"You're grinning like a weasel that stole a chicken."
Shisui's voice, carrying snowflakes, drifted over. His peripheral vision constantly scanned every shadow on the street corner, not even missing the sounds of stray cats digging in the snow, but his tone held a strange note.
"Isn't it just protecting two younger brothers? Is it worth being this happy?"
Hearing this, Itachi didn't respond, just fixed his gaze back on Makoto and Sasuke.
Fine snow landed on his eyelashes, cold as ice shards, but Itachi didn't even dare to blink.
This was absolutely the mission he most wanted to execute so far.
With Shisui by his side, able to watch his two younger brothers constantly, for a mission like this, not only would he do it for free, he'd even be willing to pay with his life.
Makoto, strolling through the streets and alleys, seemed to sense something. He suddenly looked up and glanced towards the shadows on the roof, spinning the recently bought dango stick in his fingers, a slight smile playing on his lips.
Seeing this, Itachi's heart seemed to skip a beat. He subconsciously shrunk deeper into the shadows. Accumulated snow slid down the roof tiles, falling onto the back of his neck, the cold making him shiver.
"Makoto spotted us, Itachi," Shisui chuckled softly, nudging Itachi with his elbow, not too lightly, not too heavily.
"Although we weren't deliberately hiding, an ordinary Shinobi shouldn't have been able to detect us, for Makoto, just over three years old, to have this ability... his talent is better than ours combined."
At this point, a serious look flashed in Shisui's eyes: "If he were sent to the Anbu or Root for proper training from a young age, his future achievements would definitely far surpass both of ours."
Hearing this, Itachi rolled his eyes, which is a very rare occurrence for him, and didn't want to speak. If he didn't know Shisui so well, he might have thought Shisui wanted Makoto to go to his death.
After this incident, Itachi realized that Shisui was indeed, as Makoto said, too naive, rarely wary of people within the village.
Then, Itachi's two eyes became as busy as wound-up tops. One moment, they were fixed on Sasuke, who nearly stepped into an icy puddle, the next, they were watching Makoto chatting with the Military Police Force.
At this moment, he wished he could split himself in half so he could watch both younger brothers simultaneously. Two eyes simply weren't enough.
The snow fell denser and dens, the flakes rustling as they landed on the roof tiles, dyeing Konoha's rooftops a uniform white, even blurring the outline of the Hokage Rock.
Itachi's fingertips unconsciously picked at the ice shards, the ice fragments rustling down, but the corners of his mouth quietly lifted again, even shaking off a few patches of accumulated snow from his hair.
Makoto wandered through Konoha's streets and alleys. Passing by a small grove, his steps suddenly slowed, and he looked at it a few moments longer. The white puffs of his breath gathered and dispersed before his eyes.
This small grove was much quieter than elsewhere, even the snow seemed to fall more gently, making it feel somewhat abrupt.
Outside the grove, children ran wild in the snow, snowballs hitting with loud thwacks, their shrieks high enough to lift the rooftops. Inside the grove, only one little blond boy squatted in a corner, building a snowman all alone.
The little blond's short hair stood up stubbornly, the clinging snowflakes like sprinkled crushed sugar. His sapphire-blue eyes were like the sky after snowmelt, but held an unmeltable loneliness, like glass beads forgotten on a windowsill.
Six whisker-like marks adorned his cheeks, making his little face look chubby.
The snowman was built crookedly, its head so large it seemed about to topple, its nose just a gray stone.
An older child hurried past the grove, deliberately kicked the snowman. With a crash, the snow blocks collapsed into a pile of slush.
The little blond looked up at the older child, didn't make a sound, pressed his lips together but didn't cry, just silently squatted down and started piling the snow again. The snowflakes on his eyelashes rustled down, like tears he couldn't hide.
Makoto stood across from the grove watching for a while. The pale golden virtual panel only he could see gently wavered.
Over the past months, [Naruto World Online]'s [Mission] had released a few missions one after another. Unfortunately, none were ones he could complete right now.
Fortunately, there were no time limits, no penalties, and some mission rewards were even extremely generous, the cost-performance ratio ridiculously high, like the one connected to this little blond boy before him.
[Mission: Separate or Seal... the Asura's Chakra Will within Uzumaki Naruto, freeing him from Asura's influence]
[Reward: Sage Body]
The reward for this mission could be called extremely generous, but the difficulty was somewhat high. With his current strength, he was far from capable.
The [Player Shop] did have items that could directly separate, seal, or even forcibly refine the Asura's Chakra... they were just a bit expensive...
Makoto clicked his tongue. The urge to slip out of Konoha grew even more urgent. With his current strength and age, making money in Konoha was too slow.
He looked at Naruto, who is building a snowman alone. The snowflakes on his eyelashes melted into fine droplets and rolled down. The curiosity in his heart felt like it was being scratched by a cat's paw, unbearably itchy.
