Near midnight, Itachi, having removed his Anbu mask, returned lightly to the Uchiha clan’s compound.
He made little noise.
Not wanting to wake anyone up.
Suddenly!
Whoosh—
The sound of something cutting through the air came from the right. Itachi’s expression didn’t change as he raised his hand and caught a wooden kunai.
It was a wooden kunai.
Itachi threw it back with even greater speed, and a panicked yelp came from the darkness: “Ouch! Ah! Brother! You hit my eye! It hurts! My eye!!”
What?!
Itachi’s face showed concern, and he rushed over to check: “Sasuke, are you okay? I didn’t mean to.”
Smack!
The wooden kunai pressed against Itachi’s throat, and the five-year-old Sasuke wore a triumphant smile: “Heh heh, didn’t expect that! You fell for it!”
“Father said it’s normal for a ninja to use a bit of deceit and lies. If this kunai were iron, you’d be dead by now.”
“Really?” A hand pressed down on Sasuke’s head, rubbing it vigorously.
Itachi’s teasing voice came from behind Sasuke: “You foolish little brother, look carefully, what do you see in front of you?”
Poof—!!!
With a puff of smoke, the “Itachi” in front of Sasuke vanished.
A clone!
Itachi cleared his mind and forced a smile: “You’re still ten years too early to sneak attack me!”
“Hmph! Whatever!” Sasuke pouted, protesting, “Brother bullies kids, using ninjutsu is nothing to be proud of!”
Smack!
Itachi flicked Sasuke’s forehead: “Stupid Sasuke, what should a ninja use if not ninjutsu? Also, it’s almost midnight, why aren’t you asleep?”
Sasuke grinned: “I want you to sleep with me!”
“You! You’re already five! In half a month, you’ll turn six! You’ll start the ninja academy next year, shouldn’t you act more mature?” Itachi sighed.
“If you teach me Uchiha clan ninjutsu, I’ll be mature.”
Sasuke couldn’t hide his true intentions.
Itachi frowned: “Father promised to teach you the Fireball Jutsu after you start the academy. You’re too young to learn ninjutsu now.”
“Can’t it be a year early?” Sasuke pleaded: “Can’t we Uchiha be different?”
“No!” Itachi refused decisively.
Sasuke’s eyes twinkled, and he said, “Then how about teaching me shuriken and kunai throwing?”
Teaching throwing techniques?
“…Alright!” Itachi pinched Sasuke’s cheek: “I’ve been busy lately, but I’ll take a day off tomorrow to teach you! Just tomorrow, though. If you don’t learn in a day, I won’t teach you again.”
“Yay!” Sasuke cheered: “Are we practicing in the compound?”
Itachi thought for a moment.
Tensions between him and the clan were rising, and he usually returned late at night and left early in the morning.
Staying here during the day would certainly cause trouble.
“The outskirts!” Itachi smiled. We’ll have an outdoor camping trip, and I’ll make your favorite rice balls.”
“Okay!!!”
…
The next day, at 5 AM.
Before dawn.
This was Whitebeard’s third day in Konoha.
On the first day, he injured an Anbu ninja, adopted Naruto as his son, injured three Uchiha, confronted the Hokage, ate at Ichiraku Ramen without paying, and trained Naruto.
On the second day, he continued training Naruto, took him for grilled meat without paying, found him two friends, killed a dozen Root ninjas, and nearly shattered a street in Konoha.
On the third day, he woke up from his sleep.
“Gu la la la! Foolish son! Get up! You can’t waste your life in bed, you said you wanted to become Hokage!” Whitebeard’s voice made Naruto sit up in bed like a spring.
“Got it! Old man! I’ll wash up and be right there!” Naruto knew all too well the consequences of sleeping in under his old man’s watch.
He quickly got up and dressed.
Rushing through his washing.
With a messy head of hair, he hurried out.
Suppressing a yawn, he stood straight in front of Whitebeard, looking like a student reluctantly doing military training.
“Gu la la la! Let’s go, back to the usual training spot!”
Whitebeard laughed: “This time, I won’t carry you. Foolish son, you have to run there yourself.”
“Huh?” Naruto was shocked: “Old man, that’s over ten kilometers!”
The straight-line distance wasn’t that far.
But with all the twists and turns in the streets.
It added up.
“What? Want to give up?” Whitebeard narrowed his eyes, ready to give Naruto a punch of love.
“No!” Naruto shivered: “I’ll run now!”
“Gu la la la! That’s my son!”
Whitebeard laughed loudly.
He didn’t care at all if his voice disturbed the neighbors.
Meanwhile.
On the rooftop.
“Ah…” Kakashi, half asleep, looked helplessly at Naruto and Whitebeard’s backs. He yawned and muttered: “Is it necessary to get up so early?”
But he had no choice. His mission was to watch Naruto, not letting him out of sight.
So, he had to pull himself together.
And quickly follow.
…
At the usual training spot, the outskirts of Konoha, Whitebeard had made this his base for training Naruto.
Naruto had run all the way from home without stopping.
When he finally arrived.
He was completely exhausted.
“Huff—huff—huff—” Naruto felt like a panting dog, not caring about his image: “Old, old man, I can’t run anymore. I haven’t eaten anything this morning!”
Naruto thought he might starve to death if he trained without breakfast.
But.
He hadn’t rested for a few seconds before Whitebeard picked him up.
“Gu la la la! Foolish son! How can you unlock your potential if you don’t push yourself?”
Whitebeard grinned: “The special energy in you only comes out when you’re near death. So, you need to stay in that near-death state every day!”
Naruto cried out: “Old man, this will kill me!”
“Gu la la la! Without the determination to die, how can you become Hokage?” Whitebeard, holding Murakumogiri, thrust it at Naruto, making the sore and tired Naruto dodge in panic.
“Get moving!”
“Foolish son!!!”
…
Kakashi, standing on a nearby tree, had black lines on his face: “If I remember correctly, if a Jinchuriki dies, the Tailed Beast dies too. The Nine-Tails in Naruto must not want to die, so it’s helping Naruto recover, right?”
But he also remembered that Tailed Beasts can revive.
He couldn’t understand why the Nine-Tails were helping Naruto recover.
Oh well.
Who knows what a Tailed Beast thinks?
“Hmm?”
Kakashi suddenly looked in another direction, seeing two figures, one big and one small, approaching: “Is that… Itachi? And the other one… must be his brother?”
…
…
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