Although winter is not over yet, the temperature is neither too cold nor too hot.
Sasuke, who was training, saw Itachi's ninja sword hilt passing by the wall and immediately became energetic.
After clenching his fists to encourage himself, he listened carefully to the footsteps, and when it was time for Weasel to see him, he put his feet lightly on the ground, jumped up like a dolphin out of the water, and completed three consecutive neat turns in the air.
, every time he turned around, he threw two kunai, and then he landed on all fours like a leopard jumping from a tree. While rolling, he reached for his pocket and saw the traces of six shurikens.
Like a blooming flower.
After a series of "thumping" muffled sounds, the result came out - a total of six kunai shots, all hitting the center of the surrounding targets; six shuriken shots, only one missed the target.
It can be said to be Sasuke's best result ever.
He is the kind of kid who performs better when there are people around him.
Sasuke proudly admired the results of his practice, but when he turned around, he wiped the sweat from his head and looked like he had just seen Itachi arrive.
"elder brother!"
He ran towards Itachi with a face begging for praise.
Then Sasuke looked around, and the corners of his tall mouth gradually became smoother, like a birthday child who didn't find the cake in the refrigerator.
"Why are you the only one back, where is Yiyong?"
His "performance" was not just for Itachi to watch alone.
Ever since Itachi set out to call Giyuu back, he had been planning the scene of meeting his twin brother again.
During this time, my mother took her students away on long-term missions, and the four father and son reunited about once a week.
Every time Giyuu went home, cooked meals, helped them wash and dry their clothes, and then continued to practice secretly with Shisui. He didn't live at home at all, so Sasuke had no chance to inquire about Giyuu's training results.
At the garrison, he memorized in the morning to prepare for the exam; at noon, on the roof of the garrison, a jounin from the clan who took turns instructing him to practice shuriken; before going home in the evening, he would go to the lake to practice fire escape, and his father would come over from time to time to demonstrate in person
, it can be said to be a top-notch teaching staff.
When Sasuke thought about it, even if Giyuu was very strong and had great talent in Water Release, there was no way he could surpass him in Shuriken and Fire Release, so he waited here, hoping to let Giyuu see him.
"Daily practice", and then show a surprised expression (such as raising your eyebrows slightly, and then saying "Wow", or showing a nervousness of "I am so different from Sasuke"), and it would be better if you can praise him.
.
But what he didn't expect was that only half of the imagined audience came.
Sasuke felt a little disappointed.
"He went into the house."
Itachi took a handful of Sasuke's hair, which was wet from strenuous exercise, with a familiar tenderness in his eyes.
Even though I don’t want to say it…
But Yiyong, only when he opens his mouth to speak, does he look more like a worrying younger brother.
But Sasuke is always his younger brother, ignorant, innocent and cute.
"Are you disappointed that you didn't meet Yiyong right away?"
"Humph, I don't care about such a trivial matter."
Sasuke puffed up his face and turned to the side, pinching it with his fingers and making a clicking sound, "I'm used to it anyway."
[Damn it! You didn’t come to me immediately!]
But when he thought about not having to eat ramen outside tonight, his mood improved wonderfully, "It's still early, brother, can you practice shuriken with me for a while?"
"Well, what does Sasuke want to learn today?"
"It's what Shisui said, hitting moving objects, such as deflecting shurikens or something like that."
He still remembered that the last time he "fighted" with those three genin, the other party easily neutralized his long-range attack.
"good."
Itachi nodded slightly, "I'll show you first. Just attack me with your shuriken."
"Hey, but-"
Sasuke had 150% confidence in Itachi, but this was a real attack with a real sword.
"It's okay, come on, Sasuke..."
Itachi flashed the kunai that had slipped from his sleeve to his hand at some point, "You know I'll be fine."
"Then I'm coming!"
After Sasuke stepped back four or five meters, a cunning flash suddenly flashed in his eyes. His left hand quickly crossed his chest, but in fact he didn't throw anything. Then he suddenly threw the shuriken in his right hand and rushed forward.
and away from Itachi's chest.
Neither Sasuke nor Uchiha Fugaku, who had just arrived from the entrance to the courtyard and was about to say goodbye to his other two sons, thought that this little trick would have any actual effect on Itachi.
