After a whole night of trial and error, Setsuna finally worked out a ninja art that let his shadow hands wield large weapons.
An odachi, a spear, a chain sickle-he could control each one through complex attacks.
"That's more like it!"
Brimming with satisfaction, Setsuna guided the shadow hand holding the pitch-black sickle through the gap in the door and sliced the door bar in two with a swish.
He kicked the door open.
Morning sunlight struck his little bald head, making him squint.
The instant his vision cleared, he saw two people standing in the doorway.
The Second Elder and Toshihi.
Toshihi's face had gone utterly dark. His clenched fists creaked, and the veins on his forehead twitched.
The Second Elder wore his usual smiling expression, but Setsuna could feel it-his eyes were cold.
The Second Elder surveyed the interior of the Small Buddha Hall.
Cuts crisscrossed the floor, the deepest nearly splitting an entire plank in two; shadow hands that had yet to dissipate hung from the ceiling, each gripping a gleaming weapon; shuriken had punched seven or eight holes through the walls, letting morning sunlight spill in and cast mottled patches across the floor.
His gaze lingered on the Buddhist shrine.
The shrine, at least, was undamaged.
At least he understood reverence for their faith.
That realization offered the Second Elder a little comfort.
"Setsu-" he began.
Bang!
The door of the Small Buddha Hall slammed shut from inside.
Setsuna's heart pounded as though it would leap out of his throat.
I'm done for, done for, done for!
Only then did he realize what he had done to this hall.
The Small Buddha Hall was communal clan property, not his own backyard. He had been confined here to reflect on his mistakes, and instead, he had wrecked his confinement room!
What do I do? What do I do?!
His gaze swept over the wreckage he had caused. Every mark was evidence, every hole undeniable proof.
He mobilized all his shadows, sealing every door and window tight.
Run away? There's an entire clan of Uchiha out there!
Although level three recovery had brought down the swelling in his soles overnight, he still couldn't stand or run.
Besides, he wasn't Uchiha Itachi, nursing a grudge against his own family. Slaughtering his clan and defecting wasn't something he could do.
But... just let them come in?
They'll definitely beat me!
Last time, the Second Elder had beaten him until he was crawling all over the floor, and now Toshihi was here too. If both of them laid into him, would he survive?
Dying at an enemy's hands made you a hero. Being beaten to death by your own elders over something like this was pathetic no matter how you looked at it!
Outside, the Second Elder wasn't nearly as angry as Setsuna imagined. He raised a hand to stop Toshihi from forcing the door open.
The Second Elder knew very well that every child in the Uchiha Clan had something of a rebellious streak. Ever since the Small Buddha Hall was built, Uchiha children had regularly been confined here.
Even the clan leader had been a frequent visitor as a child.
At that thought, a genuine smile touched the Second Elder's lips.
Still... Setsuna was probably the most rebellious of them all.
Even the clan leader, renowned for his rebelliousness, had never demolished the hall as a child.
The Second Elder pressed his hand against the door, sensing the chakra inside and watching the shadows seeping through the gap.
A few strands of pitch-black shadow slipped through the gap, retreated like startled loaches, then timidly poked their heads out again.
He had to admit that even among the Uchiha, a clan teeming with talent, Setsuna was a genius among geniuses.
He had awakened his Sharingan at five and a half and developed his own original ninjutsu. Yesterday, his shadows had shattered at a touch; today, he could solidify them into an offensive technique that sliced effortlessly through a door bar.
His potential was limitless.
The Second Elder could even make a prediction.
As long as this child reached adulthood safely, saying he could rival the clan leader would be no empty boast. The Uchiha would gain another formidable fighter.
Still... the boy truly needed discipline now. Left to develop unchecked, he would inevitably become a menace.
He raised his hand and knocked on the door, neither too hard nor too softly.
"Setsuna, since when did you become a coward who won't own up to what he's done?"
He waited a moment.
Then the door creaked open a crack.
The shadows sealing it vanished without a sound. Morning sunlight squeezed through the gap, drawing a slender line across the floor that fell directly on Setsuna's smooth bald head beneath the shrine table.
"I did it, and I'll take responsibility! Kill me or carve me up, do whatever you want!"
Setsuna's little black eyes reflected a stubborn glint in the darkness.
The Second Elder stepped into the dim Small Buddha Hall. Clear morning light traced his outline in white.
He stopped before the shrine and crouched, extending a hand as he quietly waited for Setsuna to come out on his own.
Morning sunlight passed over his shoulder, illuminating Setsuna's scrunched-up little pale face.
Setsuna gritted his teeth, shut his eyes, and crawled out from beneath the shrine table, placing his hand in the Second Elder's palm.
"Go ahead and hit me." Setsuna pressed his lips together, ready for a beating.
The Second Elder closed his fingers around Setsuna's little hand. His palm was warm, easing the slight cramps in Setsuna's fingers after a whole night of forming hand seals.
His words surprised Setsuna too.
"You're quite something, Setsuna. If your parents could see this, they'd be proud of you. That fellow Huorong would be puffed up with pride."
Setsuna's eyes flew open, and he looked at the Second Elder.
With the light behind him, the Second Elder's face was in shadow, but his expression was unusually gentle. His brows were slightly drawn, and his eyes held a sorrow Setsuna couldn't understand.
My parents?
For the first time, Setsuna began to truly confront that concept.
As a combat character created for a game, he hadn't had parents in any real sense.
His family background had only said "Uchiha," with no parents listed. But this was reality, and the Setsuna here naturally had parents-human beings couldn't be created out of thin air.
In this five-and-a-half-year-old child's memories, his father was a stern man who rarely came home because of the war, but whose hands were warm.
His mother was a soft-spoken, well-bred lady from a distinguished family. She had no talent for becoming a ninja, yet kept his father firmly in line.
To Setsuna, they were two indistinct figures, two pale abstractions.
Only when he saw the sorrow in the Second Elder's eyes did he begin to dimly understand-they were two people, two people who had once truly been alive.
That left Setsuna with complicated feelings.
"But!" The Second Elder changed tack, surveying the entire Small Buddha Hall as he said sternly, "If your father saw all this, he'd tan your backside."
Imagining his backside beaten raw, Setsuna shrank back and shuddered.
The Second Elder asked sternly, "Do you know what you've done?"
Setsuna mumbled, "Damaged the clan's communal Small Buddha Hall to test my ninjutsu."
The Second Elder asked, "What else?"
"Insulted the ancestors and failed to reflect properly."
The Second Elder gave a hum, prompting him to continue.
Setsuna racked his brains. "Disobeyed orders from a superior."
Only then did the Second Elder say, "So you know you did something wrong. Do you know what that means?"
Setsuna said reluctantly, "I knowingly broke the rules."
The Second Elder sighed. "Under clan rules, this absolutely won't end here. But-"
He changed the subject. "Today is the seventh day since your parents passed away. It's time you saw them one last time."
Setsuna snapped his head up to look at the Second Elder.
The Second Elder lowered his eyes.
Backlit, his lashes cast two thin shadows, concealing the faint sadness in his eyes-a small opening he only dared allow in front of the living.
His lips moved, and he drew a quiet breath, forcing all his surging emotions back down into his throat. He slipped an arm beneath Setsuna's knees and lifted him.
"Say a proper final goodbye to Huorong and Shunzi."
For some reason, Setsuna felt a panic unlike anything he had ever known. He had only just begun to grasp the concept of parents, and now he was about to lose them forever.
Just then, a messenger genin appeared outside the door with the Body Flicker Technique and knelt on one knee.
"Lord Izumo, Kurama Setsuko has arrived."
Before you continue