Knight of Owner

Konoha's April weather was at its most pleasant—not too cold and not too hot. A gentle spring breeze stirred the cherry branches, sending pink and white petals drifting down like rain and drawing passersby to stop and admire them.

It was the perfect season for flower viewing.

But not everyone had the leisure to go out and enjoy the blossoms. It was also the Ninja Academy's annual enrollment season, and the snowstorm of applications had worn out the entire faculty. The older students graduated in March, and the new students enrolled in April... Those two months were the most exhausting every year.

"Hey, have you heard? That Demon Fox is starting school this year, too."

"Seriously? They're letting a monster like that into the Ninja Academy? My son's starting this year, too... Damn it, what are those people in charge thinking?"

"Shh!"

"Keep your voice down. Don't say things like that. The Hokage must have his reasons for doing this. Just make sure your kid stays away from that Demon Fox."

At the Ninja Academy's entrance, parents and relatives who had brought their children to enroll gathered in small groups. News that the boy who was the incarnation of a certain Demon Fox had enrolled quickly spread among most of the parents. The atmosphere grew especially strange when the little blond boy appeared on the street in front of the school.

Looks of hatred and disgust, whispers loud enough to hear...

The boy lowered his head and trudged toward the school.

"Big brother, hurry up! We're going to be late!"

"How could we be late? Look, that kid up ahead just got here, too. Toka, stop pulling! You'll tear my sleeve right off!"

At the end of the street,

a little girl tugged on her brother's sleeve and charged ahead like a missile.

The boy walking in front was lost in the bleakness of his reality and didn't notice the attack coming from behind. Caught completely off guard, he was bowled over by the girl and landed flat on his face, sprawled on the ground with his butt sticking high in the air. It was a truly awful sight.

"See, Toka? I told you not to run! What if you hurt him?"

"How could I hurt him? You're just trying to scare me, big brother."

The girl grumpily kicked her brother in the shin.

"Stop, stop, Toka! I was wrong, okay? Don't kick me, you're going to break my bones!" Uchiha Sōken threw up his hands in surrender, hopping around as he dodged his little sister's attacks, which had turned her into a shin-bone destroyer.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Uchiha Toka, who hadn't managed to land even one kick, turned away from her troublemaking brother and looked at the blond boy she had knocked down.

"...I'm fine."

The boy got to his feet without any intention of holding her responsible. He dusted himself off, turned, and started to leave.

"Why are you running off? Are you starting school today, too?"

Uchiha Toka called after him.

"...You're not afraid of me?"

The boy scratched at the unruly blond hair on his head and looked at the girl in surprise.

Her answer had nothing to do with his question, which annoyed her. She glared at the blond boy. "Who would be afraid of you? You're a boy, but you're not even as tall as me. You look like an easy target... How about this? To make up for knocking you down, I'll protect you at the Ninja Academy. If anyone bullies you, just tell me and I'll beat them up for you."

"Huh?"

The boy stood there in a daze, as if he couldn't quite understand what had just happened.

"What are you standing there for? We'll be late if we don't hurry."

The girl... Uchiha Toka sighed and rubbed her forehead. Her first underling from her first day of school looked kind of dim—not very bright at all!

"Hey, Toka, you're already taking on underlings?"

Uchiha Sōken sized the boy up.

A mop of hair as messy as a bird's nest, bright blue eyes, and three whisker marks on each cheek. He wore a black short-sleeved shirt and white shorts... Look a little deeper, and you'd see the extremely powerful seal on the boy.

Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's third Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

"Big brother, you're so annoying! Go home already. I don't need you here." Uchiha Toka angrily pushed away her rotten older brother, who was always teasing her. "Hurry up and go! Don't you have a mission? Get back to work. And don't forget the enrollment present you promised me."

"You still remember that? I was just saying it offhand. Besides, what does a five-year-old need with a kodachi? I'll make you a wooden sword to play with later."

"I don't care. If you promise something, you have to do it. If you dare to lie to me, big brother, I'll tell Mom you bullied me."

"...Toka."

