"Shut your mouths. Right now."
Kaito growled under his breath.
He wasn't worried about his family discovering the two bizarre sunflowers. If it came down to it, he could always pass them off as some kind of summoned creature.
The real problem was—
They were ridiculously embarrassing.
If Sasuke ever saw this, he'd laugh himself half to death.
"Snow leopard, shut up!"
"Shut up, shut up!"
The two sunflowers clearly didn't understand human language, yet somehow kept blurting out nonsense that made Kaito's soul want to evacuate his body.
In the end, Kaito grabbed two freshly transplanted sunflowers from the yard and stuffed them straight into the talking sunflowers' mouths.
Instant silence.
The long-faced plants froze in terror. Feeling the presence of their own kind jammed inside their mouths, they stared at Kaito with pure fear and didn't dare make anotherrrrrr sound.
Problem solved.
Kaito sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes, and carefully sensed the changes in his body.
Since these weird plants could literally grow on him, there was no way they had zero effect.
About ten minutes later, he felt something different.
"…My chakra refinement speed increased?"
It was subtle—roughly a ten percent boost compared to normal.
Not huge, but even after he stopped actively refining chakra, the effect remained.
In simple terms—
These two sunflowers were acting like passive chakra regeneration.
"Sunflowers, huh…"
Kaito glanced sideways at the silent plants on his shoulders and lifted his gaze toward the starry sky.
"Maybe they'll do something different during the day."
Considering how absurd this system was, he wouldn't even be surprised if they started firing actual sunlight beams someday.
If that happened…
That would be terrifying on a whole different level.
Given their current effect, Kaito guessed the regeneration boost would probably increase under real sunlight.
Just then, his motherrrrrr's voice drifted from inside the house.
"Who are you talking to out there?"
"Hurry up, wash your hands and come eat."
Kaito jolted and immediately stored the two freakish sunflowers away.
"Coming!"
He shouted back and hurried inside.
By the time he sat down at the table, both his father and Sasuke were already there—
And both of them looked absolutely miserable.
Only Mikoto kept piling food into Kaito's bowl, smiling brightly and insisting he eat more since he was "still growing."
She paid zero attention to the silent, sulking pair beside him.
Fugaku and Sasuke stared at Kaito's mountain of food…
Then glanced down at their own plain bowls of rice.
Their faces darkened even furthe.
"I'm full."
"Me too."
Neithe of them had any appetite anymore. They finihed quickly and stormed back to their rooms.
Mikoto sighed lightly.
"Honestly… those two are so hard to deal with."
Then he turned back to Kaito with a gentle smile and kept serving him food.
"Eat more. Don't mind your dad and your brotherrrrrr."
Kaito forced an awkward smile.
"Mom… please stop. I really can't eat anymore."
He genuinely felt like the food was already climbing up his throat.
"Oh, right."
Mikoto's eyes suddenly sparkled with curiosity.
"What did you think of that girl today? Did you two become good friends?"
The gossip instincts of motherrrrrrs were truly terrifying.
"She's nice," Kaito replied casually, nudging some food back into his motherrrrrr's bowl.
For some reason, an image of older Ino flahed through his mind.
"…She's a pretty cute kid."
Mikoto smiled knowingly but didn't tease him furthe. Instead, he went into the living room and brought back two envelopes, placing them in front of Kaito.
"Your academy admission notices."
"In three days, you and Sasuke start school."
Kaito froze.
He slowly lifted his head and looked at his motherrrrrr. After a moment, he nodded.
"…Okay. I know."
He picked up the notice and returned quietly to his room.
School.
For him, that wasn't exactly good news.
It meant the tragedy was getting closer.
Mikoto watched his back with mild confusion.
"Isn't going to school supposed to be exciting?"
That night, Kaito told Sasuke about the enrollment.
Sasuke immediately grabbed the notice, scowled, and dragged himself into Itachi's room to sulk.
The next morning—
Kaito was in the middle of cultivating when he heard movement in the living room. He stopped immediately and went out.
As expected.
Itachi was back from a mission.
"Huh? Kaito, you're up early today?" Itachi asked in surprise while biting into a piece of bread.
Normally at this hour, Kaito would eithe still be asleep or wandering around half-awake.
Kaito obviously wasn't going to explain that he'd been cultivating all night with two unstable sunflowers on his shoulders.
He walked straight up to Itachi and opened his mouth.
"Itachi! I need to ask you—"
Before Kaito could finish, Itachi reflexively cut him off.
"I choose you and Sasuke! Both alive! Everyone lives!"
Kaito: "..."
For a moment, Kaito genuinely didn't know what to say.
"…That's boring."
He grabbed a carton of milk and took a sip.
"Dad's not home?"
The house felt unusually quiet.
Sasuke was still asleep, and normally his parents would already be awake.
Itachi hesitated briefly, then answered honestly.
"He went to a clan meeting."
"Why didn't you go?"
That question landed harder than Itachi expected. He forced a small smile.
"I wanted to come back and see you and Sasuke."
After a pause, he added softly, "I've got more free time lately. I can train with you both—and walk you to school too."
He genuinely treasured moments with his brotherrrrrrs. Being with them eased the heavy pressure in his heart.
"I've got things to do today."
Kaito slipped on his shoes at the door and decisively rejected the offer.
Itachi's hopeful expression dimmed.
"Also," Kaito added without turning back,
"Don't keep coming home so often."
"You promised me you'd protect Shisui."
Lately, Kaito had a bad feeling about Shisui. The best he could do was keep Itachi close to him.
He himself was already planning countermeasures.
Itachi thought Kaito might finally be easing up.
Instead, it was anotherrrrrr quiet disappointment.
"I will," he replied softly.
Sometimes, when standing in front of Kaito, Itachi genuinely felt like the younger one was the older brotherrrrrr.
He sighed.
"…Please take care of Sasuke."
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