"First, get yourself a girlfriend.
Second, take a proper look at the Will of Fire.
Consider these your homework. I'll be checking in on your progress from time to time—don't take it lightly."
Uchiha Kai's tone was grave, but Itachi just froze.
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
His lips twitched violently as he rolled his eyes.
"Sensei, seriously…" Itachi rubbed his forehead with exasperation. "Could you at least try to be serious?"
He was utterly speechless.
The Will of Fire—sure, the clan didn't teach it, and he hadn't entered the Academy yet, but the whole village talked about it. Of course he'd heard of it.
At first, he'd been drawn to philosophy, even pondering it on his own.
But after becoming Kai's student and being exposed to deeper ways of thinking, the flaws became obvious.
"Wherever the leaves dance, the fire burns on. The young are nurtured as the old give their lives to protect them."
Beautiful words.
But in this war? It was the fresh graduates—children, really—who were forced to burn first.
Even those who hadn't applied for early graduation were shoved onto the battlefield with barely any training.
His own teacher, Kai, had been one of them.
And the Academy preached about bonds and comradeship, but when Sakumo Hatake sacrificed a mission to save his comrades, the village slandered him until he took his own life.
Suddenly, it was "missions above all."
What a joke.
As his teacher liked to say, "The village holds the right of final interpretation."
Gilded words, rotten core.
The Will of Fire was nothing more than a tool the leadership used to control the masses.
And now, his teacher wanted him to study it?
And girlfriends—how did that count as an assignment?
He simply couldn't understand.
"Itachi, I am serious," Kai said with a sigh. "You're still too naïve."
"The Will of Fire is a good thing. It depends on your perspective.
From below, it looks like poison. From above, it's the glue holding Konoha together.
Even other villages have their own versions. Call it what it is—an ideology."
"You should study it, understand it, dissect it—and then use your own ideas to create something better.
Your dream is world peace, isn't it? Raw power is only the foundation. It can unify the ninja world by force, but that kind of peace is false.
Look at Hashirama Senju. Peace endured while he lived, because no one dared challenge him. The moment he died, war returned.
Why? Because he neglected ideology. He relied only on strength."
"If you want lasting peace, you'll need overwhelming power to sweep away the current leaders and a new ideology that people can truly believe in.
Only then can peace endure."
"Now do you still think studying the Will of Fire is useless?"
Kai looked weary.
The shinobi world was bizarre. They had stumbled upon ideology, but treated it as nothing more than a tool, never exploring its real power. What a waste.
Itachi was stunned. He hadn't expected such depth behind what sounded like a ridiculous assignment.
"…I was wrong, Sensei," he admitted, then hesitated. "But… What about the girlfriend part?"
Yes, that was the part he really didn't get.
Kai rubbed his temples.
"If I don't assign it, you'll never think about it yourself.
Marriage, family—those things change your perspective. They make you more cautious, more complete in your thinking.
Right now, your thoughts seem deep, but they're actually shallow. You're like a towering building with no foundation—grand on the outside, but ready to collapse in the first strong wind."
"I'm helping you lay that foundation."
And he meant it.
Itachi was a prodigy, yes. But precisely because of that, he skipped steps, racing ahead without grounding.
Kai's task was to anchor him.
Of course, he also genuinely hoped Itachi would find a girlfriend. As his teacher, he had to care about his student's growth in every sense.
He wasn't like Fugaku—who only knew how to father children, not raise them.
"…Fine," Itachi muttered, still uncomfortable, but Kai's reasoning had weight. He let it go.
He was about to speak again when Tekka burst into the courtyard, panting.
"Lord Kai—bad news!"
"Our watchers report that Koharu, Homura, and Shimura Danzo spent today secretly visiting the heads of the major clans.
Now all those clan leaders are gathering at the Hokage Building.
I fear… this is aimed at us Uchiha!"
Sweat ran down his face. He was pale, his words stumbling.
He wasn't stupid.
The Hokage's actions screamed of a conspiracy. And the fact that none of the clans refused, that they all went—what else could it mean?
And with today's notice from the Police Force…
The pieces fit.
This was preparation to strike at the Uchiha.
At that very moment, Fugaku himself arrived, rushing in with several elders in tow.
Even Uchiha Setsuna—the one who disliked Kai most—was with them now.
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