Itachi and Shisui

That afternoon, the Ninja Academy let out. Kagami and Sasuke left the school and headed toward the Uchiha clan compound.

Along the way, Kagami chatted idly with Sasuke while thinking about what he had seen that morning.

That "Starry Sky" seemed to be a system. It claimed that it had found a once-in-a-century genius like Kagami on Earth and brought him to this world. In the future, it seemed that it could even send Kagami to other worlds.

Well, after hearing that, Kagami's first reaction had been to jump up and curse that system for being no good!

Kagami was delighted to have transmigrated into Naruto. He was also delighted to have transmigrated into the Uchiha, a clan full of overpowered freaks. But why did it have to be on the eve of the clan extermination? This was simply the worst possible time!

If that lousy system had sent him back a little further—preferably to Kakashi's generation—then being an Uchiha would have been an absolute trump card!

If he had gone back to the Warring States period, then as long as Kagami worked hard enough, being an Uchiha would have been practically a cheat code.

In short, transmigrating into Naruto's generation was truly the worst era. In the immediate future, the Night of the Uchiha Clan Extermination was coming soon.

Looking further ahead, Naruto had one particular trait: in the early stages, everyone obediently formed Hand Seals and cast ninjutsu, battling with wits and courage to their hearts' content. But starting from the middle and later stages, when Itachi's Susanoo appeared, the power levels in Naruto skyrocketed. Meteors, giants dozens or even hundreds of meters tall—everything came out.

Naruto and Sasuke's strength also rose crazily thanks to their cheat-like identities, but Kagami did not dare claim that he could keep up with those two overpowered monsters. Yet if he failed to keep up, he would very likely die at Obito and Madara's hands in the future. So, for the sake of his life, Kagami had no choice but to frantically raise his own strength in an extremely short time.

But the problem was that Kagami truly had no confidence in catching up to Naruto and Sasuke's rate of growth. There was no other reason: those two really were absurdly overpowered. They graduated from the Ninja Academy at twelve, and at the time, they were little brats who were not even as strong as genin. Then, just five years later, at seventeen, the two of them had become Six Paths-level figures!

Five years! Five years! What kind of insane speed was that?

So no matter how he thought about it, Kagami felt that this lousy system had set him up.

Of course, the system denied every single accusation Kagami made against it, righteously declaring that it had been random.

"Kagami! Kagami!"

"Huh?"

Kagami looked at Sasuke blankly.

Sasuke spoke helplessly.

"We're at my house. Stop spacing out."

Kagami scratched his head sheepishly.

"Eh, don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried about it."

Just as Kagami and Sasuke were chatting, a voice suddenly sounded behind them.

"Oh, Sasuke, Kagami, you're back? You beat me here."

Kagami turned around. Before his eyes stood a slender young man dressed in Anbu attire, with a short sword strapped to his back and two striking tear troughs on his face.

Uchiha Itachi! He was a pivotal figure throughout all of Naruto, and for Kagami's future half-year or even year, he currently seemed to be the most important person!

Itachi was five years older than Kagami and Sasuke, which meant he should have been around eleven this year. Yet judging from his appearance, Itachi looked more like someone sixteen or seventeen than an eleven-year-old boy. He had been around twelve when the clan was exterminated. It was hard to imagine how much resolve a twelve-year-old child needed to raise a butcher's blade against his entire clan and willingly bear all that sin.

Had countless hands forced this boy onto that cruel path? Or had the boy known that he could no longer turn back, then resolutely shaken off the hands behind him and walked that path alone?

At that moment, Kagami suddenly wanted to ask Itachi something.

Did it hurt?

Or perhaps—

Kagami looked at Sasuke beside him.

—was there happiness, too?

While Kagami was lost in wild thoughts, Sasuke had already run happily up to Itachi and spoke excitedly.

"Brother, Kagami came to learn from you again. Teach the two of us today, okay?"

Itachi smiled gently and raised a hand to flick Sasuke's forehead.

"Sasuke, I just returned from a mission. I'm very tired. Maybe next time."

After saying that, Itachi walked past Sasuke and came before Kagami. He flicked Kagami's forehead as well, smiling just as gently.

"And Kagami, you too. Maybe next time. You should hurry home now, or Lord Guizhi will blame me. Heh heh."

Kagami covered his forehead and replied helplessly.

"Got it, Big Brother Itachi."

Sasuke, on the other hand, was also covering his forehead, glaring resentfully at Itachi.

Faced with the resentment of the two children, Itachi merely maintained his usual gentle smile before entering the house.

Not long afterward, Kagami left. After dinner, Itachi sat in his father's room, facing his father across from him.

"Itachi, that child Kagami came looking for you again?"

The speaker wore a kimono and had a square face. He looked quite imposing. This was Itachi's father, Fugaku Uchiha.

Itachi nodded.

"Yes, Father."

Fugaku frowned slightly.

"I've observed that child. He works very hard. I don't know about his talent for ninjutsu, but that effort alone qualifies him to be called a genius. If you have the time, you should still teach them. The relationship between our Uchiha Clan and the Konoha higher-ups is already extremely tense. I only hope these younger ones can grow up sooner."

Itachi remained expressionless, impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"I understand, Father."

Meanwhile, Kagami was on his way home when he unexpectedly ran into someone.

He wore black clothes, carried a short sword on his back, and had the "dumpling nose" that was rare among the Uchiha Clan.

Kagami spoke in surprise.

"Big Brother Shisui? What are you doing here?"

Shisui smiled faintly. Like Itachi, whenever he faced children like Kagami and Sasuke, he always gave off a comforting, spring-breeze-like feeling.

"Oh, Kagami. Nothing much, just taking a stroll. What about you? Where are you going?"

Kagami answered honestly.

"Sasuke and I just went to Big Brother Itachi's house to ask him to teach us. But, just as expected, Big Brother Itachi turned us down again."

Shisui could not help but laugh.

"So it's still like that? Haha."

Kagami suddenly seemed to remember something and hurriedly spoke.

"Hey, Big Brother Shisui, can you teach me ninjutsu?"

Shisui froze, his laughter stopping as he raised a hand and pointed at his own face.

"Huh? Me?"

Kagami nodded repeatedly.

"Mhm, mhm."

Shisui thought for a moment, then smiled again.

"Sure. Go home and tell Lord Guizhi today. After school tomorrow, wait for me at home. I'll come find you."

Kagami spoke in delighted surprise.

"Really?"

Seeing Kagami's expression, Shisui could not help but laugh.

"Of course it's true."

After chatting for a few more moments, Kagami continued toward home, while Shisui remained where he was, watching Kagami's retreating back as he contemplated something.

Just then, Kagami had not noticed at all that, during his conversation with Shisui, he had already fallen under one of Shisui's genjutsu. Within the illusion, Shisui had asked Kagami a question.

"Why are you getting close to Itachi?"

Kagami had always seemed very concerned with Itachi and constantly wanted to meet him. Both Itachi and Shisui had noticed this long ago. If it was merely a child's simple admiration, neither of them would have minded; they would even have been quite happy about it. But what they feared was that it was not simply a child's admiration. At a time when the relationship between Konoha and the Uchiha was growing increasingly tense, Shisui had taken the initiative to test Kagami, to determine whether he was an informant planted among the Uchiha by the Konoha higher-ups.

Though he was only a child, they could not afford to let their guard down. And the result? Kagami certainly could not lie within the genjutsu, so Shisui received a very interesting answer.

Thinking of Kagami's answer within the genjutsu, Shisui decided to go find Itachi immediately!