Uchiha

Baiye reached out, placed a hand on Hayate's shoulder, and gently pulled him behind him. Then he turned to the Uchiha Chunin who had asked the question.

"Picking up my brother."

Baiye's voice was even, neither provocative nor yielding.

The Chunin clearly didn't want that answer. He stepped forward, his voice dropping lower.

"Stay away from our people."

Shisui's expression changed. He sensed something was wrong and turned to the Chunin.

"Senior, Senior Gekkō is here to wait for Hayate. Hayate and I are classmates. We were just saying hello."

"Saying hello?" The young Chunin behind him sneered. "You really think you're the 'Strongest Chunin'? You think a genius of our clan should come say hello to you?"

Shisui opened his mouth, but before he could speak, the young Chunin had already walked past him, straight toward Baiye.

"If the geniuses of our Uchiha Clan hadn't thought you beneath their notice, you'd have lost that ridiculous title long ago!"

Baiye didn't back down.

The young Chunin reached out with his right hand, fingers curled into a claw, and grabbed for Baiye's collar.

Baiye raised his left hand and lightly brushed the other man's wrist aside with the back of it, while stepping half a pace forward with his right foot. There was no wasted movement—just that half-step, and he was already inside the other man's elbow.

His shoulder struck the other man's elbow with measured force, pushing the young Chunin's right arm outward and causing his upper body to tilt involuntarily. Baiye followed through by pressing down on the displaced arm and guiding it gently downward. He forced the elbow toward himself, trapping the entire arm in a position where the Chunin couldn't exert any force.

The young Chunin lost his balance. He tried to counterattack with his left hand, but Baiye was no longer there. Baiye turned sideways, letting the hand brush past his flak jacket, and extended his right hand. With his index and middle fingers together, he lightly tapped the spot above the other man's collarbone.

Baiye hadn't used excessive force. He was simply telling him: You've already lost.

The young Chunin froze. The whole exchange had lasted less than five seconds. His arm was locked, two fingers were pressed above his collarbone, and he was off balance. Before he could even mobilize his Chakra, it had been suppressed to a minimum. He hadn't even seen when Baiye had moved to his side.

"Stop!"

The Uchiha Chunin in the lead rushed forward, already halfway through forming Hand Seals.

A figure stepped in front of him.

Shisui stood before him with his back to Baiye. His arms were spread, one hand pressing down on the leading Chunin's wrist and the other on his shoulder. His nine-year-old body stood between two Chunin a head taller than him, yet he held remarkably firm.

"Please don't attack."

Shisui's voice was quiet but steady.

There was only calm in his eyes.

The leading Uchiha Chunin froze. He looked at Shisui, the fury in his eyes not yet fully faded, but Shisui's gaze kept him from advancing.

"The Konoha Military Police Force," Baiye said unhurriedly. "Is this how you maintain order?"

The young Chunin's face was bright red, his arm still locked in Baiye's grip. He clenched his teeth, and blood vessels suddenly appeared in his eyes. His eyes turned scarlet, and the outlines of his pupils began to spin. The Sharingan.

"You think you—"

His gaze met Baiye's eyes. The curse power of the Sharingan's Genjutsu tried to burrow into Baiye's pupils like a bug, but the instant it entered, it ran into a wall.

Baiye's mental strength wasn't something a mere Two-Tomoe Sharingan could shake.

The instant the Genjutsu entered, it bounced back.

The young Chunin let out a muffled groan.

He squeezed his eyes shut, stumbled back two steps, and covered them with one hand as tears streamed uncontrollably down his face. The backlash from the Sharingan's Genjutsu hurt so much that half his face went numb. He fell to his knees and opened his eyes, unable to maintain his Sharingan any longer.

Seeing this, the leading Uchiha Chunin's expression finally changed completely. He ignored Shisui's attempt to stop him, stepped forward to support his companion, and looked up, glaring at Baiye. His lips moved, but he couldn't get a word out. He gripped his Kunai but didn't draw it.

Drawing the Kunai would change the nature of the situation.

Shisui turned around and looked at the young Chunin kneeling on the ground, then at Baiye. Baiye was unhurt, his blade was still in its sheath, and his breathing was steady, as though nothing had happened.

"Senior Gekkō."

Shisui's voice held some apology and a trace of helplessness. This was the second time he had apologized to Baiye today.

He turned around and lowered his head slightly.

The gesture was sincere. He was genuinely apologizing on behalf of the people before him—for his clansmen attacking because of him, for their unreasonable treatment of a fellow villager, and for the time this conflict, which should never have happened, had wasted for everyone.

"I'm sorry. They attacked you because of me. It's my fault."

Baiye looked at Shisui and was silent for a moment. Then he turned his gaze to the two subdued Uchiha Chunin. One was kneeling on the ground with a hand over half his face, still suffering the aftereffects of the Sharingan's backlash. The other was supporting his companion, his face ashen and his lips pressed tightly together, not daring to look at Baiye.

