Just as Naruto and the other two arrived in Kumogakure, back in Konoha, Itachi made a rare visit home.
He was still wearing a mask, though.
Dressed in a black robe and a red-and-white mask, Itachi had two similarly dressed figures following him.
"Hey, Izumi, is all this really necessary?"
Tenzo quietly sidled up to Izumi and began whispering to her.
"You know that although Itachi doesn't show it, he's still filled with pain over what happened back then."
Izumi looked at the straight-backed figure ahead, as though she could see his inner trembling in his footsteps.
"Besides, your reputation among the Uchiha isn't exactly good."
With that, Izumi rolled her eyes at Tenzo.
Tenzo had played no small part in the great Uchiha purge back then.
And with Wood Release being such an obvious clue, they couldn't exactly make Naruto, who had still been little at the time, take the blame, could they?
So Tenzo's reputation among the Uchiha had naturally plummeted.
"Uh, fair enough."
Although the mask prevented Tenzo from seeing Izumi roll her eyes, he still felt as though she was looking down on him.
Of the three, only Izumi's reputation wouldn't earn her strange looks from the Uchiha.
As the three entered the Uchiha Clan Compound, the surrounding Uchiha clansmen noticed them.
"People from Root?"
"What are they doing here?"
"Hell if I know. Who knows what that man sent them here for?"
"Forget it. It's not like it affects us anyway."
Quite a few voices rose within the compound, but there wasn't much hostility toward the three.
Those with a great deal of hostility had long since died in the great purge a few years ago.
On top of that, the village had relaxed its policies toward the Uchiha considerably in recent years, and the