Legacy and Graves

The next morning, Sasuke Uchiha woke from his dream. He pushed open his room door, and the sight that greeted him was still an empty house. Pushing open the front door, the clan compound was as silent as it had been last night.

Familiar and unfamiliar figures were nowhere to be seen. Only near the building that had been incorporated into the new Security Force could voices be heard; ninjas on the night shift were reporting and waiting for their replacements.

But what did that have to do with him?

"Yo, isn't this our famous Sasuke Uchiha?"

Taking two more steps in the direction of the school, he suddenly heard a familiar female voice. Sasuke Uchiha turned his head. It was the woman from the Nara clan who had caught him last night, the one who used the Shadow Secret Technique.

She had a piece of bread in her mouth, her hands were tidying her ponytail behind her head, and she was wearing a standard Konoha ninja uniform as she walked towards the Security Force building.

But she was clearly going the same way as him, coming from the same direction. Yet, that direction only contained their Uchiha clan compound, and there were no Nara clan properties there.

"You?" he asked.

"Ah, me? I went to visit the graves," Nara Luyu swallowed the bread in her mouth and turned to look at Sasuke. She seemed to have thought of something and suddenly clapped her hands.

"Oh, right. It seems no one told you that the Uchiha clan members killed by Uchiha Itachi are buried at the edge of the forest behind your clan compound. I just went there."

"Don't mention that name!" Sasuke Uchiha suddenly shouted.

"Alright, alright, I won't say it then." Seeing the angry Sasuke Uchiha, Nara Luyu moved even closer. She patted Sasuke's shoulder, and her voice suddenly became quieter.

"Don't go to class this morning. I'll take you to see them."

"Huh?" Sasuke's expression changed from anger to confusion.

"It's okay. You were just discharged from the hospital yesterday, so it's fine if you skip class today. As for me, I've been wanting to skip work for a while now. Let's go." She directly grabbed Sasuke's hand and turned back the way they came, heading into the Uchiha clan compound.

Sasuke instinctively wanted to break free, but Nara Luyu's hand was like an iron clamp. Moreover, his heart actually wanted to see them. Although his face was still a little awkward, his actions had already begun to comply.

They passed through the clan compound and reached the edge of the forest behind it. One grave mound after another formed a unique landscape. Some had stone tablets with names inscribed, while others had nothing, just a lone small mound.

These mounds were quite large and formed a continuous area.

Nara Luyu produced a cluster of white chrysanthemums from somewhere and placed them in Sasuke Uchiha's hand. She led him to the two largest mounds and showed him the names on the stone tablets.

Fugaku Uchiha.

Mikoto Uchiha.

The former Clan Head and his wife, and also Sasuke Uchiha's parents.

"I'll stay over there. Say whatever you want to say, cry if you want to cry," Nara Luyu pointed to a dirt mound in the distance, where a few blooming chrysanthemums were placed. She quietly walked over.

When she returned, Sasuke Uchiha's eyes were red, and his voice was trembling. He had clearly been crying. He forced himself to look strong and pointed to the place where Luyu had been standing alone.

"Who is that?" Sasuke asked.

"My former teammate," Nara Luyu's tone was very calm, even a little cheerful, unlike Sasuke's demeanor.

"His name is Uchiha Jie. Perhaps you know him."

"Brother Jie?" Sasuke's eyes widened. He realized he actually knew him. If it was someone Brother Jie knew, he then looked at Nara Luyu.

"Are you the problematic girl from the Nara clan that Brother Jie mentioned?"

"What are you talking about? He calls me that at home?" Now it was Nara Luyu's turn to be dumbfounded. She grabbed Sasuke's arm and asked loudly.

"Uh, y-yes, that's right." Sasuke shrank his head and nodded cautiously.

"This is infuriating!" Luyu stomped her foot. She worked diligently and without complaint in Konohagakure, while the person who faked his death was living it up outside Konohagakure with a girl from the Hyuga clan.

Even so, he had spoken ill of her at home before.

But in front of Sasuke Uchiha, she couldn't show it.

"You must remember, I am not some problematic girl. If anything, he's the problematic boy," she said solemnly to Sasuke Uchiha, then glanced at the sun in the sky.

"Hmm, it's still so early. Is there anything you want to do?" she asked.

"Train..." Sasuke thought of the pile of earth he had just seen. "I'm going to kill that man," he said through gritted teeth.

Then he looked up again at Nara Luyu. "I will also avenge Brother Jie."

Seeing Sasuke trying to act mature, Nara Luyu reached out and ruffled his hair.

"It's good to have that thought, but you still need to take it one step at a time. You're still a child, don't be shouting about fighting and killing all the time."

"But... I'm the only one left in the clan." Sasuke Uchiha brushed her hand away, a hint of a sob mixed with his strong voice.

"Then you should be even more grounded. Of course, you need to train diligently, but don't be like an ascetic, chaining yourself to revenge."

"You said yourself that you're the only one left in the clan. Even if there's pressure, it should be the pressure to rebuild the clan. The Uchiha clan used to have hundreds of people. It will be much more tiring to revive it than to kill someone."

"I remember the girls in your class seem to like you quite a bit. You should put in some effort."

Luyu sized up Sasuke, making his face turn red.

"Alright, alright, I won't tease you anymore."

They returned to the Uchiha clan compound again. Luyu led Sasuke, took out a key, and opened the door to one of the houses.

"Since you want to train and seek revenge, I'll give you something," she said.

"But, isn't this an Uchiha clan house?" Sasuke asked doubtfully.

Some members of the Uchiha Clan left behind wills, and their inheritances would naturally be passed on.

Stepping inside, Sasuke Uchiha looked at the familiar decorations and nodded, "Mhm, this is indeed Jie's house."

Having Sasuke sit on a stone bench in the small courtyard, Shikaru Nara walked into the house. Soon, she returned with a scroll.

"Jie's inheritance isn't just this house," Shikaru Nara said, handing the scroll to Sasuke. "This is what he left me, a scroll about cultivating Yin Release."

Sasuke took the scroll but didn't open it immediately. He asked, "Yin Release? What's that?"

"It's a ninjutsu that's different from the Five Elemental Ninjutsu, a ninjutsu belonging to those with a Kekkei Genkai."

Shikaru Nara pointed to herself, "Like my shadow, for example."

She then extended two fingers and tapped Sasuke's forehead, "And, the Sharingan."