*dramatically leaps down from Hokage mountain like an anime op*
HI I HAVE MORE UCHIHA CLAN THOUGHTS.
-I’ve seen the HC floating around that the Uchiha are really ableist about blindness and people with vision problems, like ostracizing a clan member etc. To which I say LIES AND SLANDER.
-This is one of the *only* dojutsu clans in canon, and the *only* one who canonically go permanently blind from overuse of their ability. Hinata in canon only went blind for a few days from eye strain, but with Uchiha the only time we see vision loss mentioned it’s *permanent* unless they get an eye transplant. Now blindness is only mentioned in canon specifically in relation to specific op abilities (Izanagi and Izanami) and the mangekyo sharingan, but the fact that blindness is *baked in* to the most powerful sharingan evolution and abilities indicates that eye strain is a very common problem for Uchiha, and it’s not unreasonable to assume that Uchiha who grow old are at high risk of eventually just. Going blind. It’s not from the mangekyo, it’s not even really from sharingan overuse. It’s because the sharingan is hyper evolved for perfect vision and so as an Uchiha gets older and their body naturally starts to degrade one of the things that tends to break down is the chakra pathways that allow the sharingan to work, and once those are gone, the brain probably just- stops being able to process the data the eye is transmitting. Because Finicky Brain Things.
-Not saying that every Uchiha goes blind if they go old, but I’m just sitting here thinking that it’s probably a very common problem. It’s the Uchiha version of going bald when you get old. It’s *natural*.
-On top of that, something that would definitely have cropped up more often in the Warring States and pre-Warring States eras would be Uchiha being *born* blind. Again, that kind of evolution that enables the sharingan is *finicky*, especially when it’s being developed. So stuff like really bad sickness during pregnancy, premature birth, or even injury from the mother being attacked (or being on the battlefield before she knew she was pregnant) could all contribute to an Uchiha child being born straight up blind, or at least super near-sighted.
-Once Konoha was founded and things were just- in general safer/more stable for Uchiha mothers as well as the advancements in medicine, this risk would have gone wayyy down, but it would still be like. A Known Thing. There would be clan superstitions about ways to help prevent the baby from being born blind.
-Anyway what I’m getting at is blindness is a known thing in daily life of an Uchiha and *they would account for that*. While I can see there being old clan laws about blindness affecting inheritability of like- high ranking positions in the clan (since they are a shinobi clan and thus high ranking positions are directly tied to shinobi capability), overall the Uchiha would probably be the *least* ableist about blindness in their members? I can easily see them being the ones to have rigidly organized streets to make for easier navigation, a specific pattern of houses and streets so that you can find your way to and from a place by sheer memorization. Houses all probably have a similar layout of rooms, if not furniture, to again assist in any navigation problems.
-For heavens sake the three *known* Uchiha-related contracts are Crows, Hawks, and *House Cats* (Hawks are in canon only related to Sasuke, but since we never have any canon explanation on where he got them- *points at the old Uchiha fortresses scattered around Land of Fire*. And as for the cats, they’re the same thing, we see ninja cats in Neko-baa’s place and she is specifically an *Uchiha* weapon/supply provider). None of those are strictly combat summons unless you have the chops to summon a cat the size of a house or something but do you know what all three of those are really good at? *Navigation*. The two bird species both have very good vision, and cats have excellent night vision on top of just being generally really good at finding their way around. Plus, all three are feasibly small enough to be near or on a person at all times.
-These people literally have three very good to perfect contracts for *seeing eye animals*, and I know Kishi in no way intended that since Kishi world builds in the same way a goldfish contemplates philosophy, but these tools and ideas are there and I’m gonna use them to make something interesting and coherent doggonit.
