Can you be healthy eating snacks as meals?

On the streets of Konoha.

A small boy held a crow, looking exceptionally pitiful, especially since the crow looked incredibly fierce.

The adorable little boy and the pitch-black, menacing bird...

The aesthetic didn't quite match.

A few brats ran past them in a frenzy, but upon noticing the crow on Uchiha Itachi's arm, they shouted and scattered in a hurry.

Even a little girl who seemed to want to strike up a conversation bit her lip timidly and walked away after seeing the crimson-eyed Kitahara.

Uchiha Itachi was never good at socializing to begin with, and now that he was carrying a bird that looked like trouble, even fewer children dared to speak to him.

"This is our village..." Uchiha Itachi didn't seem to mind, merely pressing on his slightly sore arm as he whispered, "Konoha."

"Caw..."

Kitahara noticed his predicament, fluttering up lightly to land on his shoulder.

Because it was currently larger than the boy's head, Uchiha Itachi couldn't help but tilt his head to make room, though it was ultimately much more comfortable this way.

The crow's feathers brushed gently against his small face, feeling warm and ticklish.

"Those children just now... they are the same age as me." Uchiha Itachi tilted his head, watching their figures disappear down the street, his tone somewhat low: "But... we clearly aren't suited to be together."

It wasn't that he didn't want friends.

However, Uchiha Itachi was bewildered by the conflicts between ninjas and had no interest in children's games of make-believe.

"Caw..."

Kitahara spread its wings and patted the boy's hair softly, as if comforting him.

The boy's cheeks flushed slightly, a smile appearing on his face as he walked toward the village's commercial district.

"There's a takoyaki shop ahead; the taste is just average, but during the Summer Festival, many people line up for it, and it's very hard to buy. It's a strange thing..."

"You can often run into ninja masters at this skewer stall, but I don't like the taste... The stories the ninjas tell are great, but it gets so noisy when the adults get drunk, and Father isn't spared from that either..."

"This shop sells three-colored dango, it tastes sweet... but Father doesn't like sweets..."

Uchiha Itachi chattered on; this was a rare experience for him. Looking back at his entire life, he only ever spoke this much when facing Second Pillar...

Whether it was sweet talk or harsh words directed at his younger brother...

The boy noticed the crow on his shoulder staring at the dango shop and looked delighted: "Do you want to eat this? Let's go buy some!"

"...Caw..."

Kitahara let out a weak cry. You little brat, it's obvious you're the one who wants to eat it more! But then again, what child doesn't like sweets...

Perhaps it was precisely because Fugaku Uchiha refused to indulge his son's craving for sweets that Itachi would never forget them for the rest of his life.

Kitahara kept its gaze on the boy happily digging out his money. He was clearly the one who loved sweets the most, yet he would endure a lifetime of bitterness...

Once it figured out how to manipulate the chakra in its body and activate those ninjutsu, it would see if it could...

"Hmm... can crows eat sweets too?" Uchiha Itachi carried the small bag, looking back and forth between the skewer of three-colored dango in his hand and Kitahara's eyes, unable to stop himself from swallowing hard.

"..."

The crimson eyes had a tendency to roll back... Kitahara knew exactly what the boy was thinking!

"Caw!"

The crow suddenly thrust its sharp beak forward, snatched a red dango, and swallowed it in a flash!

I wanted to give you a hand, but I didn't expect you to be so stingy with a single skewer of dango!

Are all the people of the Uchiha clan this calculating...

Kitahara muttered to itself while tasting the dango. This flavor was just too cloying!

"Hm? Do you not like it?" The boy watched Kitahara turn its head away, seemingly uninterested in the dango, and happily took a bite himself.

The bag of three-colored dango was soon empty.

Uchiha Itachi finished the dango and let out a satisfied burp. Seeming to feel he had lost his composure, the boy quickly straightened his posture.

Kitahara was dumbfounded...

Hey, hey, hey, this kind of three-colored dango isn't even fit to be a snack! And yet you treat it like a meal...

"Caw..."

Seeing the food residue on the boy's face, Kitahara instinctively reached out with its wing...

"Ah, thank you!" Uchiha Itachi beat it to the punch, wiping the corner of his mouth clean and revealing a perfectly proper smile.

It felt like it had been a long time since he had been this happy after returning from the battlefield... The last time was when his father praised his shuriken throwing.

"Itachi, aren't you going home yet?"

"Grandma, I'm going back right now!"

"The weather is getting colder; don't let Mikoto worry!" The old woman walked away shakily, a fan crest visible on the back of her robe.

It seemed that ever since the Third Shinobi World War, there were no more helpful boys left to help grandmothers walk home...

"Yes!"

Itachi straightened his back and responded, his hair pressed tightly against the crow's wings.

After a moment, he extended his arm, signaling for Kitahara to stand on it: "Do you want to come home with me?"

"Caw!"

Naturally, Kitahara wasn't a real crow... and he was quite interested in the life of a Konoha ninja!

"..."

Itachi silently patted the crow's wings; he would need to craft a good story regarding the origins of this bird...

Whether it was jumping off a cliff today or sneaking sweets, it would certainly invite a scolding from his mother and father.

But none of that was a problem; he, Uchiha Itachi, had a natural talent for spinning stories!

The Uchiha clan compound was still located in a bustling district of the village. Perhaps because like attracts like, or perhaps for other reasons, the area was filled with ninjas coming and going in every direction.

Today was the day Konoha held funerals for the heroes who had died in the Third Shinobi World War... and their faces were all, to varying degrees, etched with sorrow.

The meaning of life is so heavy; why must there be war...

The young boy's emotions were inevitably influenced by those around him. He stepped into his home on tiptoe and closed the gate behind him.

"Is that you, Itachi?"

Perhaps because Itachi was still an only child, his parents' attention and doting were quite intense. His mother, Uchiha Mikoto, spoke as she walked out of the room to greet him.

"Are you cooking, Mom?"

Uchiha Itachi looked at the apron his mother was wearing. Usually, at this time, he would go to the kitchen to do what he could to lighten her burden.

But today...

"A crow? Is it a pet? Why did you bring it home?"

She noticed the crow on her child's arm at a glance, and confusion immediately arose. Itachi had been mature since he was small and rarely showed interest in external matters; bringing a crow home today was...

Itachi shook his head, pondering for a moment before answering: "No, it's a friend I just made today."

"..."

Her son usually didn't seek out little girls or interact with little boys. Just two days ago, she and her husband, Fugaku, had discussed whether Itachi felt too isolated and if they should think of a way to help...

And yet, her son had found a crow to be his friend... Moreover, this was the first friend he had ever acknowledged in front of his parents.

"Can you tell me about it? For instance, how did you two meet?"

Uchiha Mikoto looked at Kitahara. It was a fierce-looking crow, and those crimson eyes made it seem like it wasn't someone—or something—to be trifled with.