Darkness fell over the Uchiha

At Obito's house.

Yan had just set Obito down and was about to tuck him in.

Looking at Obito's clothes, he thought for a moment, then fought back his disgust and stripped him naked...

He changed him into pajamas.

"Damn you, I'm going to kill you!"

Obito suddenly shouted and opened his eyes, reaching out to strangle Yan.

Yan instinctively grabbed Obito's wrists with both hands, forcing them apart and pinning them down.

He pressed his whole body on top of Obito.

"Huh? Yan? Weren't you..."

As he slowly came to his senses, Obito stared in bewilderment at Yan, who had apparently come back from the dead.

"Just now, I..."

"Obito, what's gotten into you this early in the morning?"

Yan quickly cut off Obito's recollection to keep him from realizing that what had just happened was Genjutsu.

"I waited ages for you at the training ground, but you never showed up. When I came to your house, you were still in bed."

Yan released Obito and rubbed his nose guiltily.

"So I thought I'd sneak in and wake you up, but you suddenly sat up and tried to strangle me."

"Really? Then I never even left the house? Was that all a dream?"

Obito ruffled his hair and looked down at his pajamas.

"Thank goodness. It was a dream."

Obito breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly caught a whiff of something.

His expression froze as he noticed Yan looking at him in disgust.

"Obito, did you wet the bed?"

The boy's flushed face said more than any explanation could.

Outside, Lianping wished he could poke out his own Sharingan. To think the clan leader's brother-in-law had that kind of fetish.

Lianping pushed off with his feet and quickly left.

If he stayed any longer, his Sharingan wouldn't be able to take it.

The Uchiha's future looked bleak.

Unaware that his reputation was about to get even worse, Yan waited outside the door for Obito to finish changing his pants.

"Yan, didn't you say you'd tell me how to beat Kakashi?"

Coming out in fresh pants, Obito hurriedly got to the point, terrified that Yan would bring up what had just happened again.

Looking at Obito, Yan decided he still needed to fool him a little longer. He couldn't let him discover that he had awakened his Sharingan just yet.

For one thing, Obito didn't have enough chakra yet. For another, Konoha had far too many snoops.

The Third's Crystal Ball, Danzo's spies, and Madara's White Zetsu.

It would be bad if Danzo tricked Obito into joining him, or if Madara made his move ahead of schedule.

"Yan, you weren't just tricking me into skipping school, were you?"

Obito looked unhappily at the silent Yan.

"Ahem, of course not. Come on, follow me somewhere first."

Yan led Obito to an old house.

The walls bore the marks of time. It looked like nothing more than an old house built when Konoha was founded.

In fact, this was an important building of the Uchiha Clan, housing the clan's book collection.

Yan casually pushed open the door and walked in.

"Old man Yashiro, I came to see you!"

"Hmph! What, you little brat? Aren't you here to cut off my pension?"

An old man emerged from the shadows, grumbling and cursing.

Ignoring Obito behind Yan, Uchiha Yashiro stared at the boy who had threatened to cut off his pension last time.

"Looks like that girl Mikoto didn't beat you hard enough last time, if you're still coming here to cause trouble."

"All I did last time was try to sneak in for a look and slip you a little laxative. Do you really have to hold a grudge this long?"

Obito stared in shock at Yan, who seemed like a devil incarnate, and thought:

How has this guy managed to stay alive this long without getting beaten to death?

"Hmph! After Mikoto took you away, I spent an entire day squatting in the outhouse. I almost didn't make it out!"

"That just proves these peaceful times have dulled your vigilance."

Yashiro recalled how the three-year-old Yan had toddled over and said in his childish little voice:

"Grandpa, can I go inside and have a look?"

"No, you can't. Come back when you're older."

"Oh. Then, Grandpa, let me treat you to some tea."

Who could have imagined that a three-year-old would put laxatives in it!

Fortunately, besides old Yashiro, there were two hidden sentries guarding this place. Otherwise, the boy really would have sneaked in.

Seeing Yashiro's gaze grow increasingly hostile, Obito hurriedly tugged on Yan's sleeve.

Stop talking! Keep going and this old man's going to pull out a Kunai!

Yan laughed awkwardly and quickly got to the point:

"Old man, I want to go inside and have a look."

"No!"

The two guards in hiding watched the clan leader's brother-in-law. One was ready to intervene at any moment, while the other was preparing to notify Mikoto to come collect him.

"Why don't you take another look?"

"Look at what? No matter how much I look, I won't..."

Yashiro stared blankly at Yan. From an angle only he could see, Yan revealed...

His Two-Tomoe Sharingan.

Trembling, Yashiro pinched his own aged waist.

He hissed in pain.

This wasn't an illusion. That little brat, Uchiha Yan, was a genius who had awakened his Sharingan at five!

That was even earlier than Madara Uchiha!

The Uchiha shall rise!

"All right, go in. Be careful."

The guards stared wide-eyed at Yashiro's complete change in attitude.

Hold on, old man. Weren't you supposed to be incorruptible?

How could you bow to the clan leader's power!

Darkness had fallen over the Uchiha after all!

Yan walked in. Obito stepped forward to follow him, only for Yashiro's hand to stop him.

"You can't go in."

For some reason, a song lyric popped into Obito's mind:

I wandered into the imperial household~

Once Yan entered, row after row of shelves greeted him.

Most held scrolls, with a few paper books scattered among them.

The shelves were labeled by category:

Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, miscellaneous.

Yan knew exactly what he wanted. First came ninjutsu, and as expected, almost all of it was Fire Release.

Yan picked out a few Fire Release Ninjutsu scrolls, then headed toward the Taijutsu section.

"Uchiha Style Swordsmanship." This looked good. He took it.

"Specialized techniques against the Senju." He took that too.

There was no point biting off more than he could chew. Besides, he had to consider whether Obito could learn any of this.

Yan quit while he was ahead. As he passed the miscellaneous section, he spotted an ancient-looking book called the Strange Tales Collection.

He opened it and found mostly myths and supernatural tales from the shinobi world.

Yan took it as well. Myths often concealed information about real history.

Perhaps he could use it to piece together how ninshu had developed and then collapsed after the Sage of Six Paths died.

Even the most complete accounts in the Uchiha's earliest historical records only went back five hundred years. Most records from earlier times were fragmentary.

Yan had no way of knowing what had happened in the shinobi world during those more distant eras.

Aside from ancient texts lost through years of warfare, that creature Black Zetsu must have tampered with them too.

Yan left the book repository and waved the scrolls and book in his hands at Yashiro.

"I'm borrowing these."

Yashiro nodded. "Remember to return them."

Watching Yan leave with Obito, Yashiro saw the figure of someone from many years ago rise in his mind, and murmured:

"Setsuna, perhaps he'll be our turning point."

Once they reached the training ground, Yan asked Obito:

"Do you know why you can't beat Kakashi?"

"Because he's just a tiny bit stronger than me."

Yan looked helplessly at Obito, who was stubbornly trying to save face.

"In what way is he stronger?"

"Ninjutsu. Right, he knows more ninjutsu than I do!"

"But last time, Asuma beat you without using ninjutsu."

"..."

Obito rubbed his head awkwardly, and Yan continued:

"The problem isn't ninjutsu. At this stage, Kakashi doesn't have much more chakra than you."

"He can't use many jutsu at all, but every time he does, it makes a crucial difference."

"So there are two things you need to do now. First, improve your Taijutsu. Second, master the Great Fireball Technique."

"So..."

Yan slowly backed away and formed the Seal of Confrontation toward Obito.

"Let's spar, Obito. Show me where your limits are."