If My Brother Were Still Alive, I'd Give Him a Full Checkup

The next day, the three of them met inside Hokage Rock.

Most people in Konoha had no idea that there was a space inside the Hokage Rock, the village's totem and symbol, let alone that it could be entered.

Not only could it be entered, but they could also fight inside. The place was spacious and solid; even a battle between Jōnin wouldn't be enough to bring it down.

"Wow!" Shinji shrieked as she looked around, excitedly clenching her little fists. Tenma maintained a cold expression, but still circled the inner wall three full times.

The two of them were the same age as Retsuo.

Retsuo had made very few friends over the past nine years, which was why he treasured them so dearly. Even after awakening the memories of his past life, every bit of his memories from this life remained precious. Emotions never sprang from a crack in a stone, and these two were people Retsuo believed would never betray him.

At this moment, there was no one from the Uchiha Clan outside Konoha.

According to the course of the Original Timeline, they would graduate normally three years later and be assigned to the same team as Uchiha Itachi, who had only attended for one year before graduating early. Following Konoha's glorious tradition, they would form a team consisting of the top student, the beauty, and the dead last.

Then they would become tools for Uchiha Itachi to awaken his Sharingan, establishing bonds with him before dying at his hands and stimulating him into awakening One Tomoe.

But that was something that would happen in the future. Right now, Tenma and Shinji had only just reached their third year, and Itachi had not yet enrolled.

To be fair, although Shinji could be considered a beauty, she had not yet fully grown into her looks. Tenma, however, practically had the face of a protagonist. He was handsome as a hero, even while acting carefree and irreverent.

In the end, he would die trying to be a hero as well. Thinking that the person who killed them was Obito, Retsuo felt a splitting headache.

After turning evil, Obito became far more than twice as strong. Instead of worrying about Tenma and Shinji, Retsuo might as well worry more about himself. Obito targeting the two of them would be a coincidence; targeting him was inevitable.

Retsuo felt as if thorns were pricking his back. Who could say whether a White Zetsu was hiding in the soil somewhere in the village and spying on him?

That was one of the reasons he had thought of Hokage Rock first. The ground beneath their feet was solid rock, so neither the White Zetsu's Spore Technique nor the Mayfly Technique could be used.

For Tenma and Shinji, this was a perfect training ground that they could only dream of. For Retsuo, it was a treasure trove.

His training schedule was packed. He had to review Basic Transformation Jutsu and other ninjutsu, then use taijutsu battles to completely convert the experience he had gained over these nine years into his own abilities.

He also had to train his Chakra refinement. Minato Namikaze had specifically reminded him to cultivate his Chakra. Minato was young, but both his strength and insight were among the best in the Shinobi World. His exact words had been, "You need to cultivate your Chakra properly. Chakra is the power that connects people, and it is crucial to your barrier."

Although Retsuo did not understand it, those words surely held a deeper meaning. He could never go wrong listening to Minato Namikaze.

The most important things, of course, were the Yin Release Barrier and the Sharingan.

However, although Retsuo believed that Tenma and Shinji would never betray him, he still had no intention of letting them know that he had awakened the Sharingan. That was also for their protection.

Shinji had finished walking in circles and started taking off her clothes to stretch. Tenma wore an excited expression and raised both hands. "I never thought there would be such a great training ground! I, Tenma, owe you one. I'll definitely repay you someday."

"Don't bother. You're making it sound like you've never used such a large training ground before."

"Hey! You!" Tenma glared angrily at Retsuo. He was angry because that was the truth. Where could someone from a civilian family find a first-rate training ground? Having access to a public training area was already good enough. By contrast, members of the various Ninja Clans not only possessed exceptionally equipped training grounds, but even pursued elegance in their surroundings.

The Uchiha Clan happened to possess the best training environment in the entire village.

Shinji hurriedly patted Tenma's shoulder. She was currently even slightly taller than Tenma. With a giggle, she said, "What's the use of getting angry at him? We have to defeat Retsuo before we can show him who's boss!"

