"Itachi, today's lunch!"
Uchiha Mikoto, dressed like a cook in an apron, handed Uchiha Itachi a blue box packed full of tuna rice balls, pan-fried chicken breast, rolled omelet, and vegetable salad.
"Thank you, Mother!"
Uchiha Itachi straightened his somewhat disheveled clothes and accepted the lunch box with a polite, gentle smile.
"You really are like a little adult!" Uchiha Mikoto smiled tenderly, half proud and half wistful.
"You're not clingy at all, unlike little Sasuke."
"Big brother! Big brother!"
Speak of Sasuke, and there he was.
Still bleary-eyed, Uchiha Sasuke toddled over to the entryway at a run. Pulling a long face and puffing out his cheeks, he grumbled:
"Are you going to school again? But didn't you say ages ago that the Academy had nothing left to teach you? Can't you graduate early and come home to play with me?"
Uchiha Sasuke spoke with a child's candor, but a trace of awkwardness crept into the sincere smiles on Itachi's and Mikoto's faces.
Every passerby looked flustered and hurried along. Even the occasional clusters of three or five people huddled together, whispering with worried expressions.
"Nothing." Uchiha Itachi took note of this oddity and answered coolly, "Izumi, didn't you say Miss Hikari taught you some powerful moves? I was wondering what ninjutsu they were!"
Uchiha Setsuna, the acting chief, sat in the chief's office. He set down the photographs sent from the front of Uchiha Gen in battle, lovingly brushed away some nonexistent dust, and only then put on his reading glasses.
With that, Uchiha Itachi shot away like an arrow from a bow, paying no attention to Izumi's reaction.
Looking at the panting Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Setsuna broke into a smile, his old face creasing.
"I heard they lost terribly at the front. The Third Hokage's practically dying!"