Fleeing from Konoha

Losing a calm heart is never the way of an excellent ninja.

If this is a false accusation, then all you can do is work hard to present evidence and clear your name. There's no need to dwell on such things.

As for whether it was truly a ninja from the Uchiha Clan who released the Nine-tailed and brought disaster to the village, Itachi didn't know the truth.

But lately, his father, Fugaku, often mumbled the name "Uchiha Ruri" at the dinner table, his face shifting constantly between anger and helplessness, ultimately melting into a long, heavy sigh.

Itachi knew that the Kyuubi Rampage might really have something to do with the Uchiha Clan.

His father Fugaku would not repeat a person's name for no reason, especially not a clan member's name.

And as for that clan member's name, Itachi had already heard it more than once, but as for who that really was, he couldn't learn anything from his father.

Even his mother, Mikoto, just shook her head, unwilling to say more.

—The newest training ground was set up in a quiet patch of forest.

It was in this place that Itachi had been carrying out a new round of training these past few days.

He started with Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu, then Taijutsu, and finished with Shuriken Throwing.

By the time he'd finished all his tentatively, it was already dusk.

Just as he was about to pick up his pack and leave, a voice suddenly called out from behind him:

"Impressive!"

Itachi instinctively leapt to the side, drawing a kunai from his Ninja Tool Bag and aiming it at the newcomer.

It was a delicate-featured, black-haired boy.

There was a Konoha Headband tied to his forehead, and an Uchiha fan crest embroidered on his clothes—he was from the Uchiha Clan. He smiled gently at Itachi.

"No need to be so cautious. Let's introduce ourselves: I'm Uchiha Shisui."

Itachi lowered the kunai, just about to say his name, but the other boy smiled and continued:

"I know you. Uchiha Itachi, the Clan Leader's son."

"You know me?"

Itachi was curious.

"Yeah."

Shisui pointed at the nearby targets, where kunai and shuriken were embedded dead center.

Some of the targets only had a single wooden pole left; the targets themselves had been burnt away by Fire Style Jutsu.

"To use such amazing shuriken skills at your age, and to perform Fire Style Ninjutsu as well—I guessed who you were immediately. I heard you're a solitary guy, pouring all your time into training. Seems it's true."

Itachi had achieved his current strength through immense practice.

Shisui understood very well how much effort and hardship Itachi had put in to reach that level—not something that the word 'genius' could simply dismiss.

"Because playing ninja games with them is too boring."

Itachi answered as always.

"Is that so?"

Shisui stood there, thought for a moment, then flicked his arm.

Several flashes passed in front of Itachi's eyes with a sound.

Startled, Itachi turned around, only to see that on each of his shuriken stuck in the targets, there was now an additional shuriken side by side, all striking bullseye—without exception.

The most surprising thing was that not only had he failed to see clearly, he hadn't even noticed how Shisui drew his shuriken or what technique he used to slip around him and hit the targets dead-on.

This guy...is strong! Itachi thought to himself.

"How about it? My Shuriken Jutsu's pretty good, right? But I believe in a few years, you'll be able to do this too, maybe even better than me."

Shisui said this with certainty.

Itachi didn't reply aloud, but he agreed in his heart.

Shisui could do this because he was older and had trained longer.

"Even before the clan moved here, I'd already noticed you more than once. Training hard at your age like this is remarkable."

Shisui reached out his hand to him, a sunny, natural smile appearing on his face:

"What do you think, want to train together from now on? Training with two is a lot more effective."

Shisui gave him a special feeling—he'd probably be easy to get along with.

And, if he trained with him, he'd naturally get stronger. So Itachi reached out too, shaking Shisui's hand.

"Alright, starting today we're friends. Wanna meet here again tomorrow?"

Seeing how easygoing Shisui was, Itachi nodded in agreement.

"Okay."