Itachi got a little toothpaste on his small hands. He gripped the edge of the bathroom door and peeked inside...
The living room was quiet today...
Mikoto patted Roy on the back and scolded playfully, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
Sitting opposite them, Fugaku remained unsmiling, silently watching Roy. For a moment, his thoughts drifted back to the clan meeting at the Uchiha's ancestral shrine. The boy's audacious claim that he could "help the clansmen awaken their Sharingan" had struck him like a bolt of lightning, leaving him in utter disbelief.
"Mikoto," Fugaku raised a hand to interrupt the woman. His sharp eyes locked onto Roy before he finally spoke, "I understand."
It was as if he had said everything, yet nothing at all, deliberately avoiding the topic. "Go on."
Roy checked the time. It was seven forty-five, fifteen minutes before the eight o'clock gathering. He smiled and nodded at Fugaku, then turned to Mikoto. "Mother, I'm heading out. I want pork cutlet bowls for dinner..."
With that, he pushed off the tatami mat and stood up. In the blink of an eye, a muddy swamp materialized beneath his feet. Under Mikoto's stunned gaze and Fugaku's sharp, shocked stare, he slowly sank into the ground, only to reappear...
Crossing the entire living room, he suddenly emerged at the bathroom doorway.
Hum... A silent ripple spread out as the swamp tore open a rift in space, revealing the boy's thick black hair...
He emerged from the ground with a smile, appearing right next to Itachi. The young boy's mature eyes, so unlike a typical child's, widened with an unprecedented, radiant gleam as he finally understood what had happened. Then, feeling a sudden warmth on his head, he found Roy gently ruffling his hair.
"Brother, what kind of ninjutsu is that?" The little boy looked up at his older brother. It was strange; it felt like his brother had grown taller just overnight. He used to be able to reach his brother's chin, but now... he had to stand on his tiptoes just to barely reach his neck. Such a rapid growth spurt was truly enviable...
"Hmmm..." Roy stroked his chin, genuinely stumped for a moment.
Its original form was [Swamp Space], an innate Blood Demon Art from the Clone Demon. It fused his understanding of terrain with his comprehension of [Space]. To call it a combination of [Earth Release] and [Space] wasn't quite right, as he could emerge from water, trees, flowers, and any other tangible object...
Calling it [Earth Release] was clearly inappropriate.
"I'm not exactly sure myself..." After pondering for a moment, Roy looked at Itachi with a smile. "What do you think it should be called, Itachi?"
Itachi's eyes sparkled as he blurted out, "Can you come out of the water, Brother?"
"I can."
"What about trees?"
"Yes."
"Rocks?"
"Of course." Feeling the increasingly profound gazes of Fugaku and Mikoto from behind, Roy answered gently, "As long as it has a physical form, I can."
Itachi thought for a moment before saying earnestly, "[A Step Away, A World Apart]!"
"You always tell me that the world is both vast and small, and that if we measure it with our feet, we might just be able to walk it all..."
"I don't think there's a better name than that."
"A Step Away, A World Apart..." Mikoto murmured.
"A Step Away, A World Apart..." Fugaku muttered in a low voice.
Just as Itachi had said, the world was both vast and small; a single step could cross the ends of the earth. However...
That only applied to the extremely rare genius ninjas who had mastered Space-Time Ninjutsu.
If ordinary people, or even the powerful jonin from Konoha, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure, actually believed that, their lives would be over.
Fugaku coughed lightly. "Itachi, let your brother wash up..."
The man's tone left no room for argument.
Itachi obediently stepped aside. A gentle breeze brushed past his shoulder, carrying a faint voice. "A Step Away, A World Apart. It's a great name."
The young boy watched Roy's back as he entered the bathroom and picked up his toothbrush, a rare smile gracing his lips...
It was seven-fifty in the morning, about ten minutes before he had to report in.
By the time Roy finished washing up and came out, Fugaku had already eaten breakfast, put on his jonin flak jacket, tied his forehead protector, and left early for his shift at the Military Police Force.
Mikoto cleared the dishes and saw Roy off in his stead. At the entryway, she bent down to wipe the boy's shoes, murmuring, "You're grown up now and have your own skills, so Mom won't say anything more."
"I'll listen to you. When you come back tonight, I'll make you pork cutlets."
Roy smiled. "Okay." Finally, he waved at Itachi, who was sitting by the tatami. "When your brother Shisui arrives, tell him it's the same as yesterday: two sets of ten thousand practice swings... I'll check on you both this evening..."
