(July, year 52 AK)
Two weeks have passed since Yuta told Itachi about Orochimaru's defection.
Yuta came to the academy in the morning as usual, but when he walked through the halls of the academy towards his classroom, he heard something unexpected, a group of students were discussing something loudly.
"Did you hear about it already?" Student A asked loudly.
"What are you talking about?" Student B replied nonchalantly.
"It's about the one of the Sannin, Orochimaru!" Student A exclaimed, "Everyone is talking about it, they say that Orochimaru betrayed the village!"
"No way, how could it be!?" Student C yelled in disbelief.
Student A continued, "They say that Uchiha clan was investigating Orochimaru and they found evidence of his betrayal, they confronted Orochimaru and the fight broke out and Orochimaru was killed!"
"He was killed?!" Student B asked loudly in disbelief, "Who could've possibly defeated Orochimaru, the legendary Sannin? Was it Hokage?"
"No, it wasn't Hokage, as I already said before, it was Uchiha!" Student A said, "If rumors are true, it was the Uchiha clan's patriarch himself who took down Orochimaru!"
"The Uchiha patriarch is that strong?!" Student C exclaimed in disbelief.
'What the hell...' Yuta thought while walking past the group of gossiping students, 'It was still supposed to be four days before Orochimaru's defection! I only told Itachi about it so I could gain his trust, I didn't intent to change the events entirely!'
Yuta walked into the classroom and sat down behind his desk, he was deep in thoughts trying to figure out the situation.
'Orochimaru is dead!? Like hell I would believe that! That immortal cockroach, how can he die that easily? Although Fugaku is supposed to have Mangekyo, so it's not entirely impossible, but still, it is Orochimaru we are talking about, he can't die for good just like that, no way!'
...
'That would be great if he is truly dead, that means there won't be a nasty Reanimation jutsu – Edo Tensei, with all the deceased Kage coming back to life, also there won't be the Konoha Crush invasion of Orochimaru and Sunagakure in the future, and Hiruzen will live a little bit longer...'
...
'No, I can't put my hopes on that, as working theory I will assume that Orochimaru is still alive.'
Today's lessons were already started, and Mamoru was explaining some elementary mathematical problems, but Yuta didn't pay much attention to him, still deep in thoughts. He glanced at Itachi, who was sitting a few desks away from him, Itachi was calm and unbothered, as usual.
'Itachi must've leaked the information to his father, that's why the events changed. The true question is, did he told Fugaku about Orochimaru directly, or did he leak this information in some covert way?'
...
'If it the latter then it's fine, it shouldn't come and bite me in the ass. But if its former...'
'Itachi didn't reveal the source of the intel, if he did, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. But still, Fugaku would be curious of the original source of the information, since Itachi was secretive about it, Fugaku will investigate it on his own if he is not an idiot, there is too much at stake, as the information like that is very critical to the whole village, Fugaku would do his best to uncover where it come from and if there is more of it there!'
...
'I shouldn't approach Itachi on my own for now, I'll wait until he comes to me on his own, that way there shouldn't be any prying eyes on us, he is a capable shinobi already and should be able to detect if there is any surveillance.'
'Still, I should be fine either way, if I'm to be uncovered as the source of information about Orochimaru, everyone would try to capture and interrogate me, not just kill instantly, so I would be able to escape through the time-travel, no biggie!'
With that, Yuta finally relaxed a little and decided to wait and see what would happen next.
During the classes and after the classes ended, Itachi acted as if nothing had happened. Gossips about Orochimaru's betrayal and death was circulating wildly through the whole academy and some students even come and asked Itachi directly if it was true or not that Uchiha patriarch defeated the legendary Sannin, but Itachi acted as if he didn't know anything about it.
Yuta went home after the academy and Itachi didn't approach him today, as well as in the next few days.
The more Yuta thought about Orochimaru in these couple days, the more he believed that Orochimaru was still alive. The legendary immortal cockroach just can't die like that, it would take much more than a one Mangekyo Sharingan user to completely get rid of him, he probably fooled everyone and escaped, that is more likely.
'This changes a significant number of future events as well, for example, since the Orochimaru is assumed dead, there won't be a pursuit of him, there won't be an event of Kakashi and Tenzo coming to the hideout of that smoke-bloodline users and they won't rescue that girl from Orochimaru, it's almost the same as if I killed that girl with my own hands...'
...
'No, this is not right, I can't blame myself for every and each outcome of the changed events, if I'm to do that – I won't be able to do anything at all, I would be hesitating and doubting on each and every step, that won't do.'
...
'It's not me who would kill that girl of the smoke-users clan, it's Orochimaru. If there is some change of events that I caused, that results in someone's dying, someone who is supposed to live in the original story, although it would be partially my fault, I'm not the one who do the killing, and neither do I have the intention for anything bad happening to other people, I shouldn't blame myself.'
