Chapter 17: Uchiha Itachi Becomes My Disciple
Half a month passed.
It seemed as though Konoha had forgotten about Gōenji.
For nearly all of that time, he had practically lived in the Uchiha Clan's library.
Aside from his daily training, he spent almost all of his time there.
The old man in charge of the library was utterly baffled. He had never seen an Uchiha so obsessed with studying.
Morning.
Noon.
Night.
Whenever he came to the library, Gōenji was there.
It was almost as though he had made the library his home.
Didn't ordinary shinobi rush off to train and improve their strength as soon as they learned a new technique?
Yet Gōenji seemed to have come here not for ninjutsu, but for knowledge itself.
The strange thing was that much of the material he was studying had already been taught systematically within the clan. Most of the basic knowledge should have been familiar to any properly educated Uchiha.
It was simply ridiculous.
Very few Uchiha actually enjoyed studying to this extent.
The old man had always considered himself a diligent scholar, but he had never imagined that he would encounter someone even more enthusiastic about learning than himself.
Eventually, he couldn't help asking, "You've been reading all day. Don't you ever train? You know we're in the middle of a war, right? Improving your strength should be your top priority."
"Knowledge is power."
Gōenji didn't even look up from the book in his hands.
"The more knowledge I acquire, the stronger I'll become."
He continued turning the pages at an astonishing pace.
His reading speed was almost absurd. He wasn't leisurely studying each sentence like an ordinary person. He was practically speed-reading, absorbing the information as quickly as his mind could process it.
There was no helping it.
With a mind like his, learning slowly would simply be inefficient.
Naturally, he intended to make full use of his greatest advantage.
That didn't mean he had stopped training.
He still completed his daily physical and chakra exercises without fail.
In fact, he had already finished developing another original technique.
Fire Release: Rocket Propulsion.
It was a straightforward Fire Release adaptation of the Body Flicker Technique.
As the name suggested, the technique used Fire Release to propel his body rapidly forward.
Its acceleration was considerably greater than that of the standard Body Flicker Technique.
And unlike the ordinary technique, it possessed a certain degree of offensive potential.
It reminded Gōenji of a technique from his previous life known as the Nine Heavens Thunderous Double Kick.
When he activated Rocket Propulsion, a burst of explosive force erupted beneath his feet, launching his body forward.
With careful control, he could even convert that force into a concentrated explosion.
And, thanks to his precise chakra control, the resulting blast wouldn't injure him.
After more than ten days of painstaking experimentation, combined with everything he had learned from the Uchiha library, Gōenji had finally completed the technique.
It was an important step forward.
His mind really was exceptionally capable.
And the more knowledge he accumulated, the more rapidly he could develop new techniques.
The old man watched him for a while before sighing.
"Knowledge can certainly increase your strength, but that's only potential strength. True power still requires training."
He had once been an excellent shinobi himself.
He understood the value of knowledge, but he also knew that knowledge alone was useless. A shinobi had to integrate what he learned into his own fighting system through constant practice.
Without that step, all those books were useless in actual combat.
Uchiha Clan Compound
"That guy Gōenji spends every day in the library."
Uchiha Tekka sat in a chair, complaining to Inabi.
"I honestly don't understand him. I was even thinking about inviting him to train with us."
Inabi glanced at him.
"He's much more diligent than you are. You've been spending quite a lot of time in the red-light district lately, haven't you? Keep wasting your time like this, and you'll die on the battlefield."
Over the past few days, Inabi had been training relentlessly.
He refused to let Gōenji widen the gap between them.
Unlike Tekka, who spent his free time wandering around the entertainment district, Inabi had poured himself into training. He had even spent more than half of his mission earnings on equipment and other training necessities.
That money could have been saved or used for better ninja tools.
Tekka, meanwhile, had apparently decided that his life wasn't worth worrying about.
"Hey, I'm practically an adult now."
Tekka showed no shame whatsoever.
"Of course I should do what I enjoy. Besides, I need a way to relieve some stress. Don't tell me you don't have any stress?"
