was pretty clear as well. There was always the possibility he would run his mouth off to someone in the village and reveal my Uchiha ancestry, which would open up a whole can of worms I wasn't willing to touch with a 10 foot pole. There was also the chance that he might just break and go insane, take me as a proxy for Itachi and try to murder me right here and now. He might even try to drag me into his whole 'I need to avenge my family' crusade, which I wouldn't really mind, but it'd be annoying to explain to observers.

However, what's done is done. The proverbial cat has been let out of the bag now, so I just had to roll with it and minimize the damage, or in the best case scenario, work it to my advantage. So now I had to decide how I was going to play this – mysterious and calculative or innocent and confused.

The first option would save me the trouble of explaining how I managed to learn the Great Fireball technique in the first place, since I could simply explain that I was able to witness someone perform the technique and was thus able to use it.

However, I would also have to elaborate on how I managed to find out about my Uchiha parentage in the first place and who these parents were. And then I would have to account for my presence in the Uchiha training ground, as well as my reasons for hiding my lineage in the first place. That was a lot of explaining I would have to do.

The second option would be more convenient, since I could act like I was just as confused as he was, and thus would not be able to answer whatever questions he would have for me. It'd play into my orphan background quite nicely too, since I didn't know who my parents were, which explains why I hadn't known of my bloodline in the first place.

But the major disadvantage for this option was the inability for me to control the narrative. As I would have to play the part of the confused child, I couldn't spin the story however I wanted as I'd be discovering the 'truth' at the same time as Sasuke.

Looking at the decision with a strict cost-benefit analysis, taking into account some margin for error and considering potential future gains that was as of yet unclear; the second option was objectively more appealing. And as I thought about it further, the more it made sense to me.

Sasuke was a child, but a smart child. Whatever story I concocted up about the reasons behind why I hid my identity as a descendent of the Uchiha clan could eventually be seen through, even if it wouldn't be for some time. And that would only ruin whatever trust I had built between us once he unearths the deception.

So my choice was pretty clear.