'If the Asura's Chakra Will weren't involved, after experiencing the entire village's PUA, if he were to have a sudden moment of enlightenment one day, what would Naruto do?'
Snowflakes landed in Makoto's hair. His exhaled white breath blurred his vision. The seed of curiosity sprouted in his heart, even producing an itch of impatience.
Just thinking about it made him a bit impatient. He really wanted to erase the Asura's Chakra Will right now and see what this little guy would grow into.
Sasuke, who had been tailing him, saw Makoto staring fixedly at the little blond in the grove. His little face instantly puffed up like a pufferfish.
He clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white, the heat escaping from between his fingers carrying a slightly sour smell.
He was just about to stride over and tell Makoto that he was his real brother, but when his gaze swept over the little blond, it inexplicably paused.
It felt like something had gently bumped his heart. It didn't hurt, but it was a bit itchy.
Just like seeing the dango Makoto hid away. It clearly had nothing to do with him, but he couldn't help wanting to look a few more times.
"Are you pretending to be a snowman here? Standing so still." Sasuke walked up to Makoto, his voice muffled.
The tip of his shoe ground a small pit in the snow, the splashed snow condensing into white frost on his trouser cuffs. "I won't save you if you freeze into a popsicle."
"Talk about saving me after you can beat my shadow clones first." Makoto casually teased.
Hearing this, Sasuke snorted angrily. A moment later, he tugged on Makoto's sleeve again, his tone feigning nonchalance as he asked:
"Why do you keep staring at him? We could go play with him together."
Makoto looked at Sasuke. The kid's desire was practically overflowing from his eyes. He suddenly laughed, 'Truly worthy of being good friends in the original work.'
'If even one of them were a girl, Sakura and Hinata would have to step aside.'
Despite Sasuke usually being very clingy towards him and Itachi, towards peers his own age, he was always extremely aloof, never taking the initiative to suggest playing with others.
'But maybe I could let Sasuke and Naruto play together. That way, Sasuke wouldn't pester me anymore.'
As for the unspoken rule about the Uchiha Clan not approaching the Kyubi's Jinchuriki...
Who would care about a child just over three years old? Besides, in the original work, Naruto and Sasuke started attending Academy together from age six.
Moreover, even if someone did care, it didn't matter. Over the past months, Makoto had collected tissue samples from all the Uchiha Clan's members who were good to him.
If Sasuke really died, as long as he awakened the Rinnegan in the future, he could easily resurrect him.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that even if the family dog, Shiro, accidentally died, Makoto would specially perform the Rinne Rebirth for a dog. Who told him he had [Resurrection Coins]?
Thinking this, Makoto patted Sasuke's back. The force wasn't strong, but it pushed him forward a couple of stumbling steps, his feet making thumping sounds in the snow.
"You go tell him, that's not how you build a snowman. Teach him how to do it properly."
Hearing this, Sasuke was momentarily stunned, instinctively turning his head to look at Naruto, who was crookedly forcing the snowman's head onto its body, resulting in a crash as half of it collapsed.
He quickly turned back to look at Makoto, his little face etched with 'I don't wanna', but his peripheral vision couldn't help sneakily glancing at Naruto.
"I don't want to play with him!" As soon as the words left his mouth, even Sasuke felt his lack of conviction. His throat bobbed.
Seeing this, Makoto smiled and said: "If you get along well with him, you'll have a great opportunity in the future."
Sasuke, seeing Makoto being all mysterious, instantly warily took half a step back. "Are you trying to trick me again?"
After being tricked by Makoto so much over the past months, he had developed a stress response. Makoto ruffled his hair, his fingertips brushing through the black strands.
"This time it's for real. This great opportunity can instantly give you strength surpassing that old monkey Hiruzen."
"Really? Makoto-nii!" Sasuke's eyes instantly lit up.
Looking at Sasuke, who had picked up some of his bad habits, Makoto reached out and poked his forehead. "Forget it if you don't want it."
"Then what should I do?" Sasuke leaned half a step closer, his little face full of urgency. "Makoto-nii, I really want to improve..."
"See, you're being impatient again," Makoto pressed down on his shoulders. "Start with building a snowman."
Hearing this, Sasuke's little tsundere nature flared up again. He turned his head and snorted. "Fine, don't tell me!"
But his feet were extremely honest as they shuffled towards Naruto.
"It's not that I want to play with him, it's completely for the great opportunity..." Sasuke kept repeating inwardly, the strap of his tool pouch dragging on the snow, leaving a crooked trail.
This great opportunity was: As long as the ancestral beauty imprisoned on the moon showed signs of emerging, and if Naruto and Sasuke died, the Sage of Six Paths might just come out and give these two guys power-ups.
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FOR EVERY 50 POWER STONES, I'LL UPLOAD ONE CHAPTER