Shisui Uchiha

"Let me see." Uchiha Makoto walked over and squeezed Obito's right hand.

It really was a little harder.

It was still a long way from a true Iron Body, but at least it was a start.

"Not bad." Uchiha Makoto patted Obito's shoulder. "Keep practicing."

"Yes!" Obito was brimming with enthusiasm.

Guy was making about the same progress.

His chakra flowed more smoothly than Obito's, but it always became unstable when he tried to solidify it.

One moment it was hard, the next it was soft.

"Don't rush," Uchiha Makoto said. "Take your time. You can't master chakra control in a day."

Guy nodded and kept practicing.

Using Flowing Iron Block to harden individual parts of the body was much more flexible than ordinary Iron Body.

What was more, localized hardening consumed less chakra and lasted longer.

The only difficulty was chakra control.

Making chakra flow and solidify precisely within the body required exceptionally strong control.

Obito and Guy certainly couldn't manage that yet.

But that was fine. They could work on it gradually.

If they mastered it, their fighting strength would improve tremendously.

If they didn't... they could just treat it as chakra control training.

Either way, they had nothing to lose.

"Cheng," Obito suddenly asked, "once I master this, will I be able to move while using Iron Body, like you?"

"Yes," Uchiha Makoto said. "But you can only move the parts you haven't hardened. For example, if you harden your right hand, you can't move that hand, but you can still move your left hand, legs, and head."

Guy was thinking about it too.

"Cheng," Guy asked, "if you take this to its limit, can you harden your whole body and still move?"

Uchiha Makoto glanced at him.

"In theory," he said. "But that would take extremely good chakra control. I reckon you'd have to be at Jonin level."

"Jonin..." Guy clenched his fist. "Then I'll train until I'm a Jonin!"

"Me too!" Obito said.

Uchiha Makoto smiled.

"Then keep practicing."

He walked off to one side, sat down, and watched Obito and Guy continue struggling.

Obito was wrestling with his own right hand.

Guy was wrestling with his own left leg.

Both were drenched in sweat, but their eyes remained determined.

Watching them, Uchiha Makoto felt a little moved.

These two goofballs might not have much talent, but their perseverance was the real deal.

Obito had lost so many times, yet he had never given up.

Guy had endured years of ridicule, yet he had never given up either.

Now that they had a direction, they were training harder than ever.

Maybe... Uchiha Makoto thought. They really can master it?

He didn't know.

But he hoped they could.

Because in this world, strength was everything.

Only with strength could you survive.

Only with strength could you protect the people you wanted to protect.

Only with strength could you... change certain things.

Like the fate of the Uchiha.

Uchiha Makoto had been very irritated lately.

Not just a little irritated.

It was the kind of irritation that came from being watched while walking, watched while eating, and feeling a pair of eyes behind him even when he went to the bathroom.

The Anbu.

It had to be the Anbu.

Those crow-like figures spent all day hiding in the shadows, watching his every move.

Uchiha Makoto had tried to shake them off.

Detours, hiding, even the Transformation Technique.

Nothing worked.

They clung to him like glue. He couldn't get rid of them.

"Damn it." Uchiha Makoto hid in an alley, panting. "This can't go on."

He needed to train, milk his opportunities, and get stronger.

But with the Anbu watching him like this, he couldn't do anything.

Every day, just dealing with their surveillance kept him from daring to materialize any Ninjutsu.

"No." Uchiha Makoto gritted his teeth. "I have to think of something."

But what?

Take them head-on?

What a joke.

He was only a six-year-old kid, with chakra at Genin level at best.

Taking on the Anbu would be suicide.

Run away?

Where could he run?

Konoha was only so big. He might escape for a while, but they knew where to find him.

Besides, where could an Uchiha like him go?

Uchiha Makoto crouched in the alley, his mind racing.

Then his eyes lit up.

"Right! I'm not alone."

"I'm an Uchiha. An Uchiha genius."

"Geniuses get special treatment."

He stood up and dusted himself off.

"When in doubt, get a grown-up."

The meeting hall at the Uchiha Clan Compound.

The weekly meeting was being held that day.

Uchiha Yashiro sat at the head of the table, with a group of elders below him, all wearing stern expressions as though someone owed them money.

"Regarding the Konoha Military Police Force's funding..." Yashiro had just begun.

The door was pushed open.

A little head poked inside.

"Um..." Uchiha Makoto blinked. "I'm looking for the clan head."

The meeting room fell silent.

Every elder turned in unison to stare at the doorway.

Their stares made Uchiha Makoto a little uneasy, but he forced himself to speak. "I need to see the clan head. It's urgent."

Yashiro frowned.

He knew this child.

Uchiha Makoto, six years old, a first-year student at the Ninja Academy.

He had decent talent and was supposedly very good at Taijutsu.

But however talented he was, he was still a six-year-old child.

Was it appropriate for a six-year-old to barge into a leadership meeting?

"Get out," one elder said grimly. "This is no place for you."

"Exactly. No manners," another elder agreed.

Yashiro raised a hand to stop them.

He looked at Uchiha Makoto. "What is it?"

"I..." Uchiha Makoto took a moment to summon the right emotions, and his eyes reddened. "Someone's been following me."

The meeting room grew even quieter.

"Following you?" Yashiro narrowed his eyes. "Who?"

"I don't know." Uchiha Makoto shook his head. "But I can feel someone watching me all the time. When I eat, when I train... even when I sleep, I feel eyes on me."

The elders exchanged glances.

Someone was following an Uchiha genius?

Who would dare?

"It's the Anbu," one elder said coldly.

"It has to be." Another elder nodded. "Who else would dare?"

"Lord Hokage clearly doesn't trust us Uchiha."

"Outrageous!"

The meeting room erupted.

The elders spoke over one another, each brimming with righteous indignation.

Uchiha Makoto said nothing.

He kept his head lowered, but stole glances around the room.

Then he spotted someone.

A child.

He sat quietly in a corner, neither making noise nor causing a fuss.

About five years old, with black hair, large eyes, and rather delicate features.

Uchiha Makoto's pupils contracted.

Shisui Uchiha.

What was he doing here?

Uchiha Makoto's mind raced.

Shisui was a year younger than him and wouldn't enter the Ninja Academy until next year.

By rights, he shouldn't have been present on an occasion like this.

Unless...

Unless he's already caught the leadership's attention, Uchiha Makoto muttered inwardly. A prodigy who can wipe the floor with Genin at five, before he's even entered the Ninja Academy.

No wonder.

No wonder the Anbu's surveillance of him had felt so lax lately.

No wonder Konoha High Command had put him under surveillance but never approached him.

It turned out there was a more dazzling genius ahead of him, drawing their attention.

Rather than being angry, Uchiha Makoto almost wanted to laugh.

Perfect, he thought. With Shisui around, I'm just a second-tier genius. Not worth keeping under close surveillance.