'And although my actions are sure would cause some casualties along the way, it is unavoidable, I'm neither an omniscient nor omnipotent, I can't save everyone, neither I have to. I'm not a hero and neither am I an anyone's savior! If I do something to help others, I do so out of my own goodwill and not out of an obligation to do so. And if someone ends up dead because of my actions, so be it...'
'And by the way, didn't Orochimaru slaughter the smoke-users because he was injured by Kakashi during the pursuit? Since there is no pursuit, maybe the smoke-users would survive...'
As Yuta returned home from the academy on one of these days, wondering about when Itachi would finally talk to him, as he was curious how the situation would progress from this point onwards, he prepared a three portions of food, as usual, one for dinner and two for the next day's breakfast and to take to the academy for lunch.
Although he was on a budged, since there was not much spendings after the first month, it was enough money to buy some variety of groceries, like chicken, fish, bread and stuff like that, so his diet of only rice and eggs was improved quite a lot, and he was recently enjoying to cook a variety of meals.
As he had dinner, he went to the training grounds as per usual and started training. He stepped on the water surface of the lake and proceeded slowly walking on it, concentrating on his chakra flow.
...
"Impressive chakra control, especially in your age!" Yuta heard a calm and friendly voice from behind.
Yuta was startled by the sudden intrusion and wobbled on the surface of water on a verge of losing the balance but quickly calmed down and regained his footing and stabilized.
He turned around and saw an older and taller boy, around ten to twelve years old, he was wearing mostly black clothes and a shinobi headband, he looked calm and friendly. The boy stood a couple meters away from him, on the shore of the lake.
'Who the hell is he...' Yuta thought, confused, 'I hate when people sneak up on me like that! I must learn some sensory jutsu or other means to detect ninjas, this is annoying...'
As Yuta turned around and looked at the older boy, the boy said, "You must be Yuta, right? My name is Shisui, nice to meet you."
Hearing the name "Shisui", Yuta almost lost his balance once again, but quickly regained in.
'Damn it! I wanted to get in contact with him, since I think he could be the key figure to resolve the Uchiha clan crisis, but still, it is the worse time he could've chosen to talk to me! I'm already doing my best to just to keep the concentration and not fall into the water, that would be embarrassing.'
'Still, what is Shisui doing here? Damn, I can't even think properly right now with all the concentration on the Water-Walking...'
"I take it that you know about me, right?" Shisui asked after noticing Yuta's reaction to his name.
"Who doesn't?" Yuta calmly replied, "Shunshin no Shisui or Shisui of the Body Flicker, the famous genius of the Uchiha clan."
"Is that so, ha ha." Shisui smiled and laughed a little, "Sorry if I have startled you."
'Why is he here? Did Fugaku send him? No, if that was the case, he won't be talking casually like that, Fugaku shouldn't know about me yet, neither does Hokage, although Shisui, I assume, is an Anbu under Hokage, Hokage won't send an Uchiha after me if he was to learn about me knowing about Orochimaru's betrayal. It must be Itachi who told Shisui about me.'
...
'If that is the case, what will Shisui do next? Although he seems like a smart and clearheaded guy, with decent morals and principles, but still...'
"You are the one who informed Itachi about that matter?" Shisui suddenly asked in a heavy tone, his friendly demeanor was replaced with a calm and focused one.
Once again Yuta was on the verge of losing the balance, startled by the sudden question.
'Damn it! That's why he approached me at this exact moment, he is using my exercise as a lie detector or something, and he formulated his question in such a specific way too, that is impressive I must say!' Yuta thought with a mix of grudge and respect.
"So it was you." Shisui concluded, "And still, you are so calm in this situation, while your secret is exposed, why so, I wonder?"
"It simple really." Yuta replied as he regains the balance, "I trust Itachi, and since you know of my secret, that means Itachi trusts you."
"It sure seems that way." Shisui said, his friendly demeanor returned, "But still, after investigating you and the Orochimaru's matter, I came to conclusion that it is impossible for you to know this information beforehand, there is just simply no way."
"So, you came to ask the same question as Itachi, huh, how did I know about that?"
"No, not really." Shisui replied with a smile and Yuta was so surprised that he again almost lost the balance.
"Huh? How so?" Yuta blurted out.
"As I said before, I investigated you and Orochimaru's matter thoroughly, there is absolutely no way for you to get to know about Orochimaru's betrayal beforehand. Not in a normal and conventional manner, that is. And this is an answer on its own. In other words, I already figured out your secret."
"You did!?" Yuta was struggling for a dear life just to not fall into the water, his mind was in a disarray.
'There is no way he could figure it out, it is absurd! Me being an outsider soul that invaded and took over a body of a kid is one thing, but me being from the other world where the fictional story of this world exists is just unimaginable turn of events entirely!'
"Yes." Shisui calmly replied with a smile, "You must be a seer..."
--- AN ---
If he is a seer, his next title should be a clown, right?
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