After saying that, Shinji clenched her little fists again. "Who doesn't know how great it is to be a second-generation child of a powerful clan? I can't be a second-generation child, but I can be a first-generation one from now on!"

Tenma immediately covered his face. "You want to marry into a powerful clan again?"

Shinji gave a few dry, heh-heh-heh laughs and tossed two Kunai to Tenma. "Come on. Whoever loses doesn't get any dango for lunch."

Tenma asked, "Why?"

"The village is in this state, and dango is a scarce commodity now. Being able to buy it at all is already good enough." As Retsuo spoke, he opened his bag and took out a stack of pancakes.

"Uncle Uchiha Teishō's pancakes?" Shinji instantly narrowed her eyes into crescents. Having a powerful clan had another advantage: they were never short of supplies.

Soon, Tenma and Shinji began a "brutal" taijutsu exchange.

Since the Third Shinobi World War had just ended, the curriculum at the Ninja Academy placed a heavy emphasis on actual combat. Chakra refinement and Basic Transformation Jutsu had replaced the Will of Fire as the focus of instruction, and taijutsu was no different.

However, both of them came from civilian families. Aside from the fundamentals taught at the Ninja Academy, they could only figure out taijutsu on their own. As they fought, their shouts and cries rang out without end. Judging by the sounds alone, it was certainly intense.

Uchiha Retsuo couldn't bear to watch any longer. He found a place to sit cross-legged and calmed his mind, brewing up "emotions."

His disadvantage was that he had no Deep Blue to allocate points for him, nor did he have an instruction manual for using the Yin Release Barrier. He had to test everything himself, one step at a time.

But that was cultivation.

After a night had passed, most of the Chakra in the Yin Release Barrier had dissipated. However, in the latter half of the night, after reaching a critical point, it finally stabilized and stopped declining. It was merely extremely thin.

There was no need to think about it. He needed to replenish his Yin Release Chakra.

And replenishing Yin Release did not depend on "hahahaha," but on emotions. Only abundant emotions could make Yin Release erupt like a burst dam, and that was precisely what the Uchiha were good at.

However, just as Retsuo was reminiscing over hardship and savoring sweetness, the faint Yin Release Barrier suddenly transmitted a stabbing sensation. The pain continued without pause.

"This!"

By now, he could confirm one thing: the barrier's Malice Perception range was not very large. Someone nearby must have released malice directed at him for him to sense it. Otherwise, he would never have been able to sleep last night. With Shimura Danzō's belly full of wicked schemes, wouldn't he have kept muttering about Retsuo after returning?

That was impossible.

Retsuo narrowed his eyes and quickly calculated. If it was a White Zetsu, he could ignore it for now. But if it was a Root Ninja... Root had no bottom line. Would they take advantage of the empty surroundings to silence Tenma and Shinji, then abduct him directly?

Heh-heh! If the Root Ninja were really that impatient, things would become interesting.

Even if he hadn't thought of Root, how could Uchiha Fugaku not have? Fugaku might be timid, but he was still the clan head of a great clan. After being oppressed by Shimura Danzō for so many years, he had long since gained experience in dealing with it. Retsuo practicing inside Hokage Rock was a good opportunity for Root, but wasn't it also one for the Uchiha Clan?

Retsuo had bodyguards behind him, so he was not worried in the slightest. He was merely furious. Weren't these people being far too arrogant? They couldn't even wait a single day? Still, he had to test what sort of person was hiding in the shadows and spying on him. After all, there were powerful figures among the White Zetsu, such as Tobi. He couldn't simply ignore the matter.

With that thought, Retsuo decided to use Talk no Jutsu. That was the only thing he was good at right now. He had originally wanted to remain silent and support the Yin Release Barrier directly with Spiritual Energy, but he couldn't find the feeling. The Yin Release Chakra refused to cooperate, leaving only a thin layer.

