In the training ground of the Fugaku family, Itachi covered his eyes with a black cloth.
He stood in the center, holding a few kunai in each hand.
Targets were placed in different directions and positions around the training ground.
At a certain moment, Itachi suddenly jumped up, turned his body in midair, and spun rapidly.
"Swish, swish, swish!"
All the kunai in Itachi's hands flew out at once.
"Thunk, thunk, thunk!"
Every single kunai struck exactly in the center of the targets.
"Amazing!"
At different entrances to the training ground, Sasuke and Naruto hid, watching the display.
They had never seen such throwing technique before.
Since childhood, Sasuke had constantly heard that his brother was a genius of the Uchiha clan.
However, his brother wasn't the only one who received such praise.
There was another person whose name, like his brother's, was respected throughout the clan.
Uchiha Shisui.
In the training ground, Itachi removed the black cloth covering his eyes, then glanced around.
"Haha, not bad. You truly are the genius who's become famous in the clan recently."
A loud laugh echoed across the training ground, but even Itachi couldn't detect where the sound came from.
Itachi was startled, and then he realized that someone was already standing in front of him, smiling. He hadn't sensed the person's arrival at all.
After seeing who it was, Itachi's eyes widened in surprise. "Senior Shisui! Why are you here?"
"Let's not talk about that for now."
Shisui smiled, then glanced toward the places where Sasuke and Naruto were hiding.
He turned his eyes to Itachi and said, "Those two boys—one is your younger brother Sasuke, and the other is Hogake's son Naruto, right?"
"Yes!"
Itachi nodded. With his perception, of course he knew where Sasuke and Naruto were hiding.
Shisui reached out and patted Itachi on the shoulder.
"I heard you awakened your Sharingan during a mission a few days ago?"
"Yes," Itachi replied.
It was rare in Uchiha history to awaken the Sharingan at his age.
But for Itachi, this wasn't something to be happy about.
Because the awakening of the Sharingan was always accompanied by tragedy and sorrow.
Shisui understood Itachi's feelings perfectly.
The more powerful the Sharingan, the more its owner would lose.
"Is there something you need?" Itachi asked. He knew that Shisui was an Anbu who reported directly to the Hokage, so he wouldn't appear before him in Anbu attire without good reason.
Shisui immediately became serious. "Of course. I'm here to convey orders from the Hokage."
But he didn't continue, because Sasuke and Naruto were still nearby.
Itachi understood. The two exchanged glances, then moved simultaneously and vanished from sight.
"Where did they go?" Naruto exclaimed in surprise, emerging from his hiding place.
"Why are you here?" Hearing Naruto's movement, Sasuke also revealed himself and looked suspiciously at him.
Naruto's expression suddenly changed, and then he smiled awkwardly. "Ah, I was just taking a walk."
As he said this, he backed away toward the house.
Sasuke didn't have time to pay attention to him.
"Was that man Uchiha Shisui?" He looked in the direction where Itachi and Shisui had gone and murmured softly.
Sasuke had once asked his brother who was the greater genius—him or Uchiha Shisui.
Itachi's answer had shocked Sasuke deeply.
"Senior Shisui is a genius second only to the Fourth Hokage among all the people I've met. I am far behind him."
In Sasuke's heart, his brother was the perfect genius.
And yet Uchiha Shisui and the Fourth Hokage were evaluated so highly by his brother.
He didn't know Shisui, but he often saw the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
That man was Naruto's father.
From his appearance, Minato didn't look like a powerful ninja.
But from conversations with other ninjas in the clan, Sasuke had learned that Minato was the biggest contributor to Konoha's victory in the previous war.
In the other four great nations, there was a standing order:
"No matter how many ninjas you have, abandon the mission immediately and flee if you encounter Konoha's Yellow Flash."
Although Sasuke couldn't fully understand what this meant yet, it was clear that a man with such strength and reputation seemed nothing like Naruto's father.
Because in Naruto, he couldn't see any talent inherited from his father.
The gap between father and son was too great.
In the Hokage's office.
"Lord Hokage, I've brought him," Shisui said as he led Itachi into the office. Minato stood up from his seat.
"Have you talked about it?" Minato didn't immediately mention the mission to the two.
He looked into Itachi's eyes and saw that sadness still lingered there.
That look was very similar to Kakashi's back then.
"Yes." Shisui nodded, exchanging a glance with Minato.
During his previous mission, Itachi's team had encountered a ninja squad from the Hidden Cloud Village.
The two sides fought, and the battle ended with one ninja killed on each side.
Although these were relatively peaceful times, the ninja powers still clashed with each other.
This particular conflict had been beyond the expectations of both sides.
Konoha might be strong after the Third Ninja World War, but this was a conflict caused by overlapping missions.
Minato changed the subject. He looked at Itachi and said, "Come to think of it, I haven't trained you in a long time, not since you became a ninja."
"That's right," Itachi nodded.
During his two years as a student at the Ninja Academy, Minato had occasionally given him guidance.
Although he hadn't taught him any ninjutsu, Itachi knew that what Minato had taught him was more valuable than powerful techniques.
"Not just you, but people around you as well. He is my student too," Minato smiled.
Itachi had been mentored by Shisui from a very young age. From Shisui, he had learned that Minato had served as his jonin instructor for a year.
The signature technique that Shisui used most often had been taught to him by Minato.
So, if Minato was a hero in the eyes of the current generation of Konoha ninjas, in the eyes of the next generation like Itachi, the man standing before him was nothing short of a legend!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at p@treon.com/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~