Danzo Set His Sights on Itachi, Not Because He Was Young

Itachi had been singled out, but not because he was young.

Quite the opposite.

It was because he was so unlike a child.

The next morning, Uchiha Gen saw Itachi again at the missing persons registration station.

He sat beside a makeshift wooden table, with several rain-wrinkled lists piled in front of him.

Whenever the logistics ninja beside him called out a name, he lowered his head to check the address, age, family members, and relocation site.

His movements were steady.

So was his handwriting.

Sometimes, family members rushed to the table in tears, asking whether someone had been confirmed dead. Even adult ninja would hesitate.

Itachi merely looked up, verified their identity first, then clearly explained which details had yet to be fully confirmed.

He offered no false hope.

Nor did he pronounce anyone dead prematurely.

His composure was enough to make anyone's heart sink.

Uchiha Gen stood at a distance and watched for a while.

Itachi was not the only thing he noticed.

There were also two watching gazes.

One came from a rooftop at the street corner.

Anbu.

The other came from the shadows of a tent farther away.

Root.

Two separate surveillance teams were watching the same child.

Uchiha Gen's two-tomoe Sharingan slowly rotated, but he quickly suppressed it.

He did not look toward either spot.

He could not afford to alert them yet.

Itachi raised his head, seemingly sensing his arrival.

"Gen."

He said it naturally.

Several logistics ninja nearby glanced at Uchiha Gen, their expressions rather complicated.

Over the past few days, Uchiha Gen's name had spread beyond the clan.

At the Hokage Building, the Resettlement Zone, the Konoha Military Police Force, and many other places, people were beginning to learn that many of the records and procedures for Uchiha Reform had come from this boy.

Uchiha Gen walked over to the table.

"Are you helping with registration?"

Itachi nodded. "They're short-handed."

"Who sent you here?"

Itachi paused.

"An Anbu said they needed someone with clear handwriting to help with logistics records."

Uchiha Gen's heart sank.

On the surface, there was nothing wrong with it.

With manpower scarce after the disaster, Itachi's clear handwriting and orderly thinking seemed to make him a perfectly reasonable choice to help organize the lists.

But that was precisely where the danger lay.

Many tests never came as orders.

They came as seemingly routine assignments.

"Do you know what you're organizing?"

Itachi looked down at the lists.

"Missing people and people confirmed to have been relocated."

Uchiha Gen did not answer immediately.

Itachi added, "And some lists of people presumed dead."

His voice was quiet, but he did not shy away.

Uchiha Gen looked at him.

"Are you afraid?"

Itachi considered it.

"Being afraid doesn't help."

Those words made Uchiha Gen's heart sink further.

Being afraid doesn't help.

For an adult, that might be restraint.

For a child, it might mean burying his emotions before their time.

And children like that were the easiest for certain people to take an interest in.

Because he could endure.

He could think.

He could turn pain into logic.

And one day, he might believe he could shoulder all the darkness for everyone else.

"That's enough for today."

Uchiha Gen reached out and picked up the lists in front of Itachi.

The logistics ninja beside him froze.

"The Anbu assigned him to help with these records."

Uchiha Gen looked at him.

"The Konoha Military Police Force's missing persons records need cross-checking too. I'll report this to the clan head and have the force send an adult to take over."

The logistics ninja frowned. "He's only organizing lists."

"Precisely because it's only organizing lists, there's no need to have a child do it alone."

Uchiha Gen's voice remained even.

He did not argue.

Nor did he level any accusations.

He gathered the lists and turned to Itachi.

"Come back to the Clan District with me."

Itachi did not move immediately.

"Are you stopping me from seeing these?"

"No."

Uchiha Gen said, "I'm stopping them from assigning you to see these alone."

Itachi looked at him, as though trying to distinguish between those two statements.

After a moment, he stood.

The Anbu on the rooftop did not move.

Neither did the Root operative in the tent's shadows.

But Uchiha Gen knew this scene had already been recorded.

Half an hour later, in the Uchiha Clan Meeting Hall.

After hearing the report, Fugaku remained silent for a long time.

Itachi stood to one side with his head lowered.

He had done nothing wrong.

Yet the matter itself had already cast a heavy pall over the room.

