Naruto: Uchiha Madara's Cousin

After enjoying a relaxing bath, Uchiha Gin, feeling refreshed, wrapped a towel around himself. As he looked at Senju Itama, who was fidgeting awkwardly at the bathroom door, he said,

"Hey kid, want me to scrub your back? I'm pretty famous for it."

"No way!"

Pushed out of the bathroom, Uchiha Gin shook his head.

"Such a shy kid. We're both men; what's there to be embarrassed about?"

About an hour later, Senju Itama emerged from the bathroom, fully wrapped in towels. Upon seeing Gin still sitting in the living room, his face tightened.

"You finally finished! What took you so long, kid? I almost fell asleep waiting."

Yawning, Uchiha Gin stood up, holding a bottle of hair dye.

"Don't come any closer!"

Senju Itama tightly gripped the door, preventing Gin from entering.

Amused, Gin mischievously pressed against the door, teasing,

"Are you hiding something in there? You're too young to be doing anything bad, you know."

As Gin pushed harder, the bathroom door flew open, and Senju Itama, stark naked, was flung backward.

Before Gin could take in the scene, Senju Itama hastily covered his private parts, his face flushed with embarrassment.

"It's fine if you're not wearing anything. At your age, I used to run around the streets without a care in the world."

Gin teased as he eyed Itama's bare body.

"Shameless!"

Senju Itama, now as red as if he'd been in a sauna, shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Alright, alright. I'll leave the hair dye here."

Seeing the kid getting upset, Gin decided to stop teasing and left the bottle before walking away.

"Didn't notice before, but your skin's pretty fair."

On his way out, Gin glanced back and made the comment, dodging the bottle of shampoo Senju Itama threw at him with a laugh.

After exiting the house, Gin reinforced the fence in the small backyard, officially establishing a little training ground. This would be where he'd grind skills in the coming days.

Once done with the backyard, he noticed the sky growing darker, so he returned to the house, planning to return to the yard later at night.

Inside, Senju Itama had already dressed, and his previously black-and-white hair had been fully dyed.

Gin nodded in approval; with the new hair color, Itama looked quite sharp.

"Now no one will recognize you."

Still upset about Gin's earlier teasing, Senju Itama pouted and turned away, refusing to respond.

"What a boring kid," Gin muttered, not paying much attention, and lay down on the sofa to sleep.

Meanwhile, Senju Itama watched the curly-haired Uchiha from behind with a complicated expression, his thoughts unclear. In the end, he quietly got up and went to his bedroom to rest.

Late into the night, Gin woke up and, after ensuring Itama was sound asleep, sneaked out to the backyard, standing in the open space, waiting for the refresh of skill.

The night was cloudy again, and Gin's house was far from any settlement, surrounded only by cliffs and forests. To reach the Uchiha clan's area, one had to pass through the forest.

As the wind rustled through the trees, Gin felt the atmosphere around him suddenly tense. That familiar sensation washed over him.

Among the sound of rustling leaves, a faint bell chimed. Using his sharp senses, Gin instantly locked onto the direction.

A figure wearing a hat, dressed in black with red clouds, slowly appeared from the void. His right hand, with black-painted nails, lifted the hat slightly, revealing a pair of emotionless, crimson eyes.

It was Uchiha Itachi again!

Having suffered twice at Itachi's hands, Gin was quick to react. His Sharingan activated, and the tomoe in his right eye began to spin rapidly, chakra surging into it as if it were limitless.

Amaterasu!

The black flames instantly appeared on Gin's chest, larger than the last time when they had been the size of a lighter flame.

Previously, he'd been on the defensive. This time, Gin wanted to see what would happen if he injured or defeated the NPC using his skills.

Completely ignoring the black flames, Itachi calmly removed his hat, his eyes having transformed into the Mangekyō Sharingan, shaped like two shuriken.

In the next moment, the once raging Amaterasu flames seemed to die down, as if extinguished by rain, as the Mangekyō appeared.

Before Gin could register his surprise, he quickly averted his gaze, avoiding eye contact with Itachi.

Looking down at the ground, Gin noticed the once green grass had turned into a transparent lake. The water mirrored his image, and above in the reflection was a blood-red moon hanging in the sky.

Seeing this, Gin knew he was in trouble. He had fallen into the trap.

Tsukuyomi.

As he found himself bound to a cross, Gin knew it was going to be a sleepless night.

Sighing, he looked around at the multitude of Itachis surrounding him in the illusion. His resolve broke, and he cried out,

"Come on, just don't go easy on me because I'm delicate!"

In the next second, the sound of countless blades filled the illusionary space.

After spending 72 hours in the Tsukuyomi world, Gin was finally released when the countdown reached zero.

As the illusion shattered and reality returned, Itachi's figure disappeared without a trace.

Though 72 hours of torment had passed in the illusion, only an instant had passed in the real world. Lying on the ground, Gin's head throbbed, and his Sharingan, overwhelmed, automatically deactivated.

Having experienced Tsukuyomi twice, Gin noticed that each time his left eye's power increased slightly, and his mastery of the Sharingan grew stronger.

"Backyard refresh daily random skill: Tsukuyomi. You have received 4 Tsukuyomi fragments."

Tsukuyomi Fragment (5/40), collect 40 to unlock the Tsukuyomi skill and learn it with the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Seeing the system notification, Gin was shocked. He had earned 4 fragments this time.

"Is it just luck, or does the reward depend on the battle evaluation?" Gin pondered as he collected his thoughts.

At the same time, his exhaustion vanished, and the mental strain from Tsukuyomi cleared. His right eye, which had bled from using Amaterasu, also healed. All negative effects were removed by the system in an instant.

Feeling refreshed, Gin checked his body to confirm nothing was wrong before sneaking back into the house and falling asleep on the sofa.

For the first time in a long while, Gin had a strange dream.

In a pitch-black hospital room, a boy lay on the bed, his eyes bandaged, expression numb, like a puppet being manipulated. A man in his forties or fifties gently stroked the boy's head, seemingly speaking to him.

Gin could only watch from afar, unable to hear anything.

The man looked at the boy with a complicated expression. Then the door opened, and a young girl, a bit younger than the boy, entered. Upon seeing the boy, she grew emotional and cried silently beside his bed.

Just as Gin wanted to see more, his consciousness was pushed away by a pair of emotionless hands.

He awoke to the next morning.

Scratching his head, Gin recalled the strange and fragmented dream. After washing up, he resumed his life as a "ninja working man."

Leaving some money for Senju Itama, who had now dyed his hair, Gin told him to handle his meals on his own.

With his black hair, Itama blended perfectly into the Uchiha crowd, so Gin didn't need to worry about his safety.

"Don't go running around. If you run, I'll go catch your brother," Gin warned, trying to intimidate him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Itama, his face full of annoyance, looked at Gin as if he were an idiot.

Having figured things out, he wasn't foolish enough to believe such a weak lie.

"What's with that dumb look on your face?"

Feeling insulted, Gin's forehead tightened, and he reached out in frustration, aiming to deliver a scolding flick to the boy's forehead. However, Itama, anticipating it, easily dodged.

Watching Itama stick his tongue out at him, Gin squinted his eyes.

The more he looked at the kid, the more he felt something was changing about him, though he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

---

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