"Your grandfather was Kagami Uchiha, right?"

Baiye spoke in a flat tone, as though mentioning something unimportant.

Shisui raised his head, a flicker of surprise in his eyes, but he didn't deny it.

"Your grandfather was Kagami Uchiha, a disciple of the Second Hokage and a comrade-in-arms of the Third Hokage. You have Uchiha blood in your veins, and you've also inherited Konoha's Will of Fire."

Baiye paused and looked at the two Uchiha Chunin. "You saw it today. Some people did something unnecessary in the name of standing up for you. There will be more things like this in the future. Some people approach you for who you are, and some for what stands behind you."

Shisui said nothing.

He remembered the old ninja with half his face covered in bandages. Danzo. His grandfather's old friend. Danzo had told him about the Gekko Clan—how they had once been prominent, but now only a widow and her children remained; how the clan's current head, Baiye, a ninja who hadn't yet come of age, had used his connection to Tsunade to refuse the village's arrangements.

When Danzo had told him those things, Shisui had felt some shared indignation, thinking the ninja was far too selfish. He had even secretly sought out Gekkō Byakuya, intending to teach him a lesson.

Then he had gotten a bit of a fright.

He had only just sensed the man when he immediately realized he had been locked onto. It was a profoundly mysterious intuition, and that same intuition told him the man was dangerous.

After a brief standoff, he had left. Fortunately, Gekkō Byakuya hadn't pursued him.

For a while afterward, he hadn't contacted Danzo out of shame, and he had started paying attention to this dangerous, little-known figure.

Then, a few months ago, something happened that even he couldn't find out about, and Baiye was subsequently given the title of "Strongest Chunin" as the foremost contributor.

Was this really someone who was dissatisfied with the village?

Today's exchange had only deepened his doubts.

"I'll remember that."

Shisui's voice was soft but steady. He looked Baiye in the eyes without flinching.

Baiye looked at him for a few seconds, then looked away. He crouched down and held one hand toward the young Chunin's face from a distance. The green light of Medical Ninjutsu flashed for a moment, easing the pain of the Genjutsu's backlash.

"Take him back," Baiye told the leading Uchiha.

The leading Uchiha's expression was complicated as he glanced at Shisui. Shisui nodded to him, his small face showing only quiet composure. The leading Chunin said nothing more and turned to leave, supporting his companion. After a few steps, he glanced back at Baiye, then quickened his pace and disappeared around the corner.

Shisui watched them go, then turned and bowed slightly to Baiye and Hayate.

"Hayate, let's spar again when we get the chance," he said. "Senior Gekkō, thank you."

Shisui left. Baiye watched him go without a word.

Hayate stood beside Baiye, silent all the while. He hadn't said a word since the two Uchiha appeared.

"Let's go."

Baiye turned around. Hayate followed behind him with his head lowered. The two left the street in front of the school, walked through the Shopping Street, and passed the woods at the edge of the Training Ground. Hayate didn't speak the entire way.

Baiye stopped. Hayate stopped too. His head was lowered, his bangs hiding his eyes and making his expression impossible to read.

"What's wrong?"

Hayate's voice was muffled, as though he were struggling with himself.

"...That Body Flicker Technique." Hayate raised his head. "The Body Flicker Technique Shisui used to stop that Chunin was really fast. I couldn't even see when he started moving."

He bit his lip, trying to find the words. "I always thought I couldn't beat him because I wasn't going all out. I still had Transparent Release that I hadn't used... But what he just did made me realize he hasn't been going all out either. There's no way I could keep up with that speed."

His voice was so soft it was nearly carried away by the wind. But he didn't lower his head.

"Brother. Has Shisui never fought me seriously?"

Baiye looked down at his nine-year-old brother.

"Shisui really is a rare genius, but for his Body Flicker Technique to be that fast, he must have put in effort beyond what ordinary people can imagine."

He crouched down to meet Hayate's eyes. "It's normal to feel frustrated. You did give it everything you had, after all."

Hayate looked at Baiye. His eyes were still red, but his breathing had steadied. He scrubbed the tip of his nose hard with the back of his hand, his voice hoarse but no longer muffled.

"...Brother. I want to surpass him."

Baiye stood and tilted his head toward the Training Ground. "Let's go home for dinner first. Tonight I'll teach you something—it's simpler than Shisui's Body Flicker Technique, but just as effective."

Hayate stood rooted to the spot.

"Shisui is an Uchiha genius, so naturally he has an entire training system behind him. If I don't teach you something new, it won't be easy to surpass him through hard work alone... What, don't you want to learn?"

"I do!" Hayate threw his arms around Baiye's leg. "Brother! You're my own brother, so teach me now!"

"Poof!"

After a cloud of smoke cleared, Hayate sat on the ground clutching a wooden log, staring blankly at the retreating figure striding away.

"I don't have a little brother as embarrassing as you. Come on, come on, let's go home and eat. I'm starving."

"Wait for me!"