Fugaku looked at the copies of the lists on the table.

He knew that handwriting well.

Itachi's handwriting.

Clear, neat, and steady.

As a father, he was naturally proud of Itachi's talent.

At such a young age, he could remain calm amid the chaos following a disaster and organize lists that would unsettle anyone else who read them.

But as clan head, he also understood that letting the village see such composure too early was not necessarily a good thing.

Uchiha Gen spoke. "Clan head, both the Anbu and Root are already keeping records on Itachi."

Fugaku looked up.

"Are you certain?"

"Certain."

Uchiha Gen said, "The Anbu were watching openly, Root from the shadows. Both were observing his reactions."

Fugaku pressed his fingers against the lists.

"Why are they watching Itachi?"

"Because he isn't an ordinary child."

Uchiha Gen did not evade the question.

"He can read lists of the dead without breaking down, remain calm in front of their families, and suppress his fear before thinking things through. Guided properly, that ability is a gift."

He paused.

"Exploited wrongly, it makes him the easiest person to push into shouldering the darkness."

Fugaku's expression finally changed.

Those words were too blunt.

And too accurate.

Itachi raised his head to look at Uchiha Gen.

He seemed to want to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

Fugaku said gravely, "You think I should hide Itachi away?"

"Not hide him."

Uchiha Gen said, "Don't let him take on assignments from the higher-ups alone."

"And don't put the weight of the clan on him."

Fugaku frowned.

Uchiha Gen knew those words were deeply presumptuous.

But they had to be said.

"Clan head, Itachi is a genius. That doesn't mean he should have to shoulder the Uchiha's burdens earlier than anyone else."

The Clan Meeting Hall fell silent.

Fugaku looked at Itachi.

Itachi stood straight.

There was no resentment.

No evasion.

Even when he heard the words "shoulder the Uchiha's burdens," his eyes showed no obvious change.

Precisely because of that, Fugaku's heart sank.

He had indeed rarely treated Itachi as an ordinary child.

Because Itachi was too clever.

Too well-behaved.

Too mature for his age.

So well-behaved that it was easy to forget he should never have needed to be that way.

"Itachi."

Fugaku finally spoke.

"From today onward, you are not to accept any assignment involving post-disaster death lists, assistance to the Anbu, or temporary duties at the Hokage Building on your own."

Itachi looked up.

"Yes."

His answer came quickly.

So quickly that obedience seemed like a long-established habit.

Fugaku's gaze grew even more complicated.

Uchiha Gen added, "If his help is needed, an adult from the Konoha Military Police Force can accompany him, with the assignment formally recorded. Itachi can see these things, but he must not be observed alone."

Itachi looked at him.

"You'll still let me see them?"

"Yes."

Uchiha Gen said, "You can see reality, but you can't let others use it to test you."

This time, Itachi remained silent for a long while.

Then he nodded.

"I understand a little now."

Watching the two of them, Fugaku suddenly realized something.

Gen was not drawing Itachi into the conflict.

He was preventing Itachi from being swallowed up in the conflict alone.

By evening, a new internal clan directive was quickly issued.

Uchiha Itachi was not to accept temporary outside assignments alone.

Any assignment involving death lists, assistance to the Anbu, or reviews by senior leadership required an adult from the clan to accompany him and keep a record.

The directive was not made public.

Yet it soon appeared in a Root report.

Danzo looked at those few lines, his expression showing no surprise.

"Uchiha Gen intervened?"

The Root ninja bowed his head. "Yes. He brought Itachi back to the Clan District on the grounds that the Konoha Military Police Force's missing-person records needed to be cross-checked, and suggested that Fugaku restrict Itachi from dealing with assignments from senior leadership alone."

Danzo lightly tapped his cane with his fingers.

"He's cutting off our means of observing Itachi."

"Should we continue making contact?"

Danzo did not answer immediately.

After a moment, he said slowly, "Don't force contact."

"Give him a legitimate assignment."

The Root ninja raised his head.

Danzo's voice was calm.

"Have the Anbu arrange for Itachi to help compile the post-disaster death list."

"Make sure the pretext is aboveboard."

"Leave Uchiha Gen no grounds to refuse outright."