With the arrival of spring, the sun rose brightly over Konoha, and swallows flocked back to the vilge's skies.

  Small groups gathered ireets, watg the birds swoop between buildings. The streets are lively again, bustling with traffic by day and glowing with lights at night.

  Mikoto's belly was now visibly rge, and Fugaku was no longer fortable letting her go out alone. His eyes lingered on her lohese days, though he tried to hide his behind his stern facade.

  However, as head of the Police Ford the Uchiha leader, taking paternity leave was simply out of the question.

  Fortunately, he had a very siderate son.

  Today, as usual, Itachi was apanying his mother on a shopping trip. He keptt a careful watch of their surroundings, just as his father taught him.

  Mother's definition of 'quick shopping' seems to differ from everyone else's, he notes as they exit their third shop of the m.

  Young as he was, he didn't quite uand why his mother seemed to bee a different person whenever she went shopping, but he dutifully pyed the role of a little adult, making sure to protect her.

  As they exited a shop, he noticed a red-haired woman waving in their dire.

  "Mikoto!"

  "Kushina!" Spotting her best friend after such a long absence, Mikoto hurried across to say hello.

  "Are you also out for a little walk?"

  Hearing this, Itachi instinctively gnced sideways.

  Hadn't they been out all m? So this was just a little walk?

  Women are scary. A younger sibling would be much better. Yes, definitely a younger brother.

  Because, if it turned out to be a younger sister and she also needed 'little walks' iure…

  No, that's not the right way to think. A good older brother accepts their siblings no matter what.

  He straightened his shoulders.

  "Oh, Itachi is so thoughtful, taking care of his mom!" Kushina said with a smile, ruffling his hair. "This little guy is getting cuter by the day."

  Itachi looked helpless. It seemed more and more people have started to mess with his hair tely.

  Smoothing it bato pce, he addressed her with careful politeness, "Hello, Aunt Kushina."

  For a moment, he wondered if he imagi, but it seemed as though Kushina was giving off a hint of hostility?

  "Itachi, that's not very polite," she ughed. "When you meet a dy, you should call her big sister, you know?"

  You're no big sister, yoing to be a mom soon. Just as he sidered saying this, another hand nded on his freshly styled hair.

  "Oh, if it isn't our little Itachi," said a familiar voiearby. "This won't do at all—you have to remember, yoing to be a man of seven battles!"

  "Masashi-sensei," Itachi said, pitifully looking at his rather unruly home tutor, "I just fixed my hair."

  "A big guy like you shouldn't worry about hairstyles," Masashi brushes off his pint.

  He just couldn't ighe opportunity for a bit of mischief. His eyes drifted briefly betweewo women, noting their chakra signatures with careful precision.

  His timing was hardly tal—he was very ied in when Sasuke would be born. And also, Fugaku had specifically asked him to help look after them a bit.

  Today, he mao bump into both of them at once.

  "Mikoto-sama, is this dy the wife of the Hokage?" Masashi asked, feigning ignorance of Kushina's identity.

  Teically, he really didn't know her. He could just reize her.

  "Oh, you must be Masashi? I've heard Minato mention you—the id snow exhibition was really impressive. o be formal, you just call me big sister, too."

  "Alright, Kushina-neesan," Masashi answered with a cheerful smile.

  It might sound a little ge-worthy, but she was the Hokage's wife, so it was best to stay in her good graces.

  "Are you Itachi's teacher now?" Kushina asked, notig the the boy's greeting. "No wohis child has ged so much retly."

  In her impression, Itachi used to be a bit wooden, g the energy typical for kids his age. She often pio Mikoto about it, thinking there was an issue with their family's way of raising children.

  But starting st year, Itachi had bee a lot more lively. At least, he no longer had that serious demeanor. Holy, seeing such weight in a child felt very odd.

  After all, this wasn't the Warring States Period.

  While Kushina sized up Masashi, he was also her, sensing the chakra within.

  So that's Asura's chakra, he thought.

  Sensing the unique chakra within Kushina, Masashi felt he was oep closer to unc the truth.

  In the shinobi world, early on, everything was about hard work, but as things progressed, it all came down to lineage.

  Initially, everyone was just a person, but ter on, few remaihat way. While this shift was typical of long-running stories, the introdu of cepts like the Sage's eyes, Yin and Yang powers, and Yin-Yang Release became tral elements by the end.

  Iory, the cepts of the Sage's eyes, Yin-Yang powers, and Yin-Yang Release were quite vague.

  Masashi believed that when it came to achieving anything, there was o choose between talent and hard work. Hard work was the basic quality for any task, while talent was essential for success.

  Based on this, the ultimate level one reached depended on the initial dire chosen.

  If you chose the wrong path, no amount of talent or effort would make a difference.

  In his first attempt, Masashi didn't have the ce to verify this because he cked chakra-sensing abilities, which was why he couldn't learn the Flying Thunder God at that time.

  This teique wasn't difficult because of its plexity but because it required several types of talents simultaneously.

  This time around, he has been waiting for these two for a long time, and now he dould finally gather it all.

  Both Asura's and Indra's chakras were deeply hidden within the reinations' bodies.

  It was only through his role as Itachi's teacher that Masashi managed, after repeated failed attempts, to find the right method. Finally, he sensed Indra's chakra within Mikoto.

  Now, he could at st sense Asura's chakra as well.

  Feeling the two chakras ied directly from the Sage of Six Paths, and bining what he'd learned and verified two rounds, Masashi finally uood—or perhaps, he felt that he had an epiphany.

