Chapter 11: The Nickname

Page (1/3) — Moon Reading Space

After being stabbed for what felt like an eternity, Uchiha Gin’s nerves had stopped responding to pain. He stared numbly as one Uchiha Itachi after another hacked at him with their blades.

“It’s like you’re chopping meat for dumplings.”

Unable to break free, Gin began trying to amuse himself through the misery, taunting the Itachis.

“Did you lot skip breakfast? Put some strength into it, will you?”

“Don’t just hack at the front. If you’re getting tired, turn me over and work on the back too. Keep it even. You can’t show favoritism.”

The Itachis, laboring away, listened to Gin’s endless chatter. The rhythm they had been programmed to follow seemed to wind itself tighter, and each of them suddenly doubled the speed of their attacks.

[Speed x2]

“Hey, hey, don’t stab me there! I’m still an innocent man—twenty-four years old, and a student...”

After being stabbed until he had lost his senses, Gin had begun babbling incoherently.

No one knew how much time passed before the Itachis’ movements halted in unison. Gin, who had been closing his eyes and savoring the “knife massage” of Moon Reading, felt his hands being released. He dropped down onto one knee and struggled to open his eyes.

When he saw the pure white crescent moon overhead, tears of emotion immediately streamed down his face.

It had been far too difficult.

“Damn it, I finally made it through,” Gin said bitterly.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Senju Itama, once again tied to the pillar, stared strangely at Gin kneeling on the ground.

After tying Itama up, Gin had taken only two steps before suddenly dropping to his knees. Itama had been wondering what sort of trouble the man was about to cause.

He had never expected Gin to burst into tears the very next second, shouting something about having “made it through.” What a bizarre fellow.

“Nothing. I just happened to think of something sad.”

Knowing how Moon Reading worked, Gin did not waste time. He rose to his feet, wiped away his tears, and turned around.

“What are you sad about? I’m the one who should be sad here. You—”

Itama was in the middle of complaining when he saw Gin turn around. His eyes widened in surprise.

“Why did you activate your Sharingan for no reason? Are you planning to hypnotize me and interrogate me? You Uchihas really are evil by nature. But...”

The words left Gin momentarily stunned. Only then did he realize that his vision had become much sharper. Even in the darkness, he could see everything clearly.

The chakra inside his body no longer felt blocked. Instead, it was slowly flowing toward his eyes. The sensation was as refreshing as taking a bite of ice cream in the height of summer.

“But what?”

Gin was too pleased to take offense at Itama’s insolence.

“With just a single comma-shaped mark, what the hell are you going to interrogate me with? Hypnosis?”

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A knuckle slammed into Itama’s head, swelling it into a large lump.

“Behold—physical hypnosis!”

Gin did not believe in letting a grudge linger overnight, especially after being underestimated.

“Aaaah!”

Itama howled in pain.

After dealing with Itama, Gin looked around. Everything appeared normal, and even after examining the pillar, he found no trace that anyone had been there.

Unable to make sense of it, he returned to the tent. He took out the small mirror he carried with him and carefully examined his eyes.

Sure enough, he had truly awakened the Sharingan, though it only bore a single comma-shaped mark.

“I took a full blast of Moon Reading and only awakened one mark? Is the original owner’s talent really that outrageously poor?”

After enduring such a prolonged ordeal only to awaken a single mark, Gin felt deeply cheated. He had yet to consider who, exactly, had once endured Moon Reading and furiously awakened a single mark as a result.

“The backyard has refreshed a random skill for today: Illusion Art—Moon Reading. You have obtained one Moon Reading Fragment...”

The system’s voice, absent for an entire day, suddenly rang out in his mind.

So it was this skill—the seemingly useless rule-based skill he had obtained the last time he opened a purple orb.

Apparently, the system considered the fenced-off clearing behind his tent to be his backyard, and had therefore refreshed Moon Reading there.

Recalling the skill’s description, Gin read it over again:

[The backyard refreshes one random skill each day. A random skill will appear in the host’s backyard daily, manifested through an NPC. The host cannot control it, but the skill cannot kill the host. After the skill ends, there is a certain chance that the skill itself or a fragment of it will drop. Once enough fragments have been collected, the host may learn the skill.]

“It can’t kill me, but it can torture me!”

Gin cursed inwardly. Still, it seemed that the skill did not inflict any lasting damage once it ended. Remembering how long Hatake Fifty-Fifty had lain helpless after taking a blast of Moon Reading, Gin decided that this experience could at least be considered a blessing in disguise.