In that case, there was nothing else to say. "Hahaha—hahaha—"

As Retsuo's wild laughter rang out, the Yin Release Barrier boiled briefly within a small area. Tenma and Shinji had no choice but to stop their battle of mutual incompetence. They had heard some rumors last night, saying that Retsuo had lost control of his emotions after witnessing the Fourth Hokage's death and would let out a nervous, almost hysterical laugh.

Tenma was deeply worried, while Shinji was thickheaded. Someone had actually advised them not to approach Retsuo for the time being and to wait until his mental illness improved. They had not believed it at first. Who would have thought it was actually true?

Retsuo said, "Tenma, your taijutsu reminded me of my foolish brother. You're just as terrible as Obito was back then."

"Hey! You!"

Tenma's worry instantly turned into anger. Why had Retsuo suddenly become so venomous? It was utterly absurd!

However, even more absurdly, Uchiha Retsuo's expression suddenly became extremely strange. The rich and violent changes in his expression left Tenma and Shinji completely dumbfounded.

Retsuo felt like he was losing his mind!

He had thought that if he said this and it was Root, the malice would not change at all. If it was a White Zetsu, the malice would probably ease up for a moment.

White Zetsu was Black Zetsu's subordinate. To Black Zetsu, whether Uchiha Madara or Obito, both were expendable tools for resurrecting his mother. As far as White Zetsu was concerned, Obito only needed to pretend to be respectful; there was absolutely no possibility of true loyalty.

On the contrary, hearing some amusing news about Obito might even make it happy.

But as soon as his words fell, the malice became denser!

Why did it become denser? Could there really be a White Zetsu loyal to Obito? Or could it be that the one who came was...

Retsuo suddenly lost his composure. Could it be Obito himself?

It really was hard to say!

What should I do?

I should spread a huge rumor first and distract Obito's attention.

But what rumor should I spread?

At that moment, Shinji could not help asking, "Retsuo, you look like you've become a completely different person. What happened last night?"

"A masked man with the Sharingan controlled the Nine-Tails and attacked the village. At the same time, he fought the Fourth Hokage, but he wasn't from our Uchiha Clan..." Retsuo only said that much, because the village had yet to announce the deaths of Minato and his wife.

"How strange. The person with the Sharingan wasn't an Uchiha? How do you know he wasn't one of your clansmen?"

"What's so strange about that? Kakashi can use the Sharingan too. There isn't anyone in our Uchiha Clan whose voice, height, and build are the same as the Masked Man's. Otherwise, wouldn't I have recognized him?"

At that point, Retsuo froze. He had suddenly thought of an excellent rumor. "Now that you mention it, his build and movements did look a little like my brother Obito."

"Haha, there's no way it could be Brother Obito attacking the village after being resurrected, right?"

The malice instantly intensified again. It had to be Obito spying on him!

Not only was Retsuo unafraid, he casually hurled out a rolling thunderbolt:

"How could that be?"

"But speaking of height and build, I just remembered something interesting."

"A few days ago, I happened to look through the clan archives and discovered that Brother Obito shared the same birthday as Uchiha Izuna, the younger brother of Asura of the Ninja World, Uchiha Madara, who died in battle."

"Even their height and build are almost identical in the photographs. For a moment, I thought I was looking at my brother."

"Fortunately, Uchiha Madara died decades ago. Otherwise, I might have thought my brother was being kept around to resurrect Izuna."

(Note: According to the official guidebook, the two have exactly the same birthday, height, and weight, as if they had been copied and pasted.)

Tenma looked utterly baffled. "Resurrect? Is there really a jutsu that can resurrect people?"

"There are far too many strange jutsu in the Shinobi World. Who knows? Anyway, if my brother were still alive, I would definitely give him a thorough examination from head to toe to see exactly what was wrong with him."

Heh. The stabbing sensation vanished without a trace.