Uchiha Sōken's voice suddenly dropped. He put a hand on his little sister's shoulder and spoke gravely. "Remember this: telling on someone is a privilege for little kids. You've stepped into the Ninja Academy, so you're a ninja in training now. If your classmates hear about something so childish, they'll laugh at you."

"If you promise something, you have to do it. That's what Grandfather said, so stop trying to trick me, big brother. I won't fall for it."

After being fooled so many times, the little girl had learned to resist.

Uchiha Toka made a face, grabbed her new underling, and ran into the school.

"Don't run so fast! Be careful not to hit someone... You really never learn!" Uchiha Sōken stood outside the school gate and watched his sister and the blond boy disappear into the school building's entrance. Slowly, he pulled back his neck, which had been stretched out as far as it would go.

It was the first day of school. To help the students adjust to school life as quickly as possible, parents were no longer allowed inside. The school gate was as far as they could go.

"Brother Sōken."

"Brother Sōken."

Familiar-sounding greetings came from behind him.

Uchiha Sōken turned around and saw two figures, one tall and one short. "Itachi! And this must be... Sasuke, here to enroll?" Standing in front of him were the brothers from the clan leader's family, Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha.

"That's right. Brother Sōken, you're here too..." Itachi Uchiha didn't get to finish his sentence before he was interrupted.

"Toka and Sasuke are the same age! Oh, Sasuke, you're in Class A, too, right?"

"Yeah, I'm in Class A."

"Perfect. I have a mission for you. Do you dare accept it?" Uchiha Sōken crouched down and looked little Sasuke in the eye.

"What's the mission? Leave it to me. I'll get it done."

Haruto, still in his pint-sized form, grew excited. Boys his age loved playing ninja games, especially when the famous Brother Sōken from his clan was giving him a mission... He agreed without a second thought, not even asking what the mission was.

What a good kid!

At this age, Haruto was still a proper, good Uchiha boy who hadn't been poisoned by Talk no Jutsu. He was much more adorable than his older brother, who was always thinking of sacrificing his own family to save everyone else.

"This is a long-term mission."

Uchiha Sōken cleared his throat. "Only you and Toka from the Uchiha Clan are entering the Ninja Academy this year. You could say that you're carrying the honor of our clan at the school. And Toka's a girl... So, Sasuke, don't hold back. Use your strength to show everyone at the school that the Uchiha are the strongest in Konoha."

"Yeah!!!"

Uchiha Sasuke's little face flushed with excitement. He nodded hard, puffed out his chest, and promised, "Brother Sōken, don't worry. I'll never bring shame to the name of the Uchiha Clan."

It was just that

Itachi Uchiha, standing beside him, frowned slightly.

"Oh! That's the spirit."

Uchiha Sōken patted Haruto on the shoulder and encouraged him. "Sasuke, if you can take first place in every exam at the Ninja Academy this year, I'll give you a Chakra weapon!"

"Really?"

"I never lie."

Chakra weapons were weapons made with special metals mixed into them. They had various properties, such as absorbing, conducting, extending, enhancing, or conserving Chakra. Because they were difficult to forge and in high demand, a good Chakra weapon was extremely valuable. Even an ordinary Jonin couldn't afford one that suited them.

Though Uchiha Sasuke was only five, his family background had taught him the value of a Chakra weapon.

All he had to do was take first place, right?

He wouldn't lose to those stupid classmates.

Haruto dashed into the school, brimming with excitement.

Only Uchiha Sōken and Itachi Uchiha remained outside the gate.

"Brother Sōken."

"What is it?"

"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's identity is sensitive. Our clan... should avoid getting too close."

"Hmm... Itachi, you've grown up. Now you're telling me what to do!"

"Brother Sōken, that's not what I meant. I just..." Itachi Uchiha tried to explain.

"Haha! I'm just kidding." Uchiha Sōken laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not interested in the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. But I'm not going to stop Toka from making friends, either. Since the Hokage let the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki attend the Ninja Academy, there shouldn't be any problem with the kids spending time together, right?"

"...Brother Sōken, I spoke out of turn."

"It's fine. You were only thinking of the clan!"

Uchiha Sōken waved his hand with a false smile.

"Itachi, if you have things to do, go take care of them. There's no need to stay here and waste your time with an idler like me."

