Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha lacks motivation.

Chapter 41 The Fall of a Genius

Uchiha Gin, pulled into the shadows by the old jailer, felt suffocated. The surroundings were pitch black, and he had no sense of the outside world. A sense of powerlessness followed.

When Gin Uchiha tried to activate his Sharingan, his eyes turned crimson, and he was surprised to find that he could actually resist the invasion of darkness around him by relying on his eye power.

As his pupil power increased and his senses were liberated, he finally saw the old prison guard standing opposite him.

"What exactly is your purpose?"

Although he received help from the other party, Uchiha Gin, unsure whether the other party was friend or foe, dared not be careless.

"Hehehe, I've been waiting for you."

A long-suppressed expectation flickered in the old jailer's white eyes.

"Once you enter Dungeon 0 and find the person waiting for you, you will know everything."

The old jailer spoke incoherently, and before Uchiha Gin could ask him any more questions, he felt a lightness in his body and was back in Uchiha Ryukage's office in the blink of an eye.

Uchiha Ryukage had already left by then, and Uchiha Gin looked down at his own calm and unchanging reflection.

Without much hesitation, he reached out and touched the vase on Uchiha Ryukage's desk. As the vase was rotated, the bookshelf behind the desk flipped over, revealing a dark and deep passageway to Uchiha Gin.

It seems this is the entrance to Dungeon 0. Uchiha Gin is now in a bind. All the known clues point to this dungeon. Whether he can unravel the mystery of the original owner's memories can only be found in the dungeon.

Upon entering the hidden door, there was a switch on the wall. Uchiha Gin tried to flip it, and the dungeon's hidden door flipped back. It seemed that this was the switch for the hidden door.

Taking a deep breath, Uchiha Gin dared not close his Sharingan, his crimson eyes scanning his surroundings warily, wary of any sudden danger.

The layout of Dungeon 0 is similar to the other dungeons, with dilapidated cells on both sides of the corridor that have long been abandoned.

A pungent musty smell made Uchiha Gin frown, but since it was being personally guarded by Uchiha Ryukage, there must be some unknown secret hidden inside.

As Uchiha Gin ventured deeper, rows of mottled skeletons appeared in the cells on either side. The irregular bending of the skeletons' limbs indicated that the prisoners here had endured extremely cruel torture.

Along the way, apart from the corpses, Uchiha Gin found nothing else until he reached the last cell locked behind an iron door.

Looking at the complex seal formed by the magic on the door, Uchiha Gin knew he had found it.

Knowing nothing about sealing techniques, he looked at the door in front of him with worry. If he used force to break it open, it would inevitably be discovered by those who came later.

But he didn't have the skills to pick the lock. Just when he was at his wit's end, he heard the old jailer's familiar voice coming from the shadows behind him.

"Hehehe, I can take you in."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, senior."

Turning to look at the old jailer who was grinning at him, Uchiha Gin did not refuse.

Since the other party has been leading me to this place, they must want me to meet the people imprisoned in the dungeon.

Besides, he wasn't any particularly important figure in the clan, so the old jailer had no reason to go to such lengths for a good-for-nothing Uchiha like himself with such a terrible reputation.

Hearing Uchiha Gin's answer without hesitation, the old jailer seemed to have expected it. He then stretched out his withered, claw-like hands and pulled Uchiha Gin back into the shadows.

The reflection, now devoid of its original form, did not dissipate. Instead, it slowly seeped into the cracks of the iron gate like a pool of ink, eventually squeezing in completely in a short while.

Having experienced the shadow world once before, Uchiha Gin didn't feel too uncomfortable this time. He simply opened and closed his eyes and passed through the iron gate into the prison cell.

The environment inside the cell wasn't as bad as Uchiha Gin had imagined. The walls were spotless, there was a bookshelf, and all the simple furniture was there. It was more like a study than a prison.

Next to the bookshelf was a desk, where a figure with his back to the Uchiha was writing furiously. Hearing someone move, the figure stopped writing and slowly straightened up.

"You've finally arrived."

