"Yellow blossoms with your pale hair do not stand out much, but yellow is not as gaudy as other flowers, which proves your taste is pretty good."
Outside Konoha.
Strictly speaking it was only the outskirts of the residential district, with village outposts still circling the perimeter, so it was safe.
On the hillside, Amane straightened the yellow flower on Ino's hat and smiled gently.
"Do you know why I like it?"
Ino asked in a small voice.
"Tell me."
Amane sat calmly on the grass.
"Because... the rims of your glasses... are yellow..."
The words seemed to crawl up from her throat. If you did not listen closely, you would think a mosquito had spoken.
"Yes, I like yellow."
"It represents the heart people cannot quite hide."
Amane looked at Ino and chose not to say the rest, that this color was his essence.
He could not help it.
Even if girls in this world tended to mature early, even if a single childhood moment could shape lifelong standards and choices of partner, he still could not say it.
A girl could be someone you nurtured feelings with.
Pushing further brought a sense of guilt.
She was only five or six.
He could not.
"Amane-kun... we will enroll together, right?"
The quiet was finally broken by the girl. The Academy would start admissions in the second half of the year, and the six and seven year olds would enter together.
As heir to the Yamanaka, she had no reason to refuse becoming a shinobi.
The Third Great Shinobi War had ended not long ago, and the village sorely lacked people. On top of that, the incident where the Cloud delegation drove Hyuga Hizashi to his death had left Sarutobi Hiruzen with a tight knot of urgency.
Konoha lacked manpower.
The old were too old, and the mainstays either killed themselves, left the village, or defected.
The blow to Konoha was severe.
Right now the village did not have the nerve to claim it was still the number one village dominating the ninja world.
It might sound unbelievable.
At this point, besides Hatake Kakashi and a few others, there was no one Sarutobi could trust completely.
Shisui and Itachi?
Bearing the Uchiha name, they had already lost the label of trust.
Even Uchiha Shisui, descendant of the Mirror, was not trusted. In the end his eyes were gouged out and he died by his own hand.
With no hands to command, the gaze turned to the next generation.
That pushed the school age younger than before.
A six year old, in his past life, would still be flicking marbles in some corner.
Even so.
Was it time to enroll?
Amane nudged his frames and fell into thought.
Enrollment for others might be a trial step toward possibly becoming a shinobi. For the Uchiha, it was different.
It meant the clan's life was entering its countdown.
It seemed time to speak with that man.
He rose from the grass.
With impeccable manners he helped Ino up, patted the dirt from her back, and offered an apologetic smile.
"I have to head back. If I am lucky enough to be your classmate later, I will remember those days."
He brushed the flower tucked in her hair, then turned away.
Amane liked Ino.
He liked her frankness and the soft charm beneath her swagger.
If you watched the later years in that other tale with Boruto, you would see how the male leads fared in marriage.
No doubt, Sai had it best.
Of course, as Amane had said, his essence was the same as the wildflower on Ino's hat. He was not likely to stay tame in this life.
...
Back in the compound.
Amane did not pause. He went straight to Itachi's room.
After joining the ANBU there was rarely any time off.
Today was different. Shisui had returned from a mission. By Itachi's habits, he would wait at home for the messenger crow, then meet Shisui at the Naka River to talk at length.
Talk meant venting. The things that weighed on the chest, the friction between Uchiha and Konoha, would all be laid out.
Even without listening, Amane already knew the outcome.
He seemed mild yet was violently decisive. The man named Uchiha Shisui was a true lover of peace.
So their conversation would end with Shisui saying that he would save both the clan and the village.
No need to spell out the end. He failed.
He carried his dream and handed his hopes to Itachi, asking Itachi to finish what he could not.
That directly pushed Itachi to decide on the clan's slaughter.
He was a good man, only too idealistic.
Uchiha and Konoha could not mix like water and fire. The clash was inevitable, and beyond the clash lay the machinations of the leadership.
Shisui believed that calming the Uchiha's coup would melt the village's distrust. That was impossible.
A life with regrets was a complete life. Shisui was simply too pure.
Amane had long since prepared to twist that purity and Itachi's stubbornness onto a different course.
CREAK!
The door slid open.
Amane stepped into Itachi's room.
As the clan head's eldest son, Itachi was the likeliest to command the Uchiha and become the next clan leader.
The room was plain.
A tatami mat, a few ninjutsu books, and simple tools.
The man knelt quietly on the mat, lost in thought.
"Amane."
Puzzled, Itachi looked at his second brother.
Unlike Sasuke who clung to him, this brother had his own will and even his own views on training, mature to a startling degree.
Whatever the case, Itachi did not treat him differently from Sasuke.
Amane and Sasuke were both his little brothers.
That had never changed.
Whoever tried to harm them would touch his taboo.
"Let's get dango. I want some."
After a moment, Amane spoke.
Tri-color dango.
Without question, it was his brother's favorite.
Unfortunately, a man who loved sweets most ended up tasting bitterness his whole life.
Was he wrong?
He was.
At least that was how Amane saw it. The wrong was not helping Konoha, it was killing his parents.
There were many compromises at that moment. Parricide and matricide were the most foolish choice.
He did regret it.
During his years in the Akatsuki, only rainy days were his favorite weather.
Because in the rain, he could cry without restraint.
...