A new arrival and it's about Itachi God. So, do give it a go.
And, If you're enjoying the story, please consider giving it a power stone!
Your support helps the book grow and lets me know you're excited for the next chapter.
Thank you for readingš
***
When the girl walked out from the other side of the gate, Itachi noticed her immediately.
As his eyes swept across her face, he froze, his expression fluctuating violently.
The girl was very cute, with long, straight black hair, fair cheeks with a little baby fat, and large, clear, bright eyes.
A gentle temperament emanated from her.
Itachi knew her.
The girl's name was Izumi Uchiha.
She had been Itachi's classmate at the Ninja Academy, a girl with a gentle and kind personality.
But in their previous life, Itachi's mind had been so different from his peers that, despite their conversations, they were never truly friends.
Izumi liked Itachi and confessed to him, but the old Itachi, burdened by his mission, had not responded to her feelings.
On the night of the Uchiha clan's extermination, Itachi personally ended her life with Tsukuyomi.
Within the illusion, Izumi lived a false lifeāa happy one where she grew old, married Itachi, and died peacefully.
As a bystander, Itachi watched everything unfold within the illusion.
It was a mere figment of the girl's imagination, yet he could clearly sense the joy she felt within it.
Even Itachi himself was uncertain what his true feelings for Izumi were.
He never dared to ponder the question, for deep down, he firmly believed that someone like him, who had murdered a fellow Uchiha, was unworthy of emotion.
He had personally killed the girl he had always loved, but in the final moments of her death, Izumi, having escaped the illusion, showed no trace of resentment on her face.
Her beautiful brow furrowed as she gazed at Itachi, leaving behind a final, heartfelt message:
"Thank you, Itachi-kun. But the days ahead will surely be very difficult for you. If possible, I would truly like to share this burden with you."
Izumi was the only member of his clan, besides Mikoto and Fugaku, who had understood his feelings at the extermination.
Facing death, she had only considered the future of the one she loved.
Itachi had chosen a path of carrying everything in the darkness, a path fraught with hardship, convinced that he would not have a good end.
Just as Itachi froze in his tracks, stunned by these thoughts, the girl had already spotted him. She quickly approached, a gentle smile on her face, and said, "Master Itachi, hello. I'm Izumi Uchiha."
"Hello," Izumi's voice brought Itachi back from his trance.
He met her eyes, his voice low and deep.
"You must be reporting to the Ninja Academy today, too."
Like Itachi, Izumi carried a backpack slung across her shoulder.
"Yes," Itachi nodded.
"Master Itachi, what's wrong?" Izumi's eyes were slightly suspicious.
She felt something was off about him.
"Nothing," Itachi quickly regained his composure.
"Then let's get going, or we'll be late," Izumi said.
Itachi nodded, and they both turned.
At this moment, Itachi glanced at Izumi and said, "Just call me Itachi."
Izumi was stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded, "Yes, okay!"
The two walked side by side out of the Uchiha clan gate and headed towards the Ninja Academy.
Along the way, Izumi kept glancing at Itachi, who kept a slight frown on his face.
Neither of them spoke.
When they reached the Ninja Academy gate, a large crowd had already gathered.
For ordinary families, having their children pass the ninja school exams and enter was a major event.
Therefore, on the first day of school, most children's parents, as well as the elders of the family, would be present.
And because the current Hokage of Konoha came from a commoner family, these children, aged five to seven, had heard about the deeds of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, for as long as they could remember.
Their faces were filled with vibrant smiles, and they all dreamed of becoming village heroes like the Hokage.
Among the new students, Izumi and Itachi, without their parents, were considered outliers.
It was not until they arrived here, taking advantage of the lively atmosphere around them, that Izumi finally had the nerve to start communicating with Itachi.
"I heard that the clan leader's wife gave birth to another boy more than a month ago. He must be very cute."
"Yeah."
When Izumi mentioned Sasuke, his face, which had been a little tense all the way, became tender.
"It seems that Itachi is a good brother. When he mentioned his younger brother, the expression on his face immediately changed."
Izumi looked at Itachi and smiled lightly.
The two stood at the edge of the crowd.
