Although Itachi Uchiha was a genius in his own right, he obviously couldn't compare to Jie Uchiha and his cheat-like abilities. Because of this, Itachi's subtle competitive movements couldn't escape Fugaku Uchiha's eyes.
"Father, I also want to become stronger so I can always stay by older brother's side and not be left too far behind," Itachi said, looking up. "So, Father, can you help me?"
Fugaku was slightly taken aback; he hadn't expected Itachi to be thinking this way. After a moment of silence, he slowly walked over, rubbed Itachi's small head, and smiled.
"Of course. Both you and Jie are my children. As a father, I naturally hope you both become even stronger."
Itachi nodded firmly, his eyes full of stubborn determination. "Brother, I will definitely catch up to you!"
Meanwhile, returning to his room alone, Jie muttered to himself, "How could it be like this?"
Although Jie was indeed acting a bit absent-minded, the reason was completely different from what Fugaku assumed. With his Basic Sage Body, mental fatigue from the battle was practically a non-issue. The real reason he appeared so distracted was that the rewards provided by the settlement system after his fight with Kakashi had far exceeded his expectations.
[Ding! The host severely injured and defeated Kakashi Hatake in the graduation exam using One Thousand Years of Death.]
[Settlement Reward: Ninjutsu - Chidori, Lightning Blade; Hatake Kenjutsu; Visual Jutsu - Kamui!]
Chidori and Lightning Blade were jutsu developed by Kakashi himself. Hatake Kenjutsu was the supreme sword technique created by Kakashi's father, Sakumo Hatake. Jie could understand receiving these rewards, as they were skills Kakashi actively possessed.
But Kamui was entirely beyond his expectations.
Especially after assimilating the jutsu, Jie discovered that while his Sharingan's visual prowess had surged by a massive margin, it was still firmly stuck at the three-tomoe stage. It hadn't evolved into the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Jie had never heard of such a situation. It had never happened, not even in the original canon timeline. Pondering this exact mystery was what made him appear so listless and distracted.
'I have a visual jutsu without a Mangekyo. So, what exactly is going on with my Sharingan?' Jie wondered. 'Do I really have to follow the original plot? Do I have to let my closest loved ones die by my hands just to awaken the Mangekyo?'
Deeply puzzled, Jie tried to demand an answer from the system, but no matter how much he called out, it remained completely unresponsive.
'Forget it. If I can't figure it out, I won't dwell on it for now,' he finally decided. 'I have plenty of time ahead of me; I'll eventually find a solution.'
Left with no other choice, Jie pushed the matter to the back of his mind and focused on analyzing his newly acquired visual jutsu.
Kamui was originally the space-time ninjutsu that Obito Uchiha unlocked upon awakening his Mangekyo Sharingan. The Kamui Sharingan connected to a barren alternate dimension. Obito's right eye allowed him to turn his own body intangible, as well as open connection nodes between the ninja world and the pocket dimension to teleport.
Kakashi's left eye, however, could tear through space and suck objects into that dimension. It could displace an object, release it elsewhere, or trap it in the alternate dimension forever.
The Kamui that Jie had obtained from the system was Kakashi's left-eye version.
'Although it isn't Obito's intangibility, it's not bad either,' Jie thought. 'As long as I don't go blind from overusing it, it'll serve perfectly as a storage space. I just don't know if it connects to Obito's specific dimension.'
Jie decided against testing it out immediately. Since he still hadn't figured out the exact state of his eyes, he had no intention of using Kamui until he officially advanced to the Mangekyo Sharingan.
The following days were remarkably simple. Jie chose not to join the Konoha Military Police Force. Aside from wasting his time, life in the Police Force would offer him absolutely no help in his training.
Furthermore, because the graduation exam had caused such a massive commotion, tales of his deeds were spreading like wildfire. Overnight, Jie had essentially become a local celebrity in the village. No matter where he went, crowds of villagers would gather to shower him with praise and fake flattery.
Annoyed by the constant attention, Jie simply hid within the Uchiha clan compound. He planned to wait until the villagers' excitement died down before considering what kind of missions to take to further his strength.
As for why a mere graduation exam garnered so much attention, it wasn't because anyone was secretly pulling strings behind the scenes. It was simply because, after the exam concluded, Training Ground 1 had not only lost its roof but was left with a completely cratered floor. The entire facility was on the verge of collapsing, making it entirely impossible to host the villagers' daily training.
Because of this, the village was forced to completely seal off Training Ground 1 for emergency repairs. Such a massive structural change couldn't escape the eyes of Konoha's residents. The mystery of the ruined facility sparked their curiosity, and once they dug up the true cause of the destruction, the entire village fell into an uproar.