Thunk. Thunk.
Two shuriken struck two wooden posts cleanly, biting halfway into their centers.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Among everyone present, fewer than a handful could have replicated that performance with such timing and force.
Kuroha inspected the results, clapped his hands lightly, and let out a small sigh.
"Too bad," he said with mild disappointment. "Two didn't hit the center."
The way he said it made it sound as if that outcome had been unexpected.
Uchiha Shin's mouth twitched.This kid's ability to sound smug without trying was already dangerously refined.
Suppressing that thought, Shin said honestly, "Your talent is real. Even without awakening the Sharingan, if you train properly, you could still become a top-tier shinobi. Someone valuable to both the clan and the village."
It wasn't flattery.
Plenty of powerful shinobi had risen without bloodline abilities.
"I agree," Kuroha replied calmly. "I am talented."
Then he tilted his head slightly.
"But becoming a shinobi doesn't interest me."
The training grounds went quiet.
"I don't have big ambitions," Kuroha continued. "I just want my family to stay safe."
That was all.
No stirring rhetoric. No heroic ideals.
Just a boundary he refused to cross.
Uchiha Itachi frowned.
No ambition. No loyalty to the village or the clan.
To him, that kind of mindset was dangerous.
A shinobi without allegiance was a variable that eventually had to be controlled.
"You're short-sighted," Itachi thought coldly. Talent means nothing without purpose.
His gaze hardened, already filing Kuroha away as someone to watch.
Shin, meanwhile, tried again. "Once you're a shinobi, missions pay well."
"More than my father earns?" Kuroha asked without hesitation.
Shin shook his head. "No."
Uchiha Jōan's wealth wasn't something missions could compete with.
"Then I'll inherit the business," Kuroha replied. "Seems efficient."
Silence.
No one disagreed.
Risking your life daily just to earn less than someone sitting at home wasn't exactly compelling logic.
"Then why train at all?" Shin asked, unwilling to drop the matter. "If you don't want to be a shinobi, what's your goal?"
Kuroha met his eyes.
"Because being rich doesn't mean being safe," he said plainly. "I don't want guards protecting me. I want to protect myself."
It was the truth.
There was another reason, too. A quieter one.
Drawing too much attention from the village right now would be inviting scrutiny from people far more dangerous than clan instructors.
Shin exhaled slowly.
He understood, even if he didn't like the answer.
Someone without hunger for advancement rarely went far, no matter their talent.
At best, a competent chūnin.
Shin turned away, deciding not to interfere further.
Other Uchiha children, however, looked at Kuroha with renewed disdain.
Evening arrived.
The training grounds thinned out as the sun dipped low.
Itachi and Sasuke were still practicing, tireless as ever, earning approving glances from the instructors.
Kuroha lay behind a smooth stone slab, half-asleep, letting the fading warmth soak into him.
"Kuroha."
A woman's voice called out.
He jolted upright instantly, movements sharp and practiced.
Shin noticed it.Reflexes like that didn't come from laziness.
A woman approached, graceful and composed.
Senju Akari.
She wore a soft smile, but concern lingered beneath it.
"Kā-san," Kuroha said, jogging over with his backpack bouncing behind him. "Why are you here?"
Akari hadn't planned to come.
But her son's position within the clan, combined with the looks she'd seen thrown his way, had unsettled her.
Seeing the distance others kept from him only hardened her resolve.
"Did you have a hard day?" she asked gently. "Are you tired?"
"I'm fine," Kuroha said immediately.
To Akari, it sounded like restraint rather than reassurance.
"If you don't like training here, you don't have to come," she said softly. "I can take care of you."
"I'll keep coming," Kuroha replied without hesitation.
This place was inconvenient, uncomfortable, and politically suffocating.Which meant it was useful.
Then he inhaled quietly.
"Mother," he said, more serious than before. "I want to ask you something."
Akari blinked. "What is it?"
"I want a taijutsu instructor."
Her eyes widened slightly.
"Taijutsu?"
Kuroha nodded.
With his eyesight, close-range combat simply made sense.
Akari looked at her son for a long moment, then smiled.
"We'll talk about it at home."