Jie Uchiha looked up at the distant Hokage Monument. Aside from their hair color, Minato Namikaze and Naruto honestly didn't look alike at all. After all, Minato was celebrated for his genius intellect and peerless talent, whereas Naruto seemed to have completely inherited everything from Kushina.
Watching Naruto wolf down a simple bowl of ramen, Jie couldn't help but sneer inwardly. He wondered if Minato would have still made the same choice if he had known that sealing the Nine-Tails inside his newborn son at the cost of his own life wouldn't earn the boy respect, but rather the disgust and hatred of the entire village.
Speaking of which, it seemed Minato had also left a cluster of his own chakra inside the Nine-Tails' seal.
Unfortunately, Jie didn't know any sealing jutsu right now and couldn't bypass the seal. Otherwise, he would have tried to awaken Minato's consciousness just to see if the Fourth Hokage could still brush everything off so lightly after witnessing this reality with his own eyes.
Additionally, Jie was incredibly envious of the Nine-Tails' chakra residing inside Naruto. Back during the Night of the Nine-Tails, Jie had obtained two clusters of Nine-Tails chakra through a system reward. Those two clusters had helped him immensely over the years.
However, with the rapid rate his strength was currently increasing, those initial system rewards were gradually struggling to keep pace with him. In the past, when Jie activated his Tailed Beast Cloak, two tails would manifest behind him, instantly boosting his power to the level of an Elite Jonin or even Kage-level.
But now, his baseline strength had skyrocketed. With his Mangekyo Sharingan unlocked, he possessed undeniable Kage-level power on his own. Combined with the Hatake Kenjutsu and an assortment of other jutsu, Jie stood at the absolute pinnacle, even among Kage-level shinobi. Thus, a mere two-tailed Tailed Beast Cloak was no longer a sufficient buff for him.
Because of this, Jie wanted to see if he could siphon some chakra from the Nine-Tails inside Naruto and merge it with his own reserves. To get his hands on that power, he would need to undo the seal—even if only to open a tiny gap.
'It's time to learn sealing jutsu, or at least figure out a way to get the system to reward me with one.'
Fuinjutsu was incredibly versatile. While it might lack direct offensive power, it was nothing short of a divine skill in other aspects. For instance, the Adamantine Sealing Chains—when mastered to the extreme, those chains could bind even a Tailed Beast, let alone an ordinary human. Other sealing jutsu, like sensory barriers, would provide far more security for the Uchiha compound than simply sending out night patrols.
However, the Land of Whirlpools had long since been destroyed, and the most potent remaining sealing jutsu were all locked away in the hands of the Third Hokage. If Jie wanted to learn them, he would likely need to rely on alternative methods, like his system rewards.
It didn't take long for the meal to end. Naruto patted his perfectly round belly, waved goodbye to Jie, and jogged off toward his tiny apartment.
Ultimately, Jie hadn't told Naruto much about his heritage. Today's encounter had been too sudden, completely exceeding his expectations. As a result, Jie still didn't have a solid plan on how to handle the boy.
The Uchiha clan was already severely testing Hiruzen Sarutobi's patience. If Jie had too much public contact with Naruto, and Hiruzen found himself unable to control the Uchiha, the Third Hokage might just panic and send Naruto into Root to be brainwashed by Danzo. A Naruto completely stripped of his sense of self was not something Jie wanted to see.
Leaving the ramen stand, Jie took Sasuke and escorted Hinata Hyuga back to the Hyuga compound.
Naturally, this caused quite a stir among the Hyuga clan. The young master of the Uchiha clan escorting the daughter of the Hyuga clan head back home—no matter how one looked at it, this bizarre combination set off alarm bells. Seeing the Hyuga clansmen treating him like a major threat, Jie just smiled casually, not taking it to heart at all. After all, if Hiashi Hyuga were to suddenly appear in the Uchiha compound, his clansmen would adopt the exact same defensive attitude.
After dropping Hinata off, Jie led Sasuke on the walk back to their own home.
The impact of the two newly awarded system traits was simply too immense, leaving Jie with no desire to continue hanging out in the village. He decided it was better to head straight home and study them thoroughly.
Along the way, Sasuke kept his brows tightly furrowed, completely lacking his usual vibrant energy.
"Brother, do you really like that dead-last we met today?" Approaching the clan compound, Sasuke, who had been brooding the entire trip, finally couldn't suppress his curiosity any longer.
Jie couldn't help but chuckle, a warm smile spreading across his face. So this was the reason Sasuke had been sulking the entire way back.
"Of course not. We just happened to run into him, and he happens to resemble someone I used to know," Jie said, playfully patting Sasuke's small head.
"Then I'm still your favorite person, right?" Awaiting his brother's answer, Sasuke's eyes lit up as he looked up, full of hope.
"Well, that's not necessarily true. I also really like Father, Mother, and Itachi," Jie teased with a grin, deliberately leaving Sasuke out of the list.
Seeing Sasuke's expression morph into one that looked like he was about to burst into tears, Jie couldn't hold back and let out a laugh. "But of course, my absolute favorite is our little Sasuke."
"You're my favorite too, Brother!" Sasuke immediately broke into a bright smile through his near-tears, grabbing Jie's hand and skipping happily toward the clan compound.
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