The moment Uchiha Tōru entered the main gate of the clan compound, he encountered a medium-sized dog wearing sunglasses and a vest.
It had originally been sprawled lazily at the entrance, basking in the sunlight to replenish its vitamin D.
But the instant it sensed Tōru, it sprang to its feet.
Its small, adorable nose wrinkled like that of a vicious wolf, and it began barking furiously at Tōru as though it had detected some kind of filth on him that ordinary people couldn’t perceive.
Tōru stared blankly at it.
He had no intention of fighting a dog, so he decided to go around.
Unfortunately, this dog had mastered the ancient art of circling around its opponent.
In two or three steps, it blocked Tōru’s path again, barking and grumbling incessantly.
Tōru moved left.
The dog moved left.
Tōru moved right.
The dog moved right.
Tōru moved forward.
The dog backed away.
In short, it had clearly decided that Tōru wasn’t getting past.
The dog’s racket attracted quite a few Uchiha clan members, who turned their heads toward the scene.
Their expressions immediately became rather colorful.
“Isn’t that the clan head’s son?
He actually got stopped by a dog?” “That’s a ninja hound.
The child hasn’t participated in a single training session yet.
It’s normal for him to be afraid.” “He’s already five and hasn’t started training?
Does Fugaku think Itachi is already talented enough, so he’s relaxed his education of his two younger sons?” “Probably only this child, Tōru.
I saw Sasuke practicing the other day.
His Clone Technique is already quite polished.
He has excellent talent.” “Exactly.
Mikoto said that of her three children, Tōru is the only one who has shown no interest in becoming a shinobi since childhood.
But he really likes doing housework.
What a shame he wasn’t born a girl.” “At a time like this?
Conflict between the village and our Uchiha clan could break out at any moment.
Someone without strength will only become a burden when that happens.
Hmph.
I really don’t know what Fugaku is thinking.
Perhaps I should have a talk with him.” “Putting that aside, all three of Mikoto’s children are remarkably good-looking.” “That is true.
Although this one…
seems to have a rather expressionless face.” …
The clan members weren’t speaking particularly quietly, but Tōru paid them no attention.
He stared at the ninja hound in front of him, wondering whether the gaze hidden behind those sunglasses could somehow see through his “true identity.” Indeed, Uchiha Tōru was not simply an ordinary five-year-old child.
In his own words, he was merely a thief who had stolen the body of an innocent child.
The soul inhabiting that body came from another world.
It belonged to a man named Tōru Tomioka.
In Tōru Tomioka’s original world, he had been a Demon Slayer whose purpose in life was to kill man-eating demons.
After his older sister, who had been his only remaining family, was killed by a demon, thirteen-year-old Tōru joined a civilian organization known as the Demon Slayer Corps.
By the age of seventeen, he had become one of its nine strongest swordsmen.
Because he had mastered Water Breathing and its accompanying swordsmanship, he was honored with the title of Water Hashira.
At twenty-one, Tōru was forced to burn through his lifespan and awaken the Demon Slayer Mark to increase his combat strength so that he could fight the progenitor of demons, Muzan Kibutsuji.
In the end, through the combined efforts of the other Demon Slayers, Muzan Kibutsuji was successfully defeated.
But the Demon Slayer Corps paid a terrible price.
Almost the entire organization was wiped out.
The remaining elite swordsmen who had awakened their Marks were also destined to die young, with most unable to live beyond the age of twenty-five.
As for Tōru Tomioka, he quietly died in the cemetery of the Demon Slayer Corps shortly after celebrating his twenty-third birthday.
(Note: This story removes the setting in which Tōru Tomioka has descendants.
It was mentioned in the synopsis.) Before his death, however, he had finally reached the “ultimate realm” of a warrior and mastered an observation technique known as the Transparent World.
That was at least something he could be proud of.
Originally, Tōru thought that after death, he would meet his long-dead parents, sister, and comrades in the afterlife.
But when he opened his eyes again, he had become a newborn child in the shinobi world named Uchiha Tōru, carrying all the memories of his previous life.
