The week flew by, and before they knew it, it was Friday.
Ye Chuan Dahei didn't go on to teach the remaining two parts of the Three Body Technique that day. They were still children; the Transformation Technique alone would keep them busy for a while.
So their daytime lessons were still a review of the Transformation Technique.
Gua wasn't listening.
Mostly because listening wouldn't do him any good.
If he could make progress by idling, insisting on meddling himself might only backfire.
Fridays always flew by.
Riiing-
The dismissal bell rang, and the students trickled out of the classroom.
Gua and Itachi left together, too.
"Gua, your lunch box."
Izumi was already waiting for them at the school gates.
Izumi handed the lunch box back to Gua. He took it; she'd already washed it clean.
"Are you free on Sunday, Gua?"
Izumi's perseverance was astonishing.
No less persistent than Sisyphus pushing his boulder uphill every day, Izumi invited Gua out every week.
Gua didn't answer right away.
His mind raced. He really wanted to say, Izumi, you can't eat Three-Color Dango every day. You'll get cavities. If I eat any more Three-Color Dango, I'll lose my mind.
"I might have to stay home..."
He was just about to say "idling" when someone stepped into the path of the three children.
Gua swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue and stared blankly at the person blocking their way.
Did I just trigger Konoha's bullying storyline?
I thought that storyline had already happened.
He took a closer look.
The person facing him looked somewhat familiar.
Although this was the first time Gua had seen him, he still recognized him.
Spiky gray-white hair, a black mask covering most of his face, and only one eye exposed.
Obito's Sharingan was probably beneath that covering.
Definitely Kakashi.
Gua had lived through the Fourth Hokage Minato's term, too. He'd only been four then, when he'd heard that Team Minato had suffered an incident at Kannabi Bridge.
His heart had tightened at the time.
Oh no!
The Uchiha's first Mass Murderer has been born!
Unfortunately, he'd been too young to do anything.
Later, he'd heard that Team Minato's Obito had died, and Rin Nohara had died, too... Only Kakashi had survived...
Gua remembered Rin Nohara. She'd always liked visiting the Uchiha Clan Compound and had taken good care of that guy named Obito.
Once, when nobody else was around, Gua had even urged Obito to confess to Rin Nohara, saying, "The first to act wins. You don't want Kakashi getting there first."
Back then, he'd never seen Kakashi.
Mainly because he'd heard that Kakashi didn't get along with Obito and disliked visiting the Uchiha Clan Compound.
So he'd only known Obito and Rin Nohara.
Honestly, Gua thought Obito and Rin Nohara made a good match.
Unfortunately...
Ah...
Gua sighed silently.
"Your name is Uchiha Gua, right?"
Kakashi spoke first.
He knew Gua wasn't the type to initiate conversation. Before coming, he'd done some research on this Uchiha prodigy.
Itachi and Izumi both studied Kakashi warily.
Izumi lived outside the clan compound, and she liked going out, so she'd seen Kakashi a few times. Naturally, she knew the person before them was the renowned jonin Kakashi.
He'd become a jonin at twelve.
Now he was only fourteen.
He could well be called Konoha's greatest prodigy!
His father was even Sakumo Hatake, Konoha's White Fang, who'd once been as famous as Minato!
Someone like him was a figure they could only look up to.
Yet today, he'd stopped them.
Izumi couldn't help feeling nervous.
Itachi had never seen Kakashi, but he'd recognized him from his appearance, so he felt somewhat uneasy, too.
"You're looking for me?"
Gua behaved quite normally.
He didn't think there was any danger. This was Konoha, and the person before him was Kakashi. What danger could there be?
He was merely curious about how Kakashi knew him.
And judging by appearances, he'd come specifically to find him.
"My name is Kakashi Hatake."
Kakashi extended a hand toward him. "Let's get acquainted."
"Uh-"
Gua couldn't quite make sense of this.
A Konoha jonin wants to get acquainted with a little kid like me?
You might as well write "I'm up to something" across your face, you know?
Looking at Kakashi's outstretched hand, Gua eventually gave it a light shake.
He didn't even offer any extra pleasantries, like "Hello, hello," or "I've heard so much about you."
For one thing, Gua wasn't good at those. For another, dude, you're seriously acting weird.
Kakashi was reserved, too. After shaking hands, he just stood there stiffly.
Now Gua really didn't know what to do.
Gua looked at Kakashi, and Kakashi looked at Gua.
Dude, whatever you want, just say it.
Kakashi thought, How am I supposed to make friends with him? The Third Generation wants me to change him? I'm really no good at this!!
"Jonin Kakashi?"
Someone approached.
It broke the awkward atmosphere.
Gua looked up. It was Shisui, of all people.
He hadn't seen him in several days and hadn't expected him to suddenly appear here.
"Hmm?"
Kakashi turned to see Shisui approaching and nodded. "Then I'll leave you to talk. I'll be going."
"Oh, sure."
Shisui acknowledged him.
And Kakashi really did leave, just like that.
Gua was bewildered.
Seriously, dude.
What are you doing?
You really came all the way over here just to introduce yourself, then casually walked off?
He felt Kakashi wanted something.
But he couldn't guess what a jonin like Kakashi could possibly want with a six-year-old child like him.
Gua couldn't figure it out, but he wasn't the type to overthink things. If Kakashi had left, then nothing was wrong. If he wanted something, he wouldn't have left.
Perfectly logical!
Mostly, it was because Kakashi was a good person.
On that score, Gua felt completely reassured.
"What did Kakashi want with you just now?"
Shisui asked the three curiously.
Itachi and Izumi both shook their heads.
"No idea."
"He came to see Gua."
Itachi added that detail.
Confusion flickered in Shisui's eyes. He looked at Gua. "Kakashi came to see you?"
Gua nodded.
"What for?"
"To... get acquainted."
Even Gua felt something was off when he said it.
Shisui was speechless.
After a brief silence, Shisui didn't ask any more questions.
He wasn't worried about Kakashi either. As Sakumo Hatake's son and one of Konoha's greatest prodigies, Kakashi's character had been plain for all to see under the scrutiny of so many eyes in Konoha.
There was nothing to fault.
So Shisui brought the conversation back to his own business.
"I might be graduating early, so we won't have many chances to see each other afterward. I'd like us to get together one last time, Itachi, Gua."
"Would you like to come along too, Izumi?"
Shisui asked out of courtesy.
He didn't know Izumi well.
They'd barely met a handful of times, so it really was just a polite invitation.
Naturally, Izumi shook her head quickly. "Oh, no, I won't come. I've got things to do these next couple of days."
Gua thought, Didn't you say you were free?
But Gua didn't say it aloud. Adding fuel to the fire wasn't his style.
"If Izumi's busy, what about you two, Gua, Itachi?"
Gua answered calmly.
"I'm free."
At a time like this, saying he needed to stay home idling would get him beaten to death.
Only Izumi would tolerate his excuse of staying home to idle.
Shisui would resort to force.
"I'm free, too." Itachi also nodded.
"Are you sure you don't need to ask Clan Head Fugaku before saying you're free?" Shisui teased Itachi with a smile.
He knew Fugaku's temperament, too.
He was very strict with Itachi.
Itachi smiled. "No need. Father will definitely agree."
Gua glanced at Itachi.
He couldn't understand it. Why did Fugaku seem as though someone had taken over his body?
He was practically turning Itachi from a philosopher into a polite, well-rounded young man.
If he kept raising him this way, Gua wouldn't even need to intervene. Itachi would be walking a straighter path than anyone!
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