Yu! Look What You Did!!

"The next task is extremely, extremely important. I'm leaving it all to you."

"Don't worry, meow. I guarantee the fire won't get too low and let the soup go cold, and it definitely won't get too high and boil the pot over."

"Be very careful. Once the soup cools, the flavors can never fully blend again, and the freshness won't reach its peak. If the pot boils over, the ingredients will churn around and disrupt the order in which they meld, making the taste strange too."

"Don't worry, meow. Miwa Masayo isn't stupid."

"You stupid cat, do you think I'm worried because you don't know that? I'm worried you'll get knocked out by the smell, your soul sucked into the clay pot, and forget to watch the fire."

"I-I won't, meow... Last time didn't count, meow... Neither did the time before that... I..."

"This time I won't, meow! I'm already a Cat Sage!"

"All right. I believe you."

At the riverside training ground, after their basic physical training, Uchiha Yu assigned everyone their training plans and then focused intently on Uchiha Shisui.

"Shisui, pause your chakra slightly here, then shift it a little to the left."

"Big Brother Yu, is there something wrong with this part?"

"From the perspective of past ninja training, there's nothing wrong with it. But in my view, it can be improved."

"Yes, Big Brother Yu."

"Not bad. How does it feel?"

"I have to keep paying attention to this spot, but I don't feel anything special."

Uchiha Obito immediately perked up. Perhaps thinking he had finally caught Uchiha Yu in a mistake, he burst into laughter. "You went out of your way to change it, and there's no special feeling at all. It has to be wrong."

Uchiha Yu said nothing. Instead, Shinichi pulled Obito away. "Obito, you won't feel anything special while it's unfamiliar. Once you master it, won't you become faster and stronger?"

"Huh? So that's how it is?" Obito was shocked. Stiffening his neck, he demanded, "Yu, why are you only teaching something this good to Little Brother Shisui and ignoring the rest of us?"

"What kind of big brother are you supposed to be?"

Uchiha Yu glanced at him. "You don't have time to learn it, Obito. Your entire team, and every ninja in Konoha over the age of ten, don't have time."

"What are you talking about?"

"This kind of adjustment differs from instinctive habits. It takes enough time to slowly form new habits. It'll take at least two years before you can do it without thinking, but war is coming. There's no time."

Everyone fell silent, then trained twice as hard.

When training ended at dusk, Uchiha Shisui stopped Uchiha Yu, who had been pretending to leave. Yu was deeply pleased; it had not been in vain to bring out such an important technique today.

"Shisui, do you need something?"

"Big Brother Yu, I have some questions I want to ask you."

"A... lot of questions?"

"They're about the chakra techniques you taught me today."

"That's quite a lot..." Uchiha Yu's thoughts were entirely on the big clay pot at home, and the Tabby Cat who could easily lose herself in the aroma. "Then come with me. We can talk while we walk. We made something good at home, so I'll treat you to a nice meal."

Uchiha Shisui paused, remembering the clan head's instructions to build a good relationship with Uchiha Yu, as well as Elder Setsuna's request that he meet Cat Sage Miwa Masayo whenever possible.

So, he nodded in agreement.

"Big Brother Yu, you're very, very strong now, aren't you?"

"Little Brother Shisui, who told you that? If I were strong enough, I should be like Hatake Kakashi and become a jonin."

"But you know so much. In just two days, I can already feel myself getting much stronger."

"That's because your talent is good. Look at your Brother Obito. I've talked myself hoarse, and he still can't walk on water."

"Brother Obito... Well, he's an exception."

"By the way, how did you discover these chakra circulation techniques? The clan doesn't seem to have any such knowledge at all."

"It does. How could it not? It's not as though I imagined it out of thin air."

"In the clan's Archive Room, there are all sorts of records left behind by Uchiha ancestors throughout the generations. Quite a few powerful ninja recorded the limitations they encountered during chakra circulation."

"So that's how it is? The clan has such a great place, and I never even knew."

"Because much of the best material there has been lost. As for why, ask the clan head when you're older."

"The knowledge I found was buried among countless records. It was very difficult to search for, and without organizing it, it would be hard to uncover those treasures."

"You must have spent a lot of time finding it, Big Brother Yu."

"Of course. I've been reading in the Archive Room since I was four. How many years has it been now?"

"..."

"Shisui, the chakra circulation techniques I taught you are very important. You must keep practicing them."

"Don't worry, Big Brother Yu."

"I do worry! Your biggest problem is that you're too easily swayed. You believe whatever anyone tells you. Believe it or not, Elder Setsuna will turn around and say what I taught you is worthless, then firmly oppose you practicing it..."

Uchiha Yu pinched Shisui's ear between his fingers. "I can tell you right now, when that happens, you'll definitely hesitate. Heh heh."

"I won't."

"All right, let's make a bet. If you hesitate, you'll have to grant me one request in the future. If you don't hesitate at all and believe in me firmly, I'll teach you a very cool, very powerful ninjutsu."

"Fine, it's a deal! I'm definitely going to win!"

After training, Uchiha Yu invited Shisui to his home, using delicious food as the reason.

Uchiha Shisui gladly agreed.

As they approached the clan district, Shisui was surprised to find that everyone greeted Uchiha Yu, and Yu could call every one of them by name.

Uchiha Yu could even accurately guess where a mischievous boy was hiding, then led the boy's mother straight to the little fool.

The child was thus given a complete childhood experience.

Uchiha Yu, meanwhile, received a burst of uproarious laughter, along with a child's indignant cursing.

Uchiha Shisui watched it all without even blinking, the envy in his eyes practically spilling over.

Why was Shisui valued by everyone? Because his grandfather was Kagami Uchiha, and because he was already a genius at this age. But most importantly, he was an orphan whose parents were both dead.

Useful, and easy to control.

What the Uchiha clan's higher-ups did was roughly the same trick the Third Hokage played on Uzumaki Naruto, only not as disgusting. They were proud Uchiha; they could not bring themselves to seize a child's property, drive him into a desperate corner, then win him over with tiny favors.

That was far too low.

Fugaku, Setsuna, Shiho, Kensaku, and Hideyuki hoped to instill their own ideals in Shisui, making him accept their beliefs and become a future star of their factions.

But it had to be said that this group of old men, along with Fugaku, who was even more conservative than an old man, had no idea how outdated their thinking was, how condescending their attitudes were, or how much resentment their indoctrination would provoke in children.

The Third Hokage's methods might have been despicable, but he was willing to lower himself and play the emotional card and the ideals card with children through an attitude of service. His clear-cut binary division of black and white, right and wrong, was especially an effective overwhelming advantage.

No wonder geniuses like Shisui and Itachi all became his people.

The Uchiha clan's higher-ups had failed to keep up with the times. They were destined to be eliminated by them.

However, Uchiha Yu did not believe the Uchiha clan needed to be eliminated through something as tragic as extermination. There was no irreconcilable life-or-death conflict between Konoha's sides.

The harmonious atmosphere vanished completely as they neared home. The whole neighborhood was tense, and someone even shouted at Uchiha Yu, "Yu! This must be your doing!!"