Itachi's cheeks puffed out, stuffed with sushi, and he nodded silently. He felt his arms aching faintly before he had even started practicing his sword swings...
"Alright, with your father and me watching, nothing will go wrong." Mikoto patted the boy as she opened the door.
Roy smiled and said no more. He turned and walked out the door. Under the rising sun, his nose twitched as he took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. He then headed toward his reporting location, a training ground in the South Forest near the entrance of Konoha...
Step, step... Crossing the streets, leaving behind the bustling crowds and the commercial districts filled with dazzling goods, he entered the forest. Feeling the damp air brush against his face, Roy suddenly paused. Beside a large tree on the path leading deep into the South Forest, he spotted a head of swaying white hair...
The white hair was tied back with a forehead protector acting as a hairband, its center branded with the leaf symbol of Konoha, signifying the eternal Will of Fire...
Roy locked eyes with Sakumo Hatake from ten meters away.
The Kage-level powerhouse known as Konoha's White Fang lowered his crossed arms, his gaze fixed on Roy. His eyes were filled with a complex mix of regret and emotion, like a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. He sighed softly. "I knew the higher-ups wouldn't agree to let me be your jonin instructor, but I still held onto a sliver of hope. It turns out I was overthinking it..."
Konoha's White Fang could be Kakashi's father, the idol of civilian ninjas, a powerhouse who suppressed the Sannin, or even the pillar of Konoha. But he could never be the Uchiha's White Fang. He couldn't even have the slightest connection to the Uchiha!
Roy hated scheming and dirty power struggles. But just like light and shadow, spear and shield, they were opposing yet unified; neither could exist without the other. The boy's black hair swayed in the wind as he bowed to Sakumo Hatake. "Actually, when it comes to swordsmanship, Uncle White Fang is already my teacher in my heart."
Roy bowed deeply before straightening his back, looking at him calmly. "A teacher teaches me, and I learn from the teacher. It doesn't necessarily have to be formal. What do you think, Uncle White Fang?"
Sakumo Hatake was taken aback, then he smiled... a very happy smile...
He shook his head in self-deprecation. "I don't deserve to be called your teacher. After all,"
Konoha's White Fang looked deeply at Roy. "You've given me far, far more than I've given you..."
[Thunder Breathing] was a [Technique], a [Jutsu], and a [Path]. Different people had different understandings of it. These understandings often varied drastically due to differences in talent, perception, and heart. Just like Kaigaku and Zenitsu Agatsuma, who both studied under Jigoro Kuwajima... In their understanding of the [Thunder] path, even though the latter only mastered the First Form, he was far beyond Kaigaku, the half-baked disciple who indirectly caused his master's death...
And Sakumo Hatake was already adept at [Thunder], with an extremely high talent for swordsmanship. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to strike fear into the ninja world with just a short sword, to the point where he had to be killed off by the plot to make way for Kakashi. That alone spoke volumes!
"You're joking, Uncle White Fang. It's just my shallow understanding..."
"Shallow?" Facing Roy's modesty, Sakumo Hatake looked at the boy with burning eyes and nodded in deep agreement. "For you, indeed... but only for you..."
Otherwise, in Sakumo Hatake's eyes, this [Thunder Breathing] was not inferior to the famous [Kekkei Genkai] clans of Konoha, such as the Hyuga, Ino-Shika-Cho, or Inuzuka...
Sakumo Hatake pinched a fallen leaf and placed it in his palm. Lightning flashed, reducing it to ash.
Suppressing the fluctuations in his heart, he stepped aside, clearing the tree-lined path to the training ground for Roy. "Go on. Minato and the others are waiting for you."
Roy looked up at the sun climbing high into the sky, then suddenly cast a glance toward the Hokage building...
Konoha, with the Hokage building sitting in the center like an overturned rice cooker...
On the third floor, in the Hokage's office.
An old man with a pipe in his mouth, his hands forming a figure-eight as he continuously channeled chakra into the crystal ball in front of him, took a puff of smoke and muttered silently, "I'm just looking... I won't go over..."
Roy's gaze was cold as he withdrew his sight. This time, he didn't use [En] to block Hiruzen Sarutobi's [Telescope Technique]...
The reason was simple. Roy knew that no matter what he did in the training ground, the Third Hokage, who loved to peep in his free time, would eventually find out. After all, his jonin instructor, Minato Namikaze, was the disciple of Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, making him Hiruzen Sarutobi's grand-disciple.