"Then... please excuse me." Itachi Uchiha politely took his leave, heading in the direction of the Hokage Building... As his short figure faded from sight, the smile on Uchiha Sōken's face slowly disappeared, leaving behind only bone-chilling coldness between his brows.

Itachi Uchiha...

In his memories, he was a... cold-blooded monster who wiped out his entire clan for the sake of his younger brother and the village!

The Uchiha Clan wasn't made up entirely of unpleasant people who looked down their noses at everyone. There were plenty of elderly people and children in the clan, too. Many had never awakened their Sharingan and weren't even ninja. Yet he had slaughtered them all without exception, men and women, young and old. It didn't matter if they were a man in his sixties or seventies or a toddler just learning to talk.

Uchiha Sōken couldn't bring himself to feel even the slightest bit of fondness for this cold-blooded younger clansman. All he felt was guarded disgust...

If he'd started out as an orphan bullied by his clan, that would have been one thing. With his cheat skill, he could have faked his death and avoided the cold-blooded demons Obito Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha, who had killed their own teachers and parents. He could have found somewhere else to lie low and grow stronger, then avenged his dead clansmen once he'd mastered his abilities.

The problem was, both his parents were alive, he had plenty of relatives and friends, his family was warm and harmonious, and he even had an adorable little sister...

He couldn't run.

There was nowhere to hide.

And he didn't have much time to fight back against his clan's tragic fate.

Konoha's rookies had all properly enrolled in the academy. The Night of the Massacre wasn't far away... History had indeed changed somewhat because of Uchiha Sōken, but not by much. Obito Uchiha had still heroically died in the Kannabi Bridge Battle, and the Fourth and his wife had still lost their lives on the night Naruto was born...

When the Kannabi Bridge Battle broke out, nine-year-old Uchiha Sōken was only a newly promoted Chunin fighting Mist Ninja on the Eastern Front. He wasn't qualified to influence the battle on the Northern Front.

On the night the Nine-Tails attacked the village, no Uchiha could go out and aid the Fourth—not even ten-year-old Uchiha Sōken. That night, the Anbu and Root ninja had surrounded the Uchiha Clan's compound on all sides.

Five years had passed in the blink of an eye since that night.

Over those five years, through tireless effort and with the help of his cheat skill, he had become one of the clan's strongest, on par with Uchiha Shisui.

Oh, right.

Uchiha Sōken's cheat skills were an innate skill called [Magic Release] (Flame) and a Noble Phantasm called [Knight of Owner].

They sounded a little mismatched, and in practice, they really were. They seemed like two cheat skills, but compared with the seemingly all-purpose systems his fellow transmigrators had, his own cheat skills... weren't exactly useless. They were just difficult to develop.

At least they were better than starting with nothing!

He had gone to the battlefield at the age of seven and fought people there. Now, eight years later, after one battle after another, he had managed to increase the power of [Magic Release] (Flame) quite a bit. Since there was no system screen or anything like that, it was hard to tell exactly what level it was.

As for [Knight of Owner]...

This invisible Noble Phantasm was quite useful. It could grant the weapon in his hand the attributes of a D-rank Noble Phantasm and let him control it. It could be used on anything he could recognize as a "weapon," which meant that kunai, shuriken, kodachi... even rocks and trees could be turned into D-rank Noble Phantasms.

Of course, trees weren't very convenient weapons. Shuriken were much better.

A shuriken granted D-rank Noble Phantasm attributes had enough destructive power to break through the hardening techniques of an ordinary Chunin. Combined with the Sharingan and Uchiha Style Throwing Technique, honestly, this one shuriken technique was enough to survive on the battlefield, as long as he didn't run into monsters or get surrounded and stayed cautious.

But—

It still wasn't enough!

Not nearly enough!

No matter how much others praised his strength, Uchiha Sōken, whose Sharingan had only reached the Three Tomoe Sharingan, had little confidence that he could deal with the future Itachi Uchiha and Obito Uchiha, those two cold-blooded monsters. The Mangekyō Sharingan's unique ocular techniques, Susanoo, which was known as the "power of the gods"...

Neither was something he could easily overcome with just those two cheat skills.

He needed greater power!