At this moment, a hand suddenly rested on Itachi's shoulder.
"Haha, it seems that you are in good condition recently."
From behind, Minato's soft chuckle reached them, prompting Itachi and Izumi to turn.
Izumi paused for a moment.
She had never met Minato in person.
Upon seeing the Fourth Hokage, she felt a familiar presence, though she couldn't quite place him.
"Hokage-sama," Itachi blurted out.
Beside him, Izumi noticed the inscription "Yondaime Hokage" emblazoned on the back of Minato's white sacred robe.
Izumi's expression immediately turned respectful, and she nodded to Minato, saying, "Hello, Hokage-sama."
Minato replied with a gentle smile, "Hello."
"It seems you've made some good friends," he replied, looking at Itachi and chuckling.
At that moment, some in the crowd ahead also noticed Minato's arrival, and a roar of applause erupted.
The freshmen at the Ninja Academy were particularly impressed.
When they realized that this gentle, handsome, and seemingly kind older brother was actually the Fourth Hokage, their eyes sparkled with excitement.
Then, people kept greeting Minato enthusiastically.
"Hello, everyone."
Minato removed his hand from Itachi's shoulder and responded to the crowd's enthusiasm.
As the Hokage, he naturally had to attend the entrance ceremony for the new students of the Ninja School.
When the atmosphere in the crowd reached its peak, the tightly closed gate of the Ninja School slowly opened.
The person in charge of the Ninja School immediately came over to greet Minato.
"Welcome everyone to study at the Ninja School."
A middle-aged man with slightly gray hair on his temples began to give a simple greeting.
Not long after, he opened the gate. These new students of the Ninja School could now enroll.
The children in front of the Ninja School gate began to say a simple goodbye to their parents.
Itachi and Izumi, who were without their parents, walked straight through the crowd and towards the gate.
As the two of them entered the gate, Izumi, who was standing beside Itachi, said with joy, "Itachi, from now on, we're classmates."
Itachi nodded and smiled, "Please take care of me."
Hearing this, Izumi lowered her head slightly, her index fingers pressed together, circling back and forth.
Suddenly, she looked up at Itachi and asked, "Can we be friends, like Hokage said just now?"
...
"Friend?" Itachi's eyes widened slightly.
The word felt completely foreign to him.
Although he had communicated with his only close friend from his former life, Shisui, a few times since his rebirth, they could hardly be considered friends now.
And this wasn't the first time Izumi had made such a request.
Long, long ago, the girl had looked at him with the same expectation in her eyes.
Although the old Itachi had agreed, he hadn't taken it too seriously.
He graduated from the Ninja Academy after only one year, and his interactions with Izumi were few and far between.
They could hardly be called friends, the old Itachi had concluded.
Izumi didn't know what the word "friend" meant to Itachi now.
Gazing at the smile before him, a part of him that had been tightly closed for years slowly opened.
He didn't know if it was due to a deep sense of guilt towards Izumi or a profound longing within himself.
Itachi looked at her seriously and replied, "Well, if you don't mind."
At Itachi's response, a bright smile lit up Izumi's face, her large eyes crinkling into happy crescent shapes.
"Let's go."
Itachi smiled back, trying to adapt to something he'd once neglected.
In that moment, Itachi, with the outward appearance of a child but the heart of an adult, felt a genuine joy he hadn't known in a long time.
The two walked together to the first floor of the Ninja Academy, to the freshmen's classroom.
New students began to arrive one after another, and children their age quickly became familiar with each other.
The classroom was noisy, with occasional bursts of laughter.
Itachi and Izumi chose a secluded corner to sit down.
As they sat, a black-haired boy turned and greeted them.
"Hello, my name is Ariki Kimura."
Izumi replied immediately with a smile, "I'm Izumi Uchiha."
Itachi, a little slower, added, "I'm Itachi Uchiha."
"Wow!" the boy suddenly exclaimed, "You two got perfect scores on the entrance exam!"
He hadn't noticed the round fan crests on Izumi and Itachi's clothes before, but all the freshmen knew that the two children who had achieved perfect scores were from the Uchiha clan.
"Yeah." Izumi nodded.
