Chapter 28: Uchiha's Tragedy (Part 2)

backyard.

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 sound of footsteps and set the time when Itachi could see him. He placed his feet lightly on the ground and jumped up like a dolphin out of the water. He 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 the tree. While rolling, he reached for his pocket and saw the traces of six shurikens. Like a blooming flower.

After a series of muffled sounds, the result came out - a total of six kunai shots, all hitting the center of the surrounding targets; only one of the six shuriken shots missed the target.

It can be said to be Sasuke's best result ever.

He's the kind of kid who performs better when people are around him.

Sasuke proudly admired the results of his practice, but when he turned around, he wiped the sweat from his head and looked as if 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.

Ever since Itachi set out to call Giyuu back, he had been planning the scene of meeting his twin brother again.

During this time, the mother took her students 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 books in the morning to prepare for the exam; at noon, on the roof of the garrison, a jounin from the clan who took turns taught him how 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 escape, 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 the 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 inside."

Itachi pulled out a handful of Sasuke's hair that 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, he becomes 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 Jiyong 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."

【hateful! 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, like deflecting shurikens."

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 hint of cunning suddenly flashed in his eyes. His left hand quickly moved across his chest, but in fact he didn't throw anything. Then he suddenly threw the shuriken in his right hand and went straight towards 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 two other 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 heir to the single-generation ninjutsu 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 "tactic" 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 failed to 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 his clothes, a winter cherry branch accurately passed through the iron ring in the center of the shuriken, then flew to the side with it and stabbed heavily into the big tree at the edge of the yard. The shuriken was still spinning and clanging non-stop, and it 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?!"

Sasuke's scream rang out.

He didn't understand what happened just now, 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 exchanged glances with his most proud eldest son, and he was hesitant to speak.

Finally, he turned his head and said, "You have worked hard during this period, Itachi.

"Since you are very tired, go back to your room and rest. Come and talk to me when you wake up tomorrow morning. "

"Yes. "Itachi lowered his head slightly.

"And Sasuke, don't bother your brother today, got it?"

"Got it."

Sasuke saw his father staring at him and nodded in agreement.

Even if his father didn't say it, he noticed that his brother's condition was very wrong.

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 can't do it today, I'm really a little tired."

"Let's talk about this later."

Sasuke came to him 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, so you are injured?"

"No, that's not the case."

"Then something must have happened anyway."

Sasuke showed a suspicious expression, "Don't you want to tell me?"

Itachi stared at his brother's childish face and suddenly didn't know how to answer.

"Humph, Yiyong is like this, and you are like this too. "

Sasuke took two steps back in a sullen manner, his soles rubbing against the ground, "Anyway, you have so many secrets, and you won't tell me anything."

Uchiha Itachi reached out his hand distressedly, but was dodged, and his arm stopped awkwardly in mid-air.

"Well, then I'll ask you a question first, and if you can answer it, I'll tell you, how about that?"

"Any question you want to ask."

Sasuke straightened his chest and declared confidently: "I can get full marks on the test paper given to me by the guard jonin."

"Sasuke, then I'll ask you..."

Itachi organized his words and said his question: "If creating a small-scale disaster may prevent a larger-scale disaster from happening...what would you do?"

"..."

Sasuke was stunned for a long time before hesitating and saying: "I don't know, there is no answer to this question in what I memorized..."

"Then according to the agreement, I can't tell you anything, Sasuke. Besides, this originally involves the secrets of the mission..."

"You're cheating, this is not a question I will encounter in my entrance exam! "

Sasuke said loudly in dissatisfaction.

"Then I hope you will never encounter such an exam."

Uchiha Itachi shook his head gently, then stood up with a smile, "As for practicing shuriken..."

He hooked his finger at Sasuke, who seemed to remember something embarrassing, his face suddenly turned red, but his body still moved forward shyly.

As expected, Itachi flicked two fingers on Sasuke's forehead.

"Forgive me this time, Sasuke, next time, I will definitely do it next time.

"Now, go back and take a shower, and then prepare for dinner."

"Then I want to take a shower with you!"

"Okay."

There is no problem in agreeing to this.

...

After dinner, Sasuke was full and leaned against the wall with a bulging belly. The blood in his brain was transferred to the stomach to promote digestion.

In his words, eating more of the food made by Yiyong can last until tomorrow noon, so he doesn't have to eat ramen.

Uchiha Mikoto talked to Itachi about the interesting things in this mission. After Giyuu handed Sasuke some water and digestive tablets, he sat there and listened quietly.

"You hired ninjas from the five major countries at the same time, just to find one person?"

Itachi was amazed at the financial resources of this powerful man from the Land of Fire, "What a persistent person."

"Who said it wasn't."

Uchiha Mikoto said while drinking tea: "The money for hiring ninjas plus the money for Tsunade-sama's treatment, the total is probably tens of millions of taels. In the end, just for that reason..."

"Then when you and your subordinates met Iwagakure, did you have no conflict?"

Uchiha Mikoto shook her head.

"It's okay. In the previous battle, the only Uchiha fighting Iwagakure was the child who gave his eyes to Kakashi. The rest were on the battlefield fighting Kirigakure, so both sides were very restrained when they met this time."

"Is that so."

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 oversensitivity and inferiority complex.

"But judging from the situation when we sent him back to the Fire City, both problems should have been solved.

[Just for this kind of thing, let the ninjas of two countries that have been hostile for a long time cooperate? The possible dangers involved...]

Itachi only felt that this world was a little absurd.

"But mom, why do you call a doctor 'sir'? It doesn't seem to be a big deal."

Sasuke questioned. After all, when talking about Naruto at home, they would just use the word "Third Generation" with little respect.

"Tsunade-sama is more than just a doctor, Sasuke."

Mikoto held out a finger, "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, The identity of the granddaughter of the First Hokage is 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 he's not the strongest, but he's at least among 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 are now near the Land of Rain. Tsunade-sama has the ninjutsu that can change the appearance and age. It’s 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 Yiyong immediately got 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.

"Giyu, 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. 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 the purpose of his visit.

"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..."

"Itachi?"

"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?" Uchiha Fumi saw that he was about to close the door. asked hurriedly.

"I have something important."

With a clang, the door closed, leaving only Uchiha Fumi staring outside.

The day after tomorrow was the day that Yiyong practiced Water Breathing and Changzhong for a whole year. It was also the time when he and Shisui made an appointment to meet and find out how to leave the village for a few days without being discovered by his family.