Uchiha Yuan covertly looked Uchiha Itachi up and down, then laughed heartily. "Don't mind it. It was my fault for coming here and interrupting your training."
The Uchiha Itachi before him was a soft, adorable little boy. His eyes were clear and innocent, and his childish face was full of humility and courtesy.
He had not yet been caught between the village and the clan, struggling in agony.
Uchiha Yuan found it difficult to connect this well-behaved, polite little boy with the lonely figure from his memories, so full of repression and sorrow.
Whose fault was that?
"Hello, I'm Uchiha Yuan."
"My name is Uchiha Itachi. I know you. You're Izumi's older brother."
"Itachi, I know you too. Izumi often mentions you to me. You're the eldest son of the clan head's family, so why are you practicing Shuriken here alone?"
Itachi pulled the Shuriken embedded in the tree trunk free and said softly, "It's quiet here. I like being alone in peace and quiet."
Uchiha Yuan stepped forward a few paces, glanced at the targets hanging from the surrounding trees, and said, "Itachi, I watched your practice just now."
"I never expected your Shuriken throwing skills to be so impressive. This is the first time I've seen someone throw Shuriken with such precision and imagination."
"You're only six years old now. In the future, you'll definitely become another genius of our Uchiha Clan."
At his words, a hint of shyness appeared on Uchiha Itachi's little face.
"You flatter me," he said. "I'm still not strong enough. My Shuriken skills are still far from good enough."
Then Uchiha Itachi looked over the targets around him and resumed practicing his Shuriken throws.
Uchiha Yuan stood at the edge of the clearing and watched silently as he repeatedly attempted to throw five Shuriken at once.
On his first two attempts, Uchiha Itachi still had two Shuriken miss their targets.
Then three Shuriken began to miss, and after several more attempts, all five Shuriken missed entirely.
Yet Uchiha Yuan's eyes gleamed as he nodded slightly in approval. As expected of Uchiha Itachi. He truly was a monstrous genius.
Although the Shuriken Uchiha Itachi threw kept missing, Uchiha Yuan could see that he was constantly adjusting the angles and force of his throws.
Sure enough, when Uchiha Itachi threw his Shuriken once more, he merely raised his hand and gave his wrist a slight flick.
The next second, five crisp impacts rang out.
All five Shuriken struck the centers of five targets with perfect accuracy.
Looking at the five Shuriken embedded in the bullseyes, a delighted, innocent smile appeared on Uchiha Itachi's little face.
Then his gaze shifted, and he noticed Uchiha Yuan turning to leave.
Watching Uchiha Yuan depart, Uchiha Itachi frowned slightly, a trace of confusion appearing in his eyes.
He keenly sensed that Uchiha Yuan seemed to be deliberately keeping his distance from him.
As he slowly walked along the forest path, Uchiha Yuan's gaze was distant and contemplative.
His feelings were somewhat complicated. By chance, he had encountered Uchiha Itachi and witnessed his astonishing talent beginning to reveal itself.
What terrifying talent. A fancy Shuriken technique like that, full of skill, would require at least hundreds of practice attempts to master.
Yet Itachi had grasped the throwing technique after only a dozen or so tries.
And that fluctuation of Chakra during his final throw... Itachi's control over Chakra had already reached an astonishingly minute level.
Uchiha Yuan pondered this. At the moment Uchiha Itachi threw his Shuriken, he had sensed that the Chakra Itachi infused into each one was completely identical.
This demonstrated his precise control over his own Chakra.
At that moment, the thought of drawing Uchiha Itachi to his side arose in Uchiha Yuan's heart more than once.
But reason quickly made him suppress those thoughts.
Uchiha Itachi's identity and the talent he was beginning to display would inevitably draw the attention of both the clan and the village.
Once he began associating with Itachi, he would inevitably expose himself to the eyes of the clan and village, something Uchiha Yuan had always tried his best to avoid.
Secondly, Uchiha Yuan had doubts about Itachi himself.
Uchiha Itachi was a genius with mature thoughts and independent ideas. Yet in the end, he had chosen to sacrifice the clan for the sake of so-called "greater good."
Uchiha Yuan feared that if he drew Itachi to his side, Itachi might very well betray him in the end.
When he returned home, his mother, Uchiha Rei, was preparing dinner, while his younger sister Izumi lay sprawled over the table, coloring on a sheet of white paper with oil pastels.
"Izumi, what are you drawing?"
Uchiha Yuan walked over to Izumi, reached out to rub his adorable little sister's head, and smiled fondly.
"Big brother, I'm drawing our family. This is Mom, this is big brother, and this is me."
Izumi looked up at Uchiha Yuan and said with a sweet smile.
"Our Izumi is so talented. You drew it very well." Uchiha Yuan looked at Izumi's drawing and praised her.
Then he looked over Izumi's other drawings. His gaze suddenly shifted slightly, and he reached out to pull one of them from the pile.
Seeing the drawing Uchiha Yuan had picked out, Izumi's face showed a trace of panic.
However, Uchiha Yuan merely looked at the picture calmly. It depicted Uchiha Itachi, wearing an incomparably gentle smile as he comforted the crying Sasuke in his arms.
"This drawing is very good."
Hearing Uchiha Yuan's words, Izumi asked in surprise, "Big brother, aren't you angry?"
"Why would I be angry?"
Izumi lightly bit her lip and said, "Because you don't like Itachi."
Although the siblings had long since reconciled, Izumi had always remembered that her older brother Uchiha Yuan did not like Uchiha Itachi.
Even though she did not understand why her brother disliked such a gentle Itachi.
Uchiha Yuan smiled faintly, reached out to rub Izumi's head, and said, "As long as Izumi is happy, that's enough. Actually, big brother doesn't dislike Itachi."
He simply could not agree with him.
Uchiha Yuan silently added those words in his heart.
After that, Uchiha Yuan never encountered Uchiha Itachi again. Every few days after school, he went to the Hatake Clan Land to guide Hatake Harukaze in his training.
In the blink of an eye, two months quietly passed.
In the clearing of the Hatake Clan Land, continuous "bang, bang, bang" sounds of impact rang out.
Two figures constantly crossed and flickered past each other, moving swiftly and changing direction.
Uchiha Yuan was conducting sparring training with Hatake Harukaze.
It was clear that Uchiha Yuan had remained on the defensive. His palms moved in dense, flowing patterns, like a great net spread open to effortlessly receive all of Hatake Harukaze's attacks.
After a moment, Uchiha Yuan suddenly said, "Harukaze, pay attention. I'm going to attack."
Hatake Harukaze's expression immediately changed, and he quickly drew his hands back into a defensive stance.
At the same time, Uchiha Yuan swung his palm like a blade and chopped toward Hatake Harukaze.
Hatake Harukaze only felt as though an afterimage flashed before his eyes. The next moment, he was sent flying by a powerful force.
When he climbed back up from the ground, he discovered that his clothes had been sliced open by the force of the palm, leaving a distinct tear from his left shoulder to his right abdomen.
"Yuan, your attacks are getting harder and harder to defend against. That strike just now was so fast that I couldn't see it at all."
Uchiha Yuan said, "It's thanks to the Hatake Sword Style you taught me. It gave me many insights and helped me remove unnecessary movements from some of my attack techniques, making them more concise and sharper."
"No wonder the clan holds the Hatake Sword Style in such high regard. It really is formidable."
"I can almost imagine how many people in the Ninja World had their faces pale with fear when this sword style was wielded by White Fang."
Before you continue