The owner of the voice turned around, revealing a head of gray curly hair and a deeply lined face filled with excitement.

One of his eyes was grayish-white, like an old jailer's, and his hunched body trembled slightly with excitement upon seeing Uchiha Gin.

"Who are you?"

The old man in front of him looked exactly like the old man in the photo he found at home. Looking at the old man's familiar curly hair and similar appearance, Uchiha Gin vaguely guessed the other party's identity.

"Really? Don't you remember?"

Seeing Uchiha Gin's unfamiliar expression, the old man composed himself and wore an expression that said, "Just as I expected."

"My name is Uchiha Yao."

The old man uttered an unfamiliar name, "I have a son named Uchiha Kin."

Uchiha Kin, the original owner's father who died young in his memories, recalls the gentle and refined man in his memories, and the identity of the old man opposite him is obvious.

"Are you my grandfather?"

Uchiha Gin asked cautiously.

"That's right, my dear grandson."

Uchiha Yao nodded in satisfaction.

"Then why don't I remember you at all?"

The old man's identity was exactly as he had guessed, and Uchiha Gin, who had no doubts, couldn't help but ask.

"That's a long story, but you must remember..." Uchiha Yao shook his head with a sigh, then said something astonishing.

"The culprit behind all this is your uncle, Uchiha Tajima."

"???"

Uchiha Gin had a bit of a headache. In the original owner's memories, his cousin Uchiha Tajima had taken good care of him.

He found it hard to accept that his own grandfather had identified him as the culprit who caused his memory loss.

Seeing Uchiha Gin's incredulous expression, Uchiha Yao recounted the whole story in detail.

"More than a decade ago, I was the head of the clan's research department, dedicated to developing the Sharingan power of the clan members."

"Just like that Uchiha Miao?"

Uchiha Gin couldn't help but interject, realizing that his grandfather was actually the head of the research department, which would make him a high-ranking official's son by today's standards.

"Hmph! Uchiha Miao, that coward."

Uchiha Yao seemed to scoff at the current head of the research department.

"And Uchiha Yan, who imprisoned me, they are all my cousins."

Unexpectedly, the two most powerful elders in the Uchiha clan are his relatives, but from Uchiha Yao's expression, it is clear that he has a considerable conflict with the two of them.

"Let's leave those two traitors aside for now."

Uchiha Yao disdained to waste his breath on these two people.

"It all began on the day my son died in battle."

When Uchiha Yao mentioned his son, his tone became very sad.

Dying in battle for one's clan is an unparalleled honor, but for Uchiha Yao, it was a case of an elderly man burying his son, making the nearly seventy-year-old man even more hunched over.

Regarding Uchiha Kin's sacrifice, there was only a faint trace in Uchiha Gin's mind, as if most of it had been erased.

No matter how hard he tried to recall the details, he couldn't remember them, and the more he thought about it, the more his head ached, as if he were being pricked by needles.

"My son, Uchiha Kin, was once the clan's number one genius and the strongest contender for the position of clan leader."

When Uchiha Yao talked about his son, his tone was filled with barely suppressed pride.

His own father was actually the number one genius?! Uchiha Gin's brain almost went blank.

The original owner had few memories of his father, only that he was very gentle, doting on his wife at home, and caring for her deeply. He was a top-notch model husband, but he didn't have much of an impression of his strength.

"Your father awakened his Sharingan at the age of eight, and by twelve he had reached the Three-Tomoe stage, surpassing many ninjas of his generation. He was a true genius. But..."

Uchiha Yao continued speaking,

"He shouldn't have died! I thought he died on the battlefield, for the honor of his family."

"Isn't that right?"

Uchiha Gin asked, frowning.

A friendly reminder: The following chapters will involve multiple narrative timelines, and the characters' words will be a mix of truth and falsehood, which may be a bit difficult to read. Overall, the story will reveal the protagonist's background. As a novice writer, I am not very good at controlling my writing style, so please bear with me. After that, it will be the stage for the protagonist, Uchiha Gin.

(End of this chapter)