“Itachi, you’re awake!”
Seiha asked softly.
Fugaku walked over at that moment.
When he saw the two tomoe spinning in Itachi’s eyes, he froze for an instant before becoming visibly excited.
“Itachi, your eyes…
Hahahaha!
Excellent, Itachi!
As expected of my son!”
At that moment, Fugaku could no longer contain his joy and burst into unrestrained laughter.
The surprises his two sons had given him were simply overwhelming.
After receiving his father’s praise, Itachi—who had been feeling somewhat dejected—finally revealed a faint smile on his young face.
However, when he looked at his silent elder brother, his little heart suddenly tightened.
“Big Brother…
What’s wrong?”
Itachi asked uncertainly.
Could his brother be unhappy because Father had praised him?
“Itachi, it seems I haven’t shown you enough care lately.”
Seiha spoke with a trace of melancholy.
He then looked gently into Itachi’s eyes.
“Itachi, I’m sorry.
Something like this will never happen again.”
Seiha’s voice grew increasingly gentle.
Itachi had still been wondering whether his father’s praise had upset his brother.
After all, when he had heard Father say that his brother was already a powerful shinobi, he too had felt a momentary pang of disappointment.
“Big Brother, why are you saying that?”
Itachi asked, his gaze shifting uneasily.
Seiha reached out and stroked Itachi’s head, his voice becoming exceptionally grave.
“You’re only six years old.
You haven’t experienced the cruelty of war, nor have you lost anyone precious to you.
Just what kind of emotional shock could make a child as young as you awaken a two-tomoe Sharingan?”
Seiha sighed softly.
The hand stroking Itachi’s head paused for a moment.
“I’ve always known that you were an exceptionally intelligent child, Itachi.
But it is precisely that intelligence that has made you understand responsibilities no child your age should have to bear.”
“Itachi, don’t shoulder everything alone.
The village and the clan still have Father—and you still have me.”
He sighed again.
“What kind of burden could have oppressed you so deeply that you awakened a two-tomoe Sharingan, while I remained completely unaware?”
A bitter smile appeared on Seiha’s lips.
“Itachi, wouldn’t you say that makes me a terribly irresponsible elder brother?”
“That’s not true, Big Brother!”
Itachi hurriedly shook his head.
However, Seiha did not give him the opportunity to continue.
“Itachi, please believe me.
Something like this will never happen again.
Since you care so deeply about the clan and the village, then as your elder brother, I will naturally stand firmly in front of you.”
“Itachi, I will never allow you to wander alone in the darkness.”
“So this time…
forgive me.”
With that, Seiha extended a finger and gently tapped Itachi’s forehead.
By then, Itachi’s eyes were already brimming with tears.
The instant Seiha’s finger touched his forehead, the tears finally spilled down his cheeks.
Gratitude Points +1,000
Gratitude Points +500
Gratitude Points +1,000
Gratitude Points +500
Gratitude Points +1,000
Itachi’s emotions erupted like a broken dam.
Inside Seiha’s mind, the system repeatedly chimed as enormous amounts of Gratitude Points poured in.
Behind Itachi, tears also glimmered faintly in Mikoto’s eyes.
She had been deeply moved by the tenderness her eldest son had shown.
Seiha noticed the system notifications constantly appearing in his mind.
Judging by the values, his self-reproach had not only caused Itachi’s emotions to erupt completely—his mother had also been affected just as deeply.
Fugaku stood blankly beside Seiha.
His delighted laughter had come to an abrupt halt.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, only to notice the resentful look his wife was directing at him.
Suddenly, he felt that compared to Seiha as an elder brother, he had failed miserably as a father.
It was not as though he did not understand the process of awakening the Sharingan.
It required an extraordinarily intense emotional stimulus.
Yet he had focused solely on celebrating Itachi’s increased strength without considering how painful the process must have been.
Seiha gently wiped away Itachi’s tears.
“Why are you crying?
You should smile more from now on.”
“Come on.
We should head back and face the crowd waiting for an explanation.
Once everything has been dealt with, I’ll buy you some three-coloured dango when you go to the Academy.”
Upon hearing this, Itachi nearly burst into tears again.
However, he had already embarrassed himself once in front of his brother.
Moreover, Seiha had told him to smile more.
Itachi desperately restrained the emotion surging through him and forced out an expression that looked caught between laughter and tears, making him appear remarkably comical.
The future God of the Uchiha, the famously expressionless Itachi, was utterly defenceless before his brother’s tenderness and could only allow himself to be coaxed however Seiha pleased.
“Father, have you decided how you’re going to explain what happened tonight?”
Seiha turned toward Fugaku, who was still standing to the side in a daze, and calmly asked.
“Huh?”
Fugaku immediately snapped back to his senses and fell into deep thought.
He absolutely could not reveal that the destruction had resulted from a battle between him and his son.
Under the pressure imposed by Konoha’s upper leadership, the Uchiha Clan was already becoming like a powder keg.
If the clansmen discovered that another overwhelmingly powerful combatant had emerged within the clan, there was no telling what kind of uproar it would cause.
This was especially true with the clan’s relocation drawing near.
The matter had not yet been announced to the clansmen.
Once it was, the unfair conditions would undoubtedly provoke their outrage.
And now, the clan had produced an extraordinarily powerful genius like Seiha…
Countless thoughts raced through Fugaku’s mind.
“We’ll say that an unidentified shinobi infiltrated the Uchiha compound.”
Seiha offered no objection.
After all, this was hardly the first time Konoha had been infiltrated by an unknown shinobi.
As long as they firmly maintained that explanation, the clansmen would not harbour too many doubts.
Even if they did, they would have no way to uncover the real cause.
Before long, several elders in their sixties and seventies appeared outside the house with a large crowd of clansmen behind them.
A rapid series of knocks sounded against the door.
Mikoto quietly rose and opened it.
Uchiha Yashiro, the elder leading the group, strode inside with the crowd following closely behind him.
None of them paid any attention to Mikoto and her two sons standing across from Fugaku.
“Clan Head, what exactly happened here?”
Yashiro asked in a deep voice.
“There is no need for the elders to worry.
Nothing more than a rat from the sewers slipping inside.”
Fugaku knelt calmly upon a cushion in the sitting room.
Yashiro and the surrounding clansmen were visibly shaken.
“Such arrogance!
Who would dare treat the Uchiha Clan with such contempt?
To think they would attack the clan head’s residence in the middle of the night!”
Anger appeared in the eyes of every Uchiha present.
One after another, their Sharingan flared crimson as they stared at Fugaku, whose body clearly bore traces of battle.
“I don’t know.
The enemy concealed their identity extremely well.
After I discovered them, we exchanged only a few moves before they escaped.”
“For the time being, every member of the clan must remain vigilant.”
“Even the Clan Head was unable to detain them?”
The expressions of the gathered Uchiha changed once again.
“Clan Head…
could it have been the rogue Uchiha from the night of the Nine-Tails’ attack?”
The hearts of every clansman leapt into their throats.
They were only one step away from speaking that person’s name…
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