A chuunibyou-style voice echoed across the schoolyard. On one side, Itachi continued practicing his shuriken throws, completely ignoring it.
The speaker, Kamano, stood frozen as imaginary crows seemed to fly overhead in the awkward silence.
"Did you not hear me, Uchiha Itachi?"
Seeing Kamano and his two lackeys charge over, Itachi reluctantly lowered his shuriken. "If this is because of the sparring match earlier and you're looking to redeem yourself, I don't see any point in it."
Kamano pointed at Itachi. "What, are you scared? Coward!"
Itachi sighed and turned to leave. "Fighting you holds no meaning for me. In other words, I have no interest in you."
Behind him, Kamano laughed loudly and began bragging to his lackeys, pointing at Itachi with exaggerated gestures.
In the distance, Uchiha Yun was playing with a leaf and smirked. "Itachi's still the same, always with that deadpan face, like everyone in the world owes him a fortune."
Beside him, Hyuga Tokuma chuckled. "I've always been curious, between you and Itachi, who's stronger?"
Yun glanced at Inuzuka Hana, who was also looking at him, yawned, and replied: "What's the point of being stronger? It's just the ninja academy. Being number one only brings trouble."
Just as he finished speaking, they noticed Kamano and his crew escorting Itachi back in a noisy procession.
"Make way for Lord Itachi!"
"Our Lord Itachi just beat up an upperclassman, Pankuro, move aside!"
"Step back, Lord Itachi is coming through!"
…
Watching the spectacle, Yun noticed Itachi's clenched fists trembling behind the fanfare. The boy was clearly one step away from social death.
"See what I mean?"
Tokuma and Hana exchanged glances and nodded vigorously.
If he had to go through that every day just to enter or leave school, Itachi really would die of embarrassment.
Watching the whole farce unfold, Yun pocketed the leaf he'd sliced in half and pulled out a fresh one.
Wind Release chakra nature transformation wasn't nearly as easy to train as in the original story.
From experience, Yun had to admit, Naruto and Konohamaru were both legitimate geniuses.
Chakra spinning irregularly and forming a sphere, then adding Wind Release nature change to create Wind Style: Rasengan, and finally shape transformation to turn it into the Rasenshuriken.
That entire sequence of jutsu, low to high level, was all no-hand-sign techniques. Every single one suited the Flying Thunder God style perfectly.
Before he could combine Water and Earth chakra to form the Wood Release kekkei genkai, his clone Ku would focus on developing combat with Minato's fighting style.
While Yun himself trained in Wind Release nature transformation, his clone Ku would use shadow clones to maximize training efficiency on Water and Earth Release.
This would drastically speed up his Wood Release progression, until the day came when he could clap his hands and summon Deep Forest Emergence or Several Thousand Hands.
Who knows how long it would take before Danzo is isolated again? After all that effort, just taking down an Aburame Torune wasn't quite worth it.
At the Three-Colored Dango Shop, Yun picked up a skewer and frowned. "Shisui, you've been a jōnin for years, and you're treating us to… dango?"
He glanced at Itachi, who still seemed to be savoring the taste. The guy only smiled when eating sweets, it seemed.
"Who would've thought the so-called Uchiha prodigy, Itachi actually likes sweets? If the girls at school found out, could your persona survive that?"
As soon as Yun finished speaking, Itachi froze with a dango halfway to his mouth, looking like he'd been struck hard.
Shisui came to the rescue. "Itachi's only seven. Liking sweets is totally normal. But Yun, you've eaten three sticks already, should you be the one saying this?"
Yun fired back. "Not like there's anything else! Grilled meat's more my thing. I can eat way more of that."
At that moment, Itachi put down his skewer and looked at Shisui."I want to apply for early graduation."
'Early graduation?'
Shisui blinked, stunned. Yun, on the other hand, burst out laughing. "If I were him, I'd graduate early, too. Stay any longer, and he'll socially die at least a hundred times a day."
Shisui asked, puzzled, "Did something happen?"
Itachi didn't answer, so Yun filled in the gaps. "Every day, he has juniors clearing the way like a parade, 'Lord Itachi, Itachi-sama'… hahaha. Honestly, if it were me, I'd Earth-Release myself straight into the ground."
Itachi then said, "I don't feel like I'm learning anything new at the academy. Graduating seems like the best option."
The conversation grew quiet. Shisui seemed to be carefully weighing Itachi's reasoning.
After a moment, Yun let out a sigh, remembering his lovesick little sister at home.
He spoke: "The academy doesn't just teach ninjutsu…"
Seeing them looking at him, and with Shisui still silent, Yun continued: "Once you become a ninja, the time to relax will only decrease. Your years in the academy will be your most peaceful."
"The bonds you form with peers also develop during these years. As for the Uchiha always feeling out of place… that's just what happens when you're too talented."
"You're always tense, and maybe the only time you let your guard down is when you're home with your little brother. What you need is to relax. You're constantly thinking about life and death, revenge, your clan, and the village. But at only seven years old, you can't possibly figure it all out."
"Itachi, if you ever turn into a total nutcase, I'll be the first one to kill you!"
The final line made the atmosphere drop to freezing.
But both Shisui and Itachi could see from Yun's eyes, he meant every word. And he was absolutely confident in it.
Itachi didn't doubt him. Instead, he thought for a moment and asked:
"Even though you haven't awakened your Sharingan yet, every time we spar, I can tell how relaxed you are. Why is that?"
Even Shisui looked curious now.
Yun didn't answer directly. Instead, he turned to Shisui and said: "If you want overwhelming power… you'll have to wait for me a little longer."
Shisui's expression turned serious.
'Overwhelming power?'
If Yun could reach that level and side with the Fourth Hokage… maybe the Uchiha and the village could find peace. He could afford to wait.
Itachi also fell silent, alert now. These two were clearly hiding something from him.
As night fell and Yun returned home, he found Izumi at the door, cheeks puffed in frustration.
"Waiting for me? That's unusually well-behaved."
He reached out and poked her puffed-up cheek. That instantly broke her facade.
"You went off with Itachi after class without waiting for me! I wanted to come too!"
Yun replied casually: "Shisui had something to talk to us about, so we went to the dango shop. Here, brought you some."
Seeing her favorite snack, Izumi immediately forgot her grumbling and started munching happily.
"Make sure to save some for Mom."