Sasuke Grasps the Art of Playing It Cool

A campfire crackled to life beside the river.

Hyuga Kiyonari cleaned the three remaining rabbits, skewered them on sharpened branches, and set them over the flames to roast, turning them slowly.

"Sizzle... sizzle..."

Fat seeped from the rabbit meat and dripped onto the burning wood, filling the air with enticing sounds and a savory, smoky aroma.

Kiyonari handed one golden, glistening rabbit to Itachi Uchiha and another to Sasuke Uchiha. "It's not as good as the Akimichi Clan's cooking, but I think it's decent."

Sasuke had been hungry for a while, but he'd held back from showing it out of pride.

They'd been tracking the boar for almost a whole day. Of course, the main reason it had taken so long was that Sasuke wanted to show off his tracking skills in front of his older brother. He'd dragged Itachi out of bed early that morning and set off with nothing but a few rice balls.

With food to bring them together, the atmosphere gradually warmed.

After polishing off a rabbit leg, Sasuke finally opened up. "Which is stronger, the Gentle Fist of your Hyuga Clan or our Uchiha Fire Style?"

Faced with the challenge, Kiyonari only smiled. "That's hard to say. I haven't started training in the Gentle Fist Technique yet. I've only heard about the Uchiha's famous Fire Style; I've never seen it for myself."

Sasuke wasn't disappointed by the lack of an answer. Instead, Kiyonari's reply made him feel a little more like showing off.

"But I've already mastered the Great Fireball Technique."

"Really? Sasuke, that's amazing! To master a ninjutsu of that level at my age—you really are a genius of the Uchiha!"

The unreserved praise brought a proud flush to Sasuke's cheeks, and satisfaction welled up inside him. A little embarrassed, he lowered his head and took a big bite of the rabbit in his hand to hide it.

The Uchiha and Hyuga, both dōjutsu clans, had never seen eye to eye.

As far as Sasuke was concerned, earning praise from someone of the Hyuga Clan—especially in front of his older brother—was as good as hearing the Hyuga kid admit that he was better.

That's right. Whether it's dōjutsu or ninjutsu, the Uchiha are the strongest!

Hyuga Kiyonari had seen every expression and movement Sasuke made. He couldn't help laughing to himself. Child psychology really came in handy.

Across from them, Itachi had been silent as he watched his little brother try so hard to act mature while failing to hide his smug delight. He couldn't help smiling.

It was hard for those involved to see things clearly, but easy for an outsider. Itachi could naturally tell what Kiyonari was doing.

Still... Even if it was only polite flattery, given who the two of them were, it was no small thing to put aside the rivalry between their clans and speak that way.

No wonder Lord Hokage had taken an interest in the boy.

After their simple meal of roasted meat, the three of them felt much less like strangers.

Itachi Uchiha drew the Ninja Blade from behind his back, revealing his crimson Sharingan. He drove the blade into the boar's carcass, then cut precisely along the lines of its muscles and the joints of its bones. Thick hide, tough sinew, and large chunks of meat came away cleanly.

His movements flowed without a single wasted motion, and he barely had to exert himself.

Next, Itachi cut off an entire hind leg and set it aside. Then he took a blank scroll from his ninja tool pouch and spread it on the ground.

He swiftly formed a series of hand seals and slapped the scroll.

"Bang!"

A cloud of white smoke rose into the air. When it cleared, the mountain of pork that had been piled on the ground had vanished, and the character "meat" had appeared on the surface of the scroll in Itachi's hand.

It was a storage scroll made with a Sealing Technique. Ninjas usually used them to store ninja tools, but if you had the money, you could store whatever you wanted.

Itachi tied a rope around the remaining hind leg, then handed the scroll to Kiyonari. "Here, take it."

Kiyonari accepted it without hesitation. "Will one leg be enough for you two?"

Sasuke stood nearby with his hands in his pockets. "We have plenty of food at home."

"Must be nice, being from a wealthy family."

After putting out the campfire, the three of them headed back to Konoha together. Sasuke was still basking in Kiyonari's praise, and even his steps felt lighter.

As they passed the village gate, they came across two people they never expected to see there. The people around them instinctively moved aside, as if their bearing alone made it clear that they were someone important.

One was a tall, blonde woman with an astonishingly generous bust. Following behind her was a dark-haired girl carrying a small pig. The woman's eyes always seemed heavy with fatigue, but when she saw the three approaching, one eyebrow lifted slightly, and her expression turned a little more attentive.

Two Uchiha brats, and a Hyuga... Who would've thought kids from those two clans could end up together?

Because of the Drift Bottle, Tsunade found herself paying a little more attention to the three of them. Then she passed them without stopping.

After walking a little farther, the three went their separate ways.

Watching Kiyonari's back disappear from view, Sasuke finally couldn't hold back his question. "You seem to pay him an awful lot of attention, brother. Why?"

Itachi led Sasuke onward, toward home. "I looked at his quiver and the equipment he was carrying. They were all worn out. He also came to the Forest of Death alone. That's enough to show he's short on money and had to risk going into the Forest of Death to hunt."

"Sasuke, you might not have noticed, but my Sharingan doesn't lie. The arrow that pierced the boar's left eye at the end and made it show an opening—that was his."

Sasuke stopped so abruptly that his whole body stiffened. "He... shot it? How is that possible?"

His cheeks instantly burned, hot and red. He thought of how proudly he'd bragged earlier, while Kiyonari had kept quiet about his own contribution the whole time—and had even praised Sasuke instead...

An indescribable sense of shame washed over him.

Itachi stopped and looked back at his little brother. "He's probably about your age. You might even end up classmates at the Ninja Academy. Sasuke, make an effort to make friends when you start school."

"Tch."

Sasuke tried to play it cool as he hurried to catch up with his brother. "I'm not going to make friends with just anybody. At least... at least they have to be like Kiyonari, someone who's better than me at something."

And that feeling... of acting smug in front of someone, only to realize how impressive they were after they'd gone, once his brother pointed it out, was the worst.

From now on—next time—he'd never let himself get smug over some little thing again. At the very least, he'd be more like Kiyonari!