Four years passed in the blink of an eye.
The Nine-Tails' Rampage in Year 48 of Konoha had been like a huge rock crashing into water. The surface seemed to have settled, but the undercurrents had never stopped.
The higher-ups kept the Uchiha under ever tighter surveillance. The Anbu watching their compound changed again and again, but the posts were never left empty.
The village looked peaceful on the surface, but its distrust of the Uchiha seemed to have taken root, growing deeper and deeper.
It was now Year 52 of Konoha.
Zongyan was six.
He had reached the age to enter the Ninja Academy.
The weather was pleasant that morning. Sunlight slanted in through the courtyard, warm and gentle, dispelling some of the gloom inside the house.
Mikoto bustled around the kitchen, setting out a tableful of plain rice porridge and side dishes. Their aroma drifted into his nose with the rising steam.
"Zongyan, come eat."
Mikoto glanced back at her son, who was still standing by the window in a daze. Her voice was soft but urgent. "Today is your enrollment day. Don't be late."
Zongyan snapped out of his reverie amid the morning light outside the window and walked over to sit at the table. He glanced across it-one seat was empty.
It was Uchiha Itachi's seat.
Four years ago, Uchiha Itachi had enrolled at six and graduated in just one year, as fast as if he had been using cheats.
A once-in-a-century genius, acknowledged by the entire village. No one could compare.
After graduation, he had naturally joined the Anbu, becoming the Third's informant within the Uchiha clan-at least, that was how Konoha High Command saw Uchiha Itachi.
But only his father and Zongyan knew that Uchiha Itachi's heart was not with Konoha at all.
The words Zongyan had spoken by the window on the night of the Nine-Tails' Rampage four years ago, clutching Uchiha Itachi's fingers, had taken deep root in his young heart.
The clan came first, and family mattered most-those words had become Uchiha Itachi's guiding principle from that moment on. Nothing he weathered in the Anbu could shake it in the slightest.
So where did that leave Uchiha Itachi now?
On the surface, he was the higher-ups' loyal dog and an outstanding Anbu employee, regularly submitting reports filled with bullshit about how many vegetables the clan had planted that day or whose family would have a baby the next, without arousing the slightest suspicion.
Behind the scenes?
Whenever the higher-ups made even the slightest move to plan something against the Uchiha, the news reached Fugaku's desk that very night.
A double agent.
Outwardly, he belonged to Konoha. Deep down, he belonged to the Uchiha.
Both sides thought he was one of their own, but the side that truly called the shots bore the name Uchiha.
Sometimes, Zongyan thought that job would wear anyone out.
But Uchiha Itachi did it without batting an eye, as though he had been born for it.
"Your older brother left for the Anbu before dawn," Mikoto said as she ladled him more porridge, a smile in her eyes. "He said he wanted to take you to school himself today, so he went early to finish his duties."
She had barely finished speaking when footsteps sounded outside in the corridor.
Light and crisp, like a cat padding across wooden floorboards.
And who else could it be but his older brother, Uchiha Itachi?
Dressed in the Anbu's standard black uniform, his mask hanging beside his neck, the ten-year-old boy had already begun to grow tall and lean. His features were cool, and simply standing there, he carried a sharpness that kept people at a distance.
But the moment his gaze landed on Zongyan, most of that chill melted away like ice meeting hot water.
"Finished eating?" Uchiha Itachi walked over to the table, his voice much gentler. "It's about time. I'll take you to school."
Mikoto looked at him with a little heartache. "You were on duty all night, then rushed back without even resting."
"It's fine."
Uchiha Itachi shook his head, his eyes never leaving Zongyan. "It's his first day. I'll feel better taking him myself."
Zongyan lowered his head and shoveled down his last two mouthfuls of porridge, then stood and straightened the hem of his clothes. "I'm done."
The brothers left the house, one behind the other.
People came and went along Konoha's streets in the early morning. Sunlight spilled over the ground, and the cries of roadside vendors mingled with children's laughter and the light footsteps of hurrying ninja. It was a picture of peace.
That peace was for show-the real Konoha had never lowered its blade against the Uchiha.
They had barely gone any distance before those stares latched onto them.
Passersby spotted the fan-shaped clan crests on their backs and moved aside to whisper among themselves.
Zongyan had had sharp hearing since childhood. Although they deliberately kept their voices low, snatches of their words still reached his ears:
"The Uchiha again..."
"The little one's one too, right? Starting school this year?"
"Isn't that Uchiha Itachi beside him? I heard he joined the Anbu. He's already caught the higher-ups' attention at such a young age..."
"So what if he has? That whole Uchiha clan-who knows what goes on in their heads..."
Their voices were quiet, but just loud enough to hear.
As though they had deliberately supplied some background noise.
Zongyan walked on expressionlessly, without a ripple in his heart.
He had known it would be like this-from the night of the Nine-Tails' Rampage onward, Konoha's prejudice against the Uchiha had only deepened by the day and worsened by the year.
No one would insult you to your face, but that insidious distancing and exclusion felt even more repulsive than insults.
Uchiha Itachi kept an unhurried pace, shifting slightly to shield Zongyan on the side nearest the wall. Like a small, silent wall himself, he held those stares and whispers a little farther away.
"Don't mind them."
He spoke with his head lowered, his voice so quiet that only Zongyan could hear.
Zongyan looked up at him. The ten-year-old Uchiha Itachi's profile was taut, and he walked steadily forward as though he had heard nothing.
...Bro, that sounded like a line from a script.
Zongyan silently made the quip to himself, but did not say it aloud.
He knew Uchiha Itachi did mind. He had simply grown used to it long ago.
In a place like the Anbu, what hadn't he heard?
What scornful looks hadn't he endured?
After four years of that grinding, even the softest heart would have grown calluses.
But Zongyan could still feel that Uchiha Itachi's steps had quickened just a little, as though he wanted to get him off that street sooner.
The village was neither particularly large nor particularly small, and they soon reached the Ninja Academy's gates.
The crowd bustled with chattering six-year-olds and the parents seeing them off, all packed together in a lively throng.
But as soon as the brothers approached, half that liveliness faded, as though invisible ripples were spreading outward from beneath their feet.
Countless eyes turned toward them, settling on those two scarlet fan-shaped clan crests. Then, in unspoken agreement, everyone stepped half a pace back, leaving an empty path.
Standing at the entrance to the path they had "cleared," Zongyan did not feel the slightest discomfort. They were Uchiha, after all. It was only normal for people to fear them a little.
"Go on in and register."
Uchiha Itachi's voice came from beside him, just like on that night four years ago, except that their speaking roles had reversed. "You have me behind you, and Father, and the entire Uchiha clan. Don't take anything these people say to heart."
Zongyan nodded and headed inside.
After a few steps, he glanced back-Uchiha Itachi was still standing at the school gates, his gaze following him.
...All right, Uchiha Sasuke's first day of school. Clocked in and checked in.
Zongyan supplied his own voice-over in his head, then turned and stepped through the Ninja Academy's gates.
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