Hey! Late, but never absent...

Itachi arrived home well past midnight. Fugaku was waiting for him when he entered. "Did you meet that expert?"

"Yes..."

Itachi sat in the entryway and cleaned the mud from his soles with a shoe brush.

Over the swish, swish, swish, Fugaku asked, "What sort of person were they?"

Swish...

Itachi's hand stopped halfway through brushing. After a long moment of thought, he said, "A... fascinating person."

Swish, swish, swish. He resumed brushing his shoes.

"Fascinating...?"

Fugaku hadn't expected Itachi to use such an ambiguous, tantalizing word to describe them!

He pressed, "Is this fascinating person someone I know?"

Itachi said, "I can't say."

"..." Fugaku lowered his eyes and clenched his hand. He wanted to ask more, but held his tongue.

After finishing his shoes, Itachi said, "But there's at least one thing I'm certain of."

Fugaku looked up. "What is it??"

Itachi put his cleaned shoes on the rack and changed into slippers.

He stood with a smile on his lips. "The Uchiha can be saved."

Morning.

Yu woke up feeling something pressing down on his chest.

He reached out to touch it. Soft, warm, and sweet-smelling!

He opened his eyes and saw Hanabi sitting on him, glaring down with puffed cheeks!

They stared at each other, and Hanabi demanded, "Yu, you snuck out to have fun last night, didn't you!"

Yu asked, "How did you know?"

Hanabi said in her childish little voice, "I got up to pee, and you weren't there! I looked all over the house, but you were nowhere! I waited forever, and you still didn't come back, so, hmph! I stopped caring and went to sleep by myself!"

"How many times has this happened now? Tell me~~!"

Caught again... Just my luck.

Yu pinched Hanabi's little cheek. "Be good. Your big brother had something important to do. Ask Neji if you don't believe me~!"

"Hmph! I don't care! I'm mad o(´^｀)o! I'm telling Dad you weren't looking after me properly and went out fooling around with Neji!"

"Please don't, my little princess!"

"Hmph! I don't care! You figure it out (○｀ 3′○)!"

This was a textbook case of being spoiled rotten!

One treatment was a spanking, to nip Hanabi's bad habits in the bud!

The other was to keep spoiling her, but that would mean spoiling her worse and worse, then spoiling her still more-a vicious cycle!

Yu couldn't bear to spank her, so spoiling her was his only option.

Ah... I brought this little sister home myself. I'll have to spoil her even through my tears o(╥﹏╥)o!

Smack~!

Yu planted a kiss on Hanabi's little left cheek!

Hanabi said, "Hmph! You think that earns my forgiveness? What about the other side~!"

Smack~!

Left with no choice, Yu planted another kiss on her little right cheek.

Buy one, get one free, as they said!

Hanabi was finally satisfied. "All right, I'll forgive you this time. Next time, you won't get off so easily ✧(≖ ◡ ≖✿)."

He'd thought Hanabi was only saying that. Little did he know she really would use "that unique method" to make a complete fool of him!

Of course, that happened the next time Yu stayed out all night...

After getting up, Yu folded a paper pinwheel out of colored paper, mounted it on a straw, and fastened it to the back of Hanabi's clothes!

Then he folded one for himself and pinned it to the back of his collar.

On his way to school, the little pinwheel behind Yu's collar spun creakily in the wind, drawing looks from passersby!

"Look, it's that kid with horns on his head again..."

"It's winter already. Doesn't the back of his neck feel chilly when he walks?"

"So cool! Mom, I want a little pinwheel too!"

"No! People will think you're an idiot!"

Yu was perfectly happy. Hehe, what do you amateurs know? This little pinwheel is my 'chakra alarm'!

Yesterday morning, toward the end of his shuriken match with Sasuke, he'd almost lost control of his Fire Release. Though the Book of the Gods had saved the day by urgently delivering the Eight Gates Technique, the incident had exposed how his ever-growing chakra was becoming harder to control!

For years, he'd kept his chakra suppressed to the level of an ordinary jonin.

Recently, however, it had been creeping toward Kage-level without him noticing!

So Yu had come up with this little trick...

When his chakra circulated, the little pinwheel would spin faster, creating a cool breeze to remind him!

Yes, it worked on the same principle as tying your hair to a beam or stabbing your thigh with an awl to stay awake!

With this little pinwheel, Mom would never have to worry about excessive chakra again-although he didn't have a mom...

A conspicuously bald girl was waiting at the corner.

It was Sakura. Didn't she take a different route to school?

Why was she here?

Whatever. I'll pretend I didn't see her...

Yu walked past without looking aside.

Sakura immediately chased after him. "Hey, why are you ignoring me?!"

She hated me yesterday. Why the sudden change today?

It's not like we're close, is it?

Right... Meeting Itachi in person yesterday left such a deep impression that I forgot that little episode where Mizuki kidnapped me and put me in the Dark Room!

Sakura wasn't even wearing a hat today. It seemed she'd made up her mind to face life as a bald girl!

Yu said, "Did you need something?"

Sakura said, "Yesterday, after you left, I got out of the ropes too. Then I told the ninja on guard what Mizuki-sensei had done!"

Yu said, "Oh, that explains it..."

Sakura said, "Are you and Naruto both okay?"

Oh? She even knows to worry about Naruto's safety. Progress...

Yu said, "Iruka-sensei took Naruto home. As for Mizuki, he's already been killed..."

Sakura said, "That's good..."

Yu reminded her, "Don't go telling everyone at school what happened last night."

Sakura said, "Do I look like that much of a gossip?"

Yu said, "Good, as long as you're not."

He continued walking, and Sakura followed beside him.

Hey... Don't follow me! Walking to school with a bald girl will ruin my reputation!!

You should know that I, Yū Hyuga, have a reputation set in stone!! Got a problem with that? Gravestones are stones too!

Whirr, whirr, whirr...

The little pinwheel spun faster, sending a cool breeze over Sakura's bald head.

Once she felt cold, Sakura naturally wouldn't stay too close!

-Secret Technique: Physical Repulsion!

They walked a person's width apart.

Sakura asked, "Hey, do you think I should apologize to Sasuke-kun...?"

Yu said, "Why ask me? I don't know anything about that stuff."

Sakura said, "Huh?? Weren't you the one lecturing me with all those grand principles last night??"

Yu said, "Don't really remember."

Sakura said, "Hey... Don't think you can deny it! You have to take responsibility for what you did to me!!!"

Yu said, "Who's taking responsibility for you? Watch how you phrase things..."

Sakura gritted her teeth. "F-fine! You have to take responsibility for my b-big bald head! You promised that if I gave up my hair, you'd help set me up with Sasuke!"

Yu said, "I haven't forgotten. Don't worry..."

They arrived at the Ninja Academy!

The Training Ground... was full of bald Sakuras!!

Yu looked astonished. "Huh???"

Thud...!

Sakura's schoolbag fell to the ground.

-"What the hell is this!!!!????"