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Izumi quickly shoved all those messy thoughts out of her head.
She leaned in instead, staring intently at Akira's small face, examining him from every angle.
"Uh… what's with that look, Izumi-sis? Don't tell me you've fallen for me or something?"
"Nope, no way. I'm a man with principles. I wouldn't steal Itachi's girlfriend."
"You brat, what nonsense are you spouting?!"
Izumi smacked him lightly, clearly annoyed, her cheeks warming despite herself.
It was probably that line about "Itachi's girlfriend" that made her feel awkward.
Sigh.
Such an innocent girl.
Seeing her reaction, Akira couldn't help sighing inwardly.
"So, going by what you said earlier," Izumi said, fixing her gaze on his eyes again, completely serious, "you're some kind of reincarnation of… what was it, Indra-something?"
"So right now, are you Uchiha Akira, or are you that Indra person?"
"It's Indra Otsutsuki, not 'Indra-something,'" Akira corrected her first, then answered just as seriously.
"I'm still me. The real Uchiha Akira, no substitutions."
"What I awakened was Indra's power, not his memories. So I'm still myself."
"Is that so?"
Izumi frowned slightly. "But I feel like you've changed a lot. You don't feel like the old you at all."
"Hm? How so?"
Akira frowned, reflecting on whether he'd done anything too different from the original owner of this body.
"Well, you didn't really like me before, did you?" Izumi said. "Every time you saw me, you had that cold little face. But now you keep calling me Izumi-sis like we're super close."
Ah. So that was the problem.
Akira remembered now. The original Akira really didn't like Izumi.
Every time she showed up, Itachi would leave with her.
So the kid had decided that this woman had stolen his big brother.
Brother complex levels were honestly terrifying.
The lie had a crack, but it wasn't a big deal. He could still patch it up.
"Oh, that's because after gaining power, my mindset changed. I won't act that childish anymore."
"But the way you dealt with Uchiha Yashiro and the others…" Izumi continued. "That was way too brutal. That's not something a seven-year-old should be capable of."
"Oh, that?" Akira replied casually. "My strength grew too fast, and I couldn't control it properly."
"I was just trying to teach them a tiny little lesson."
Izumi: "..."
Broken arms. Destroyed eyes. Fried into charcoal.
You call that a tiny little lesson?
"Alright, Izumi-sis. Any other questions?" Akira said solemnly. "I can give you a perfectly reasonable expla—cough, I mean, explanation."
Suddenly, Izumi smiled.
"Okay. I believe you're really Akira."
"If you were that 'something-Ra' person," she continued, "then when Uchiha Yashiro and the others were bullying me, you wouldn't have had any reason to save me, right?"
Finally. She believed him.
Akira felt mentally exhausted. Sure enough, one lie always needed countless more to prop it up.
Though, strictly speaking, this wasn't really a lie. The original body really was Indra's reincarnation.
At that moment, Akira made a decision.
He wasn't going to be just some Uchiha brat anymore.
He was going to be the Uchiha ancestor.
After all, everyone knew that Indra was the progenitor of the Uchiha clan.
And he, Uchiha Akira, was Indra's reincarnation.
Therefore, he equaled the Uchiha ancestor.
Flawless logic.
Perfectly reasonable.
And if anyone dared question it?
He'd let them experience the power of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan and see if they still had the guts to doubt him.
As long as you dealt with the person raising the question, there was no problem left unsolved.
…
Chatting as they walked, the two soon reached a fork in the road.
"Akira, how about coming to my place?" Izumi asked with a smile. "To thank you for saving me, I'll treat you to my specialty, tricolor dango!"
"No thanks. I've got something urgent to handle at home," Akira said, shaking his head. "I'll try it next time."
"Oh… okay," Izumi said, a little disappointed. "You have to come next time, alright?"
She waved goodbye, and the two headed off in different directions.
"Hmm? Akira, shouldn't you be at the academy right now?"
At the entrance to the house, Uchiha Mikoto, wearing an apron, looked at her suddenly returned son in confusion.
Akira ignored the question and asked instead, "Where's Itachi? Is he home?"
"Oh, so you miss your big brother?" Mikoto laughed. "I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. He went on a mission two weeks ago and still hasn't come back."
"Honestly, that boy never lets people rest easy," she muttered. "Going on a mission and disappearing for that long…"
After worrying about Itachi for a moment, Mikoto turned her attention to her younger son.
"Little Akira, I know you miss your brother, but what you did wasn't right."
"Good kids aren't allowed to leave school early, you know."
"And also…"
"Blah blah blah, blah blah…"
There it was. That familiar feeling.
As expected, nagging was a universal mother skill.
"Mom, stop," Akira cut in quickly. "I didn't sneak out of school."
"I asked the teacher for leave, and I only came back after getting permission."
After explaining, he swiftly retreated into his bedroom.
"That's it for now. I've got something important to take care of."
Watching the door close, Mikoto sighed helplessly.
"Honestly, such a troublesome child… but why does Akira feel a little strange today?"
…
Whew.
Once inside his room, Akira let out a long breath.
His mother's nagging really was the hardest thing to deal with.
Originally, he'd planned to come home, find Itachi, and convince him to betray them at a critical moment and stab Danzo in the back.
Who would've thought Itachi had already been away on a mission for two weeks?
Akira was certain that right now, Itachi was probably preparing himself mentally for the night of the clan's annihilation.
He sat down casually, then reconsidered.
Even if he did find Itachi now, persuading him would be incredibly difficult.
Akira didn't have Naruto's legendary talk-no-jutsu, the kind that could turn black into white and the dead into the living.
So it'd be simpler to wait until the night of the massacre and beat Itachi senseless.
What do you do when a kid won't listen? Most of the time, it just means they need a good beating.
He even hoped he'd get to see a shocked expression on Itachi's perpetually stoic face.
After that, Akira stepped in front of the mirror and released the power in his eyes.
In an instant—
His right pupil transformed into an intricate six-pointed star pattern. The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
His left eye became a purple Rinnegan, rippling with concentric rings, adorned with six tomoe. The Six-Tomoe Rinnegan.
This was the first time he'd seen himself with both eyes activated.
In this form, he radiated arrogance and absolute dominance.
If he added a line like "Do you also wish to dance?" it'd be Uchiha Madara reborn, no question.
After admiring himself for a moment, it was finally time to test the true power hidden within these eyes.
"..."
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