"Ran really is amazing!"
Walking out of the ran shop, little Naruto happily rubbed his round, full stomach.
It was his first ti eating freshly made ran instead of instant noodles, and it had tasted unbelievably good.
And the ran shop owner had been really nice too. Even though Naruto didn't have enough money, the man hadn't made things difficult for him, nor had he refused to serve him like other stores usually did…
I definitely have to co back here again soday.
Thinking that, Naruto turned around and carefully morized the shop's signboard.
Ichiraku Ran.
Just as Naruto stepped out of the shop, two figures approached from the opposite direction—one taller, one shorter.
The two were chatting and laughing together. The shorter one was about Naruto's height, and both wore dark-colored clothing.
"Big brother, can you practice shuriken with today?"
"Sure."
Brothers?
Hearing them ntion training imdiately caught Naruto's attention. He instinctively turned around to look at them, only to notice the conspicuous fan-shaped crest printed on the backs of their clothes.
"Hm?"
Sensing Naruto's gaze, Uchiha Itachi's eyes casually shifted toward him as well.
It's him?
As the eldest son of the Uchiha clan leader and a genius ninja raised on the battlefield from childhood, Itachi knew far more about the truth than ordinary villagers.
For example…
He knew Naruto was the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki.
Still, that had nothing to do with him today.
Itachi withdrew his gaze and continued speaking to his younger brother.
"But I can only stay for a little while. I still have other things to do afterward."
"Ehhh~?"
His younger brother imdiately looked disappointed.
But before the boy could start complaining, Itachi simply smiled silently at him.
Clearly already familiar with his brother's thods, Sasuke reluctantly gave in.
"Fine… but then, big brother, you have to—Hm?"
As though sensing sothing, Sasuke also turned to look at Naruto, who was still staring at them.
Then he politely asked:
"Hello? Is sothing wrong?"
"Ah, no…"
Naruto clearly hadn't expected them to speak to him first and instantly beca flustered.
But very quickly, his naturally friendly personality took over.
"Um… I heard you talking about practicing shuriken…"
Naruto scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"Can I… co watch?"
"Hah? Of course not."
Sasuke imdiately refused.
"Our clan's shuriken techniques—"
He obviously didn't want soone interfering with the rare chance he had to spend ti with his brother.
Besides, how could the Uchiha clan's shuriken techniques be shown to outsiders so casually?
Did this weird kid not know basic common sense?
Itachi had also intended to politely decline.
But before he could speak, he suddenly noticed Naruto's stance.
Although Naruto rely looked like he was casually standing in the street, once Itachi truly examined him, he realized sothing strange—
Naruto's posture constantly gave off the feeling of a shinobi hiding his openings, prepared to react at any mont.
That kind of stance was extrely common among veteran battlefield ninja.
But this child should never have even left the village before…
Uchiha Itachi was a true genius.
And because the Third Shinobi War began only a year after his birth, his father had taken him onto battlefields from an early age. As a result, Itachi's way of thinking differed completely from most people in the village.
At seven years old, he had already beco a Genin.
And now…
He found himself slightly curious about Naruto.
"Sorry, but not today."
Itachi smoothly interrupted Sasuke and politely addressed Naruto himself.
"If you're interested, maybe we can do it together another ti."
After speaking, he gently led Sasuke away.
"Ah…"
Naruto wasn't too disappointed after being refused.
After all, that kind of thing was normal for him.
Still…
For so reason, he found himself unusually concerned about them.
Especially the ntion of shuriken.
Naruto really was interested in that.
It was the sa strange feeling again—
He had clearly never seen or heard of shuriken before, yet the mont he heard the word, it felt oddly familiar.
As though he had already seen them countless tis in his dreams.
"The place they're heading to…"
Naruto thought for a mont.
"The riverbank?"
anwhile, inside the Hokage's office—
"Hmm…"
The list spread across the Third Hokage's desk gave Hiruzen a headache.
The surnas filling the page made him unconsciously frown.
The Uchiha clan.
Geniuses truly erged from that clan endlessly.
"The advisors' latest recomndation is still to continue denying the Uchiha clan positions within the Anbu while reducing the number of Uchiha promoted to Chūnin and Jōnin."
Standing before Hiruzen, Konoha's military strategist Shikaku Nara calmly analyzed the situation.
"So once again… they're recomnding continued suppression of the Uchiha clan."
"What do you think?"
Hiruzen slowly exhaled smoke from his pipe before raising his head.
"After the Fourth Hokage's sacrifice and the Nine-Tails Incident, the villagers' suspicion toward the Uchiha clan has beco far too obvious."
Shikaku barely needed ti to think before answering.
"If we continue handling things this way and keep applying pressure, I'm afraid…"
"It'll beco difficult to justify."
"So you believe we should allow this group of Uchiha to receive promotions?"
The Hokage's hat shadowed Hiruzen's eyes, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Shikaku glanced at the Third Hokage.
This ti, unlike before, he didn't imdiately answer.
Because he knew—
Hiruzen wasn't satisfied with his previous response.
"This batch of Uchiha shinobi has already fully t the requirents for promotion."
Receiving no reply, Hiruzen simply tapped the nas on the list with his aged fingers.
"Uchiha clan mbers are still part of Konoha. We can't simply refuse promotions without reason."
Then he paused.
"But…"
In the end, Hiruzen sighed.
"Forget it. Send for Shisui."
"Yes."
An Anbu operative who had been standing silently in the shadows imdiately appeared before vanishing again.
anwhile, the afternoon sun still blazed rcilessly overhead.
Within the sweltering forest, two figures rapidly moved through the trees one after another.
Suddenly, the figure in front stopped atop a branch and turned around.
"That's enough for today, Itachi."
The person following closely behind imdiately halted as well.
"What's wrong, Shisui?"
Uchiha Itachi looked up in confusion toward the handso figure standing ahead with a sword strapped to his back.
"Sothing urgent ca up. I need to leave first."
Uchiha Shisui turned and smiled gently at Itachi.
"Looks like today just wasn't our day. I was planning to teach you a trick you could show off in front of your little brother."
"Alright."
Hearing it was official business, Itachi naturally didn't stop him.
"Then I'll head back and see how Sasuke's training is going. Co find later when you're free."
With those words, Shisui's figure disappeared from the branch.
After watching his friend leave, Itachi turned and headed back toward the riverbank.
But the mont he arrived, he suddenly heard a shout—
"Watch out!"
A black blur tore through the air straight toward Uchiha Itachi!
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