Red Haired Supremacy

Chapter 222: Ch-222 Shamrock's And Uta's Training.

Shanks, with a slightly surprised expression, said, "I wasn't expecting Tsunade to return to Konoha. Wasn't she suffering from hemophobia—the fear of seeing blood? She must have gone back to Konoha to help with the research on her grandfather Hashirama Senju's cells."

As soon as Makima heard this, she replied, "Hmm. Although not all the details are known, from what I know, the Fourth Hokage himself went with Kushina and Naruto to speak with Tsunade. After their conversation, Tsunade followed them back to Konoha."

When Shanks heard this, a quiet realization crossed his mind. It seems Naruto's protagonist halo and Minato's kindness prevailed over Tsunade. She must have been convinced by Minato's words.

After that, there wasn't much left for them to discuss. With no new topics to linger on, the Uzumaki siblings gradually dispersed. Now that Shanks had completed his research, he finally had the freedom to spend more time with his children, Uta and Shamrock.

They were five years old now, old enough for their training to begin. From next year onward, with the start of the new Ninja Academy session, they would be enrolled in the Ninja Academy of Uzushiogakure. Shanks had already examined the chakra natures of both Uta and Shamrock, and he wasn't particularly surprised. Born of both Uchiha and Uzumaki bloodlines, they naturally possessed Yin and Yang Release.

Beyond that, Shamrock had Fire Release, while Uta possessed both Fire Release and Lightning Release. In terms of chakra nature alone, Uta could be considered superior. However, Shanks knew well that superiority in strength depended on far more than elemental affinity—combat instinct, adaptability, and comprehension all played decisive roles. And in that regard, it still seemed to him that Shamrock held the upper hand, especially when it came to battle sense and overall understanding.

As both Shamrock and Uta grew up, they listened time and again to Shanks' legends—stories of how he and Uzumaki siblings had been forced to flee from Uzushiogakure, how he had nurtured the Uzumaki siblings and helped them become as strong as they were now, and tales of his peerless swordsmanship and overwhelming strength, from the very beginning until the present day.

After escaping with the surviving members of the Uzumaki Clan, Shanks had been forced to retreat from only one battlefield. That had been an ambush orchestrated by Orochimaru and the Root ninjas, and even then, he had suffered only minor bruises—and that too because Orochimaru had resorted to underhanded tactics. Nothing more than that. These stories left a deep impression on the siblings, and because of them, both Shamrock and Uta found themselves irresistibly drawn toward swordsmanship.

Their father wielded a sword, and so both of them wanted to follow the same path.

Taking this as his cue, Shanks began teaching swordsmanship to both Uta and Shamrock. Their training started with the soft style of swordsmanship, as they currently lacked the physical strength required to use the hard style effectively. According to Shanks' plan, he would only begin teaching them that once they reached the age of ten.

As for other aspects of combat, such as Armament Haki and Observation Haki, he intended to train them in those as well. Under Shanks' steady guidance, the training of Shamrock and Uta formally began. The following year, at the age of six, they would join the Ninja Academy, and as they trained and grew, time continued to flow onward.

While training Shamrock and Uta, Shanks constantly made use of Yin and Yang Release to create highly realistic illusions for them. And it didn't stop there—while weaving these illusions, he deliberately made them forget that they were inside one at all. This was done to push them toward awakening their Sharingan. With his mastery over Yin and Yang Release, it wasn't particularly difficult for Shanks to craft such lifelike scenarios, nor to ensure that Shamrock and Uta completely lost awareness that they were merely training within illusions.

He began their Sharingan awakening training when they were seven years old—more precisely, when they were close to turning eight. Within these realistic illusions, Shamrock and Uta were made to experience devastating moments: losing friends they had been standing beside just moments ago, witnessing them die in the middle of a large-scale battle, or watching them fall victim to a bloody assassination right before their eyes. Scenes meant to scar the heart. Under such circumstances, the awakening of the Sharingan was almost inevitable.

However, perhaps due to the fact that they possessed only half Uchiha blood, the process took time. It required several trials under Shanks' guidance before the result finally appeared. In the end, Shamrock awakened his Sharingan at the age of eight. Uta, too, awakened her Sharingan at the same age, though only a few weeks after Shamrock.

There was, however, a clear difference between the two. Uta directly awakened a two-tomoe Sharingan, while Shamrock awakened only a single tomoe. Shanks was honestly not too surprised by this outcome. While he hadn't expected it to unfold this way, it didn't shock him either—after all, Uta was far more kind-hearted and emotionally open, a much more loving person compared to Shamrock. The more love a person carries within them, the faster they awaken their Sharingan; this explains why Uta was able to manifest a two-tomoe Sharingan so quickly.

Shamrock possessed a certain arrogance—an arrogance born from being the son of the Uzukage and the nephew of the Uzumaki siblings—along with the innate ruthlessness of a ninja, shaped by the countless stories told by his father, uncles, and aunt. It was only because of the teachings and ethical values instilled in him by Mikoto and Shanks that Shamrock didn't grow into some second-generation arrogant fool. Still, that pride remained—the quiet certainty that he was strong, that he was special.

As long as he didn't break to the point of true despair, this arrogance wouldn't significantly affect the awakening of his Sharingan. And at present, Shanks had neither the intention nor the mood to push Shamrock that far. After all, he was still just a child.

This was why Shanks continued with slow, methodical training through illusions. Within these illusions, he applied pressure in different ways—not always through the loss of comrades or friends, but sometimes through overwhelming battle conditions, exhaustion, or situations where survival itself felt uncertain. These scenarios were designed to ignite their hunger to grow stronger—driven by kindness in Uta's case, and by pride in Shamrock's.

With this kind of training, it would be more than sufficient for both Shamrock and Uta to reach the three-tomoe Sharingan. And once they stood at the absolute peak of that stage, only then would Shanks reveal true despair to them. Only then would he show them a genuine kind of hell—one intense enough that the resulting mental stimulation could allow them to awaken their Mangekyo Sharingan directly from the three-tomoe state.

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