"I'm home."
Itachi pushed open the door to his house and called out at the same time.
A figure rushed out of the room and gripped his shoulders tightly. Itachi jumped in fright, only then realizing it was his father. But Fugaku's panicked, urgent expression felt utterly unfamiliar. In Itachi's memory, his father had never been this flustered.
"Dad?"
"Itachi, are you all right?" Fugaku asked anxiously.
Itachi was completely confused. "I'm fine."
"Were you at Shisui's house last night?"
"Yes... I also went to see Hokage." Itachi began to smile as he spoke. "Shisui took me there. Hokage talked to me for a long time and said lots of encouraging things."
Fugaku suddenly caught sight of something that seemed to have appeared on the back of Itachi's neck. He forcefully pulled open Itachi's collar and found an intricate seal there, something that absolutely had not been present before last night.
Upon seeing the seal, Fugaku seemed to lose all his strength. He collapsed weakly onto the floor, lowered his head, and gave a few bitter laughs.
"Dad, what's wrong?" Itachi looked at his father in confusion, unable to understand what had happened.
He glanced toward the living room and found the house seemed somewhat deserted.
"Where's Mom?"
"..."
Fugaku slowly rose to his feet again. The difference in their height meant that even with his head tilted back, Itachi could not see his father's face clearly.
"Your mother... had something to do. She won't be back until very late."
"Oh... Then are we still going to Uncle Yashiro's house for dinner today?"
Fugaku did not answer. He simply stood there, and Itachi felt that his father was somehow different from before.
Hokage Residence.
"What are you thinking about? You seem distracted."
Seeing Mikoto staring blankly at the sleeping