“Tsk, tsk. Does this make me incredibly lucky? The very first refresh gave me a Kaleidoscope-level skill.”

He then tried tapping the “Moon Reading Fragment.”

[Moon Reading Fragment (1/40). Collect forty fragments to synthesize Illusion Art: Moon Reading. This skill can be learned by those possessing the Kaleidoscope Sharingan.]

“Forty fragments?! Damn it, what a scam!”

Staring at the glaring “1/40,” Gin felt exhausted to his very soul.

“That means I have to endure Moon Reading thirty-nine more times! I’m done spending money—give me a refund!”

In other words, he would have to encounter Uchiha Itachi at least thirty-nine more times to gather enough fragments for the skill.

The thought left Gin utterly drained. He collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.

The next day.

At the first hint of dawn, Uchiha Dalang, who had been responsible for the night watch, emerged from a concealed position not far from the camp after spending half the night there.

Yawning, he made his way toward the camp. Halfway there, however, someone suddenly stepped into his path.

Seeing who it was, a puzzled expression appeared on Uchiha Dalang’s honest face.

“Uchiha Gin, is something wrong? The night watch is over. There’s no need to change shifts again.”

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The person standing before him was Uchiha Gin, who had barely slept all night. After being tormented by Moon Reading for seventy-two hours, every time he closed his eyes he saw a crowd of Itachis hacking at him. Quite a few of them had also been stabbing him in places no man wanted stabbed.

Although the system had repaired the physical damage to his body, psychological trauma was not so easily healed.

After dozing only briefly, Gin had appeared early in the morning along Uchiha Dalang’s inevitable route, his eyes ringed with dark circles worthy of Gaara.

There was only one reason for this.

Today, he wanted to open a treasure chest.

“Brother Dalang, Captain Fenghuo once told me that your Fire Release has reached an astonishing level. B-rank Fire Release techniques are effortless for you, and you’ve even begun studying A-rank techniques. I truly admire you.”

It was the usual strategy: begin with a wave of praise.

Clearly, Uchiha Ryoichi and Uchiha Feihe had not told Dalang that Gin had been challenging everyone around him.

Hearing Gin’s admiration, Dalang’s first reaction was embarrassment. He rubbed the back of his head, then said honestly, “Not at all, not at all. I merely use everyone else’s rest periods to practice Fire Release. It’s nothing worth mentioning, really...”

“I once received guidance from the clan leader regarding the principles of Fire Release. Meeting you, Brother Dalang, feels like a mountain encountering a flowing river. My previous mission delayed our meeting, but now that the mission is complete, I have finally laid the matter in my heart to rest. I have only one wish left: to spar with the clan’s genius ninja, ‘Firestarter Dalang.’ I ask for nothing else—I only wish to witness your peerless ninjutsu with my own eyes.”

“Firestarter Dalang” was Uchiha Dalang’s nickname within the clan. For the record, Uchiha Ryoichi was known as “Ghostblade Ryoichi,” while Uchiha Feihe was known as “Twin Blades Feihe.”

“But we’re about to assemble. Why don’t we exchange pointers tonight, when we stop to rest?”

Although Gin’s flattery had sent Dalang floating, he had always placed missions first and had not allowed himself to get carried away. They still had to travel today. He could not waste his stamina and chakra merely for the sake of a spar.

“That won’t be a problem. We can just—”

Gin rolled his dead-fish eyes. He was about to use on Dalang the same trick he had planned to use on Feihe when a voice suddenly sounded behind him.

“What are you two dawdling over? We’re leaving soon.”

Without anyone noticing, Uchiha Fenghuo had appeared behind them like a ghost. Frowning, he looked at the two of them.

Gin and Dalang broke into cold sweats. Neither of them had sensed when Fenghuo had appeared beside them. All they could do was nod repeatedly and agree.

On the way back, Gin followed behind the others, thinking regretfully:

“Looks like I’ll have to wait until tonight to find Uchiha Dalang. Still, Uchiha Fenghuo’s stealth technique is incredible. I didn’t sense the slightest fluctuation of his chakra, yet he appeared right behind us.”

Only then did Gin remember that Uchiha Fenghuo had another title—one that was famous not merely within the clan, but throughout the entire Warring States era.

[The Vanishing Fenghuo]

A man who had perfected the art of stealth. During an assassination mission, he once infiltrated a mid-sized clan, slipped past more than a hundred guards, and assassinated his target. By the time anyone discovered what had happened, it was already the following day.

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