Watching Hiko leave, Orochimaru frowned. The boy had changed too much in just a few days.
His personality felt different, and not only that. Other things had shifted too.
After a moment's thought, Orochimaru followed Hiko out of the academy. Poor Jiraiya became the stand-in and ate Tsunade's fists until she cooled down.
When Tsunade looked for Hiko again, he was already gone.
"Hmph, lucky this time. I'll deal with you tomorrow!"
She stormed out of the academy, leaving behind a panda-faced Jiraiya and a class of shaken kids.
Hiko, same as yesterday, headed for the training grounds. This time he detoured through the market and bought food, mostly meat.
He was glad he could cook. He would not live like Naruto one day, surviving on instant noodles and ramen.
Instant noodles needed no comment. And ramen could not be a staple.
For the price of one bowl, you could buy enough ingredients for a real meal. Cook it yourself and it became good food. Hiko disliked waste.
Anything he could not finish went into the icebox.
"Heh."
Hiko noticed Orochimaru tailing him and smiled. He did not care. Treating Orochimaru as a private rival was fine, so long as it stayed private.
Orochimaru watched Hiko shop and fell silent. What was the point of all those groceries?
With his bag of food, Hiko reached the training grounds and took a corner. He set the meat to soak in the stream to keep it fresh, then began training. He had no wish to eat spoiled meat later.
As for Orochimaru, Hiko ignored him and focused on work.
From a distance, Orochimaru watched Hiko grind through every drill. Basics first. Then shuriken and kunai. In the end he turned and left.
He never liked training in the village. He preferred the woods outside.
That habit kept secrets safe. Some nosy old men swept the village with their "eyes." If you were careless, your secrets bled out. Especially if you were the type who preferred doing things in the dark.
"Interesting kid."
Hiko had no idea that someone else was watching too.
Inside the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage bit down on his pipe and studied the crystal ball on his desk. Every afternoon, the same child appeared at the public training grounds, repeating the same grueling basics. The Hokage smiled.
Uchiha rarely trained outside their compound. If they did, they usually left the village or rented a private field. Children almost never used the public grounds.
That was why Hiko drew the Third's eye. An Uchiha child in the public field, showing a grown man's grit and persistence.
Yesterday the Hokage had merely glanced. Today, Hiko returned at the same time and did the same drills again. It was hard not to take note.
If he noticed Hiko, he noticed the shadow following him too. Orochimaru. A prodigy the Third had long kept an eye on.
"Bring me the child's file."
He set the pipe down. The Third was still in his prime, without the stoop he would show in later years.
"Yes."
A puff of smoke and an ANBU appeared, laying a folder on the desk. Every academy child had a record. Any one of them might become a pillar of Konoha. The village took that seriously.
Only teachers and the Hokage touched those files. If a child showed promise, a teacher could bypass all channels and report directly to the Hokage.
"Uchiha Hiko..."
The Hokage opened the folder. His thick brows drew together. The ANBU knelt and waited.
"So, he is directly linked to Kagami. No wonder he felt familiar."
At last the Hokage closed the file. He had not expected any tie to Uchiha Kagami at all.
Few in Konoha remembered Uchiha Kagami well. Like the Third, he had been a student of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. He was powerful and one of the rare Uchiha who hoped for full unity with the village.
He died young. Later, the famed Uchiha Shisui would be born from that line. By the timeline, Shisui was Kagami's descendant.
Hiko was not Kagami's direct heir, but from a side branch. His late father and Kagami had been as brothers.
Hiko himself knew none of it. He never looked into his background.
That was for the best. To the village, Kagami was admirable. To many Uchiha elders, he was a traitor.
An Uchiha who urged the clan to sacrifice everything for the village was not welcome.
They had their own struggles for power. Kagami had wanted them to set those aside. Who would agree to that?
The ANBU beside the Hokage wondered why this child mattered. On the list of talents the Third watched closely, Uchiha Hiko did not appear.
"Lord Hokage, should we assign a shadow?"
Konoha sometimes sent discreet protection for promising children. It was a kind of invisible training. The child rarely knew.
"No."
The Hokage shook his head and looked at the sun sinking toward the mountain. "He is Uchiha. If we do that, the clan will think we are plotting. Let him grow."
If Hiko were a civilian child, the Hokage would have assigned a watcher for part of the day. But the Uchiha and the village already had tension under the surface. A shadow would do more harm than good.
Imagine it. Relations were strained, and ANBU started stalking an Uchiha child. Suspicion would explode.
"Yes."
Back at the public grounds, Hiko had no idea the Hokage had read his file and weighed his future.
As for Uchiha Kagami, many readers of this "story" barely knew him, though they knew Shisui and his terrifying illusion, Kotoamatsukami.
Pity. The so-called strongest genjutsu was never fully used. Danzō stole the right eye. Itachi held the left. Without a pair, what was the point?
Basics, still basics.
Hiko did not overthink. He drowned himself in drills. Taijutsu. Shuriken. Kunai. Again and again. No matter how dull or tiring, he persisted. Even compared to Orochimaru, whom the Hokage valued, this iron patience was something special.
Orochimaru valued jutsu more. He never skipped basics, but he put more energy into books and scrolls.
At this age, however, he could not access much. That would come only after he became the Third's disciple.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Targets hidden among the trees were packed with kunai. None had missed.
Hiko dropped from a branch and collected every blade. Toss-and-forget was not an option. Otherwise he would starve.
Some dream of sleeping until they wake naturally and counting money until their hands cramp.
Hiko dreamed of throwing kunai until his hands cramped and never having to pick them up again.
"Junk, the lot of you," he muttered at the nicked blades.