Reimagining the Uchiha

Etymology: alternate pronunciation of uchiwa 団扇, "Fan"

History

The Uchiha are descended from the Hagoromo, a clan of corvine demons arising from the birds who consumed the flesh of Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, the first God of Shinobi. They share this history with the Hyūga, from whom they split due to ideological differences.

At some point in their pre-Oinari history, the Uchiha, who had settled long ago in the Land of Birds, would fall victim to a terrible degenerative disease of the mind and body, causing the survivors starting with Madara Uchiha and his generation to give up their former practice.

Physical Characteristics

A majority of the Uchiha are black-haired and –eyed in their human forms, something that remains consistent in their Demon and Berserker forms. Being ravens, their Demon forms maintain the scruffy all-black plumage, complete with throat feathers.

Language

Like most shinobi, the Uchiha are fluent in Japanese and English. But when they use the Sharingan, they can instantly learn, understand, and speak other languages from reading a foreigner's lips or handwriting, even something as foreign as Arabic or obscure as Latin.

Behavior

The Uchiha are quite intelligent and some have a sense of humor ranging from dry to just plain cutting or dark. They are also known to be especially protective of those close to them.

A hobby is to go flying, especially if they can perform feats such as flying in loops. In fact, much like caching and stealing, such feats are encouraged, as it prepares them for dangerous missions.

Diet

Like the corvids they're based on, Uchiha will eat anything that's edible. Nuts, fruits, vegetables, eggs, bugs, meat, carrion. This diet once included human corpses, but due to the Illness, the Uchiha of Madara's generation and onwards would give up their necrophagy.

Bloodline

The Uchiha have the Sharingan, or Eye of the Copying Wheel, that allows them to copy non-Bloodline jutsu and can advance into Mangekyō. But unlike its canon counterpart, this version of the Sharingan comes at a price for its natural bearers: eisoptrophobia, the fear of their own reflections. This phobia is not without justification either, for if Uchiha are to look upon their uninterrupted reflection the following will occur based on their Sharingan level:

Dormant: 72 hours of unconsciousness
Awakened: 72 hours of migraines
Mangekyō: 72 hours of migraines and seizures

There is, however, an exception to this: if the Sharingan user is not a born Uchiha, they're immune to this phobia.

Also, this Sharingan cannot be taken by force; it has to be given by the natural bearer. Otherwise, once the stolen Sharingan is implanted, it will implode the thief's brain or gangrene the body part in which it is implanted.

The Mangekyō Sharingan also has its costs. Once activated and depending on jutsu usage, the user will be blind in that particular eye for 72 hours.

Berserker Form

The Mangekyō Sharingan can only be achieved by going into and reverting from the Karasu Tengu berserker state for the first time. This state is induced by consuming pills made from the panther cap mushroom that grows within the Tengu Forest and as the name implies, takes the form of a tengu with corvine characteristics. And much like the ancient depiction of tengu, this berserker state renders the Uchiha in question little more than a bloodthirsty killing machine, their intelligence supplanted by bloodlust and unable to distinguish enemy from ally. For this reason, they only induce this state as a last resort and warn their allies to clear their line of vision. The Uchiha in question will revert back to their normal state once their bloodlust has been sated or if they see their reflection. Once reverted, the Uchiha will be rendered feeble and unable to use chakra for 72 hours.