Itachi's Childhood Protection

The setting sun stretched Konoha's streets long, shadows crisscrossing over the bluestone slabs.

Itachi Uchiha carried Sasuke on his back, his steps neither hurried nor slow.

Though he was only eleven, the boy's shoulders were already broad enough, and the weight on his back felt as light as nothing to him.

"Nii-san! Nii-san!"

Sasuke lay on Itachi's back, his little hand restlessly pointing at a ninja tool shop by the road, his voice full of excitement. "That Fuma shuriken! Father said he'd buy it for me once I learned the Great Fireball Technique!"

"Mm. Sasuke will definitely learn it very soon."

Itachi tilted his head slightly, a gentle smile hanging at the corner of his mouth.

His hands supported the bends of Sasuke's knees, his movements cautious, as if he were carrying the entire world on his back.

In his previous life, these hands had been stained with the blood of his clan, and he had even killed his parents with them. And Sasuke, that child who had once only known to run after him shouting "big brother," had ultimately become an avenger filled with hatred.

That was the scar in Itachi's heart that would never heal.

But now, things were different.

Feeling the warm body temperature on his back, listening to Sasuke's chattering noise by his ear, Itachi's gaze became firmer than ever before.

"Sasuke, in this life, your world only needs light."

"All the darkness, your big brother will block it outside for you."

Suddenly, Itachi's steps paused almost imperceptibly.

As a genius who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, his perception far surpassed that of ordinary people.

Just now, a gaze filled with malice had clung to Sasuke like a slick, wet venomous snake.

That gaze had not come from an ordinary villager, but carried a certain professional scrutiny and greed.

Root.

Itachi did not look back. Even the rhythm of his breathing did not change.

He walked to the entrance of a three-color dango shop up ahead, gently crouched down, and set Sasuke down.

"Sasuke." Itachi crouched on the ground and straightened Sasuke's slightly crooked collar. "Go line up and buy dango first. Big brother suddenly remembered he left something at that bookstore just now. I'll go back and get it."

"Huh? But..." Sasuke looked at the long line, a little unwilling.

"Be good." Itachi extended a finger and lightly poked Sasuke's forehead. "Once you buy it, I'll let you eat two portions."

"Yay!"

Sasuke was instantly bought off. Covering his forehead, he happily trotted toward the end of the line.

Watching Sasuke's small back blend into the crowd, the gentle smile on Itachi's face vanished without a trace in an instant.

Replacing it was a deathly chill.

He stood up, turned, and walked toward a small alley to the side.

The instant he turned into the shadows, his hands formed seals at high speed.

Poof.

A faint puff of smoke scattered. His real body had already vanished onto the rooftops using the Body Flicker Technique, while the shadow clone left in place continued walking deeper into the alley as if nothing had happened.

Deep in the alley was a dead end.

The piled-up clutter gave off a moldy smell, and several stray cats were startled, jumping down from the trash cans and fleeing.

Itachi's shadow clone stopped, his back to the alley entrance.

"Come out."

The young man's voice was cool and clear, echoing through the empty alley.

There was no response.

Only the rustle of wind blowing over scrap paper.

"Looks like you won't shed tears until you see the coffin."

The shadow clone slowly turned around.

Just then, a black shadow dropped from the eaves above, the kunai in his hand stabbing straight toward the shadow clone's back.

Pfft.

The shadow clone dispersed into a cloud of white smoke.

The ambusher—a masked Root chunin—froze.

A clone? When?

Before he could react, a bone-piercing chill struck from behind.

"Are you looking for me?"

The Root chunin whipped his head around.

In his field of vision, he saw only a pair of slowly rotating scarlet eyes.

In those eyes, three tomoe had linked together into an eerie great windmill pattern.

"Damn it... it's the Mangekyo..."

That was the final thought in his mind.

The next second, the world turned bloodred.

The sky was dark red, and the ground was black.

The Root chunin found himself bound to a massive cross, unable to move.

