Sparring at the Naka River

At three in the afternoon, the sound of the Naka River was especially clear.

Shuo Ye set his ninja tool pouch on a stone by the bank, took off his shoes, and stepped barefoot into the shallows. The water was cooler than he had expected. The May sun had not yet warmed the river.

He was practicing Fire Release.

Not because of today's Ninja Academy assignment—Iruka had assigned basic taijutsu training—but because he needed an excuse to come to the Naka River.

The Naka River ran alongside the Uchiha Clan compound. To Uchiha children, this river was their backyard.

Shuo Ye stood in the shallows and formed hand seals.

Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger.

Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu.

Chakra gathered in his throat, a searing sensation shooting from his chest to his mouth. The first time he had practiced this jutsu, he had nearly burned off his eyebrows. His father, Takuma, had stood beside him without much expression, but the corner of his eye had twitched slightly—that was the particular expression Uchiha Clan members wore when holding back laughter.

Now, he was already quite proficient.

"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu."

A fireball burst from his mouth, roughly one and a half meters in diameter and perfectly spherical. It landed in the mud on the opposite bank, scorching a blackened patch into the ground.

It was not big. With his amount of chakra, this was already the limit.

But it was round.

Very round. His chakra output barely fluctuated during the release, allowing the fireball to maintain its perfect shape until it struck the ground and dispersed.

That was the advantage of a transmigrator—his chakra control was far beyond what someone his age should possess. Not because of talent, but because he knew "how to do it correctly." In his previous life, he had watched countless videos breaking down the Fireball Jutsu's hand seals. Every detail had gone through his head hundreds of times.

Once his body finally caught up with his mind, everything fell naturally into place.

He drew back the fireball—not literally, but by stopping his output. The flow of chakra was cut off with precision at the final moment. The fireball went out in midair, leaving behind only a wisp of blue smoke.

"You alone?"

A voice came from behind him.

Shuo Ye turned around.

Sasuke stood on the bank, wearing the Uchiha Clan's dark blue short-sleeved shirt and holding a wooden kunai. His black hair glimmered faintly in the afternoon sunlight. His large eyes watched Shuo Ye, his expression somewhere between curiosity and indifference.

Seven-year-old Uchiha Sasuke.

At this point in time, he was still a child who acted spoiled in front of his mother, a little boy proud of his older brother Shisui, a normal seven-year-old Uchiha who had not yet been destroyed by the night of the clan massacre.

But Shuo Ye knew that all of it would change in two years.

"Yeah, alone," Shuo Ye said, pulling his feet from the water and putting on his straw sandals. "What about you?"

"Me too." Sasuke walked down the embankment and stopped two meters away from Shuo Ye. His gaze swept over the charred ground on the opposite bank and lingered for a second.

Then he tossed the wooden kunai in his hand to the ground and formed hand seals.

Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger.

The exact same seals Shuo Ye had used.

"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu."

A fireball burst from Sasuke's mouth.

It was larger than Shuo Ye's—about two meters in diameter. At seven, Sasuke already displayed the chakra reserves expected of the Uchiha main family, something Shuo Ye could not match.

But the fireball was not round enough. His chakra output fluctuated slightly twice during the release, causing the right side of the fireball to bulge and leaving its overall shape somewhat lopsided.

The fireball struck a stone on the opposite bank and scattered into a messy mass of flames, taking longer to die out than Shuo Ye's fireball.

Sasuke turned to look at Shuo Ye.

Shuo Ye understood that look—it was not a provocation, but the unspoken invitation shared between Uchiha children: your turn.

He formed the seals again.

Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger.

This time, he deliberately adjusted his chakra output to roughly the same level Sasuke had used. The fireball burst forth, two meters in diameter, just as large as Sasuke's.

But this time, it was round.

Perfectly round. His chakra output remained absolutely stable throughout the entire release. The fireball did not deform at all along its path, and when it struck the ground, it dispersed evenly.

Shuo Ye turned to look at Sasuke.

Sasuke's expression changed.