Five years had now passed, yet Tōru had never been able to accept his new identity.
He believed that, without realizing it, he had stolen a child’s chance to begin life from nothing and experience the world for himself.
He would never be able to regard himself as the Uchiha couple’s “real” son.
(Note: Keep Tōru’s historical background and his experiences fighting demons in mind here.
Do not impose the common modern-isekai attitude of “I’m here now, so I might as well accept it.”) To compensate for the guilt in his heart and repay the Uchiha couple for raising him, Tōru had taken over all the household chores in Fugaku’s family from the age of three.
At the same time, he regarded caring for and protecting their other two children, Itachi and Sasuke, as his most important duty and responsibility.
The reason Tōru refused to participate in shinobi training was also because he felt that he was ultimately an outsider and had no right to learn the Uchiha clan’s hereditary techniques.
Furthermore, Tōru had no intention of becoming a shinobi who took people’s lives simply because he had been ordered to do so.
Thus, the only thing he had trained in so far was the Water Breathing engraved into his very soul, which he had brought to the level of Constant Total Concentration Breathing.
Perhaps because humans in this world generally possessed excellent physical constitutions, and because he was an Uchiha, practicing the Water Breathing he had long since mastered—and could execute without error—during childhood had placed very little strain on his body.
Anyway.
Just as Uchiha Tōru was wondering whether he should break off a piece of daikon to lure the dog away, a familiar voice came from a distance.
“Kakashi-senpai, you’d better keep an eye on your ninja hound.
If it scares Tōru, I’ll have some explaining to do to the clan head.” Tōru calmly turned his gaze toward the speaker.
It was a tall, baby-faced shinobi with an adorable appearance.
The hilt of a ninjatō protruded from behind his neck, and he looked to be around the same age as Tanjiro.
His faint tear troughs gave him an unusually trustworthy appearance.
Tōru knew him.
He was Shisui Uchiha, his elder brother Itachi’s close friend.
At seventeen, Shisui had a face that made him look fourteen.
He often visited their home, loved chatting with Tōru, and would bring Sasuke little picture books.
As a result, Tōru had a very favorable impression of him.
Because Shisui was so close to Itachi, Tōru had once used the Transparent World to observe him.
He discovered that, just like his father, Fugaku Uchiha, Shisui had an enormous mass of extremely dark energy concentrated around his brain.
It was considerably denser than what he had seen in ordinary clan members.
The sensation that power gave Tōru was not quite as purely and overwhelmingly evil as Muzan Kibutsuji’s presence, but it was deeply ominous nonetheless.
He had no idea whether it would eventually become a source of trouble.
Nearby, the Uchiha clan members reacted differently when they saw Shisui.
The older members glared at him with resentment, as though frustrated that he had failed to live up to their expectations.
The younger members, on the other hand, looked at him with obvious admiration.
Of course, to Tōru, who wasn’t particularly good at distinguishing emotions, there wasn’t much difference.
“Ah.
Sorry, sorry.” Walking beside Shisui was a masked man with his left eye covered by his forehead protector.
He was carrying a cardboard box.
His expression reminded Tōru of the blond Demon Slayer who accompanied Tanjiro on missions.
He looked dazed, as though he could fall asleep at any moment.
And his apologetic tone was extremely insincere.
In all honesty…
Tōru’s first impression of him was…
Rather average.
“Akino, don’t bully the little kid.” At Kakashi’s call, the sunglasses-wearing dog bounded over to him and let out a string of unintelligible growls, seemingly complaining about Tōru.
After listening, Kakashi’s visible right eye thoughtfully swept over Tōru.
He then freed his right hand and patted the dog’s head.
“You really like sticking your nose into other people’s business, don’t you?
If you do that again, you’re staying home next time.” Akino immediately wrinkled its nose, opened its mouth, and lunged toward Kakashi’s wrist.
Kakashi rolled his eye and casually formed a hand seal.
The ninja hound immediately disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.
[Summoning Technique?] Tōru had seen Itachi and Shisui use this technique before.
