New Students Enroll

One year later, at Konoha Ninja Academy.

"Wherever the leaves dance, fire will burn. The fire's shadow will illuminate the village and make new leaves sprout..."

Onstage, Namikaze Minato seemed to have found his rhythm, his speech filled with the Third's rhetoric.

Below the stage, Yun rubbed his eyes. Izumi had been so excited about the start of school yesterday that she had kept making a fuss, and he had gone to bed rather late.

Come to think of it, Yun looked toward the crowd behind him.

With her red hair, Kushina Uzumaki held Naruto, who was nearly a year old. The eyes of both mother and son, fixed on Namikaze Minato atop the stage, shone brightly.

On the other side, Mikoto Uchiha, the widow of the late Uchiha clan head, held one-year-old Sasuke as she watched the aloof child in the field, Itachi Uchiha, with faint concern.

"Whew..."

Yun let out a sigh. Itachi, who should have awakened his Two Tomoe at the age of eight after watching his teammate be killed by Obito, had now done so at just over five.

Over the past year or so, that seemingly mentally unstable kid still appeared to have fallen into a whirlpool of life and death, often muttering philosophical questions to himself.

Sigh...

Just one change brought about by Obito had caused such enormous differences. Who knew what Naruto and Sasuke would grow into?

Sora, his Clone, still had not obtained Obito's medium. Without Kakashi's Kamui to assist him, Obito had learned his lesson and would not be easy to deal with.

And with his current six-year-old body, Chakra capacity was always a weakness. He could not use Flying Thunder God many times. This showed that having red hair did not necessarily mean someone belonged to the Uzumaki Clan.

And where exactly was that cave where Madara Uchiha had died? In a few years, he would have to pry some information out of Kakashi. That cave definitely was not far from where Rin died. He needed to find an opportunity...

The entrance speech finally ended amid the drowsiness of all the new students. Yun left the field with Izumi. Classes would officially begin tomorrow, but he still did not know the Shadow Clone Technique.

What a headache!

He remembered that Itachi had used the Shadow Clone Technique in his first year. Had Shisui taught him, or had Fugaku taught him before he died?

Should he ask Shisui for help?

"Brother, Mother asked us to bring back some Three-Color Dango at noon."

"I remember. We'll go to the dango shop first, then head home for lunch."

Yun nodded and took Izumi's small hand as they headed toward the dango shop.

Yun did not actually like sweets like this, but Izumi did, so their mother had her buy some from time to time.

Over the past year, the family's financial situation had improved quite a bit. After all, Sora, the Clone he controlled, had already died three times outside the village. The underground Black Market paid well, and he had done plenty of robbing the rich to help himself.

"Bastards! Today's pork loin portion was clearly smaller!"

"And the liquor too! It doesn't have any flavor at all! Was I wrong?"

Smack!

The man who had just been shouting was slammed to the ground. Three people twisted his arms behind his back, bound him, and yanked him upright.

"Did you just call us bastards?"

"Is Uchiha something a civilian like you can insult? You drunken fool, getting drunk in broad daylight!"

"Once you get to the Military Police Force, we'll make you regret it!"

The commotion drew Yun's gaze over. Three people with the Uchiha Gunbai crest on their backs had a drunkard restrained behind them.

They were members of the Military Police Force. The drunkard they had seized was clearly already wasted, his face flushed red and his speech slurred. It was obvious he had been lying about the liquor having no flavor.

As the three Uchiha from the Military Police Force took the drunkard away, the civilians in the nearby shops began to whisper among themselves.

"He was only a drunkard. Isn't taking him away to be locked up a bit excessive?"

"Who doesn't know about the Military Police Force? If you go in there without money, you won't be getting out."

"That man is pretty pitiful too. His son had only just managed to become a ninja, but he died outside the village during a mission not long ago. I heard even the Chunin leading the team didn't make it back. Apparently, something went wrong with the mission."

"Shh! Stop talking. There are still Uchiha over there. Do you want to end up in the Military Police Force too?"

"Whew..."

A helpless sigh sounded beside him. Yun turned his head and glanced over. "Shisui, did you just return from a mission?"

Shisui nodded slightly. "The conflicts have already piled up too deeply."

Then he looked at Yun and Izumi and smiled. "If you're free this afternoon, come to Training Ground Four. Itachi will be there too. Since you're officially enrolling, I've prepared gifts for you."

The moment Izumi heard that Itachi would be there, she nodded repeatedly. "I want to go too! Shisui, did you prepare a gift for me?"

Shisui smiled and nodded. "As for your gift, let Yun bring it back for you. You're still too young."

Izumi instantly puffed out her cheeks. "Brother is only a tiny bit older than me! What do you mean I'm too young? And besides..."

Smack!

Before she could finish, Yun lightly patted her little head and gathered her shoulder-length hair into a ponytail. "Be good. School starts tomorrow, so you need to get there early."

With that one sentence, Izumi immediately fell silent and obediently held Yun's hand.

After saying goodbye to Shisui, Yun took Izumi home.

In the nearly year since Fugaku's death, the Uchiha had not selected a new clan head. The Hawk Faction and Dove Faction argued at every clan meeting, nearly beating each other senseless.

As the Uchiha's greatest genius, Shisui naturally had a greater voice in the clan meetings, but compared to those two old fossils, he still fell short.

After all, age was a hard limitation.

Fugaku's death had introduced uncertainty into the future Yun had hoped for within Infinite Tsukuyomi. But if Shisui could successfully rise to power...

That old bastard Danzo had also become an uncertainty. With both the Fourth and the Third alive, he had become a turtle hiding in its shell. It was not so easy to chop off his head anymore.

The time was drawing near. If everything went smoothly this time, then after speed, he would have blue and strength as well.

"Brother, why don't you like Itachi?"

Izumi's voice sounded beside him.

Yun looked at her and responded, "Modest, kind, gentle, and also Uchiha's new genius. There should be plenty of girls who like someone like him, right?"

"But for those very same reasons, some things become insignificant in Itachi's mind. He thinks about lofty questions every day—life and death, the meaning of ninja, the meaning of the village."

"He places his thoughts high above everything else, yet cannot see the essence of things. That is a common failing among the ninja of this world."

"Izumi, someone who appears modest but places his own thoughts so high is not suitable for you. Following the crowd and liking him is only the confusion of adolescence. Come to think of it, adolescence starts really early in this world..."

Izumi stared blankly, completely confused. Though she did not understand, she still felt that what her brother said sounded incredibly profound.

Just nodding was enough!

School would start tomorrow. Starting school together with Itachi—she was really looking forward to it.

Yun looked at Izumi beside him, then sighed and said nothing more.

That lunatic was actually pretty good when he was not having an episode. Should he find an opportunity to kill him before he awakened the Mangekyou?

Wouldn't that make him a sister complex?

Reining in his scattered thoughts, Yun looked into the distance. In one more month, the Information Exchange would open for the second time.