Konoha Ninja Academy, Class 2-4.
A chūnin instructor stood at the front of the classroom, enthusiastically explaining the practical applications of various basic ninjutsu.
The students below listened with rapt attention, several of them looking as though they wanted to start forming hand seals and trying everything out on the spot.
Uchiha Itachi, naturally, was not among them.
For a prodigy like him, this kind of introductory material was painfully dull.
Still, Itachi was a polite child who respected his teachers, so he at least maintained the appearance of listening carefully.
“Itachi-kun?
Itachi-kun?”
The girl sitting beside him, Uchiha Izumi, gently nudged him with her elbow and lowered her voice.
“Did Riku-sensei come back today?”
“He did.” Itachi glanced toward her and gave a slight nod.
“Did you need something from him, Izumi-san?”
“I was wondering if you could give him this for me.”
Izumi opened her desk and pulled out a pink envelope.
“…?”
Itachi stared at the letter for several seconds before answering calmly, “My uncle isn’t interested in little girls.”
He was not making that up.
Riku had told him exactly that himself.
More importantly, Itachi was still hoping his uncle would steal his mother away from Uchiha Fugaku.
He could hardly allow some little girl to become an obstacle now.
Although, come to think of it…
Wasn’t Uchiha Izumi supposed to like him in the original story?
Had his uncle’s existence somehow made her switch targets?
Itachi felt no jealousy whatsoever.
Romantic matters held very little interest for him in the first place.
He simply found girls remarkably difficult to understand.
“N-No!
It isn’t from me!”
Izumi’s face turned bright red as she waved both hands frantically.
“My mother wrote it!”
“Aunt Hazuki?”
Itachi’s expression changed immediately, his eyes becoming far more serious.
If Izumi herself was merely a pebble in the road, then her mother was an actual mountain.
She was right in the middle of Riku’s preferred age range, had already given birth, and was now a widowed mother.
If a woman like that confessed to his uncle, Itachi could not even think of a convincing reason Riku would reject her.
‘This is bad.’
What should he do?
Destroy the letter in secret?
No.
Someone would eventually find out.
Maybe he could use a Sharingan genjutsu and make Izumi believe the letter had been delivered, only for there to be no response…
Completely unaware that she had just been added to Itachi’s list of potential genjutsu victims, Izumi continued happily.
“Yeah!
Mom is a huge fan of Riku-sensei.
She’s always wanted a personalized autograph from him!”
“A fan?”
Itachi blinked.
“Of course! Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Haven’t you read Ninja Ascendant?”
“I’ve read a little.”
Itachi quietly relaxed.
He had forgotten that, aside from his uncle’s various “forbidden works,” Riku had also written several novels respectable enough to pass Konoha’s publication review and earn him plenty of money.
Ninja Ascendant was one of them.
Others included Tales of the Hidden Villages, Reborn in Konoha, and Shinobi in Another World.
The prose was straightforward and easy to understand, which had made the books extremely popular with ordinary Konoha residents.
“So, Itachi-kun, can you give it to him for me?” Izumi asked again.
“There’s no need.
You can give it directly to me.”
A familiar voice suddenly came from beside them before Itachi could answer.
“Eh?”
Izumi froze.
The pink envelope vanished from her hand.
At the same moment, Riku appeared in the aisle beside their desks as quietly as a ghost, offering her a gentle smile.
“R-Riku-sensei?
How did you…?”
Izumi looked around in disbelief.
None of the other students reacted.
Even the chūnin instructor at the front of the room continued his lecture without so much as glancing toward Riku, as though the young man standing in the middle of the classroom simply did not exist.
“Kyōka Suigetsu?” Itachi asked in surprise.
“When did you use it?”
“The value of Kyōka Suigetsu was never limited to a single moment.” Riku opened the letter and began reading through it.
“Once someone has seen the release, the effect lasts indefinitely.”
“I meant when did everyone here fall under Kyōka Suigetsu?”
“Seven days ago, during Sarutobi Hiruzen’s school-wide speech.”
Riku folded the letter away with a smile.
“Come on.
I’m taking you to meet another colleague.”
“Where?”
“The Land of Earth.”
Riku raised his right hand and lightly tapped the empty air.
Hum—
A massive black opening tore through space.
Izumi stared with her mouth hanging open as the darkness widened before her.
A Garganta.
Without hesitation, Riku and Uchiha Itachi stepped inside.
Click.
The Garganta closed behind them, and the classroom returned to normal as though nothing had happened.
…
Land of Earth, border region.
Orochimaru stood amid a field littered with the mangled remains of Iwagakure shinobi, his long black hair falling over a simple flax-colored robe.
His golden eyes were fixed on the boy standing before him.
“Interesting.”
A hint of surprise appeared on Orochimaru’s face.
“What exactly happened to you?
I’d very much like to hear about it.”
The carnage around them was not Orochimaru’s work.
The boy opposite him had done all of it.
Hot vapor spilled continuously from his mouth with every breath.
“So you’ve already lost your reason?”
Orochimaru made the assessment calmly before shifting his gaze toward the blond woman standing behind the boy.
He knew her.
She had once been his colleague and was one of Root’s finest intelligence operatives.
Yakushi Nonō.
“Even after losing his mind, he’s still protecting you.
You must be very important to him.”
Orochimaru slowly raised both hands, preparing to form a seal.
“If that’s the case, then perhaps—”
Whoosh.
A figure emerged from empty space.
Riku appeared between them with a pleasant smile.
“Helping yourself to someone else’s property is rather rude, Orochimaru-senpai.”
Orochimaru’s brows drew together.
“Who are you?”
“Uchiha Riku, captain of Root’s Second Squad.”
Riku smiled politely.
“I bring greetings from Lord Danzō.”
“An Uchiha who joined Root?”
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow and ran his tongue across his lips.
“How interesting.
So what brings you all the way out here?”
He had never heard the name Uchiha Riku before, but anyone Shimura Danzō trusted enough to make a Root squad captain was unlikely to be ordinary.
“I’m here to recover one of Root’s defective products, Orochimaru-senpai.”
“A defective product?”
An amused smile appeared on Orochimaru’s face.
“So this child is one of Root’s experiments?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a successful experiment.
He’s little more than discarded material.”
Riku remained perfectly courteous.
“So, Orochimaru-senpai, would you mind pretending you never saw us?”
“I’m afraid I must refuse, Riku-kun.”
Orochimaru’s smile widened into something far more sinister.
“This child interests me too.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Riku rested his right hand on the hilt at his waist.
Then he drew.
Shing—
A cold blue gleam flashed from the blade.
Blood sprayed through the air.
Orochimaru’s eyes widened.
For a moment, he simply stood there, stunned.
His golden slit pupils slowly lowered toward his own body.
A deep sword wound stretched from his left shoulder all the way down across his abdomen, cut so deeply that bone was visible beneath the torn flesh.
“You chose the wrong answer, Orochimaru-senpai…”
Thud.
Orochimaru collapsed before he could respond, the light fading from his eyes.