It was not jealousy—seven-year-old Sasuke had not yet learned jealousy. It was something more complicated, caught between unwillingness to concede and wanting to understand.

"How long have you been practicing?" Sasuke asked.

"Half a year," Shuo Ye said. It was the truth. He had begun practicing the Fireball Jutsu at six and a half, and it had indeed been half a year.

"Me too," Sasuke said.

Two seven-year-old Uchiha boys stood in the shallows of the Naka River, still carrying the damp chill of the river water, looking at each other.

Then Sasuke bent down and picked up the wooden kunai.

"Want to fight?"

The question was direct. No buildup, no polite invitation—just want to fight? That was how Uchiha children communicated: less talking, more fighting.

"Sure."

The spar lasted around twenty minutes.

Sasuke was faster than Shuo Ye. It was an innate difference in neural reaction speed, not something training could make up for. Every swing of his wooden kunai came with a sharp whistle through the air, his angles tricky as he targeted the upper body.

Shuo Ye's defense was steadier than Sasuke's. His footing remained unusually stable even while retreating—this was not talent either, but the physical memory of a Chinese college student from his previous life. He knew how the human body should distribute its center of gravity while moving, and the precise moment his waist and abdomen should exert force during a sidestep.

Once that knowledge took form in this body, its effects surpassed all expectations.

The two seven-year-old children fought with wooden kunai in the shallows of the Naka River for twenty minutes.

In the end, both of them lost their balance at the same time.

Sasuke put too much force into one thrust and pitched forward. Shuo Ye reached out to catch him, only to be thrown off balance by Sasuke's shoulder. The two of them fell into the shallows together.

The icy river water immediately flooded up to their waists.

"..."

"..."

Neither of them spoke.

Then Sasuke laughed first.

It was a brief sound, barely enough to count as a laugh. The corner of his mouth lifted for only an instant before returning to its usual detached expression. But if one looked closely, there really was a flicker of light in his eyes.

"Why do you usually pretend to be weak?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

He lay on his side in the shallows, river water soaking his black hair and plastering it to his face in strands. He looked at Shuo Ye with a serious expression.

Shuo Ye froze for a moment.

He knew that his "pretending to be weak" at the Ninja Academy could not really be hidden from many people. Still, hearing Sasuke say it to his face gave him a subtle feeling.

"Trouble," Shuo Ye said.

Just one word.

But he knew Sasuke would understand.

If he performed too well at the Ninja Academy, the teachers would notice him. If the teachers noticed him, they would assign him more tasks. More tasks meant more exposure. More exposure meant that, before that night arrived, there would be more and more things he could not bear.

Trouble.

Sasuke was silent for a while.

The river flowed past them, carrying the warmth of May and its silent current. In the distance, several crows landed on stones along the riverbank, tilting their heads as they watched the two drenched Uchiha boys.

"You can come train with me from now on."

After saying that, Sasuke stood up and wrung the river water from his sleeves.

Then he stepped across the stones in the shallows, climbed onto the bank, and walked away without looking back.

After taking a few steps, he stopped again.

"Don't pretend anymore. Not in front of me."

He said it loudly. The Naka River was quiet in the afternoon, and Sasuke's voice carried far across the water.

Shuo Ye sat in the shallows, watching Sasuke's back disappear beyond the embankment.

He lowered his head and found that his hands were trembling slightly.

Not from the cold.

Because of what Sasuke had just said.

"You can come train with me from now on."

This was the first time Sasuke had taken the initiative to extend an olive branch to someone his age in the clan. In the story from his previous life, before the clan massacre, Sasuke had hardly formed close bonds with any peers aside from his older brother Itachi and Shisui. He had been aloof and proud, a child who locked himself away in the loneliness that belonged only to geniuses.

But he had just said that to Shuo Ye.

Shuo Ye rolled up his pant legs and stepped barefoot onto the embankment.

The sun had already begun to sink westward. The Naka River reflected the sunset in orange-red, like a slowly flowing sea of fire.

Maybe this time—

Maybe this story would be a little different from the version he had seen in his previous life.