Akashi walked out of his grandfather's estate onto the street of the Uchiha compound.
The Uchiha compound was a massive plot of land entirely reserved for the Uchiha clan; only the place where the Senju lived was equal in size.
The place was massive enough to allow thousands of people to live well and even open businesses.
As he walked Akashi through the street, Akashi was well aware of the gaze that was directed toward him from his clansmen, if they could really be considered as such.
As he walked, a fragrant smell attracted his attention
'That smells good,' he thought, and moved toward a stand on his left
"Good morning, uncle. Ten skewers to go, please."
"Humph, Alright."
Akashi looked at the young man preparing his skewers, and a strange feeling entered his heart.
'How strange. He really seems to harbor some resentment toward me.' Akashi thought
He looked at the way the man handled his food; his gestures seemed wild and hurried, clearly different from the way he was serving his previous customers.
'Has it always been like that?' he thought
Tilting his head to the side, his mind went through his memories in this world.
With his mature mind, he remembered them well, and now that he looked with a new perspective, something that he hadn't noticed before started to appear in his mind.
'Disdain?' he questioned himself as he used the training he had received to sift through his past memories.
Slowly, the image of his interaction with the other members of the Uchiha clan flashed one after the other.
'Anger, rejection!'
As he looked through his memories, he could now more easily read those feelings directed toward him from a lot of the Uchiha population.
A tightness bloomed in his chest as he felt that rejection.
Since he arrived in this world and realized he was part Uchiha, he felt quite blessed, not just because of the potential of the clan, but due to the closeness that they showed to each other.
From what he saw, even though they appeared cold to strangers, they were quite close and warm to each other; for Akashi, who was an orphan in the past, it was a dream.
He had felt the love of his grandparents and had subconsciously extended that love that he felt toward them to their respective clans.
'They don't consider me one of their own,' he realized.
His hands moved to his red hair; as he looked at them, he twirled and played.
As if to confirm his suspicion, an expression of barely contained resentment and disgust flashed in the eyes of a few people.
'Yeah, that's what I thought. Is that Elitism, racism?' he pondered. 'Is there even a term for that in this world,
"Clansism maybe!" he joked with himself to alleviate his brief discomfort
As he calmed down and paid for the skewers, Akashi noticed that those negative emotions were coming from everyone.
It mostly came from the older generation and was transmitted to their children.
'Is that resentment that they carried from the warring state era, or is that just because I am not fully Uchiha?' Akashi asked himself as he walked through the streets, buying and eating everything he wanted while paying more attention to the expression of those around him
A thought occurred to him as he walked, 'Would the Uzumaki have felt the same way if I had lived there? Probably. It might even be the reason why I live here now instead of at Uzushiogakure; they literally lived on an island, there is hardly more isolationist than that.'
As he walked, his illusion of a big happy family that he had created in his mind disappeared slowly, replaced by a more realistic view of things.
He could see that not all the Uchiha had some prejudice toward him; maybe it was because they hid it well, maybe it was because he was not yet proficient in reading people's expressions, maybe it was due to the influence of his grandfather, or more simply because they weren't all snobs, but at least half of the people treated him normally.
"Half, huh." A smirk appeared on his face as he regained his calm
'Well, luckily I am not a normal kid. But if I was a normal kid, I probably would have trouble spotting it.'
'It changes things, but not too much. I can be more selfish.'
Maybe other people would feel the desire to change the opinion that they have of him and try his best to be accepted by the clan.
But Akashi was different; he was not some noble and kind hero once his idealistic fantasy disappeared and his pragmatic, selfish side took over.
He arrived at his destination, his hands full of snacks.
"Hello guys, how are you?"
He said, looking at the kids waiting for him near the river.
Waiting for him were three Uchiha kids; they were children of his grandfather's subordinates, and they often played together before.
In terms of standing, they were among the top of his clan
'Mikami, Kyoko, it has been a little while. I hope that you are well?"He aked
"Of course we are. What about you?"
