Roy smiled and patted Itachi's small head, got up slowly, lazily stretched his arms in front of others, and in the next moment, as his body flickered and left trails, leaving afterimages in place... As Itachi's sideburns fluttered slightly, the boy knelt on the veranda, only to feel an emptiness in his arms. In the next glance, his Nissan had already opened the curtain door and walked out, leaving only a blurry silhouette in view.
"Nissan...." Itachi's mature eyes, unlike those of a child, moved slightly, staring blankly at....
Roy stepped with "Great Success Dark Step," slightly adjusting to his body, and at once, the "physical power acceptance" jumped from 80% to 81%....
The boy with black hair draping over his shoulders smiled and said, "Father."
Uchiha Fugaku, just returned from duty, his brows furrowed deeply, still wearing the black tight combat suit, with a green jonin vest, his face stern. Only upon returning home and seeing Roy did his brows relax slightly. He gently nodded at the boy, "You are grown now, some things you should know."
The man emulated Roy's gesture, patting Itachi's head, then rubbed Roy's head and said, "Come with me to the clan gathering today, don't speak, listen carefully, and tell me your thoughts afterward."
"Fugaku, isn't it a bit too early?" The kitchen curtain lifted, revealing a gentle face.
Uchiha Mikoto, wearing an apron and holding a windbreaker printed with a red and white fan pattern, came out, speaking as her hands continued working, directly putting it on Roy, sizing up the boy with satisfaction, "So handsome."
"Mom gave birth to me well."
"Of course." Uchiha Mikoto's eyes squinted, smiling like a blooming flower.
Uchiha Fugaku patted Roy on the shoulder; indeed, when the boy put on the windbreaker with the Uchiha family emblem, he truly looked the part. For a moment, it reminded him of his youthful self, also taken by his father to attend a clan gathering around this age, witnessing the complexity of the adult world for the first time....
"It's not early," said Uchiha Fugaku expressionlessly, "This time the clan suffered heavy casualties, the situation waits for no one, the younger generation needs to stand up."
The battlefield is never just about playing around, it's a real life-and-death struggle,
Roy met Obito a few days ago, having already heard from his big mouth that this clan gathering was not just a meeting but also a memorial... Those Uchiha clan members who died on the battlefield would all be invited to the ancestral Uchiha lands, namely the Naka Shrine, to be worshipped alongside ancestors who died in the Warring States, World War I, World War II, and during missions....
Mikoto, as Fugaku's pillow partner, has long been aware of the current situation due to her intimate marriage; she nodded, allowing Roy to leave with Uchiha Fugaku, timely....
The curtain door opened, revealing Itachi's chubby little face,
Uchiha Mikoto held Itachi's small hand, watching the pair leave, lowered her head, and said to Itachi, "Itachi, tell Daddy and Brother to come back soon, Mom made hamburg steak waiting for them."
Itachi pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment, then reached out and waved to Roy and Uchiha Fugaku....
"Creak~"
The door closed, isolating the inside from the outside, also separating the small home from the large clan and even the village into two worlds.
"Tap... tap..."
On the road to the shrine,
Uchiha Fugaku walked in front,
Roy followed unhurriedly... encountering a flowerbed on the way....
Uchiha Fugaku stopped, "Jin, pick some flowers for your deceased uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters."
Saying this, the man set an example, bending down, personally picking a few flowers and holding them together in his hand....
Roy was in a daze for a moment, suddenly remembered that great-grandfather Maha told him to bring a pot of grandfather Jager's favorite chrysanthemums when offering a tribute, and a phrase unknowingly surfaced in his heart... The joys and sorrows of humans are shared....
Whether "Hunter," "Ghost Hunter," or "Ninja," all are born of flesh and blood,
where there is "joy," there will be "sorrow," where there is "hope," there will be "despair," where there is "goal," there will also be "confusion," "contradictions" yet "unified" in existence.....
The boy bent down, picked a few white chrysanthemums, held them in his hand, and silently mouthed the word "contradiction," feeling vaguely that he seemed to have overlooked something all along... carefully thinking about it, in a haze, just out of reach, then got up again...
As Uchiha Fugaku gradually approached the shrine, he encountered many Uchiha clan members.
"Clan leader..."
"Lord Fugaku..."
"Jin also came.... "
One face after another greeted him and left, among them a few familiar faces... such as Uchiha Tekka, Inabi... Uchiha Hachida... Uchiha Obito... and.....
A thrilled Uchiha Shisui, seen scampering over with little legs.
"Nissan!" Uchiha Shisui, just five years old, was already showing the style of "Body Flicker Shisui" from the original work. In this moment, he hadn't yet appeared as slender; his chubby little face still retained a hint of baby fat. Carrying a sword, he rushed in front of Roy, excitedly raised five fingers, "Five, Nissan!"
"Using the swordsmanship you taught me, I defeated five enemies~"
[Alert: Detected "Potential Disciple"...]
[Potential Disciple: Uchiha Shisui... appreciates the host deeply for saving and teaching him, idolizes the host greatly....]
[Loyalty: Absolute loyalty, can entrust his life, ready to become a full-fledged disciple at any time....]
Roy looked at the young boy in front of him with a smile, ever since he saved Shisui and practiced swordsmanship together, having been pestered persistently and with no other way, he taught him the "Flame Breathing," afterward, the boy improved swiftly, soon mastering the essence of the Breathing Technique... "Full Concentration·Constant"....