They had respectively summoned cats and crows.
[So it isn’t an Uchiha clan secret technique after all.
Perhaps I can learn it someday.
I could have animals buy groceries for me and save time…] Tōru stared at Kakashi for a moment.
Then, without paying either of them any further attention, he continued walking toward his home as though the two adults weren’t worth the effort of noticing.
Shisui was already very familiar with his personality.
He immediately stepped across Tōru’s path and looked down at the two bulging plastic bags.
“Those are some enormous salmon.” A hint of surprise appeared on Shisui’s face.
“Are you making a salmon feast today?
That’s incredibly lavish.
You’re quite capable, Tōru.” He noticed the Akimichi clan’s mark on the plastic bags.
That meant the fish had likely been raised using the Akimichi clan’s secret breeding methods, making them more nutritious than wild salmon.
Of course, they were also ridiculously expensive.
At Yakiniku Q, a single fish like this could cost several tens of thousands of ryō in ingredients alone—before even accounting for the labor required to debone, remove the pin bones, and cut it up.
The payment from a C-rank mission probably wouldn’t even cover it.
“Today is Sasuke’s birthday.” Tōru answered succinctly.
“We should eat something good.” Shisui’s smile froze.
[Last time it was Clan Head Fugaku’s birthday, you only made him a bowl of soba noodles, didn’t you?] [You and Itachi really spoil that brat.
Ah, I’m jealous of Itachi.
He gets to come home to good food every day…] “Oh, right.
I would’ve forgotten about the birthday if you hadn’t mentioned it.” Shisui slapped his forehead.
“But Tōru, you and Sasuke are twins.
It’s your birthday too.” “I’m different from Sasuke.” Tōru shook his head and solemnly emphasized the point.
“Yeah, yeah, I know.
You can do housework, so you’re already an adult and don’t care about childish birthdays.” Shisui waved him off and searched himself for a while.
“Darn.
Other than explosive tags, I don’t have anything valuable on me that I can give you as a present.
I have a mission tonight, so it’ll be too late if I give you something when I get back.” He glanced at Kakashi, who was standing beside him with the cardboard box.
An idea seemed to occur to him.
“Senpai, let me introduce you to someone.
This adorable little guy is Tōru, Clan Head Fugaku’s son.” He then turned back to Tōru.
“And this is Kakashi Hatake, my senior at work.
Yesterday, an elderly woman from the clan passed away from illness at Konoha Hospital.
She used to take very good care of one of Kakashi-senpai’s teammates, so I brought him to the compound to help sort through the belongings she left behind.” Tōru’s expression changed ever so slightly.
Death.
He was already very familiar with it.
But where did those who died in this world go?
Could they, like him, carry their memories into another world?
And where had all the people who had once fought alongside him gone?
Whenever he thought about that, his emotions became complicated.
Shisui noticed the subtle change in Tōru’s expression and was slightly surprised.
He knew that ever since birth, this child had neither smiled nor cried.
This was the first time he had seen him display such a melancholic expression.
[Itachi, I’m going to shamelessly claim your little brother’s first time.] “Since you two have already met, Kakashi-senpai…” Shisui grinned slyly, revealing his true intentions.
“Today’s Tōru’s birthday.
Do you have a present for him?” Kakashi rolled his eye for the second time.
[Did you forget to prepare a present and now expect me to cover for you?] Reluctantly, he reached toward his pouch.
“Anything written by Jiraiya-sama is out of the question.
Tōru probably wouldn’t understand something that profound.” Shisui hurriedly waved his hands.
[If you gave him something like that, Aunt Mikoto would kill me.] “That happens to be a collector’s edition.
Nice try.” The corner of Kakashi’s mouth twitched beneath his mask.
He once again turned his attention to Tōru, focusing primarily on the ingredients in the boy’s hands.
“If you like cooking…” He took a stack of yellowed cards bound together with a metal ring from the cardboard box.
They looked quite old.
“How about a cookbook?” “Whoa, whoa, whoa—” Shisui’s eyes widened.
