Chapter 88: A Book Filled with the Will of Fire
Ninja Academy.
Yūhi Kurenai stood at the podium, her gaze sweeping over Uchiha Ruri, her expression somewhat complicated.
To be honest, she had never seen such a clever child.
He only needed to hear the knowledge she taught once to understand its meaning.
In some respects, he even understood it more thoroughly than she, the temporary teacher.
A genius.
A genius of the Uchiha clan.
Precisely because of this, Yūhi Kurenai felt a little frustrated, but at the same time, she also felt a little proud.
If she told him to listen carefully, he might not only be able to listen while distracted, but even learn more efficiently than his classmates.
But seeing the disdainful expression he wore toward the lessons made her feel uncomfortable all over.
Completely ignoring him felt like dereliction of duty, as though she were failing in her responsibility as a teacher.
If a student didn't pay much attention in class but had an exceptionally strong comprehension ability, then after graduating, he might set a negative example for the other students.
Bang! Bang!
Thinking of this, Yūhi Kurenai knocked on the blackboard, still determined to correct her attitude.
"Ruri, turn around!"
Asuka sighed, then straightened his posture and looked at Kurenai and the blackboard behind her.
His gaze lingered on her baby-fat face for a moment before his thoughts drifted elsewhere again.
He still had a system mission to complete.
Break the [Love-Brain].
To be honest, if Uchiha Itachi had really fallen in love with someone, he could accomplish this through physical means or hypnosis.
But...
Itachi might not even know Uchiha Izumi yet.
That made things difficult.
Moreover, Uchiha Mikoto no longer allowed Itachi to approach her.
"Mommy's boy!"
Thinking of Uchiha Itachi deliberately avoiding him simply because he'd been told not to approach him, Asuka couldn't help muttering,
"Ruri, tell me, why are the forehead protectors of Konoha shinobi shaped like this?"
[Sigh!]
Seeing Kurenai's gaze fall on him again, Asuka sighed deeply.
Then he took a kunai tied to a transparent thread from his bag and flicked it out the window.
Whoosh!
The sound of air being cut apart rang through the classroom.
Clang!
The kunai plunged directly into the trunk of a large tree outside the window, making the entire trunk tremble.
Watching the leaves drift down from the tree, Asuka tugged on the thread, retrieving the kunai and bringing one of the leaves back with it.
He raised the green leaf, poked a hole through its center with his finger, then covered one eye with it and explained,
"The symbol of the Konoha shinobi is a leaf."
"Back then, that leaf with a hole in it fell into Uchiha Madara's hands, and he covered his eye with it, just like I'm doing now."
"At that time, Konoha Village was extremely small—so small that he could see the entire village through that little hole."
"That's where it came from."
"The swirl pattern in the middle of the forehead protector—isn't that the Uzumaki clan's crest?"
Asuka glanced at the child who had spoken, then revealed the clan crest on his back and said seriously,
"Uchiha Madara is my great-grandfather. That's what my great-grandfather and grandfather personally told me."
"My grandfather then personally told my father, and my father wrote it down in his diary. I saw it with my own eyes."
"Any distortion caused by history being passed down orally can be ignored."
Hiss!
Yūhi Kurenai glanced at the group of astonished children whose eyes were filled with admiration and rubbed her head.
The entire brilliance of her presence as a teacher had been completely stolen by her student.
After class.
She picked up the teaching materials and walked out of the classroom.
When she reached the corner of the corridor, she heard faint footsteps behind her.
Yūhi Kurenai stopped and turned around.
She saw [Uchiha Ruri] following behind her, his hands clasped behind his back and his eyes filled with resentment.
"Is something wrong?"
Asuka shook his head and said softly,
"I want to spend some time with you!"
"Welcome!"
Although Yūhi Kurenai didn't know why the normally indifferent [Uchiha Ruri] had suddenly become so close to her, she didn't think it was a bad thing.
It proved that she wasn't a complete failure as a teacher.
At this moment,
Asuka secretly glanced backward, his face expressionless.
The girls at the Ninja Academy were becoming increasingly uninhibited.
When he had attended school before, he would at least receive a love letter first, then lunch, and finally a confession.
Now, however, they were skipping the romance stage and going directly to confession.
Especially when he thought about the girl who had confessed to him.
She was also the granddaughter of Uchiha Madō.
Asuka couldn't help shaking his head and muttering,
"Old Man Mato's family values are rotten to the core."
"Tonight, I'll report you to your grandfather and let you experience the cruelty of the adult world."
"We're here."
As she spoke, Yūhi Kurenai opened the door and pointed toward the empty office inside.
"Find somewhere to sit. Don't rummage through anything."
"Okay!"
Asuka nodded, then sat down in a chair and began spacing out.
Next time, he might as well send a Shadow Clone to attend class.
After all, those experienced transmigrators always used Shadow Clones when attending classes.
If it weren't for Old Man Ryoichi, he might be sleeping at home right now.
Whoosh!
