A Father and Son's Duel

To this day, Itachi still clearly remembered that day. His mother had been silent and subdued, while his brother had tightly held his little hand.

"Father! What kind of thinking would make you take a five-year-old child to the battlefield?" Hane's expression was remarkably calm—so calm that Itachi, sitting beside him, felt deeply uneasy.

He wanted to pull free from his brother's hand, but no matter what he did, he could not break loose.

"What do you know? This is the destiny of the Uchiha Clan!" Fugaku calmly glanced at Hane across from him.

"Heh. Only the weak go on about destiny. The strong decide their own fate rather than leave it to heaven. I will never let Itachi, so young, go to the battlefield.

"Itachi! Hide behind your brother. This unqualified father won't take you away from my side today!"

Itachi watched his brother turn to look at him. He did not understand why he had blankly stepped behind his brother at the time. Perhaps it was because flames seemed to burn in his brother's eyes—blazing hot and furious.

From childhood until now, it seemed to be the first time he had seen his calm and composed brother reveal such an angry gaze.

"Hmph! You never train properly, yet you dare call yourself strong? Those are merely the wild words of a child!" Fugaku's expression instantly turned stern.

As for this eldest son, he had been prepared to give up on him. Even now, Hane had not mastered the most basic Three Body Techniques required of a ninja. He was nowhere near comparable to Itachi.

Though he was somewhat disappointed, a small part of him was relieved that his eldest son could not become a ninja. After all, in these times, not becoming a ninja might also be a blessing.

"Father, then let's try it and see whether I'm speaking nonsense!"

Hearing Hane's resolute words, Itachi's small body trembled slightly. He was moved, but also worried. He knew his brother was not weak, but that was their father!

The current head of the Uchiha Clan—the strongest one.

"Brother, I'm willing..."

"Itachi! Are you sure you want me to be a failed big brother?"

The words Itachi had been about to say immediately died in his throat. He stared blankly at his brother, who stood firmly in front of him.

For the first time, beyond the pressure of expectations from his father, he felt the reassurance of being protected.

"Hane, are you sure?" A trace of astonishment and surprise flashed through Fugaku's eyes.

Mikoto, standing nearby, wanted to reach out and grab Fugaku's hand. But in the end, whether out of trust in him or her habitual respect for the head of the household,

her outstretched hand withdrew halfway. She could only look at Hane, who was protecting Itachi, with concern written across her face.

"There's nothing to fear. Itachi is my little brother. Isn't it only natural for an older brother to protect his younger brother? Even if a powerful enemy stands ahead and wants to hurt Itachi, they'll have to step over my body first!"

Itachi suddenly felt a wet drop trail down his cheek. It was salty, yet strangely reassuring.

"Then let's see what you're made of! Hane, anyone can talk big!"

After saying that, Fugaku turned without hesitation and headed for the training ground in the backyard.

Hane handed Itachi over to his mother, who had been watching him with concern, and gave her a reassuring look.

Mikoto opened her mouth, wanting to persuade her eldest son that there was no need to go this far.

But as she watched Hane turn away with determination, she swallowed her words once more.

At this point, anything she said would be superfluous. Since things had reached this stage, she could only trust her husband. After all, Hane was his son!

"Hane, show me your true strength, or take back those big words." As Fugaku spoke, a powerful aura erupted from his body.

Standing at the doorway with his mother, Itachi instantly felt as though he could barely breathe. His back involuntarily bent slightly. What kind of overwhelming pressure was Brother, who was facing Father directly, enduring right now?

Itachi stared blankly at his brother's figure, still standing tall and straight. Suddenly, he felt as though his brother had become even taller.

A pillar of flame shot up from Hane's body, illuminating the dark sky. Reflected on Itachi's face, it felt so warm, so scorching.

His brother, standing in the heart of the flames, looked like a fire spirit born from the blaze. Orange-yellow flames covered his entire body, coiling around him like a fire dragon.

Itachi's childish face froze at the sight. Is this Brother's strength?!

Fugaku's pupils contracted slightly. He could not believe that his eldest son, whom he had always underestimated, possessed such powerful Fire Release.

And these flames surrounded his eldest son without harming his body. What incredible control!