And across from him, countless Itachi Uchiha figures held long blades in their hands, walking toward him expressionlessly.

"You should never have set your sights on him."

Itachi's voice echoed through this space, like a divine oracle of judgment.

"This is your punishment."

Squelch!

The first long blade pierced into his abdomen.

Then came the second, the third...

"Aaaaaaah—!!"

The screams continued in this spiritual world for a full seventy-two hours.

But in the real world, only a single second had passed.

In the alley.

The Root chunin's body stood rigid in place, his eyes rolling back, white foam spilling from his mouth. Then he toppled over stiffly like a block of wood.

His body had no external injuries, but his cerebral cortex had been completely destroyed by the massive mental shock.

Brain death.

Itachi stood beside the corpse, covering his right eye as he panted slightly.

Although it had only been an instant of Tsukuyomi, for this body that had yet to fully mature, it was still no small burden.

"Trash like this isn't worthy of dirtying Sasuke's path."

Itachi glanced coldly at the corpse on the ground.

He formed a seal with one hand.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique."

But he controlled the output of his chakra and did not spew out a massive fireball. Instead, an extremely condensed surge of high-temperature flame instantly swallowed the corpse on the ground.

A few seconds later, even the ashes had been scattered by the wind.

Itachi straightened his slightly wrinkled clothes, took a deep breath, and adjusted his expression.

When he walked out of the alley, that cold, ruthless asura of the dark night had disappeared.

Standing in the sunlight was still that gentle eldest son of the Uchiha family.

At the entrance of the dango shop.

Sasuke was standing on tiptoe, holding two skewers of three-color dango in his hands, anxiously looking around.

When he saw Itachi appear, his eyes instantly lit up.

"Nii-san! Over here!"

Sasuke waved his arms and nearly flung the dango away.

Itachi quickly walked over and took the skewer of dango Sasuke handed him.

"You bought it?"

"Mm! This was the last red bean-flavored skewer!" Sasuke wore an expression that begged for praise. "The lady boss saw I was cute and even gave me an extra mochi dumpling!"

"Sasuke is amazing."

Itachi opened his mouth and took a bite of the dango. The cloying sweetness melted on his tongue.

He reached out and rubbed Sasuke's hair, his gaze doting. "It tastes very good."

Sasuke happily narrowed his eyes, like a kitten being stroked the right way.

Just then.

A gentle, magnetic voice sounded behind them.

"You two really seem close, Uchiha brothers."

Itachi's hand holding the bamboo skewer paused slightly.

Even without turning around, that voice was incomparably familiar to him.

It belonged to Konoha's hero, a presence all ninja looked up to, and also a key figure who had to be won over in Xuan Shi's plan.

Itachi slowly turned around.

The afterglow of the setting sun spilled across the street, gilding the newcomer in a layer of gold.

He wore a white haori, with the five large characters for "Fourth Hokage" written on the back. He had dazzling blond hair, and his blue eyes held a smile as warm as sunlight.

Minato Namikaze.

He also held a half-eaten skewer of dango in one hand, while his other hand held Kushina Uzumaki's, whose belly was swollen with pregnancy.

Kushina was curiously sizing up the two Uchiha brothers, especially when she saw the adorable Sasuke. The motherly look overflowing in her eyes could hardly be hidden.

"If you don't mind, could we share a table?"

Minato pointed at an empty table nearby, his smile as bright as a big brother from next door, without the slightest air of a Hokage.

Itachi's pupils contracted slightly, then immediately returned to normal.

He bowed faintly, performing a standard junior's salute.

"Lord Fourth Hokage. It is our honor."

Itachi lifted his head, his gaze meeting Minato's.

In that instant, two men who both bore the name of protection, and both possessed peerless talent, completed an exchange of gazes that crossed time and space.

This was the "chance encounter" Xuan Shi had spoken of.

The script had already been opened, and all the actors were in place.

Next came how to pull this "Golden Flash" into the Uchiha camp.