A few years go by in a blink of an eye.
Kumogakure's cliff training ground was very windy.
Seven-year-old Itachi Uchiha stood in front of three juxtaposed wooden stakes, holding six Shuriken in his hand. His knuckles were slightly white from excessive exertion.
His eyes were fixed on the target thirty meters ahead.
It is not an ordinary round target, but a moving target specially made by Shisui. Each bullseye is carved with a very small hole, and only the tip of Shuriken can just pass through it.
"You are distracted." Shisui's voice came from behind, unhurriedly.
Itachi didn't look back. He took a deep breath, turned his wrist, and took off six Shuriken at the same time.
They drew Six Paths silver trajectories with different arcs in the air, intersecting but not colliding with each other, like six flying birds being pulled by the same tether.
Tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk.
Six crisp sounds exploded almost simultaneously.
Three hit the bull's-eye hole, two missed, and one missed by half an inch.
"It's okay."
Shisui walked to him, crossed his arms and examined the impact point on the target, "But you hesitated for a second when you shot the third bullet with your right hand. You were thinking about other things."
Itachi was silent for a moment, then admitted in a low voice. "I was thinking about Konoha."
Shisui didn't answer immediately. He walked to the target, pulled out the Shuriken that was half an inch off, and rubbed the blade with his fingers.
This is the blade that he Teuchi sharpened himself. It is as thin as a piece of ice, with a cold light on the edge. He threw Shuriken back to Itachi and said.
"One more group. Don't think about Konoha this time."
Itachi caught Shuriken, but did not take action immediately.
He raised his head and looked at Shisui, the senior Uchiha who was less than ten years older than him, his brother, his teacher, and the person he was closest to in the world.
Shisui's hair was blown by the mountain wind, and Uchiha Clan Crest behind her was coated with a layer of gold by the morning light.
In Itachi's memory, he was brought up by this person since he was a child. Changing diapers, feeding him, teaching him to walk, teaching him Hand Seals, and teaching him Shurikenjutsu.
In Kumogakure's Uchiha Compound, everyone is nice to Itachi, but only Shisui is different. Shisui is his family.
"Brother Shisui," Itachi suddenly said, "Do you hate Fugaku?"
Shisui paused for a moment.
He turned around, leaned on a wooden stake, looked up at the clouds above Kumogakure that were torn into pieces by the mountain wind, and thought for a while before answering.
"I can't say I hate him. But I am very disappointed in him."
"Why?"
"Because he didn't make the right choice."
Shisui said calmly.
"Brother gave him a chance. Uchiha Clan was excluded, monitored, and treated as an unstable factor in Konoha for decades. Every Uchiha clan member knows this."
"But Fugaku, as the leader of the tribe, was not thinking about how to lead the tribe out, but how to get an extra bowl of soup in that pot. He thought that loyalty could be exchanged for respect, but what happened?"
"When Konoha High Command decided to betray Uchiha, he didn't even have room to resist. If my brother hadn't taken action, more than thirty clan members would have died at the hands of Hanzo."
Shisui turned to look at Itachi, his eyes gentle but unavoidable.
"Your father is not a bad person. But he made the wrong choice and stood on the wrong team at the most critical moment. This is all I have to say about him."
Itachi lowered his head and looked at the Shuriken in his hand.
The blade reflected his own eyes.
Not Sharingan, just a pair of ordinary black pupils.
He hasn't opened his eyes yet, but he's not in a hurry.
Shisui said, Sharingan is not something you pursue, but when you have strong enough emotions and awareness, it will naturally respond to you.
"I hate him."
Weasel said.
Shisui didn't speak, just listened quietly.
"He clearly had the opportunity to take all the clan members away from Konoha, but he chose to stay. He stayed, but sent me and Sasuke away - he is not worthy of being a father, nor is he worthy of being a clan leader."
Itachi's hand clenched Shuriken, and the sword blade cut his index finger. A stream of blood slid down the silver blade and dripped into the soil under his feet.
"I want to be a ninja from Kumogakure."
He raised his head, and there was something burning in his black pupils.
"I want to be the sharpest sword under Lord Shaoyu. One day, I will catch Uchiha Fugaku with my own hands, bring him back, let him kneel in front of Lord Shaoyu, and let him see with his own eyes what life is like for the people he gave up back then."
Shisui looked at him and said nothing for a long time. The mountain wind whistled between them, bringing the sound of the waterfall in the distance and rumbling into the deep pool.
Then Shisui laughed.
He reached out and ruffled Itachi's hair.
"The ambition is not small. But to catch Uchiha Fugaku, your current strength is far from enough. No matter how bad he is, he was once the owner of Mangekyō Sharingan. You only need six Shuriken to catch him?"
Itachi pursed his lips and turned to the target again. "Then I will continue to practice."
"Wait a minute."
Shisui held down his shoulders, lifted his index finger that had just been cut by Shuriken and looked at it.
The wound wasn't deep, but it was still bleeding.
Shisui reached out and took out a roll of bandages from the ninja bag on his waist, squatted down and wrapped it around Itachi's index finger several times.
He is very skilled in his movements, and he has treated Itachi countless sprains, scrapes and Shuriken cuts over the past few years.
"The core of Shurikenjutsu is not the strength of the fingers, but the rotation of the wrist. The reason why you cut your hand just now is because you diverted your attention to the target at the moment of taking action and forgot about the sword in your hand."
Shisui Tie the bandage and stand up.
"Remember, Shuriken is a part of your body. You don't need to see it completely, you just need to feel it. When you can hit the bullseye with one eye closed, this set of training will be considered passed."
"Closing one eye?" Itachi frowned, "But I don't have Sharingan--"
"It has nothing to do with Sharingan."
Shisui interrupted him and pointed to his eyes.
"Do you think my brother's strength relies on his eyes? Does it rely on the superposition of spells? When he used Taijutsu to crush Uchiha Madara, he was not using Six Eyes, not Ten Shadows Technique, nor Blood Manipulation, but his own body."
"Eyes are just tools, spells are just weapons. What really supports all of this is your control over every ounce of power. Now."
He took two steps back to get out of the way, "Close your eyes."
Itachi closed his eyes.
The wind blew from the left, and the sound of the waterfall in my ears came from directly in front and to the right.
He felt the weight of Shuriken - six pieces, the thickness, length and center of gravity of each piece. Shisui had taught him countless times, and he no longer needed to use his eyes to confirm.
Flip your wrist. Six Shuriken fly out at the same time.
His eyes were still closed, but he heard six crisp sounds - no, no, it was five crisp sounds and one muffled sound.
He opened his eyes. Five of them passed through the bull's-eye hole, and one was nailed to the edge of the target circle, less than one centimeter away from the bull's-eye.