Personality Correction (Physical) for His Nephew

"That was the person who took care of the Amegakure spy in the street some time ago. You ordered us to keep an eye on him."

Root promptly reminded him.

Oh, right. Now he remembered.

Danzo narrowed his eyes like a venomous snake.

As Hokage Assistant, he was Konoha's second-in-command. He reviewed most of the major and minor events in the village, so he had seen Uchiha Dan's name in the reports.

This man...

seemed to be a powerful figure who kept a low profile, but he was eccentric and unruly by nature.

Dan had successfully piqued Danzo's interest.

"Bring Itachi to see me." He pondered for a few seconds, then ordered the two Root members.

"Yes." The two immediately withdrew.

The Third Hokage and the rest of Konoha's high command had opposed Itachi's early graduation from the Ninja Academy, but Danzo had recognized his potential and insisted it be approved.

Later, Itachi's smooth entry into Anbu as a member of the Uchiha clan had also been thanks to Danzo's recommendation.

Of course, it hadn't been for free.

Danzo and Itachi had struck some kind of deal.

"Ryoma, you go after them too. When the time is right, bring that Uchiha Dan here as well." After a moment's thought, Danzo issued another order.

"Yes, Lord Danzo." Someone answered from the darkness.

"It's about time I went out for a walk and got some sun."

Danzo looked down at the bandages on his right arm. Though it still ached faintly after the surgery, it had also given him even greater power.

Leaning on his cane, he left the dark, chilly Root Base and returned to the sunlight.

Evening, at the Fitness Gym.

"Itachi, you're back again." Samui greeted Uchiha Itachi as he entered.

"Hello." As usual, Itachi bowed politely, then followed Samui's directions to the gym's backyard.

In the yard,

Dan was in an unusually leisurely mood, watering the flowers slowly with a watering can.

Looking at Dan's tall figure,

Itachi hesitated for a while, but finally spoke:

"Uncle, I've been troubling you these past few days. If you don't want to see me, I won't come again, but please... don't tell my father."

He knew his uncle had never liked him.

Even if it meant disobeying his father and failing to complete the Third Hokage's assignment to keep watch, he didn't want to keep shamelessly imposing on him.

After speaking, Itachi bowed to Dan's back and turned to leave.

"Why would you think that?"

Dan's voice suddenly rang out.

He stopped watering the flowers, turned to look at his nephew, and said calmly:

"I promised your brother-in-law I'd take good care of you. So starting today, you'll train and practice with me."

"...Yes."

Itachi looked startled, but after a moment's hesitation, he agreed. He really couldn't figure out what his uncle was thinking.

Dan went over to set down the watering can, then washed his hands.

He'd recently started to see his nephew Itachi in a new light.

Uchiha Itachi might well have been a cold-blooded psychopath by nature, but there was no denying that his upbringing had also had a major impact on his personality.

Just look at the people he'd been around since childhood.

Fugaku, a father who took his four-year-old son to war to kill people and completely failed to understand what his son was thinking.

Shisui, a single-minded idealist who staunchly upheld the Will of Fire—naive, obsessive, and stubbornly inflexible—yet somehow became Itachi's mentor.

Danzo, a calculating master of brainwashing who only wanted to use Itachi.

A boy raised by this bunch of geniuses in turn, forced to act as a double agent caught between his clan and the village, and burdened with unimaginable pressure.

Under those circumstances, it would have been hard not to go off the rails.

But for now,

there were still more than two years before Itachi committed the unforgivable crime of wiping out his clan. There might still be a chance to save him.

Dan hadn't wanted to get involved in Itachi's affairs before because his own "physical transformation" hadn't been complete, and he hadn't thought himself capable enough.

That was no longer the case.

After all, Uchiha Itachi was his sister Mikoto's son.

If Itachi really did kill his mother someday, then Dan would have no choice but to kill his nephew, even if Mikoto would be heartbroken by the loss of her son.

Mikoto was the only family Dan cared about. He didn't want to see his sister weeping day after day in the future.

So,

from now on, Dan planned to "correct Itachi's personality."

"Then let's get started. Show me how strong you are right now. Just so you know, I don't know the first thing about Ninjutsu, so I can only teach you Taijutsu and Genjutsu."

Dan got straight to the point and beckoned to Itachi, inviting his nephew to make the first move.

His uncle knew Genjutsu too?

Itachi was surprised. He'd always thought his uncle specialized purely in Taijutsu, and he'd never seen him use Genjutsu.

But on second thought, it made sense. After all, what Uchiha didn't know Genjutsu?

Then,

"Please instruct me."

Itachi bowed again. When he raised his head, his eyes had already turned crimson, each with three tomoe.

In an instant, uncle and nephew locked eyes.

Whoosh.

A burst of Pupil Power shot from Itachi's eyes. Without hesitation, he launched a surprise Genjutsu attack.

Hm?

Dan had let his guard down for a moment. His nephew vanished into thin air, turning into countless crows that swooped at him from every direction.

But the next second—

"Roar!"

A hearty shout burst from Dan's throat, cracking through the yard like a sudden clap of thunder. The sound formed a mental shock wave that swept outward.

"Caw! Caw!"

