After Fugaku left, Uchiha Hayashi immediately shut the front gate and returned to his chair.
All the excuses and even that brief genjutsu had been used for a single reason. He did not want to burn bridges.
The words of the Founding Father echoed clearly in his mind.
Reduce your enemies. Multiply your friends.
Hayashi's strength had not yet reached the level where he could afford to ignore consequences. Until then, caution mattered more than pride. Making enemies recklessly was no different from digging one's own grave.
Still, avoiding enemies did not mean following along blindly.
Jumping into a pit you could already see was not bravery. It was suicide.
If even Hyuga Hiashi could sense something was wrong, how could the Third Hokage be unaware?
And if the Third knew, then Danzo certainly knew as well.
With Danzo's temperament, if he deliberately leaked information and set the Uchiha up as bait, anyone who followed along would simply be walking into death.
People often underestimated Sunagakure simply because they had lost the war, or because the Third Kazekage and Chiyo had been detained for years. That kind of thinking was foolish.
No matter how weakened they were, they remained one of the Five Great Nations. No single clan could face that kind of force head-on.
If the situation truly collapsed, Hayashi was confident he could protect himself. But could he abandon the rest of the clan?
If he did, everything he had built would crumble instantly.
The reputation of Konoha's Lightning would become a joke. A so-called hero who fled while his own people bled. Public opinion had crushed Sakumo once before. Hayashi had no intention of repeating that history.
Yet he could not tell Fugaku the truth.
The man had come humbly and sincerely. Rejecting him outright would have meant open hostility.
Unwilling to cross that line, Hayashi had searched for an unassailable excuse and settled on Mikoto's injury.
If massive losses occurred later, no one could pin the blame on him.
After all, Fugaku had never explained the clan's true plan.
In the end, it was still a matter of strength.
Hayashi exhaled slowly, then recalled the notification he had received earlier.
By assisting Konoha during the Second Great Ninja War, he had completed a major objective.
He had not checked the System in a long time.
Not because he did not want to, but because earning points had become increasingly inefficient. As his strength grew, defeating chunin no longer yielded rewards. Only jonin still provided returns, and elite jonin were not enemies one encountered casually.
Still, this was a full-scale war contribution. The reward should be substantial.
With that thought, Hayashi opened the translucent interface.
---
Host: Uchiha Hayashi
Village: Konohagakure
Age: 12
Overall Power Index: Elite Jonin tier, approaching Kage tier
Chakra: Lv 14 (3406 / 500,000)
Taijutsu: Lv 13 (500 / 300,000)
Shurikenjutsu: Lv 12 (600 / 150,000)
Hand Seals: Lv 13 (400 / 300,000)
Ninjutsu: Lv 12 (500 / 150,000)
Genjutsu: Lv 14 (611 / 500,000)
Wind Release: Lv 13 (600 / 300,000)
Fire Release: Lv 13 (400 / 300,000)
Lightning Release: Lv 14 (589 / 500,000)
Water Release: Lv 12 (0 / 150,000)
Earth Release: Lv 12 (0 / 150,000)
Sealing Techniques: Lv 10 (0 / 30,000)
Yang Release: Lv 11 (0 / 60,000)
Yin Release: Lv 13 (0 / 300,000)
Elemental Fusion: Locked
Sharingan: Three-Tomoe
Remaining Ninja Points: 1,412,410
---
Levels eleven to thirteen corresponded to jonin tier. Fourteen to sixteen were classified as Kage tier.
From Hayashi's own experience, level thirteen represented elite jonin, while level fourteen was only a threshold. Strong, but not yet truly monstrous.
Out of all his attributes, only chakra capacity, genjutsu, and lightning release had crossed into that boundary. They were his core strengths.
Taijutsu, once his strongest suit, now lagged slightly behind. That was why he struggled to keep up with fighters like Sakumo or Orochimaru in pure close combat.
Wind Release, Fire Release, and hand seals remained elite jonin level. Yin Release had reached the same tier thanks to the amplification provided by the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Everything stemmed from the Uchiha bloodline.
Shurikenjutsu, Water Release, and Earth Release were merely standard jonin level. They rarely saw serious use in battle.
The most awkward were Yang Release and sealing techniques.
One barely qualified as special jonin level. The other hovered around chunin.
The reason was simple. He lacked talent in sealing, and there had never been an urgent need to push it.
Still, with his body entering its natural growth phase, chakra reserves and physical ability would continue to rise on their own.
Hoarding points served no purpose.
This world produced monsters at an absurd pace. Elite jonin and even borderline Kage-level strength meant little in the long run.
Itachi awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan at thirteen. Naruto and Sasuke reached Six Paths power before adulthood and reshaped the world itself.
Reality often surpassed fiction.
With that in mind, Hayashi did not hesitate.
"Taijutsu upgraded to Level 14."
"Wind Release upgraded to Level 14."
"Fire Release upgraded to Level 14."
After the surge of data settled, the interface refreshed.
---
Host: Uchiha Hayashi
Village: Konohagakure
Age: 12
Overall Power Index: Upper quasi-Kage tier
Chakra: Lv 14 (3406 / 500,000)
Taijutsu: Lv 14 (0 / 500,000)
Shurikenjutsu: Lv 12 (600 / 150,000)
Hand Seals: Lv 13 (400 / 300,000)
Ninjutsu: Lv 13 (0 / 300,000)
Genjutsu: Lv 14 (611 / 500,000)
Wind Release: Lv 14 (0 / 500,000)
Fire Release: Lv 14 (0 / 500,000)
Lightning Release: Lv 14 (589 / 500,000)
Water Release: Lv 13 (0 / 300,000)
Earth Release: Lv 13 (0 / 300,000)
Sealing Techniques: Lv 10 (0 / 30,000)
Yang Release: Lv 12 (0 / 150,000)
Yin Release: Lv 13 (0 / 300,000)
Elemental Fusion: Locked
Sharingan: Three-Tomoe
Remaining Ninja Points: 100
---
Hayashi attempted to upgrade sealing techniques again.
"Insufficient ninja points."
He tried once more.
"Insufficient ninja points."
Silence followed.
Over a million points, gone in moments.
The loss stung. He had planned to unlock Elemental Fusion and experiment with advanced combinations, perhaps even Magnet Release.
Still, the surge of power flooding his body was undeniable.
If he faced Orochimaru or Sakumo again, he would not be overwhelmed.
A faint, dangerous smile curved across Uchiha Hayashi's face.