  The chakras weren't just present—they were iing, creating patterns he'd never noticed before.

  "No wohe stro during the Warring States Period was always the Senju and not the Uchiha."

  Having found the answer he wanted, Masashi retracted his perception and looked at Kushina with a friendlier gaze.

  Thanks to this new Asura reination's mother, his future path had beuch clearer. He also gained insight into his own current situation.

  Just as he'd oold Itachi, while it was true that the higher the vantage point, the clearer the view, it was equally important to watch your footing.

  He had thought himself grounded, but Masashi now realized that he hadn't truly seen the full picture before. He was now eager to verify it all.

  With Kushina here, there was o worry about Mikoto's safety.

  "I still have matters to attend to, so I won't interrupt the your pleasant time together," Masashi said, relinquishing the role of chaperoo Itachi. "Make sure to be a good host, Itachi."

  "Uh…" the boy looked less thahusiastic.

  "Show some spirit." With a lighthearted ent, Masashi took his leave.

  ---

  Back at the 's pound, he headed straight for the library.

  The Uchiha library guard looked up from his post. "Back again, Masashi?"

  "Some historical records need reviewing," Masashi replied, already moving past.

  "What's the rush today?" The guard wondered but wasn't too ed.

  After all, Masashi visited the library every few days; everyone knew he liked reading.

  Inside, he headed straight to the far end of the first floor, where historical dots were stored.

  The Uchiha was very proud of its heritage and took their history seriously. The shelves here held scrolls dating back turies, each carefully preserved.

  While the historical records weren't the most professional and often tained personal biases, they were very prehensive.

  Soon, he found what he was looking for: records on Indra. These patterns iexts... they match what I sensed in the chakra.

  Due to turbulent times, some Uchiha records had been lost or damaged, and early records were no longer in their inal form.

  Descriptions of the 's founder, Indra, were more myth than history. But myths were fragments of history and still hold value—otherwise, they wouldn't be preserved.

  After carefully reading the scroll, Masashi put it ba the shelf and pulled out another.

  Indra's figure appeared sporadically in the Uchiha's early history. The previous scroll had simply recorded more detail in oion.

  Soon, he pulled out another scroll, found a seat, spread it oable, and began to search slowly. As time passed, the number of scrolls on his table increased, though he returned many after reading.

  Finally, Masashi pared the remaining ones iail and firmed a certain idea in his mind. After carefully returning the scrolls to their shelves, he left the library.

  To outsiders, he seemed to return to his usual, routine life.

  ---

  Far away from Konoha, a visitor roag an unweling pce.

  "There it is," Obito said, staring at the ft-roofed building in the distance.

  "Correct, Madara-sama. That's the Mizukage's quarters," Zetsu replied, half-submerged in mud as usual.

  The humid climate of the Land of Water didn't bother him, though he didn't particurly like it either.

  "Speaking of, if we're recruiting new members, why n those two kids along?"

  Obito ignored him, looking out at the vilge ahead.

  Among the tries, none embodied the cept of isotion as much as the Land of Water.

  As an isnd nation surrounded by sea, the Land of Water's territory included both the main isnd and the surrounding smaller isnds, teically making it an archipego nation.

  Leaving aside the smaller isnds, the main isnd had little ft nd and was mostly mountainous. Even on the main isnd, regions weren't closely ected, each having its own distinct culture.

  This regional isotion was something other nations on the mainnd didn't experience.

  Even the mountainous Land of Lightning had variations in local s, but they beloo the same cultural sphere overall.

  Only the Land of Water gave you the sense of entering a different try with each area you visited.

  Kiri was situated deep in the mountains, shrouded by mist.

  This ninja vilge had no sign of everyday life, with fortress-like structures built of stone, ected by walls—a massive military stronghold.

  The Mizukage's quarters were the rgest fortress in the vilge.

  "Someone's ing," Zetsu suddenly said.

  Obito remained silent, activating his Kamui to vanish, while Zetsu sank into the ground.

  Soon after, a team of Kiri ninjas appeared.

  "Strange..." a kunoichi muttered, fused, her hand f a sensor seal, "I did sense chakra here."

  The Kiri ninjas searched around but found nothing. Their movements were precise and professioly what he'd expect from Kiri's elite.

  "Maybe we were wrong," another ninja said. "Besides, this is right uhe Fourth Mizukage's nose. Who'd be so bold?"

  The reed.

  They left, unaware that their revered Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, was inwardly cursing. It wasn't that he enjoyed cursing but rather that he physically couldn't speak.

  He was trapped in his owal world, with Isobu, the Three-Tails, lyih him, its eyes revealing the Sharingan.

  "Does Konoha want to start a war?" Yagura said, gring at the enemy's Sharingan. He reized it all too well.

  "I'm not from Konoha," Obito sneered.

  The fidence he'd lost after his enter with Masashi was now returning; he felt capable once more.

  "Still, that's a Sharingan," Yagura muttered bitterly, struggling against the mental bonds that held him, "Are you that water user?"

  "Too much talk, Fourth Mizukage." Obito pinned him iop Isobu with a gnce. "Don't mention that guy in front of me."

  Yagura was stu pce, shocked. The mental ndscape around them twisted with the force of Obito's will.

  He wasn't that guy? How many monsters did the Uchiha have?

  Just before he lost sciousness, Yagura heard one more sentence.

  "From today, you're a pawn as well."