He had no desire to live like Gōenji.
Training every day and spending every spare moment buried in books?
That sounded unbearably boring.
Inabi sighed.
"You deserve to be surpassed by Gōenji. At this rate, you'll never beat him."
"Stop talking nonsense."
Tekka narrowed his eyes.
"Want to spar? I might not lose to you."
"Fine."
The two glared at each other.
Nearby, a small figure looked up at his father.
"Father, I've heard that Gōenji-nii-san studies every day. Can I study with him?"
Uchiha Itachi's eyes were filled with curiosity.
As he grew a little older, he had begun thinking more seriously about what Gōenji had told him before.
He had also used his growing powers of observation to learn more about Gōenji from the clan's records.
Eventually, he discovered that Gōenji spent almost every day studying.
Itachi realized that he enjoyed learning as well.
Perhaps he could learn something from his older brother.
More importantly, he wanted to become stronger.
Fugaku considered his son's request.
"That's fine."
He would be heading to the battlefield the following day and wouldn't have time to look after Itachi.
"Stay with Gōenji for a while and study properly. You're still young, but that doesn't mean you should waste your time."
Considering Konoha's current situation, Fugaku had decided that having Gōenji guide Itachi would be a good opportunity for his son.
Itachi was exceptionally intelligent.
And Gōenji's own abilities had already caught Konoha's attention. The village was preparing to promote him to Jōnin, which meant he was more than qualified to teach a gifted child like Itachi.
"Thank you, Father!"
Itachi jumped happily.
"What? You want me to teach Itachi now?"
Gōenji had just returned from the library, his mind overflowing with new knowledge, when Fugaku summoned him.
After hearing the request, he looked toward the small boy standing beside Fugaku.
Itachi was staring at him with obvious anticipation.
Fugaku nodded.
"Yes. I'm heading to the battlefield tomorrow, so I won't have time to look after him. It's better to give him something useful to do. Even though he's young, he shouldn't waste his time."
Gōenji's eyes immediately lit up.
"That's not a problem. I've had a few breakthroughs recently and need to reinforce what I've learned through training anyway. Leave him with me."
Inside, however, he was already grinning.
That's Uchiha Itachi.
Itachi himself.
And from today onward, he's my disciple.
He couldn't help feeling excited.
What kind of Itachi would he create?
That was an interesting question.
Itachi was practically a prodigy blessed by fate, with an absurd amount of talent and potential. He wasn't someone who would easily give up.
The real challenge was figuring out how to train him so that he deviated from the original story without becoming weaker.
In the original timeline, Itachi's strength had been shaped by countless tragedies and turning points.
If those events changed...
Would Itachi still become Itachi?
Would he awaken the Sharingan at such a young age?
Would he still reach the Mangekyō Sharingan?
Perhaps not.
Without tragedy, Itachi might never experience the emotional trauma necessary to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan in the first place.
Gōenji's gaze became complicated for a moment.
He didn't intend to force Itachi down the same path simply because it had produced a powerful shinobi.
He wanted to see what Itachi could become if he was given a different environment.
"Thank you, Gōenji-nii-san."
Itachi's polite voice brought him back to reality.
Gōenji smiled.
"Don't worry. If you follow me, you'll learn more than you would following your father."
He proudly patted his chest.
Fugaku's expression twitched slightly at the shameless declaration.
Gōenji didn't care.
He was confident.
Both he and Itachi possessed extraordinary talent. The difference was their age and experience. Gōenji had years of knowledge and combat experience that Itachi simply couldn't possess yet.
He had no doubt that he could teach him.
Besides, teaching was itself a form of learning.
To teach someone else, he would have to organize his understanding, examine techniques from different angles, and find the simplest way to explain complicated principles.
That process would force him to understand Fire Release on an even deeper level.
If he could teach what he knew clearly, it would also prove that his own understanding was advancing.
In some ways, it could accelerate his growth even more than studying alone.
Itachi nodded enthusiastically.
"Okay."
His eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"I'm really looking forward to it!"