Nine-Tails Jinchuriki (Please Bookmark! Please Invest! Please Recommend!)

Unlike his peers, who could not wait to move out and live on their own, Uchiha Sōken still lived with his parents and family. After all, he was not truly a fifteen-year-old boy. Even though being reborn had made his mindset much younger, he was still different in some ways.

Compared to his peers' desire for independence, he preferred having the whole family sit together for a lively meal.

"Your uncle and aunt aren't home?"

After entering, Shisui looked around.

"At this hour, they should be at the studio. They won't be back until tonight." Sōken's parents were not ninja. His father was said to have been born frail and unsuited to becoming a ninja. He was now a novelist with three bestselling works to his name, though he had recently fallen into a slump. His mother was an editor.

Come to think of it, his parents had met through work.

"Has Uncle Masashi released anything new recently?"

"His new book came out last month, but the response wasn't very good. He's been worried about it lately! He didn't even see Toka off when she started school, but it's not a big deal. He'll get over it after a while. It's not like this is the first time, and with Mom around, it'll be fine."

Uchiha Masashi—that was Sōken's father's name.

Shisui blinked, pretending not to hear the latter half of that, and instead asked, "Elder Genshi isn't home either?" Sōken's family had five members. Besides his parents and younger sister, there was also his grandfather, Uchiha Genji, an elder of the clan.

Compared to Shisui, who was now all alone, this was truly a big family.

"He probably went to play chess with Elder Ryuji. They're old chess partners. Though the real reason is probably that Toka started school, so he'd feel too lonely staying home alone. Ever since Toka said she wanted to attend the Ninja Academy, Grandfather has been sulking. He keeps insisting that Uchiha don't need to go to the Ninja Academy and should stay home to study..."

As Sōken spoke, his hands never stopped moving, and he served Shisui tea and snacks.

"Didn't you say we were going to spar?"

Looking at the tea and snacks laid out before him, Shisui scratched his head with a wry smile.

"One cup of tea won't hurt. It's not like either of us has anything to do. No need to rush around."

Sōken took his own tea and sat down on the sofa.

Because of his father's tastes, although the house looked like a typical Japanese-style residence from the outside, the interior was decorated in a Western style. Only old man Uchiha Genji's room retained a tatami layout. Sōken was more than happy with that arrangement. Compared to kneeling on tatami, he much preferred a soft sofa that one could sink into.

"Sōken, you..."

Shisui smiled helplessly.

But he also relaxed against the sofa.

A little rest wouldn't hurt.

THUD THUD THUD!!!

The loud footsteps jolted Shisui awake. Instinctively, he reached for his waist, but in the next instant he noticed his surroundings and realized the mission was over. He was in... Sōken's house?

His stalled mind started working again, and everything that had happened came rushing back.

He had run into Sōken on the road, then they had talked on the Rooftop, and afterward they had come to Sōken's house to spar... Yet somehow, he had fallen asleep on the sofa? The dim setting sun outside cast a dusky yellow light through the window, faintly stinging his eyes.

Time had flown by. It was already evening.

Without realizing it, he had slept through the entire day.

"Ah! Toka, I told you not to run on the stairs. Look how much noise you made—you woke Shisui up." Uchiha Sōken sat in a single armchair off to the side with one leg crossed over the other. An open hardcover book rested on his knees, but he was not reading it. He was talking to the girl beside him.

"...Mom, Brother is picking on me!!"

The energetic girl loudly tattled on him.

One second later—

"Sōken, don't tease your sister!" Uchiha Saki, who was in the kitchen helping her husband prepare dinner, shouted back.

Sōken shrank his neck, not daring to argue with his mother.

He could only glare at his sister, who loved to tattle, and mutter softly:

"Little tattletale."

"Hmph! Scaredy-cat!"

Uchiha Toka proudly raised her chin and called to the follower behind her. "Naruto, I'll take you to see my pet. I don't want to play with this annoying guy." The two little ones rushed off like the wind, leaving behind a dumbfounded Shisui, who stared at Sōken as if he had seen a ghost.

Shisui reached out and pinched his own thigh.

The sharp pain made him suck in a breath. This was reality, not a dream, nor was it Genjutsu.

"Sōken, that... that little brat playing with Toka... How could he be here?"

"He's the new underling Toka recruited at the Ninja Academy."

"B-but... he is that..."

"That?"

"Sōken, don't play dumb. That's the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki! Getting involved with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... You're playing with fire, do you understand?" Shisui was furious. The Nine-Tails' Rampage had been a disaster caused by an unknown Uchiha controlling the Nine-Tails, yet Sōken had brought the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki into the Uchiha Clan's territory.

This was simply... simply... Shisui did not even know what to say. It was like dancing on the edge of a blade.

He could guess with his toes that the village would absolutely use this as an excuse to condemn the Uchiha Clan.

"What? Shisui, do you think I told Toka to lure the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki back here?"

Shisui frowned deeply and said nothing.

But his attitude made it obvious: You sneaky little bastard, who knew what kind of nasty scheme you were cooking up again?

"...Don't falsely accuse me, okay?" Sōken rubbed his nose. Was his reputation with Shisui really that bad? "Even if I were going to do something like that, Toka would be the last person I'd drag into it. Believe it or not, who Toka plays with is Toka's own business. Stop seeing conspiracies everywhere."

Shisui's mouth twitched. Who was it that had talked about replacing Clan Head Fugaku back on the rooftop?

He barely restrained himself from spitting and only said, "Then do you dare guarantee you're not planning to use the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki for something?"

Sōken blinked, then lowered his gaze to the hardcover book resting on his knees.

Honestly, he truly hadn't expected Toka to bring Naruto back. Earlier, when he saw the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki trailing behind Toka like a little tagalong, he had been utterly shocked too.

At the time, he had thought that old bastard Third was screwing people over again. The number of Anbu around Naruto was high enough to be counted by the dozen. For Toka to bring the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki back to the Uchiha compound under the watch of several dozen Anbu... if Third hadn't approved it, who would believe that?

At first, he had been considering how to deal with the criticism that would surely come from that old bastard Third.

But on second thought, as he looked at Naruto—shorter even than Toka—he felt this was a pretty good opportunity. If Third really made trouble over Naruto... then he could use the chance to test Clan Head Fugaku's attitude, and while he was at it, straighten Shisui's head out a little. His mind was too full of the Will of Fire; it needed to be lightened.

So, he really had been planning to make use of Naruto, the little brat.