Pakura was still kneeling inside the Nanga Shrine, refusing to leave. Nanga simply let her be.
The Land of Rivers had to become Kei’s ideal country, not Pakura ’s ideal country. Pity would not change that.
Within his own little nest, Kei had much greater ambitions to pursue. As far as Kei was concerned, Pakura wasn’t a problem.
At this moment, he was happily chatting with the eyes.
Whenever Kei was unhappy, he would escape reality by sleeping.
If the last time had been because his ambitions had exceeded his strength, then the nonsensical ramblings he spouted alone in his bedroom now were simply an expression of his helplessness toward life.
"Little Flower, tell me something. In terms of both personal strength and the forces under my command, I’ve already caught up with those transmigrator predecessors of mine. So why am I still living such a miserable life?"
Yes.
Kei envied those other transmigrators.
Every one of them seemed capable of living like Homelander, doing whatever they wanted while the world revolved around their will.
But when it came to Kei, reality seemed to have become a different kind of world.
Whatever you gained, you were destined to lose something in return.
The world had never once compromised because of Kei’s preferences.
He had overthrown the Third Hokage’s rule, but in doing so, he had personally slaughtered his own childhood.
He had obtained a batch of Sharingan, but in doing so, he had completely severed his connection with the Uchiha Clan.
While Fugaku was still immersed in the joy of seeing the Uchiha Clan finally reach the peak of its prosperity, Uchiha Kei had already begun worrying about the clan’s future.
The reason was actually quite simple.
Life had never offered genuine choices.
What people called a choice was merely a trap wrapped in honey on one side, and a future that was bitter now and would remain bitter later on the other.
And once the first step had been chosen, the outcome was already predetermined.
Take Kei’s battle against Konoha, for example.
After killing two hundred Uchiha traitors, there was no way he could simply bury them with dignity.
Their eyes were important resources to Nanga.
So, after obtaining two hundred pairs of eyes, those who had rendered meritorious service naturally had to be rewarded.
He couldn’t possibly lock all those eyes away as decorations for Kei’s collection.
Kei felt that giving those eyes to the warriors who had fought and died for him was perfectly normal.
They had risked their lives for him. They had proven their loyalty.
It was what they deserved.
But without Uchiha blood, they would have difficulty controlling the Sharingan.
So what was to be done?
Naturally, they had to be implanted with Hashirama Cells.
Danzō had already proven that this was feasible.
Their strength would consequently rise another level.
At the very least, they were considerably stronger than they had been when they possessed the Red Eyes.
But increased strength was only one aspect.
Changing from Red Eyes to the Sharingan wasn’t merely an increase in power. It was also an increase in status.
They were no longer members of the branch family.
They had become members of the main family.
Though this newly elevated main-family status came with certain limitations, the action nonetheless affirmed their contributions and served as a powerful incentive for all of Nanga.
The effect on the entire branch family was even more significant.
The members of the Uchiha branch family were invigorated.
They seemed to have discovered a path toward advancement.
So branch-family members could become part of the main family after all?
Even if their status after promotion was somewhat inferior to that of the traditional main family, they still stood above the branch family.
They had higher status and better prospects.
Who didn’t want to make something of themselves?
From then on, they became even more loyal to the Nanga Uchiha and held themselves to even stricter standards.
Of course, one of the more important reasons for this strictness was that, one day, they wanted to have enough standing to hold the Konoha Uchiha accountable for actions that damaged the honor of the Uchiha.
After all, they couldn’t demand that others do something they themselves couldn’t accomplish.
That wouldn’t conform to the rules established by Lord Kei.
So, in some respects, they were even more Uchiha than the genuine Uchiha.
The Nanga Uchiha were the orthodox branch, and the Red Eyes didn’t dare harbor delusions of replacing them.
But in the eyes of the Red Eyes, the Konoha Uchiha were merely relatives.
There was nothing wrong with using them as stepping stones for advancement, was there?
Besides, the Red Eyes weren’t persecuting the Konoha Uchiha without cause.
If the Konoha Uchiha committed acts that tarnished the honor of the Uchiha Clan, then the branch family that defended that honor naturally had the right to raise the sword of punishment.
Who could blame them for failing to be worthy Uchiha?
According to the rules, the Red Eyes had done nothing wrong.
The consequence was that the Red Eyes, who made up the majority of the population, were naturally unable to develop much closeness with the Konoha Uchiha.
Because in the eyes of the Red-Eyed Uchiha, the Konoha Uchiha were equivalent to military merit.
Even worse, they looked forward to the Konoha Uchiha committing acts of betrayal against Nanga.
Some particularly extreme individuals even deliberately tempted the Konoha Uchiha’s ambitions.
And all of this was being done within reasonable, proper, and legal boundaries.
Uchiha Kei had established the principle that "morality restrains oneself, while rules restrain everyone."
Faced with such behavior, he could only leave it alone.
Because it was legal.
Kei couldn’t punish someone simply because there happened to be a morally corrupt individual among the Red Eyes who nevertheless obeyed the law.
That morally corrupt individual even understood perfectly well that his actions were something Kei could tolerate, but didn’t like.
But he didn’t care!
He had never expected to become part of the main family himself.
He was hoping that the exemplary and kind-hearted Uchiha among the Red Eyes would one day have an opportunity to rise into the main family.
And if no such opportunity existed, he was willing to create one for them.
Uchiha Cha.
An orphan who had wandered here from the Land of Rain.
An orphan who had nearly frozen to death on the streets of Konoha during the summer before being discovered and rescued by the people of Nanga.
An orphan who had found warmth in Nanga.
An orphan roughly the same age as Itachi Uchiha.
In Nanga, he ate whatever meals the Red Eyes could spare, sharing food from household to household.
If he did something wrong, he was reprimanded.
If he skipped school, he was criticized.
If he performed poorly on an exam, he was punished.
These were all such ordinary things.
Yet somehow, through these ordinary experiences, he found among the Red Eyes the kind of family he had always longed for.
And the way he chose to protect his family was to exchange his own life for their future.
He became active in Konoha, using his words and actions to sow discord among certain members of the Konoha Uchiha.
In particular, the relatives and friends of the Uchiha who had been massacred became Uchiha Cha’s primary targets.
His actions also stirred the ambitions of those arrogant Uchiha.
"A clan always has to determine who represents the orthodox line, doesn’t it? Lord Kei has never denied that he himself is a branch of the Konoha Uchiha."
"The Konoha Uchiha are naturally the leaders of the Uchiha."
"The Nanga Uchiha are merely another branch of the Uchiha Clan, just like the Blood Dragon Eyes who were driven away and the Red Eyes who were recalled."
"They’re all simply parts of the Uchiha Clan."
Quite a few simple-minded and arrogant individuals had already come to believe this rhetoric.
Uchiha Cha even went so far as to become friends with the confused young heir of the Uchiha Clan—the Crown Prince of Konoha.
He pulled this obsessive, lost young man from one abyss and into another.
He had even prepared himself to use his own life as the catalyst for creating opportunities for more of the Red Eyes to advance.
Faced with a child like this, Kei suddenly didn’t know what to do.
Because Cha represented an ideology that had emerged from the consequences of Kei’s own actions.
Even without Cha, someone else would eventually appear.
Kei didn’t want to be the first person to break the rules.
Especially when those rules had been established by him in the first place.
"Ah... Why can’t this world just go the way I want it to?"
Just as Kei was lamenting the helplessness of fate, there was a knock on the door of his bedroom.
"My lord, may I come in?"
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