Late at night, in the Hokage Building.
The helmet-loving veteran chain-smoker had finished his work for the day.
He stretched, then spotted a tuft of white hair by the window.
"Welcome back, Kakashi." His weary eyes relaxed a little. "You... saw the boy?"
With Kakashi back, Leaf's strength had grown by another measure.
He wouldn't have to bear so much pressure now.
"Yeah..."
Kakashi waved a hand, but instead of saying more about Naruto, he brought up someone else.
"Does the Third Hokage know that kid from the Uchiha Clan Head's family?"
"Oh? You mean Itachi? He's a clever child. His understanding of the Will of Fire surpasses that of anyone else in the village."
The Third Hokage tapped the bowl of his pipe, rare admiration showing in his eyes.
He genuinely liked Itachi.
Even though he was a member of the Uchiha Clan, he didn't have their usual flaw of being stubborn and fanatical.
On the contrary, he was wise and composed.
Seeing this, Kakashi shook his head. "No, I don't mean Itachi."
"Oh? You mean Sasuke? He's still young, but he seems to have some talent."
"Jin."
"Jin?" The Third Hokage paused. "That name sounds a little familiar..."
His mind turned, trying to bring up an image of Jin, but he failed several times.
It was like something he'd shoved into a corner and left unused for so long that he couldn't remember it when it came up again.
But after a few tries, the Third Hokage finally recalled a scene from four years ago.
He blurted out, "That boy... is something wrong with him?"
"No, it's just... he talks a lot." After hesitating, Kakashi took out the Logbook he'd been keeping.
It was filled with Jin's words, recorded in painstaking detail.
But the first page had been torn out.
It had recorded the relationship between Naruto and Jin.
He'd originally planned to write it all down and show it to the Third Hokage.
But perhaps because Jin had mentioned the Fourth Hokage and his wife again and again,
the lessons Teacher Minato had taught him and the care his sensei Kushina had shown him kept coming to mind.
Actually, it might be a good thing for Naruto to have an older brother looking after him.
Thinking this, he hid their relationship.
He just gave a few perfunctory answers before leaving.
Behind him, the Third Hokage looked at the torn page in the Logbook.
Before he knew it, he was recalling that little child from four years ago again.
Rustle.
The morning mist had yet to clear when a faint shuffling came from the wall around the Uchiha estate.
It sounded like a puppy scratching at the wall.
In reality, Sasuke was on tiptoe, spreading out a blanket he'd stolen.
"Can sunbathing... really make you stronger?"
"It should, right? That guy said the sun's natural energy combines with the body's energy to produce Chakra..."
He muttered to himself, then sneaked a glance at the house.
When no one came out, he copied Jin's pose and flopped onto his back, arms and legs splayed.
To make the imitation more convincing, he even put a blade of grass between his teeth.
He hummed a strange, carefree tune.
Rustle.
The wooden door opened. Fugaku, up early, looked up and saw his second son sitting by the door.
He seemed to be watching something.
Fugaku asked with some confusion, "Jin, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, watching a puppy scratch at the wall."
"A puppy scratching at the wall?" Fugaku froze, suddenly looking tense. "Which wall is it scratching?"
"Sasuke said the third wall to the left of this door, the one with a cherry tree planted beside it."
Thump.
Thump-thump.
"My secret stash..." Fugaku's face went pale.
For years, the money he'd stashed inside the house kept coming up short, so he'd started hiding it elsewhere.
He'd finally tucked it under the courtyard wall, but he hadn't expected...
"Damn it! Sasuke's getting more and more in need of a beating!"
He grunted angrily and ran out in his wooden sandals.
A moment later, Sasuke's shrill screams rang out from the wall.
The kind of screams that were painful to hear.
Under the wall, of course, lay the secret stash Fugaku had worked so hard to hide.
At the same time, the wooden door opened again.
Hearing the screams, Itachi sighed.
"Jin, why did you steal Father's money again? What did you spend it on this time?"
Everyone in the family except Fugaku knew Jin was the one taking the money.
It was almost always him.
Of course, the reasons varied.
Sometimes he bought food, like the three-colored dango Itachi had tried.
Sometimes he paid people to chat with him for a bit...
He had all sorts of excuses.
So what was it this time?
Itachi sat down nearby and studied his brother, curiosity in his eyes.
"Oh, nothing much. I bought some fruit and milk and took them to the war orphans."
"War orphans? Jin, you've... grown up."
Hearing this, Itachi's gaze softened.
He unconsciously reached out to pinch his little brother's cheek.
Unfortunately, he pinched empty air.
Jin dodged aside and grinned. "One-vs-Seven, today—"
At the words, Itachi replied at once, almost by reflex:
"Don't worry. I'll protect you and Sasuke."
"I'll do my best to stop this battle from the village's point of view."
"If anyone tries to gouge out Shisui's eye, I'll kill him!"
He paused, then couldn't help asking, "But why would anyone try to gouge out Shisui's eye?"
He didn't understand.
Shisui had made quite a name for himself on the battlefield.
He was a hero!
Who would covet a hero's Sharingan?
Could it be... Shisui's Mangekyo, which he'd awakened only recently?
Tap.
Just then, Shisui suddenly vaulted over the wall from the neighboring yard.
Dew clung to the tips of his hair, and dark circles under his eyes showed he'd stayed up all night.
"Itachi, Jin! You're both here! I've got great news! I developed a new Dojutsu!"
His voice wasn't loud, but his grin stretched from ear to ear. He was clearly thrilled.
Hearing this, Uchiha Jin's hand, which had been propping up his cheek, suddenly stopped.
Looking into Shisui's excited eyes, he seemed to see a certain one-eyed old geezer grinning wickedly in the dark.
"I've named it Kotoamatsukami!"
Shisui didn't notice his companions' sudden change of expression and kept going.
"This Dojutsu can change someone's will without them noticing. The only downside is that it takes a while for the eye's power to recover!"
"This morning, I spent an hour discussing it in the Hokage's office. Elder Danzo even praised me as the hope of the Uchiha!"
As he spoke, the boy planted his hands on his hips, looking as if he might throw his head back and laugh.
But someone cut him off.
"How many people did you tell?"
Itachi finally sensed something was wrong. He thought he understood why someone would try to gouge out Shisui's eye.
Shisui had explained the Dojutsu in such painstaking detail, he might as well have handed out an instruction manual!
If they didn't take your eyeball, whose would they take?
"Not that many..."
Seeing their faces, Shisui counted on his fingers.
"Just the Third Hokage, the Hokage Advisors, Assistant Danzo, the Anbu Intelligence Division, the Root sealing unit..."
This...
This, this, this...
In the end, Jin looked at the message saying the copy had failed, then patted the sunny, confident overachiever on the shoulder.
He shook his head and walked away.
Someone might ask: what makes him an overconfident guy?
He generally believed every man!
Before you continue