But Itachi was suddenly stunned, unmoved by the attack so close at hand, as if his consciousness had been trapped in another world -
The figure of Sasuke in front of him gradually overlapped with the figure of the single ninjutsu heir that he killed with his own hands last night.
When the child who was one year younger than him saw his grandfather lying on the ground, he also used the same "tactics" as Sasuke and launched a feeble resistance against him.
Even without the Sharingan, Itachi could easily see the trajectory of the shuriken.
However, this time, he didn't react in time. For a moment, he even felt that he didn't want to resist at all.
But this thought only appeared for a moment, then disappeared without a trace, and could no longer be captured...
But when Itachi came to his senses, the shuriken was only one step away from his chest!
At the critical moment, a cracking sound sounded in his ears.
The moment the sharp edge cut open his clothes, a winter cherry branch accurately passed through the iron ring in the center of the shuriken, and then flew to the side with it, pinning heavily on the big tree at the edge of the yard.
On the top, the shuriken that was still spinning kept clanging, and stopped after a few seconds.
Itachi turned around with some fear and saw his father who looked serious, worried, and even a little angry.
"Brother! How are you?!"
Only then did Sasuke's screams begin.
He didn't understand what happened just now and why his brother didn't knock the shuriken away or even dodge it.
However, no one paid attention to him at this time.
Uchiha Fugaku and his most proud eldest son exchanged glances, but hesitated to speak.
Finally, he turned around and said, "Thank you for your hard work during this time, Itachi.
"Since you are very tired, let's go back to the room and rest first. When you wake up tomorrow morning, come and talk to me again."
"Yes." Itachi lowered his head slightly.
"And Sasuke, don't disturb your brother today, got it?"
"I know, I know."
Sasuke saw his father staring at him and quickly nodded in agreement.
Even if his father didn't say anything, he still noticed that something was wrong with his brother.
After his father walked away, Itachi looked at Sasuke who was still a little overwhelmed with an apologetic smile: "I'm sorry, Sasuke, it seems that I won't be able to do it today. I am indeed a little tired."
"We'll talk about this later."
Sasuke came to his side and scanned up and down carefully, but found nothing unusual.
In the end, he could only ask in a worried voice: "Is it because of the ninja mission? Are you injured somewhere?"
"Nothing like that."
"Then that must be what happened."
Sasuke showed a suspicious expression, "Aren't you willing to tell me?"
Itachi stared at his younger brother's childish face and suddenly didn't know how to answer.
"Humph, if Yiyong is like this, so will you."
Sasuke took two steps back gloomily, scraping his soles on the ground, "You have so many secrets anyway, and you won't tell me anything."
Uchiha Itachi stretched out his hand distressedly, but was dodged, and his arm stopped awkwardly in mid-air.
"Okay then, let me ask you a question first. If you can answer it, I will tell you. How about it?"
"Ask as you wish."
Sasuke puffed up his chest and declared very confidently: "I can get perfect marks on the test that the garrison jounin gave me."
"Sasuke, let me ask you..."
Itachi organized his words and asked his question: "If creating a small-scale disaster may prevent a larger-scale disaster... what would you do?"
"..."
Sasuke was stunned for a while, then hesitantly said: "I don't know, there is no answer to this question in the things I carry..."
"Then according to the agreement, I can't tell you anything, Sasuke. Besides, this originally involves the secret of the mission..."
"You are lying, this is not a question I will encounter in the entrance exam!"
Sasuke said loudly and unconvinced.
"Then I hope you will never face such an exam."
Itachi Uchiha shook his head slightly, then stood up with a smile, "As for practicing shuriken..."
He hooked his fingers at Sasuke. The latter's face suddenly turned red as if he remembered something embarrassing, but his body still moved forward coquettishly.
As expected, Itachi's two fingers flicked on Sasuke's forehead gently.
"Forgive me this time, Sasuke. It will be fine next time. I will do it next time.
"Now, go back and take a shower, and then prepare to eat."
"Then I want to wash it with you!"
"good."
There is no problem in agreeing to this.
…
After dinner, Sasuke was full of tea and rice, and leaned against the wall with a bulging belly. All the blood in his brain was transferred to his stomach to promote digestion.
In his words, if he eats more of Giyu's cooking, he can survive until noon tomorrow, so he doesn't have to eat ramen.