The crows all beat their wings and shrieked as they were shattered by the force. Itachi reappeared in Dan's vision, having already closed in on him.

Thud, thud, thud.

Their fists and feet clashed again and again, leaving streaks of afterimages as they exchanged dozens of blows in a short time.

Itachi lived up to his reputation as a genius. Even against Dan, who towered over him in both size and strength, he managed to hold his own and trade blows with his uncle.

His crimson eyes spun rapidly, using their powerful visual acuity to track Dan's every move and search for an opening.

But he soon realized... his uncle had openings all over!

He couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Itachi had no time to think. He seized his chance and struck repeatedly, landing blows on Dan's thigh, chest, back, and other areas.

Only then did he understand.

Dan didn't have too many openings. He simply relied on his tough hide and thick muscles, not bothering to defend himself.

Itachi's punches and kicks didn't even break through Dan's defense. Instead, it was as if they'd struck an iron wall, leaving Itachi in terrible pain.

The gap between their physical toughness was simply too great.

At that moment,

Dan sucked in his stomach, puffed out his chest, and blew a gust of air.

Whooosh!

In an instant, the breath became a raging gale. With a piercing howl, it swept up sand and stones and slammed into Itachi like a cannonball.

Fierce and vicious.

This wasn't Wind Release Ninjutsu. It was just air blown out using the power of a human's lungs.

Caught off guard, Itachi was blown backward into the air, losing his balance mid-flight.

But he didn't panic at all. His hands quickly formed the Tiger Hand Seal, and he exhaled.

Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique.

Whoosh!

A giant, scorching fireball fell from the sky, hurtling straight toward Dan's head.

Fire counters Wind.

Dan's breath had instead been used to strengthen the Great Fireball, making its flames burn even more fiercely.

Itachi truly lived up to his reputation as a genius. He had no weaknesses in Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, or Genjutsu.

Facing the Great Fireball,

Dan showed no intention of dodging. He charged straight at it and chopped down with the edge of his hand, splitting the giant fireball in two.

The Great Fireball was a Benevolent Technique.

It was difficult for it to threaten a powerful opponent. More often, it was used as a feint to mislead the enemy or distract them.

That was exactly what Itachi had done.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The moment Dan split the Great Fireball, a barrage of shuriken flew toward him.

Clang, clang.

They struck one another in midair, changing direction one after another, until they surrounded Dan from every angle, aimed at every part of his body.

"Impressive."

Dan praised him. This delicate Shuriken Manipulation Technique required not only years of hard training, but also a fair amount of knowledge of physics and mathematics.

It was a technique only a genius like Itachi, gifted in both intelligence and strength, could master.

Not like Dan.

The stronger his muscles grew, the less he felt like using his brain to solve problems. After all—

he could settle anything with his muscles.

Just like this fierce shuriken assault.

Dan stood perfectly still, simply tensing every muscle in his body. In an instant, his Golden Bell Shield Body activated, deflecting every last shuriken.

He frowned and asked Itachi:

"Why did you hold back instead of aiming for my eyes or crotch? Do you look down on me as your uncle?"

Although Dan's body was as tough as steel, weak spots like his eyes were still vulnerable to attack.

They were essentially the Golden Bell Shield's weak point.

"I..."

Itachi had barely started to speak when Dan took a single stride of seven or eight meters and threw a punch at his nephew.

Vmmm.

The punch looked plain and unremarkable, but it vibrated subtly at an extremely high frequency, giving it an elusive, almost unreal quality.

In Itachi's eyes,

everything in the world seemed to be rapidly receding from him until it vanished, leaving only a vast, blank whiteness—and

Dan's fist.

The fist grew larger and larger until it towered like a thousand-meter mountain, while Itachi shrank to the size of an ant, pinned in place beneath its crushing weight.

This was... a Genjutsu!

Itachi snapped back to his senses and fought with the Pupil Power of his Sharingan. At last, he broke free of the illusion and returned to reality.

By then, Dan's fist had already reached him.

Smack!

At the last moment, Dan turned his fist into an open palm and slapped Itachi across the face.

Itachi's vision went black. He felt as if he were flying through the clouds, until he crashed into a corridor pillar with a thud.

His head was ringing, his vision blurred. He couldn't tell north from south.

It took him quite a while to get back up.

"Itachi, are you... all right?"

Samui hurried over to check his injuries and saw that his mouth was full of blood. Several of his teeth had even been knocked out.

Half of his face was swollen.

A truly pitiful sight.

This was Uchiha Dan's "Personality Correction Palm."

Like Uzumaki Naruto, Dan wasn't good with words or lectures. He wasn't confident he could change Itachi's way of thinking on a mental level, so he could only do it on a physical level.

From today on,

Dan would officially take on the role of uncle and teach his nephew, setting Itachi back on the right path.

"Gym Director..."

Samui picked up Itachi's teeth and gave Dan a questioning look, asking if he'd hit him a little too hard.

"It's fine. He's at the age when he's losing his baby teeth. Those must've been milk teeth." Dan didn't think much of it.

Itachi: "..."

He wanted to say that the teeth his uncle had slapped out were the ones that had just grown in.

But he was in too much pain to speak, so he could only swallow his grievance.