Sparks burst where shuriken met.
Yun used the rebound to flip, then snapped a kick up toward Itachi's chin.
Crack!
Itachi blocked cleanly and slid back two steps, casually rolling his arm as if warming up.
"Fast reactions," he said. "Decent strength."
Yun tucked his shuriken away and grinned. "You're not even using the Sharingan. If you did, I wouldn't last."
Itachi shook his head. "Shisui said I'm not your match. I don't know why… but Shisui doesn't say things without reason."
They formed the hand seal of reconciliation, ending the spar.
Nearby, their chūnin instructor finally let out the breath he'd been holding.
Two Uchiha prodigies—one rumored to have awakened at five and a half, the other able to trade blows with him without getting crushed.
If he blinked at the wrong moment, someone could get hurt.
Teaching geniuses was exhausting.
"Brother—here."
Yun took the cup Izumi offered and drank two swallows… only to notice she was holding a lunch box too, cheeks burning, eyes darting toward Itachi.
So that's what this is.
The bell rang right on cue.
Ding ding ding…
Yun reached over and simply took Izumi's bento. "Come on. We're eating together."
Izumi looked at Itachi, then at her bento in her brother's hand.
She didn't dare explode in public—so she just glared, furious and helpless.
Yun ignored the glare and turned to two nearby kids.
"Tokuma. Hana. Let's eat together."
Both of them—children from Konoha's established clans—froze for a second.
But Yun's name had already spread from that morning's spar (and Itachi's "genius" aura didn't hurt either), so they quickly nodded.
And it turned out—
Not every kid in this world was like Itachi, brooding over "what a shinobi is" like it was a life-or-death philosophy exam.
A few sentences in, Yun and Izumi—two Uchiha—had already made friends with a Hyūga kid and an Inuzuka kid.
Once you dropped the Uchiha superiority act…
They weren't hard to get along with.
Yun smiled faintly.
After today, the way these two came to school would start reflecting something bigger—how the Hyūga and Inuzuka looked at the Uchiha's place in the village.
Everyone could see the Fourth trusted Shisui.
But the higher-ups—especially the rot left behind from the Second's era, with the Third still sitting there—kept pressing the Uchiha down.
Clan attitudes became political weight.
And politics always became lines in the sand:
An aging, decaying Third—
or a young, sun-bright Fourth?
Tokuma's voice held envy. "Yun, your taijutsu is insane. You fought Itachi to a draw, even after he awakened."
Then he glanced down at the cloth around his forehead and his expression dimmed.
A Hyūga branch-family kid.
A bird in a cage.
Yun replied lightly, "Strength and reaction speed. That's it."
"And Itachi didn't even use his Sharingan. If he did, the result might change."
Yun offered his own bento forward. "Tempura. Want some? It's my favorite."
They both shook their heads—first meeting, still cautious.
Hana spoke up instead. "My mom said the Sharingan enhances dynamic vision even when it's not fully 'used.' You're already really strong."
Yun smiled modestly.
Izumi stared at Hana's cheek markings, curiosity winning over embarrassment. "Your face paint is so pretty… where'd you buy it?"
Hana laughed. "It's not normal paint. It's an Inuzuka thing."
—
Yun listened to their chatter and glanced toward Itachi.
A cluster of girls kept peeking at him but didn't dare approach.
The boys were practically grinding their teeth.
And Itachi sat alone, like an island.
His presence was too cold—don't come near me written all over him.
Yun raised his voice. "Itachi!"
Itachi blinked, as if waking from a trance. When he looked over, Yun caught the flicker of relief in his eyes before it vanished.
"Come eat with us."
Itachi hesitated, scanning the group, then nodded and walked over.
Yun sighed and glanced down at Izumi. "Can you loosen your grip? You're pinching my arm purple. Are you that excited?"
Izumi turned beet red.
Tokuma and Hana laughed, and even Hana looked amused.
(For the record, Hana—the Inuzuka girl—seemed to be the only one in class immune to Itachi's "genius charm.")
Yun patted the step beside him for Itachi to sit.
"Humans are pack animals," Yun said. "Stay alone too long, and you start overthinking."
"Overthink long enough, and you go crazy."
"Then you start killing people."
"Then you get caught and tied up in a cell."
He tilted his head. "So—do you want to go on a killing spree, or do you want to be tied up?"
Itachi stiffened.
After a long pause, he asked seriously, "I understand 'killing spree.' But what is 'ga-ga'?"
Yun stared at him.
"…Never mind."
—
School life was boring for both Yun and Itachi.
So boring that a month later, they started sending Shadow Clones to class.
And honestly—
Yun realized he'd underestimated his own talent.
In the original timeline, when Itachi wiped out the clan at thirteen, Izumi would've been thirteen too.
A thirteen-year-old Uchiha with three tomoe was proof of talent.
"Good at taijutsu" in the records didn't mean she was only good at taijutsu.
It probably just meant nobody ever taught her anything else properly.
Because what kind of Uchiha had three tomoe and still fought like a pure taijutsu specialist?
—
Night fell.
Midnight passed.
October 10.
Yun sat up and pulled a dusty scroll from the hidden compartment under his bed. A year of dust puffed off as he slapped it.
Space–time storage scrolls were expensive.
If he learned the sealing formula, he could copy Sasuke and store things on his wrist.
One day.
"Release."
Smoke dispersed.
At the center of the unfurled scroll lay a pale, severed arm.
Obito's arm.
Grown from First Hokage–type tissue, and honestly far cleaner than Danzō's unstable mess.
Obito could spam Kamui.
Danzō's arm would freak out and sprout into a tree if you looked at it wrong.
A chime sounded inside Yun's mind.
[Information Exchange activated.]
[Rule Replication active.]
[Medium detected.]
[Lockable targets: Senju Hashirama (Netherworld), Uchiha Obito.]
Yun froze.
Two targets?
Hashirama had always been a gamble—because the system never said the "seller" had to be alive.
At this point, Hashirama and Madara were in the Netherworld.
You couldn't "find" the Sage of Six Paths.
But mediums for those two?
Way easier than you'd think.
Still…
Why was Obito selectable too?
Because this arm used to be his?
Because he'd used it for years, and his "signature" was still embedded in it?
That thought made Yun's skin crawl.
He forced his mind back on track.
A good problem to have.
Senju and Uchiha.
Sage-body and Mangekyō.
Which would he choose?
Then he looked at the arm again and.
Wait.
Hashirama's was Hashirama's.
But this wasn't Madara's Rinnegan.
Obito's Mangekyō wasn't Madara's, and Obito's body without Hashirama tissue would've gone blind a long time ago.
Yun stared at the severed arm.
Thought once.
Twice.
Then he pulled out a kunai.
"Pshk—"
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