The boy felt neither joy nor sorrow. He simply treated Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze as thin air, trampling it underfoot. He brushed past Sakumo Hatake's shoulder and proceeded unhurriedly deeper into the South Forest.
"Roy,"
"Protect yourself."
At that moment, a faint voice chased after the boy's back and reached his ears.
Sakumo Hatake leaned against the large tree, watching the boy leave, and said gently, "I look forward to our next sword discussion, so,"
"Please make sure you stay alive!"
Roy paused. His heart fluttered in the wind, gently touched. He immediately thought of Sakumo Hatake's fate... abandoning a mission to save his comrades, only to be despised by the village. What was even more chilling was that the comrade he saved stabbed him in the back for the sake of 'political correctness,' joining the villagers who spat on him and pointed fingers behind his back, ultimately leading to his suicide... It was truly lamentable...
Of course, there might also be an element of 'merit overshadowing the master'... The higher-ups of Konoha deliberately standing by coldly, or even pushing things from behind, for the sake of the Hokage succession...
Roy took a deep breath and sneered. "How truly filthy."
He suddenly turned his head and smiled brightly at Sakumo Hatake. "Then it's a promise, Uncle White Fang."
"If I don't see you when I return from the battlefield, I won't let Kakashi off the hook..."
Sakumo Hatake was stunned, then lowered his eyes and chuckled warmly. "What does this have to do with Kakashi?"
Roy raised his head and said righteously, "The son bears the father's debts. If I can't find you, won't I have to settle the score with Kakashi?"
'When did those two get so close?' In the Hokage building, Hiruzen Sarutobi stared blankly at this scene. One with white hair, one with black hair. One Hatake, one Uchiha. One at the peak of his prime, whose strength suppressed his three disciples; the other exceptionally talented, often making astonishing moves... These were two people who shouldn't have crossed paths at all, who should have walked along two parallel lines toward completely different lives...
Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned and took another puff of his pipe. Amidst the swirling smoke, a dim layer of 'ash' veiled the Hokage hat resting on the corner of his desk...
At the edge of the South Forest.
Sakumo Hatake was left speechless by the boy's quick words—a bunch of seemingly twisted logic that actually made sense when thought about carefully...
Shaking his head with a laugh, he simply stopped replying and gave the boy a solemn nod, saying, "Alright."
Then, his gaze followed the boy as he left in satisfaction, until he completely disappeared into the depths of the South Forest. He stood silently in place for a moment longer before his figure flashed and vanished...
The South Forest was tranquil at this moment...
The occasional chirping of birds drifted out faintly...
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed out clouds of smoke, his face obscured and unclear. After the 'lens' silently followed Sakumo Hatake for a moment, the old man took his pipe out of his mouth with a clack, slapped it on the desk, and increased his chakra input. Immediately after—
The view shifted back to Roy.
After bidding farewell to Sakumo Hatake, the boy strolled leisurely, weaving through the trees and flowers. It didn't look like he was reporting for duty; rather, it looked like he was sightseeing. It seemed he felt that since he was already late, a few more minutes wouldn't matter, so he might as well take his time. It was hard to say whether he was just carefree or lazy. Regardless... he arrived where he needed to be...
"You're late." In the training ground of the South Forest, one adult and three children stood in an open clearing surrounded by a circle of wooden training dummies. Four pairs of eyes stared at him—some curious, some probing, some complex, and some hiding a smile...
Roy stopped in his tracks and put his hands in his pockets, looking at Minato Namikaze as he stepped forward from the group. The man's bright blond hair stood up like a hedgehog's. For a moment, his figure overlapped with Naruto's... They looked so alike, too alike. Except for the nose, eyes, ears, mouth, and those fox whiskers on the cheeks—which didn't look alike at all—Minato Namikaze was practically a larger version of Naruto Uzumaki...
"It's Uncle White Fang's fault."
"If he hadn't delayed me, I would have arrived on time." Roy shrugged.
A certain white-haired man who had just left the South Forest stumbled slightly and suddenly sneezed. At the same time, the corner of a certain old man's mouth in the Hokage's office twitched imperceptibly as he shook his head and laughed...
'Sly,' was Hiruzen Sarutobi's evaluation of Roy.
It was also Minato Namikaze's first impression of Roy.
The future Fourth Hokage smiled and said, "I don't ask for reasons, I only look at results. If you're late... you must be punished."