Chakra

Chakra

After everyone had finished introducing themselves, Iruka began the lesson. As Kagato had expected, the first class for new students covered only the most basic material—why they attended school, what they would learn after enrolling, and things like that. Kagato could not be bothered to listen, so he started spacing out.

Turning to look outside, Kagato saw a large tree. Beneath it stood a swing. That had to be the swing Naruto sat on at the very beginning of the story. Kagato still remembered that feeling of loneliness.

"Hey, that kid."

"So that's the kid."

"Looks like he's the only one who failed."

"Hmph, he deserved it."

"It'd be terrible if someone like that became a ninja."

"After all, that child—"

"Hey, you can't say any more than that."

Had Naruto heard those two women's scornful remarks back then? If he had, what would he have thought?

At that thought, Kagato pulled his gaze back from the window and looked toward Naruto on the other side, chuckling inwardly.

The narrow-mindedness of women.

The Fourth Hokage had given his life to protect the village. Naruto had given his entire life, becoming the Jinchuriki, becoming Konoha's trump card. And what had he received in return? Countless contemptuous looks and vicious words.

The Third Hokage had indeed handled this poorly. Nominally, it was to protect Naruto—to keep the Fourth Hokage's enemies and those coveting the Nine-Tails from targeting him.

The justification was there, as was the moral high ground. But in the end, it all came down to the Third Hokage's incompetence. The foremost ninja village in the ninja world did not even have the confidence to protect one child?

During the First Hokage's era, Mito had been the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki. The First Hokage had killed quite a few people during the Warring States period, so he must have had enemies as well. Yet who would have dared come to Konoha and lay a hand on Mito? Who would dare?

The same was true during the Second Hokage's era, the Third Hokage's era, and the Fourth Hokage's era. Yet after the Fourth Hokage died and the Third Hokage returned to power, he became far more cautious, seeking stability in everything. To protect Naruto, he let the hero's son suffer scorn. To protect Konoha, he allowed the Uchiha Clan to be nearly exterminated. To ensure Konoha's political situation remained stable, even when Danzo attempted to assassinate the Third Hokage, the Third Hokage merely warned him and let the matter pass. To preserve Orochimaru, even after Orochimaru's human experiments were discovered, he still refused to go all out and let Orochimaru escape.

In the end, the Third Hokage had still possessed his boldness in his prime. Coupled with his mastery of most ninjutsu, he had been hailed as the strongest Hokage. But once he grew old, perhaps his strength remained, yet little of that boldness was left. He sought no merit, only to avoid mistakes.

Sigh.

With a quiet sigh, Kagato stopped thinking about it. This was not what he should be concerned with right now. His most urgent task was figuring out how to survive the clan's extermination half a year, or perhaps a year, from now.

He turned back to the window. Birds chirped crisply from time to time, while inside the classroom, the students occasionally read aloud together under Iruka's guidance. A breeze drifted in through the window and lightly brushed Kagato's cheek. How wonderful it would be if such peace and tranquility could continue forever.

Unfortunately, it could not.

The Uchiha Clan... the Uchiha Clan... why did it have to be the Uchiha Clan?

"Uchiha Kagato, I hear you're hailed as a genius of the Uchiha Clan. Why don't you answer Naruto's question?"

Iruka called on Kagato.

"Huh?"

Kagato raised his head blankly. He had been spacing out the whole time and had no idea what was going on.

Iruka naturally knew Kagato had been daydreaming. That was exactly why he had called on him. He wanted to see whether this so-called genius simply did not want to listen, or whether he truly already knew the material and had no need to.

"Naruto, repeat your question, will you?"

Naruto scratched his head and replied.

"Oh, I asked Iruka-sensei just now what Chakra is."

Iruka looked at Kagato, signaling for him to answer.

Kagato thought for a moment, then stood and replied.

"Chakra is a form of energy needed to perform ninjutsu. It is usually produced by combining a ninja's spiritual energy with the energy stored within their body."

Naruto stared at Kagato with a blank expression. He had not understood a single word Kagato said. He had only heard Iruka mention this thing called Chakra, and driven by curiosity, he had boldly stood up to ask. But after receiving the answer, Naruto could only think, What was that supposed to mean?

Iruka nodded in satisfaction, gestured for Kagato to sit down, and began teaching something else.

The people in the class looked at Kagato with varying expressions.

"A-as expected of the Uchiha genius."

"Good thing he didn't call on me. What a pain."

"Hmph, I know the answer to such a simple question too."

Kagato ignored these little brats' opinions of him and gave Iruka an odd look. Had he somehow displeased Iruka?

At this point, there was no need for these little brats, who had only just entered the Ninja Academy, to understand Chakra in such depth. In the original story, even after graduating from the Ninja Academy, Naruto and the others still needed Sakura to explain the principles of Chakra. That showed that the principles behind Chakra were likely something these children would not encounter until several years later at the Ninja Academy.

As for now? Kagato was certain that, aside from Iruka and himself, not a single other person in this classroom fully understood his answer.

Anyone claiming they could answer it was just bragging.

So why had a question about Chakra, one that should not have appeared, come up? And why had he specifically been asked to answer it? Most likely, this Iruka-sensei wanted to use the opportunity to probe Kagato's true abilities—to see whether there was substance behind the name, or whether he was all hollow inside.

Kagato wore a helpless expression. That was the downside of being called a genius. If some people admired you, then naturally others would doubt you.

"Tch."

Clicking his tongue as though irritated by the trouble, Kagato continued looking out the window.

But this time, when he looked over, the tree was gone, and so was the crisp chirping of birds. In their place was a starry sky and the silence unique to it.

Above the starry sky, several large lines of text appeared.

Code Name: Pending

Current World: Naruto

Identity: Uchiha Kagato

World Suppression: Medium

Mission: Escape the Night of the Uchiha Clan Extermination and survive!

One thing: Itachi was born on June 9, Konoha Year 43, and exterminated his clan at thirteen. That meant the Uchiha clan extermination took place shortly after dawn on June 9, Konoha Year 56. The protagonist was currently in September of Konoha Year 54, meaning there were actually just under two years left. However, he had miscalculated the date here, predicting that the clan extermination would happen in Konoha Year 55.

This detail did not carry much significance. It merely showed that the protagonist could not remember every point in time without error. Perhaps in the future, he might even misremember the timing of some other event.