“Welcome back.”
Uchiha Mikoto was waiting at the entrance.
Only after seeing Akira and his brothers return did she breathe a sigh of relief.
Even though she knew they were unlikely to encounter any danger within Konoha, she still couldn’t help worrying.
Akira gently pushed Sasuke toward her.
“Mother, I’m going to wash up and head to bed.”
“All right.
Go ahead.”
Itachi stopped at the entrance.
“Mother, where is Father?”
“He hasn’t returned yet.
He’s probably busy.”
Itachi nodded.
“I have to leave the village for a mission tomorrow, so I won’t be eating breakfast.
You don’t need to prepare anything for me.”
“So soon?”
“It’s urgent.”
Itachi explained, “I was originally supposed to leave tonight, but I wanted to spend a little more time at home.”
“Then be careful, Itachi.
Take good care of yourself.”
“I will.”
The next day, Itachi left early in the morning.
Akira went to the training ground alone.
His training had already settled into a routine, so he no longer needed Fugaku to guide him at all times.
Whenever Akira encountered a problem, he could simply ask Fugaku after returning home that evening.
Sasuke had originally wanted to accompany him, but Mikoto stopped him.
Fugaku had also become much busier lately.
Akira could roughly guess the reason.
Fugaku had ignored all of Akira’s previous warnings.
However, after Itachi’s latest visit home, Akira sensed that Fugaku had finally begun to harbor doubts about his eldest son.
“That’s a good thing.”
Akira didn’t want the events of the original story to repeat themselves in this world.
When Itachi came to slaughter them, Fugaku and Mikoto had simply accepted their fate without offering any resistance.
Compared with Itachi, Akira cared far more about Fugaku and Mikoto.
“Four years remain.”
Akira raised his head and stared at the sky.
A single tomoe slowly revolved within each of his eyes.
Outside the village—
“Itachi, you’re finally here.”
Uchiha Shisui smiled upon seeing him.
“How did it feel to return home?
Are Akira and Sasuke doing well?”
Itachi nodded.
“They’re both doing well.”
Memories of his time at home surfaced in Itachi’s mind.
He had always doted upon Sasuke.
His relationship with Akira had once been equally close, but Itachi didn’t know when a barrier had appeared between them.
He had attempted several ways to repair their relationship, but nothing had worked.
However, the dango from the previous night had made Itachi realize that his younger brother still cared about him.
That made him extremely happy.
“That’s good.”
Shisui nodded.
“We’ve already lost some time.
We’ll need to move faster from this point onward, Itachi.”
“We cannot fail this mission.”
“All right.”
Their expressions became serious.
Akira was also thinking about the dango from the previous night.
He had done it deliberately.
Akira knew that Itachi liked dango.
It had been his way of extending an olive branch to Itachi.
He wanted to see whether he could pull Itachi away from his original fate and make him value his family more.
He didn’t want Itachi to make the same choice he had in the original story.
However, Akira was only willing to try and give him this opportunity.
If Itachi still made the same terrible decision as he had in the original story, Akira would regard him as an enemy without the slightest hesitation.
Two months quickly passed.
The day of enrollment at Konoha’s Ninja Academy arrived.
Fugaku, Mikoto, and Sasuke all accompanied Akira.
Many families similar to their group of four stood outside the Academy gates.
“Father, Mother, I can go inside by myself.
You don’t need to accompany me any farther.”
“All right.
Take care of yourself.”
“I will.”
Akira nodded.
“You’ve already told me plenty about the Academy.
I’ll remember everything, so you don’t need to worry.”
After speaking, Akira walked over to Sasuke.
He raised his hand and lightly flicked Sasuke’s forehead.
Sasuke immediately covered it.
“Big Brother, you’re bullying me again.”
“You’ll also enter the Ninja Academy in three years, Sasuke.
I hope you won’t fall too far behind the current me by then.
Otherwise, I’ll be disappointed.”
“Hmph!
I’ll definitely surpass you.”
Akira smiled.
“Father, Mother, I’m going now.”
Akira walked through the gates of the Ninja Academy.
An instructor was waiting at the entrance.
“Name?”
“Uchiha Akira.”
The instructor’s brow shifted slightly.
“All right.
Go wait on the training field over there.
Don’t wander around.
An instructor will come for all of you shortly.”
“Yes.”
Many students enrolling that year had already gathered on the field.
Akira surveyed the area but didn’t recognize any familiar faces.
There were children from prominent shinobi clans such as the Hyūga and Aburame, but they were probably nothing special.
Instead, Akira was the one attracting the most attention.
The first reason was his identity.
The Uchiha clan was still Konoha’s foremost shinobi clan.
The other reason was his appearance.
Half of Akira’s hair was black, while the other half was white.
He was the only person in all of Konoha with such an appearance.
Yet it didn’t make him look ugly.
On the contrary, he was remarkably handsome.