"Excellent...!"
Before he could even finish his sentence, Kyoko jumped on him, screaming
"Akashiii. How are you? Are you really well? I heard what happened to Uzushio. Do you need a hug?"
The small girl fired up a series of questions while crushing Akashi in a hug so tight that he could barely breathe.
After being rescued by Mikami, he patted the head of Kyoko while reassuring them.
"I am fine, really. Thanks for the concern"
'Girls in this world really mature quickly,' he thought as he picked up his snacks.
"What should we do today?" Mikami asked
"Let's play ninjas," Kyoko responded quickly, taking out wooden kunai from her pouch.
'Ninja games, clans use that to train their children.' He remembered some of his grandfather's words.
"You two are already five, right? Can you use chakra already?" He asked his two friends and future subordinates.
"Yes!" they replied together, their eyes shining
"So I was really the only one, huh."
"Don't be too sad," Kyoko said while patting Akashi on the head. "Even if you are weaker than me, I still love you."
A vein appeared on Akashi's immature face as he shouted
"Who said I am weaker than you? I would have you know that I am a genius."
"..."
A surprised expression appeared on Akashi's own face as he realized that he had just lost his composure.
'I must really be affected by this body to be played like that by a kid.'
"If you are so strong, let's play; we will see who is stronger."
"Alright."
'It will help me gauge their level.'
And just like that, the three kids started trading blows.
After a quick glance, Kyoko and Mikami jumped toward Akashi
Without any trouble, he jumped back, giving himself more space.
The two continued after him, fists flying toward his face and body, but in a fluid gesture of the back of the hand he deflected their blows.
Then the next
and the next.
Mikami and Kyoko's fists fell relentlessly toward Akashi, but with a grace and fluidity that a kid his age shouldn't possess, he deflected and avoided every attack.
"Why aren't you attacking?" Mikami wondered; his voice revealed that he wasn't sure if Akashi was deliberately stalling or if they were completely overwhelming him
"Do you need us to slow down?"
Kyoko, however, seemed genuinely concerned about him
Seeing that, he decided to get a little more in character
"You weak ninjas, do you really think that you are strong enough to defeat this great lord?" He said, letting out a fake arrogant laugh. "You are too weak to defeat me,
With that, he stopped retreating and strted treading blows with them
Even though he was younger and had less training than the two, Akashi was stronger.
He managed to fight with the two of them without any problem
'How is he doing that?' Mikami asked, blocking a punch with his forearm before deflecting another hit. 'He is fighting us at the same time, damn!' he thought
'Akashi really is impressive. As expected of my future husband,' she thought, sending out another punch that he avoided without trouble.
The two were very talented, but they could be considered geniuses, so they had no body flicker or other techniques; all they had were their wooden kunai.
And using an opening from Mikami, Kyoko took out her favorite wooden Kunai and jumped at him.
The repeated slashes were not pretty or skillful, but they forced him to retreat and move with more caution.
"Careful! Uchiha shuriken jutsu!" Mikami said, throwing wooden shurikens at Akashi.
Mikami had shouted his warning to his partner, and as Kyoko tried to retreat
"Catch."
Akashi, having anticipated it, grabbed her hand and yanked her in front of him.
Boink boink boink
"Ouch,"
Kyoko shouted as the shuriken hit her back.
"Damn it. You are going to pay for this," the girl shouted as she looked at the stiff Mikami, who was looking at her with an awkward expression.
Whoosh
"You shouldn't get distracted during a fight," Akashi said
Bam
He won the fight by punching his friend on the head.
"You idiot. What do you mean, careful? You warned him, and you ended up hitting me." Kyoko said as she looked at Mikami as if he were an idiot
"I said it so you would escape the attack, but you ended up serving as a human shield."
As the two were quarrelling, Akashi realized that maybe he liked fighting.