Cloud Village's Visit, Hyuga Crisis?

"My foolish little brother..."

Just as Sasuke was shivering in a daze, Jin had somehow appeared before him, extending a finger to lightly tap his brother's forehead.

"Is this technique familiar?"

Swish.

The moment the words fell, Sasuke's earlobes quickly flushed crimson.

Of course he recognized this technique!

These past days, he'd been pestering Itachi nonstop, all because he was itching to learn this Shuriken trajectory control ability!

And just this morning, before leaving, Itachi had finally agreed.

He'd personally taken Sasuke into the courtyard and practiced with him twice!

He'd truly been guided through it several times by Itachi, which was why he'd barely managed to hit the target's center this afternoon.

But!

This lazy bum Jin!

When did he learn it?

He'd never seen him practice before!

It couldn't be that he'd just... glanced at it while sunbathing this morning and learned it outright?!

At that possibility, Sasuke suddenly felt his legs go weak.

If that were true, then his lazy older brother's talent was terrifying!

"Could it... really be related to sunbathing?"

His brain stalled for a moment, then he followed the sunlight, Looking Towards the courtyard wall.

A reckless impulse stirred within him.

Maybe he should lie up there and sunbathe for a bit?

"Jin, stop bullying Sasuke!"

Just then, Uchiha Mikoto's scolding voice came from the veranda.

She was carrying Three-Color Dumplings and fruit, walking slowly over.

When her gaze swept across the hedgehog-like target, her pace quickened noticeably.

Drawing closer and finding only holes, with her youngest son unharmed, she let out a slight sigh of relief.

But she couldn't suppress the flash of shock in her eyes—the landing points of those Shuriken were clearly the technique Itachi had taught Sasuke this morning.

She'd watched for a while earlier, found it boring, and left.

But that didn't mean she didn't recognize it.

Yet!

Who had made these landing points?

Could it be... this child, Jin?

Her brow flickered, and her mind recalled her husband Fugaku's instructions:

Mikoto, this child Jin... if there's nothing urgent, don't disturb him. He has his own thoughts.

She'd never understood, thinking Fugaku was just indulging Jin.

But now...

Her eyes flickered, then she shook her head with a wry smile.

They were all her own children. What was she overthinking?

She handed the plate up to the courtyard wall, then tugged little Sasuke back inside: "Your clothes are all torn up. Go change quickly."

Sasuke: "But—Jin, he—"

Mikoto: "Don't call him Jin! Call him big brother."

That familiar tone made it impossible for Sasuke to continue.

He could only look back at the figure on the wall in the fading light, lost in thought.

Drip.

When moonlight climbed onto the mansion's eaves, Itachi vaulted into the courtyard, reeking of blood.

Because of the tense relations with Cloud Village, he'd been sent to the battlefield right after graduation.

Every day there were reconnaissance missions.

Occasionally, he'd run into combat.

Today, after an unexpected skirmish with a small squad, he'd barely made it back.

In the night, the Sharingan in his courtyard glowed with a weary crimson in the darkness.

"Today's ten minutes."

Just as he landed, a lazy voice suddenly came from atop the wall.

This made his movements freeze.

Turning around, he found Jin sitting on the courtyard wall, swinging his legs.

In his hand, he tossed an apple, its faint luminescence rippling gently in the moonlight.

Still so elusive, appearing out of nowhere.

Itachi sighed and tried to negotiate: "Jin, I'm pretty tired today. How about tomorrow?"

"Oh, is that so?" Jin flipped down, precisely tossing the apple into Itachi's arms, then turned with a grin and said, "Father, One-vs-Seven said you're hiding in the second cabinet of the guest room—"

Gulp.

Itachi's hand, catching the apple, froze mid-air.

Then, with the speed of lightning and the jingle of bells, he swiftly shoved the apple back into his little brother's mouth.

Hastily saying: "Come on, let's talk!"

"That's more like it."

Jin smiled and patted his older brother's shoulder.

If I let you drag this out to tomorrow, wouldn't the cooldown just add another day!

And what about the friends I chat with tomorrow?

My daily schedule is all accounted for!

"Stop frowning."

He then reached out and smoothed the crease between Itachi's brows, commanding like a little adult, "Your tear troughs are already ugly enough. If you get forehead wrinkles on top of that, Sister Izumi won't like you anymore."

With that, ignoring Itachi's flushed face, he picked up a nearby Three-Color Dumpling and stuffed it into his mouth.

Smiling, he said: "Tell me, why are you so tired today? Seems like you even killed someone, huh?"

As expected!

Uchiha Itachi's heart jolted.

His little brother wasn't just elusive and hard to detect—his senses were still this sharp.

With a wry smile, he explained: "These past two days, envoys from Cloud Village came to discuss peace talks."

"There have been quite a few petty troublemakers around."

With that, he began to elaborate, going into every detail.

As if he'd already prepared the whole story in his head.

For the past four years, his little brother hadn't cared for much else—he just liked to drag him into a chat once a day.

Only once a day, at that.

As he listened, Uchiha Jin's smiling face gradually tightened.

Cloud Village peace talks.

Envoys visiting Leaf.

Border areas, inexplicable Lightning Release ninjas gathering.

These words gave him a familiar feeling.

It seemed like, in the storyline, these events were part of some scheme.

In his hesitation, a prompt suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Conversation Target: Uchiha Itachi.]

[Copyable Traits are being analyzed.]

[Copyable Traits: Brother Complex (Black), Too Smart to Live Long (Black), Afflicted by Illness (Black), Three-Tomoe Sharingan (Purple), Three-Attribute Master (Purple), Fire Style Mastery (Blue)...]

Over the past few years, Itachi had fully grown into a ninja proficient in three attributes.

His strength far surpassed what it had been before his disappearance.

Of course, the one thing that never changed was the three pitch-black traits at the top...

They made one's vision go dark just looking at them.

[Conversing with Uchiha Fugaku for ten minutes. Attempting to copy traits.]

[Copy successful. Congratulations, host, you have obtained the Epic Trait: Three-Tomoe Sharingan (Purple).]

Copy successful!

Seeing this message, he smiled faintly.

Today wasn't a wasted wait!

The System came through!

Then silently in his heart, he said: "System, feed this entry to my Sharingan."

Of course, he also had the Three-Tomoe.

He'd even awakened it a full year earlier than Itachi's Three-Tomoe!

[Three-Tomoe Sharingan (Purple) is fusing.]

[Feeding successful. Congratulations, Host has obtained the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.]

"Still no upgrade?"

Seeing that the Three-Tomoe still hadn't evolved into a Mangekyo, his small face immediately scrunched up.

Not happy.

Very unhappy.

Damn System!

It had devoured at least twenty-plus Three-Tomoe from him, and still no upgrade!

Of course, he could clearly sense the difference within his own Sharingan.

That endless stream of ocular power seemed capable of easily binding the elder brother before him...

Little did he know, the expression on his face right now carried a different meaning in young Itachi's eyes.

"Hm? A frown? Could it be that he failed to spark Jin's interest?"

He paused, then shifted the topic.

"Oh, right. I heard those Cloud Shinobi even paid a special visit to the Hyuga Main House."

Crack!

"Oh? Cloud Shinobi visiting the Hyuga!"

In that instant, a flash of lightning struck.

Jin finally remembered what the conspiracy behind this incident was!