[Kakashi-senpai, how can you give someone else’s belongings away as a present?] Tōru set down the bags and accepted the cards with both hands.
He didn’t seem bothered by the fact that they had belonged to someone who had died.
The Secret Cookbook of Teacher Minato.
A crooked line of writing appeared across the top of the stack.
The word “cookbook” had been crossed out and rewritten twice, yet the final version was still misspelled.
It seemed to suggest that whoever had written it wasn’t particularly bright.
Tōru quickly flipped through the cards.
There were thirty in total, each containing detailed instructions for preparing one or two dishes.
The handwriting was still crooked, with letters of wildly varying sizes.
Yet it was obvious that whoever had copied the recipes had taken the task very seriously.
The strokes had been pressed so hard into the paper that they nearly pierced through it.
Tōru turned to the final page.
There was a signature, accompanied by a little drawing resembling a pair of goggles.
“Obito Uchiha.” Tōru read the name aloud and shook his head.
“Who?” He had never seen anyone with a similar name among the clan members who had visited his father.
The moment Kakashi heard the name, his body trembled almost imperceptibly.
“Ah, so this is something Obito-senpai left behind.” Shisui scratched his head.
“Then this cookbook is actually a very precious item.
Uchiha Obito was Kakashi-senpai’s former teammate.
But he died during the previous Great Ninja War.
He was a hero of the village.” He looked at Tōru.
“So you have to take good care of this cookbook, okay?” “A hero…” Uchiha Tōru was quite familiar with those words.
After all, he heard his father and the other clan members talking about such matters every day.
“Of the village?” [Wasn’t he an “Uchiha” hero?] “You’re pretty perceptive.” Shisui’s expression became slightly more serious.
“But back then, the relationship between our Uchiha clan and the village wasn’t as tense as it is now.” He clearly didn’t want to dwell on the subject.
“So?
You love cooking, so this should be a very suitable gift for you, right?” “Judging by the name of the cards, this should be the Fourth Hokage’s personal cookbook.
Obito-senpai was one of his students.
I remember Aunt Mikoto had a very good relationship with the Fourth Hokage’s family.” “If you follow the recipes exactly, she’ll probably be delighted.” “I see.” [I’ll try making something from it another day.] Tōru neatly organized the cards and slipped them into his pocket.
Then he looked at Kakashi.
“I’ll repay you.” “Just saying thank you is enough, kid.” Kakashi narrowed his visible eye.
“But you look like you’re still not satisfied.” “I’m not dissatisfied.” Tōru replied coldly.
Then he walked away without looking back.
“These kids nowadays sure have personality.” Kakashi watched him leave.
“That expression definitely meant he wasn’t satisfied, right?” He felt a little regretful about giving the cookbook to a child he’d only met once.
But keeping it at home would only make him dwell on painful memories.
Since he had promised the Third Hokage that he would pull himself together, giving the cookbook away was perhaps the better choice.
At least this way, Teacher Minato’s recipes could continue to live on.
“Tōru is actually a very gentle child.
He just isn’t good at expressing himself.” Shisui had long since grown accustomed to Tōru’s strange personality.
“He isn’t interested in becoming a shinobi, so I’m sure he really likes your gift.
Come on, Kakashi-senpai.
As thanks, how about I treat you to some ramen?” “Didn’t you say another child is also celebrating a birthday?
What about his present?” “As for Sasuke, that kid will be over the moon as long as he gets even one person’s present.
We can make up for it tomorrow.” “I see.” Kakashi quietly followed Shisui out of the Uchiha compound.
But his mind was still occupied by what the ninja hound, Akino, had told him.
[That kid is extremely dangerous.] [He’s not interested in becoming a shinobi, yet he can carry two salmon over half a meter long with one hand?] (Approximately fifteen kilograms.) [Then again, considering he’s an Uchiha, perhaps that’s not particularly surprising.
But there’s something about those eyes that I can’t ignore…] Well, well.
Why bother worrying about so many pointless things?
Kakashi had more important matters to consider.
Like figuring out how to slack off at work!
Kakashi!