"Hane, it seems Father has underestimated you all this time. Haha! Let Father test your true strength!" Fugaku's expression shifted from silence to shock, then into incomparable excitement.

"So this is the strength Hane had been hiding!"

"Fire Release, Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive fireball burst from Fugaku's mouth. Its scorching heat instantly baked the surrounding earth dry.

Watching Fugaku form hand seals and breathe out flames, Hane's lips curved into a faint smile.

"Fire Release is truly such an inconvenient thing!"

"Fire Release!" Hane's figure vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he seemed to have merged into the enormous fireball. He passed through the blazing sphere in an instant and appeared in the air less than a meter from Fugaku.

"Fire Dragon Claw!" Hane formed his right hand into a claw and pressed it downward slightly. The surrounding flames seemed to receive some kind of command. The massive fireball was rapidly drawn away, taking the shape of Hane's palm and forming an enormous flaming claw that slammed down toward Fugaku.

"What?! A handseal-less Ninjutsu!"

A flash of disbelieving shock appeared in Fugaku's eyes, but there was no time for him to think further.

The giant claw burning with azure flames radiated such intense heat that it nearly ignited the hair and clothes around his body.

Three tomoe instantly appeared in Fugaku's eyes. "Body Flicker Technique!"

Boom! The giant claw struck the ground, leaving behind a huge scorched claw mark in the training ground. Wisps of azure flame rose from the cracked earth.

"Fire Release, Fire Dragon Technique!" Appearing behind Hane, Fugaku rapidly formed several hand seals in less than a second. A massive fire dragon circled through the sky before instantly lunging at Hane, who had not yet turned around.

However, Hane seemed not to react at all. He still stood blankly with his back to the fire dragon. Fugaku, who had become overly excited, was instantly seized by panic.

"Hane, get out of the way!" After roaring, Fugaku used Flash Step toward Hane, intending to block the lunging fire dragon with his own body.

But the distance was too close. Even at Fugaku's speed, he could only watch helplessly as the fire dragon bore down on Hane's back.

In that instant, all three people in the courtyard were tense to the extreme.

Yet the imagined explosion of the fire dragon never came. The moment it touched Hane, the flames maintaining its dragon form instantly scattered, turning into countless sparks that filled the air and lingered without dispersing.

As Hane moved his fingers, the sparks gathered rapidly into his palm like streams of water under his command, forming an enormous sphere.

At that moment, Hane resembled a god holding up the sun as he calmly looked at the anxious Fugaku.

At last, a gentle smile appeared on his usually silent face.

"Father, do you still want to continue?" Hane's voice was calm with a hint of lightness. Though his father was rigid and chauvinistic, he had to admit that Fugaku loved him.

Fugaku stared blankly at Hane, who held up the great fireball. For a moment, his emotions were complicated.

There was worry, excitement, and a trace of gratification.

"Hane, is this a new Kekkei Genkai...?" Fugaku asked uncertainly.

"Mm! I'm not really sure either. But if it's fire, it generally can't hurt me, right?" As he spoke, Hane manipulated the fireball in his hand, constantly changing its shape.

At one moment it transformed into a lifelike fire dragon; at the next, it became a flaming lotus, as if he were a divine envoy who controlled flames.

This sight made Fugaku once again believe that his eldest son had awakened another Kekkei Genkai besides the Sharingan.

But when he thought of what had happened today, Fugaku immediately suppressed his shock and regained his composure.

"Hmph! Don't think you're so great just because you awakened a Kekkei Genkai. A ninja's methods are not limited to Ninjutsu! Train hard from now on! If I hadn't used Fire Release today, with your taijutsu, who knows how worried you would have made your mother."

"Yes, yes!" Hane dispersed the flames in his hand. For the sake of his well-behaved little brother, he did not want to argue further with his rigid father, but there were still things that needed to be said.

"Then, about Itachi..."

"Hmph! This ends here!" With a wave of his hand, Fugaku left the training ground.

"Sharp tongue, soft heart," Hane muttered softly.

Fugaku paused at the doorway. With his back turned to Hane, an imperceptible smile appeared on his poker face.

Mikoto and Itachi happened to see it.

A gentle smile also appeared on Mikoto's face from the bottom of her heart.

And it was this scene that carved an image of his incomparably powerful brother into Itachi's young heart.