On the street, Tōshirō and Itachi walked together, looking at the surrounding buildings and people. "The village is really lively."
Itachi looked around, nodded in agreement, and thought about how the beauty and peace of the village were what he was meant to protect.
"But it's a bit of a shame..." Tōshirō said, dragging out the last syllable meaningfully.
"A shame about what?" Itachi asked.
Tōshirō replied casually, "That nothing has changed."
Even after decades, the village remained unchanged.
Itachi lowered his eyes, thinking about the meaning of his words. He wondered if Tōshirō was expressing dissatisfaction with the village.
A single sentence could have two different meanings.
"No changes" could be interpreted as "stable" in a good way, or "stagnant" in a bad way.
Itachi looked at Tōshirō's face without showing any emotion. Ignoring the fake smiling mask on his face, he thought that Tōshirō was probably referring to the second meaning.
Tōshirō didn't intend to elaborate on the topic and changed the subject. "Speaking of which, do you know where Orochimaru is now?"
Itachi fell silent.
"What, you don't know him?" Tōshirō said with a smile. "Don't tell me he's dead. With his talent, he should be very famous in the village, so there's no way you wouldn't know him."
"It's not that, it's just..." Itachi didn't know how to continue.
"Just... what?" Tōshirō asked.
Itachi subtly looked around. There were people everywhere on the street, so it wasn't a good idea to talk about Orochimaru's defection here.
He planned to take Tōshirō to a secluded place to talk, but a familiar, lazy voice from ahead interrupted his plan.
"Yo, isn't that Itachi? It's rare to see you walking around the streets so openly, and with someone else too..."
Itachi looked ahead. Standing in front of him was a slender young man with white hair, a mask covering his face, and a headband slanted to cover his left eye.
Next to him stood a bushy-eyebrowed young man who was already dressed entirely in green and had a bowl cut, giving off the impression of a watermelon.
Kakashi...
Itachi looked at the masked young man, his eyes showing a hint of seriousness.
Kakashi was a renowned elite Jonin of the village and a member of the ANBU.
His presence here... could it mean that the higher-ups had already taken action and were testing them?
In reality, Itachi was overthinking it. Kakashi and Gai were just passing by.
Itachi had already organized his words in his mind, ready to respond, but his Uncle Tōshirō took action before him.
He walked up and patted Kakashi's shoulder with a familiar demeanor. "Oh? Isn't that Sakumo? It's been a long time."
Kakashi was baffled at being called that.
Hatake Sakumo was his father's name.
He looked very similar to his father, so it wasn't incomprehensible for someone to mistake him for his father.
But it was strange for these words to come out of the mouth of a child who looked to be twelve or thirteen years old, and in such a familiar manner.
Tōshirō looked at Kakashi and said strangely, "Speaking of which, why are you still so young?"
He wasn't so blind as to mistake him, but he said it on purpose for fun and to set up the next topic.
The young man with the bowl cut leaned toward Kakashi. "Kakashi, you know this guy?"
Kakashi shook his head. "I have no idea who he is. Didn't you hear what he called me?"
After that, he looked at Itachi, his eyes asking for an explanation.
Itachi was a bit helpless that such a funny thing happened, thinking that Uncle Tōshirō had probably mistaken Kakashi for his father. He introduced him, "Uchiha Tōshirō... a senior from my clan."
The young man with the bowl cut looked at Tōshirō's youthful face and was baffled. "A senior? Are you kidding me?"
Itachi probably knew what Gai was thinking and explained further, "Don't be fooled by his appearance. He's actually several years older than my father."
"Uchiha Tōshirō...?"
The name sounded familiar to Kakashi. After a moment of thought, he was shocked by what he found. "Wait, are you saying that this is... that person?"
Itachi nodded. "Yes."
Kakashi immediately understood what was going on. No wonder the white-haired boy in front of him had mistaken him for his father.
But hadn't he been dead for many years?
And why did he look so young...?
Kakashi was filled with a sense of mystery.
Tōshirō said strangely, "Sakumo, you've been acting odd since before..."
Itachi explained, "Uncle Tōshirō, this isn't White Fang. This is White Fang's son..."
"White Fang's son?"
"Yes."
Tōshirō pretended to realize. "Oh, no wonder..."
Kakashi said in surprise, "That's really surprising."
Tōshirō asked, "What about your father?"
At the mention of this, Kakashi's expression became a little sad, but he quickly recovered. "My father passed away many years ago..."
Tōshirō apologized. "I'm sorry..."
"Please don't mind it."
"How things have changed..." Tōshirō looked into the distance, his voice filled with emotion.
Kakashi asked curiously, "What exactly happened to you all these years, Tōshirō-senpai...?"
Tōshirō lowered his head and was silent.
Seeing that he was unwilling to talk about it, Kakashi tactfully dropped the subject. He apologized and then left with Gai.
His relationship with Itachi was, at most, a superior-subordinate one. Greeting each other was already good enough.
As for Tōshirō's reappearance, the village's higher-ups would decide what to do; it wasn't for him to worry about.
Itachi looked away subtly, thinking that their every move was probably being monitored now.
The ANBU had disguised themselves as pedestrians and were mixed in with the crowd, so it would be difficult even for him to spot them.
"Speaking of which, how are Jiraiya and Orochimaru doing?"
Perhaps feeling emotional after seeing Sakumo's son, Tōshirō said, "I hope those two don't meet the same fate as Sakumo, or I would be very sad."
"As for Jiraiya-sama, he's currently traveling and doesn't return to the village often. As for Orochimaru..."
The change in address represented a change in attitude and stance.
This was the message Itachi was conveying to Tōshirō.
He was sure that with Tōshirō's perceptiveness, he wouldn't fail to notice it.
Tōshirō quickly picked up on the message. "It seems we need to find a place to have a good talk."
"Yes."
"Where should we go..." Tōshirō pondered for a moment and then found his answer. "I know... follow me."
Itachi followed without much thought, but he was surprised when they arrived at their destination.
This was the cliff where he and Shisui used to hang out.
"I bet you didn't expect this place. In the past, my lover and I used to come here to talk about the future of the village."
Tōshirō's words brought back memories of Itachi's time with Shisui. For a moment, seeing the familiar scene, Itachi lowered his head, and his eyes grew dim.
"What's wrong?" Tōshirō's eyes showed a glimmer of perception.
"Nothing..." Itachi said dismissively, quickly hiding his sadness to prevent the other person from noticing.
In the past, he and Shisui had also talked about the future of the village here.
Tōshirō's inner eyes narrowed slightly. "Now you can tell me about Orochimaru."
Itachi said slowly, "Orochimaru... defected."
Tōshirō pretended to be surprised. "Defected?"
While observing Tōshirō's expression, Itachi said, "Yes."
Tōshirō frowned and asked, "Why did he defect?"
Itachi found Tōshirō to be calmer than he expected and replied, "It seems he was performing human experiments, even on his village companions... The Third Hokage found out, and then he defected."
Tōshirō fell silent.
Itachi asked, "Uncle Tōshirō, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to bring Orochimaru back to the village..." Tōshirō closed his eyes for a moment, his voice filled with determination.
Itachi was concerned. "Orochimaru harmed his companions. Even if you manage to bring him back, it would be difficult for the village to accept him."
"It doesn't matter. I'll take care of it."
"..."
"And if we're talking about harming companions, the higher-ups are the ones who have the least right to say that." Tōshirō said with a sneer.
Itachi looked down at the cliff, thinking of Shisui who had committed suicide by jumping off. He clenched his fists slightly.
Danzō...
(End of Chapter)
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