"Nii-san..."
Sasuke's deep voice echoed in the Hokage's office.
Itachi's mind was struck as if by a bolt of lightning. Memories from the past came flooding back in an instant, exploding vividly in his thoughts.
"Sasuke, sleep..."
As Sasuke slowly approached him, Itachi moved toward his younger brother.
With a gentle touch, he tapped Sasuke's forehead with two fingers.
Sasuke collapsed immediately, falling straight into Itachi's arms.
...
Feeling the warmth of Itachi's embrace, Sasuke's tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed.
Itachi gently placed Sasuke on Hiruzen Sarutobi's chair. Now wasn't the time for a family reunion.
He then began searching around the office, trying to find the hidden compartment.
His target: the Scroll of Seals.
Itachi remained composed, meticulously inspecting every corner. At a time like this, impatience would only lead to mistakes.
The ANBU members he had knocked out outside could wake up at any moment.
"Ah, I should've asked that old geezer Danzo. He probably knows where it's kept... A bit of a misstep there," Itachi muttered to himself.
After an unsuccessful initial search, he performed a summoning jutsu, calling forth some helpers to assist in locating the secret passage.
Several small snakes emerged from his summoning and slithered off in various directions.
...
Just as Itachi was about to activate Sage Mode to heighten his senses, one of the snakes signaled success.
Although he hadn't found the mechanism to open it, Itachi saw no need to waste time looking for it.
Channeling chakra into his arm, he clenched his fist and delivered a powerful right hook.
Despite being custom-built, the secret room's door was blasted open with a gaping hole, left wobbling on its hinges.
Itachi pried the door open and stepped inside.
Upon spotting the massive Scroll of Seals, he paused momentarily in surprise.
"They didn't even bother hiding it properly. Too easy," he sneered.
Despite his comment, Itachi wasted no time. He approached the scroll and unrolled it, his Sharingan spinning into the form of the three-tomoe.
Then he began his secretive work.
...
Itachi didn't aim to memorize everything. Instead, he selectively recorded certain jutsu.
Flying Thunder God...
Every single Wood Release technique was meticulously noted.
After all, his time and energy were limited; greed would only result in inefficiency. So, he chose carefully.
A few minutes later, Itachi closed the Scroll of Seals.
"Tch! That's all? Such a small collection of jutsu," he muttered disdainfully.
Placing the scroll back in its original position, Itachi picked up Sasuke and swiftly left the room.
There was a thrill to the escapade—like the rush of committing mischief and fleeing the scene.
...
Itachi placed Sasuke on a long bench and looked at him deeply before his figure began to fade.
Sasuke was still young. It wasn't the right time to keep him by his side. Here in the Leaf Village, Sasuke could have a good environment to learn and experience a proper childhood.
Traveling with Itachi might have its moments of excitement, but it wouldn't be ideal for Sasuke's growth.
When Itachi reappeared, he was already outside the village, leaving silently, his deeds concealed.
...
"Lord Hokage, you're awake?"
When Hiruzen Sarutobi regained consciousness, he found himself being carried on the back of an ANBU member.
Surrounded by highly trained Anbu members, akin to personal bodyguards.
"What happened?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi asked his subordinates with a puzzled expression.
He thought he was already dead, but now he found himself in this baffling situation.
"Lord Hokage, we detected a powerful chakra disturbance outside the village, so we went to investigate," an Anbu captain reported.
"When we arrived, the enemy seemed to have already been incinerated to ashes by your combined ninjutsu. You were lying on the ground, appearing exhausted, so we brought you back. We didn't expect you to recover so quickly despite your age."
...
After hearing the captain's explanation, Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent, deeply confused.
During the fight with Itachi, his techniques were ruthless, clearly aimed to kill. So why was he still alive?
Hiruzen couldn't shake the heavy doubt lingering in his heart.
As he pondered, a figure rushed toward him urgently.
"Lord Hokage, something terrible has happened! Someone broke into your office, and all the guards around were knocked unconscious."
The Anbu stopped and immediately reported to Hiruzen.
"What?"
Hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi was instantly furious.
How dare they! Who would be so bold?
His office contained some... sensitive items that he'd rather not have exposed. If those were discovered, his reputation would be utterly ruined.
...
Noticing the hesitation in the Anbu's tone, Hiruzen quickly dismounted from his subordinate's back and sprinted toward Konoha like an agile marathon runner.
When he reached his office, a group of masked Anbu members was already guarding its perimeter.
Hiruzen Sarutobi walked past them slowly, then pushed open the office door.
His eyes instinctively darted to the file cabinet. He let out a silent sigh of relief—nothing had been tampered with.
Then he glanced at the trash bin.
Another wave of relief washed over him—it hadn't been rummaged through either.
...
Finally, his gaze landed on the shattered secret chamber door in the floor.
His blood pressure spiked instantly.
"Damn it!"
Hiruzen cursed aloud and rushed into the secret chamber.
What stunned him was that the Scroll of Seals was still there—it hadn't been stolen.
However, he didn't relax just yet. He quickly grabbed the scroll and opened it.
After examining it closely, he found that it had indeed been opened but hadn't been tampered with.
He wasn't particularly worried about most of the techniques on it, as they required natural talent to learn. Only certain forbidden jutsus gave him cause for concern.
If someone had mastered one of those, it would spell disaster.
...
"Do we know who did this?"
After a brief silence, Hiruzen Sarutobi rolled up the Scroll of Seals, strapped it to his back, and grabbed several small scrolls from a hidden compartment.
As he emerged from the secret chamber, he asked calmly.
"Lord Sasuke might know something," one of the Anbu captains replied hesitantly.
The captain had already woken his subordinates, who reported that Sasuke had been in the Hokage's office earlier. However, they had no idea what he had done there.
Now Sasuke was nowhere to be found, making him a likely suspect—but the captain didn't dare to say it outright.
...
"Where is Sasuke? Bring him here," Hiruzen commanded with a mix of anger and relief.
If Sasuke had learned something, it wasn't a big deal.
After all, it was better to keep it within the village.
However, as Hiruzen Sarutobi was thinking this, a certain figure suddenly popped into his mind—Uchiha Itachi.
After knocking him unconscious, had Itachi returned to Konoha?
Given the incompetence of these fools, they wouldn't have been able to detect Itachi's presence, let alone stop him.
Having fought Itachi, Hiruzen deeply understood how terrifying his strength had become.
Even he, the Third Hokage, could only fight Itachi to a standstill.
...