Yūhi Kurenai turned a page in the book she was holding, then secretly observed [Uchiha Ruri], who was sitting in the chair and staring blankly.
Obedient, quiet, adorable.
He didn't look like an Uchiha at all.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
At that moment,
The quiet office suddenly echoed with the sound of a pen repeatedly stabbing into the desk.
She raised her head and saw Uchiha Ruri writing furiously.
She smiled slightly, then lowered her head again, praising him inwardly.
"What a diligent child. He's even writing something in the office."
As the end of the break approached,
Yūhi Kurenai stood up and quietly walked toward Uchiha Ruri, preparing to call him back to class.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
Hearing the sound still coming from beside her, she reached out and patted Asuka on the shoulder.
"It's time for class."
"Don't disturb me. Can't you see I'm drawing?"
Before he finished speaking, Asuka suddenly remembered that he was still a student.
He blinked, silently put away the charcoal pencil in his hand, then lowered his head and looked at the masterpiece about the Will of Fire that he had just specially drawn for Uchiha Itachi.
When he saw Yūhi Kurenai reading the complete explanation of the Will of Fire, he had been inspired.
Thinking of this,
Asuka licked his dry, cracked lips and spoke without much confidence.
"Um... I can explain."
Yūhi Kurenai reached out and picked up the half-finished sheet of white paper.
She looked down at the voluptuous and graceful paper doll, whose important parts were barely covered by fabric, and said blankly,
"I wasn't listening."
Asuka stood up while searching for a suitable escape route.
"What I mean is... if I say I haven't had time to draw the clothes yet, will you believe me?"
Yūhi Kurenai raised her right leg and gently placed it on Asuka's foot, pinning his foot to the ground.
Then she said expressionlessly,
"No!"
"Actually, everyone has some little quirks."
"As a teacher, you should support them instead of suppressing them."
"You're right!"
Yūhi Kurenai nodded, then changed the subject.
"But I wasn't listening."
Seeing that this woman refused to compromise, Asuka raised his head, stretched out his neck, and shouted,
"It's just a drawing! What exactly are you trying to do?"
"Settle accounts with you!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Soon, a fierce argument broke out in the office.
The next morning.
Uchiha Itachi got up early as usual, left home, and planned to train by the lake for an hour.
He hadn't gone far when he saw a young Uchiha child carrying a schoolbag limping toward the edge of the clan compound.
Was it time for school?
He would soon be going to the Ninja Academy as well.
Itachi had no way of resisting this.
His father had told him about it when he was very young.
Other people might not need to attend the Ninja Academy, but as the son of the clan head, he definitely had to go.
It was a matter of attitude.
Clatter!
A sudden loud sound pulled Itachi out of his thoughts.
He looked up and saw a small booklet scattered on the ground ahead.
Inside were more than a dozen sheets of white paper stapled together.
It looked like something a child had dropped.
But the child hadn't even turned his head.
He didn't seem to have noticed that he had dropped anything.
"Hello!"
Itachi waved at the child and called out,
"You dropped something."
After saying this, he saw that the child still had no intention of turning around.
Uchiha Itachi jogged a few steps forward, picked up the booklet, and intended to return it.
?
Itachi looked up in surprise.
The limping child had already disappeared.
Had he walked that fast?
With that thought, he lowered his head and looked at the booklet in his hand, wanting to find the owner's name inside so that he could return it later.
"The Most Original Will of Fire."
Looking at the title on the first page, Itachi found the words strangely enticing and couldn't help turning to the next page.
[...]
After reading the first page, Uchiha Itachi's expression became somewhat solemn.
But he felt that the booklet was still worth reading, so he turned two more pages.
[...]
After turning through several more pages, his expression darkened slightly.
But he gritted his teeth and persevered.
[...]
Only after reading the final page did Uchiha Itachi close the book, his face wearing an expression resembling constipation.
How should he describe it?
It contained both impurities and essence.
In this booklet,
The greatest ideal of Senju Hashirama was to dismantle the existing shinobi clan system of the village.
For this purpose, he had even deliberately disbanded his own Senju clan, causing the first great clan in Konoha Village in the truest sense to completely disappear from Konoha.
Even their clan crest was no longer mentioned by anyone.
The Senju clan dissolved itself and integrated into the civilian population, merging the bloodline of their original Sage Body into Konoha Village and becoming one of the pillars of the village, making Konoha stronger as a whole.
That was the general content of the booklet.
There were also some small details that were extremely fascinating.
As for the impurities...
The problem was that the author of the book had described the process of integrating the Sage Body bloodline into Konoha in far too much detail.
The book...
Uchiha Itachi looked at the book with an expression resembling constipation.
He really wanted to throw it away.
But then he remembered the great Senju clan described in the book, and he couldn't bring himself to discard it.
He didn't know why, but he always felt that Senju Hashirama's actions in the book were correct.
Yet his father and the others clearly didn't think so.
Moreover, this obviously wasn't finished.
There had to be a continuation.
The limping child?
Who was he?