This loud shout immediately attracted the attention of many children around.
They all gathered where Itachi and Izumi were sitting, chatting and greeting them enthusiastically.
Izumi patiently responded to each of them with a smile, but this was not something Itachi was good at.
In his mind, these children were very immature.
Because of that, Itachi found it difficult to engage in conversation with them, and his expression seemed a little flustered.
However, underneath this flustered expression, Itachi felt very happy.
He silently memorized the names of these children one by one.
Izumi, meanwhile, enjoyed chatting, and as a member of the Uchiha clan, she didn't show any sense of arrogance.
"Students, please be quiet."
After a while, a slightly plump teacher wearing a Konoha Chunin vest walked in.
However, almost no one paid attention to his words, as these new students had no concept of rules.
The Chunin teacher was a good-natured man.
He patiently walked through the classroom, carefully coaxing the children back to their seats.
He waited until everyone had returned to their seats and the noise had died down before he began to speak.
"Hello everyone, my name is Junpei Kanhara. From today on, I'll be your homeroom teacher. Please take good care of me."
A sincere smile graced his face, his affable demeanor hardly befitting a ninja.
"Then, please come up in order and briefly introduce yourselves."
Junpei smiled, gesturing to the seats by the door.
However, the students sitting there were reluctant to cooperate.
"Our homeroom teacher looks so clueless."
"Yeah," the atmosphere became awkward, and many students began to whisper among themselves.
Itachi, sitting in the back row, looked at the homeroom teacher, whose expression had turned slightly grim, and shook his head in frustration.
Just as he was about to stand up to help Junpei, Izumi, beside him, raised her hand before him.
"Teacher, I'll go first," Izumi said with a smile.
"Okay, let this student go first."
Junpei responded immediately, looking at Izumi as if he had seen a savior.
Izumi walked to the podium and said with a kind smile, "My name is Izumi Uchiha, I'm five years old. My favorite food is three-colored dango, and my hobbies are flower arranging and reading."
"Very good," Junpei nodded, then said, "Next student."
Still, no one paid any attention.
Izumi raised an eyebrow and looked at the boy the homeroom teacher had called, who was sitting in a seat near the classroom door.
She smiled and said, "Hideaki Mashita, the homeroom teacher is calling you. Come up quickly."
Izumi had already memorized the boy's name during their earlier conversation.
Seeing Izumi's smile, the boy was stunned for a moment, then immediately stood up and walked towards the podium where Izumi stood.
Junpei gave Izumi a thankful look, and Izumi nodded gently and returned to her seat.
"You're really smart," Itachi said, smiling at Izumi.
Izumi's entrance exam score had tied with Itachi's for first place.
She was kind and cute, so the boy named Hideaki Mashita certainly wouldn't refuse her invitation.
Meanwhile, the boy at the podium had already introduced himself.
However, remaining there would have been awkward, so he repeatedly winked at his deskmate, who then proceeded to the podium.
Izumi had clearly considered all of this, and with that, Junpei Kanhara's awkward situation was resolved.
"It can't be helped. Everyone's been so naughty. Mr. Kanhara looks like he's having a hard time," Izumi said with a hint of resignation.
After about an hour, every child in the class had introduced themselves.
The first class at the Ninja Academy wasn't about any basic ninja theory, but rather a study of Konoha's history.
When discussing Konoha's history, the first topic of discussion was the Fourth Hokage.
Itachi was naturally familiar with this knowledge.
His knowledge and experience far surpassed that of the Chunin, Junpei Kanhara.
But for the freshmen in the class, everything about the successive Hokage was like a series of fascinating legends, piquing their interest, and they listened with intense attention.
Izumi, her chin resting on her hand, listened attentively to the teacher's lecture.
However, when she heard the exciting parts, she didn't show the same surprise that most of the students did.
Itachi could tell that Izumi had already mastered the material that Junpei was discussing.
But hearing these things she already knew, Izumi didn't show any annoyance.
At this moment, Itachi couldn't help but develop a slight interest in the girl beside him.
He had previously overlooked these striking qualities in her.
....
By the way, don't forget to throw power stones and leave a review to motivate me :)