At that time, as night fell and the sun set,
the neon lights of the woodworking district were already shining brightly.
On the far right cliff was the Hokage Rock with the heads of the First, Second, and Third Hokage.
Roy was walking down the street with the two little ones. Perhaps seeing the crowd passing by, Shisui struggled to break free from Roy's grasp, which made him look like a little chick, and painfully followed beside Roy,
struggling towards the Ichiraku Ramen shop....
"Nissan, let me down too." Itachi, lying on Roy's back, saw Shisui get down, and shifted his butt, but... before he could move his little legs, Roy patted him, held up his butt, and settled him back on his back.
"He's as tough as a mule, you don't have to compete with him," Roy said.
Shisui: "....."
Holding one of Roy's hands, he pouted unhappily, clearly, he also trained hard... It's all because Big Brother is biased!
Seeing this, Itachi quietly buried his face in Roy's warm back and, after a while, murmured, "Brother, can I be as strong as you?"
Shisui lifted his head to look,
the sword light and lightning in his small eyes still shimmered as if... they hadn't faded yet....
Just watching Roy, unexpectedly he got flicked on the forehead by him: "Watch the road!"
"Oh~" A large puddle was right in front, Shisui narrowly avoided it and looked at Roy again, seeing him smile slightly, saying, "Does this count as strong?"
Not strong?
"That was Uncle White Fang~" Shisui was speechless.
"And so?"
"So...." Shisui hesitated,
his head heated up, and then he was caught by Roy's large hand and rubbed around... when he came to his senses....
His Nissan had somehow gotten ahead of him, carrying Itachi, steadily walking towards the Ichiraku Ramen shop.
"Wait for me, Nissan..."
"You haven't answered Itachi's question yet~"
"Grumble..." His stomach was growling desperately... all thoughts of "strength" and "White Fang" were instantly thrown to the back of his mind....
Shisui yelled and quickly caught up,
lifting the curtain and sitting beside Roy, turning his head only to be stunned, suddenly seeing....
Obito beaten into a pig's head again.
"Obito brother."
"Hehe, it's Shisui....."
Uchiha Obito seemed to be in a good mood today; he boldly pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket, slapped it on the counter, and told the boss that today's expenses were all on him.
Roy sat next to the young boy, and even without using [En], he could clearly catch his thoughts.
"Won?"
"No,"
Obito scratched the back of his head and gave Roy a shy smile, "But I did give him a good beating!"
Finally felt relieved... Roy listened to Obito's inner voice, his thoughts moved, flashing back... he saw his Sharingan activated, a punch taken to unravel Kakashi's "Substitution Jutsu," hitting his handsome face solidly, and incidentally turning it into a pig's head. Roy nodded approvingly, telling Itachi, "Since your brother Obito said so, you eat a few more bowls, just let yourself eat freely."
Obito: "....."
His smile froze,
carefully saying, "Actually... you don't have to eat that much, just... just eat until full."
Shisui: "...."
Itachi: "...."
Both looked over,
Obito blushed and, closing his eyes, shouted, "Ah, just eat whatever you want, as much as you want!"
"Oh-sí~"
The sound of slurping noodles filled the Ichiraku Ramen shop.....
Waiting for the moon to crawl over the horizon, the last ray of daylight immersed into darkness.....
Obito felt his flattened wallet, with a bitter face seeing Roy leaving with Shisui and Itachi, the excitement from beating up Kakashi fading away completely....
"Obito brother, are you very poor?" On the way home,
Itachi asked innocently.
"Most likely," Shisui said assuredly.
Roy held onto each of them, remembering how the other had just been promoted to Chunin, leveraging the war's convenience to fill the gap in generational tasks, having only completed a few high-level missions in total, being poor was also reasonable.
Seriously addressing Shisui and Itachi, the young man said, "So, remember, being poor is nothing, just don't act like a big-shot."
Come on~ I'm not that far away yet! Obito was about to turn and leave, hearing this, his face turned as dark as ink.
"Hehe....." Roy chuckled long and softly, ignoring him, sent Shisui back home, then went home himself.
The house had already turned on the lights,
by the familiar tatami, Uchiha Fugaku had returned from work, having already finished dinner, waiting for him.
"Itachi, go bathe first." Mikoto took the change of clothes and went with Itachi.
The young man glanced at Roy, then at Fugaku, said nothing, nodded, and in an instant.....
The spacious living room left only the two of them, father and son, sitting silently.
"The Third assigned you to the battlefield."
"Oh~"
"I suspect he has ill intentions."
"Oh~"
"Don't you have any thoughts?" Fugaku frowned at Roy: "As long as you tell me you don't want to go, I'll try to keep you from going."
"How will you try?"
"Or are you suggesting we defy the Hokage's orders?" Roy recalled facing Sarutobi Hiruzen through the crystal ball, expressionless: "The situation is more powerful than an individual. If he wants me to go, I'll go. Besides...."
The young man grasped his teacup, splitting a wisp of "Nen" into "Water," and another into "Wind," weaving them into [Ice Release], instantly cooling the hot tea, then tilting his head back to drink it down in one go, leaving Fugaku behind, heading for a bath.
"Just let Father know, even if he doesn't ask me to go, I want to go, because...."
The young man silently added in his heart: "I can't hold back the urge to kill!"
Only the battlefield can harvest "Life Energy," only the battlefield can harvest "Life Energy"... This was a secret unique to Roy, something that cunning old fox Hiruzen, believing himself to hold all the cards, would never foresee!
"Crack~" The chilled teacup shattered upon touching the warm table....
Fugaku was startled, glaring silently at this "ice," then lifted his gaze, a deep look towards the bathroom, sighing softly.... Kids grow up; they become harder to understand, if he wants to go, then let him go...
An air of fatigue surged, followed by a waft of fragrant wind.....
Uchiha Mikoto came uninvited, voluntarily sat on Fugaku's lap, her pale arms like they had built-in sensors automatically wrapping around Fugaku's neck, her seductive eyes whispering: "While the kids are bathing, let's also......"
Fugaku: "...."
Feigning a smile, testing: "How about, next time?"
Only to be pushed down to the floor....
"Mmm... mmm....." Deep into the night, the moon hung by the tree's crown.
The perfect time for a good sleep.
Washing off the fatigue, Roy lay in his room, gently tucking Itachi in,
The kid had always liked sticking to him; except for the first two years spending time with Mikoto, most of his time was in Roy's arms.
"Snooze~" A slight snore sounded...
Itachi turned over, his little leg draped over Roy, clinging to him like an octopus, his prematurely mature face by moonlight exposure showed a tinge of innocence and youth.
"Nissan...." The boy mumbled in his dream, a thin line of drool spilling from his mouth corner.
Roy just let him hold on, turned his head to look outside at the moon, hanging high just like in the Hunter World, seeming no different, but... Roy always knew, this moon was not that moon, the Hokage World's moon did have aliens, at least...
The Otsutsuki clan descended from Hamura Otsutsuki, and... the Gedo Statue, still up there.
"Byakugan... Tenseigan... Kaguya... Chibaku Tensei....."
Word by word, they burst forth then dissolved, turning into an alluring night, gradually lulling one to sleep....
Shortly after, Roy gently closed his eyes, falling into sleep.....
The familiar sensation of falling ensued, and when he came back to his senses, he had left the Hokage World, returning again to his Sea of Cognition.