Uchiha Mikoto chatted with Itachi about the interesting things in this mission. After Giyuu handed Sasuke water and digestive tablets, he sat quietly and listened.
"You hired ninjas from five major countries at the same time, just to find one person?"
Itachi was amazed at the financial resources of this Fire Nation dignitary, "What a persistent person."
"Who says it isn't?"
Uchiha Mikoto said while drinking tea: "The money for hiring ninjas and the money for treating Lady Tsunade add up to about tens of millions of taels. In the end, it was just for that reason..."
"Then there was no conflict between you and your subordinates when they met Iwagakure?"
Uchiha Mikoto shook her head.
"It's okay. During the previous battle, it seems that the only Uchiha tribesman who fought against Iwagakure was the child who gave his eyes to Kakashi. The rest were on the battlefield fighting Kirigakure, so the two sides met this time.
, showed great restraint.”
"That's it."
Itachi nodded, and then asked: "So... what disease is he treating?"
"He thinks his nose is too ugly."
Mikoto paused, "If it's a disease, it should be over-sensitivity and low self-esteem.
"But judging from the situation when we sent him back to the Fire Capital, both problems should have been solved.
[Just for this kind of thing, let the ninjas of two long-standing hostile countries cooperate? The possible dangers involved...]
Itachi only felt that this world was a bit absurd.
"But mom, why do you call a doctor 'sir'? It doesn't seem to be a big deal."
Sasuke asked. After all, when talking about Naruto at home, they only use the word "Third Generation", which is not respectful.
"Tsunade-sama is more than just a doctor, Sasuke."
Mikoto held out a finger and said, "She is the best medical ninja in the ninja world and the most powerful female ninja. Many people in the clan survived the battlefield thanks to the medical policies she proposed. Compared with these,
Her identity as the granddaughter of the First Hokage seems not worth mentioning."
"I thought mom was the strongest female ninja in the world."
Sasuke looked at his mother in disbelief.
And Yiyong is still wondering whether she will tread water.
"Of course I'm not the strongest, but I'm at least in the top ten in Konoha."
"Then...since she is so powerful, why doesn't she come back to Konoha?"
Sasuke continued to ask.
"Many people can't figure out the reason behind this."
Mikoto shook her head slightly, "But when we left, Tsunade-sama had already continued her journey. If we went all the way south, we were now near the Land of Rain. Tsunade-sama has the ninjutsu that can change the appearance and age.
It will be almost impossible to find her again."
【The Country of Rain?】
Itachi was slightly startled.
That happened to be the target location for his next mission and the last mission before joining ANBU.
It shouldn't be too easy...
At this time, there was a knock on the door, and Giyuu immediately stood up and went to open the door. Unexpectedly, standing outside the door was Fumi Uchiha.
"What's up?"
Giyuu's voice had no warmth, but the Uchiha children who were familiar with him were already used to it.
"Yiyong, have you heard? Brother Yanhuo has become a Jonin."
Uchiha Choi looked very happy.
"He has promised us that he will officially be the leader of me, Gan and Cui. No matter what the elders of the clan decide, he will not change his mind. In other words, we can go outside the village right away.
Let’s go on a more difficult mission.”
It seems that carrying goods around the village, watching dolls, and catching cats for the daimyo lady has almost pushed these three people to their limit.
"So you came to me because..."
Yiyong still didn't understand his purpose.
"It's like this. In order to celebrate this, Brother Yanhuo is going to invite his peers to dinner at Barbeque Q the night after tomorrow. He specially asked me to invite you and Sasuke. When we trained together before, didn't you help us a lot?
?"
"peer?"
Giyu tilted his head, and then said a name: "Where is Shisui?"
"Well, without him..."
"Weasel?"
"There is no such thing..."
Uchiha Fumi's expression gradually stiffened, "Just you and Sasuke..."
Yiyong understood and nodded slightly.
"I'll ask Sasuke for you."
"What about you?" Fumi Uchiha asked hurriedly when he saw that he was about to close the door.
"I have something important."
With a clang, the door closed, leaving Fumi Uchiha staring outside.
The day after tomorrow was the day that Yiyong practiced Water Breathing and Changzhong for a whole year. It was also the day when he and Shisui made an appointment to find out how to leave the village for a few days without being discovered by his family.