It was early in the morning and Itachi Uchiha had already woke up to get ready for his first day of school.
As the captain of the Konoha Guards and the patriarch of the Uchiha clan, Itachi's father Fugaku, took a day off for his son.
He put down everything in his hands and looked at his son who'd just entered his office.
"Sit down Itachi!"
Uchiha Fugaku knelt on the ground and pointed to the futon in front of him. His voiced was still laidened with the authority of the captain of the Military police and the Uchiha patriarch. Despite this, Itachi could still feel the love coming from his father's stoic face.
After all, today is his son's first step onto the path of Shinobi and becoming the next head of the Uchiha clan!
"Father!" Itachi said as he also knelt down on the futon and looked at his father quietly.
"Itachi, today is the first day of the ninja academy and also the first day you willl leave the Uchiha clan compound unsupervised. Remember, when you step outside of these clan walls your actions will represent the Uchiha clan!" Fugaku said, deadly serious.
'Represent th Uchiha clan!?' Despite his shock, there was no expression on Itachi's face.
"You actions will not be attributed to you individually, they will be attributed to the entirety of the clan. They will say that your success is solely because your an Uchiha, and your wrong doings are because you are an Uchiha as well. Be strong my son, and make the clan proud." Fugaku said, patting his son's shoulder.
"Itachi, in the future you will meet all kinds of people that will have agendas and ideals they will try to push, you just need to remember that you are an Uchiha first and foremost."
Itachi nodded thoughtfully at his father, unconsciously remembering Chiba's words from yesterday.
"I understand, father!"
'I understand? Do I really understand? Why do Chiba and father seem to have the same expression when they talk about the clans relation with the village? I understand that the Uchiha clan is my home, but isn't Konoha the home of the Uchiha clan?' If Chiba could read Itachi's mind at the moment, he'd have the cold sweat.
"After I took you through the battlefield, you immediately made the decision to enroll in advance. I don't know how long this war will last but once you graduate, it might means you will go to the battlefield immediately without any experience." Fugaku said stoically, despite have an anxious edge to his voice.
"I would go immediately? I thought only experienced Shinobi are alloeed to fight in the war?" Itachi said in confusion, he knew they usually let the new genin experience a few safe missions before doing anything dangerous, let alone enter the war!
Fugaku looked at his son in silence for a moment.
"The war has cause so much death to the experienced shinobi, the villages have been forced to use the inexperienced genin to bolster the fighting forces." Fugaku said solemnly.
There was a long moment of silence, as what his father said was sinking in before Fugaku tried to change the subject.
"How about your friend?" Fugaku said.
"You mean Chiba-kun?" Itachi looked at his father, his mind going to his blind friend insyead of what his father had previously said.
"It is still the same, no matter how hard I try, he's still a few steps ahead of me!"
"Really? Then he may be your rival for life!" Fugaku said with a smile.
"If you have time, you should invite him to be a guest at our home!"
"I will father!" Itachi said with a smile.
Fugaku was very impressed by Chiba, he initially only thought of him as the blind boy who negativite impacted the clan. It was only after his son got to know him that Fugaku realized just how talented the boy was.
Fugaku knew It was only a matter of time that a blind Uchiha child was to be born, seeing as his clan wasn't gifted with healthy bodies like the senju or the uzumaki. .
The Uchiha clan was undeniably the most powerful clan in the village, despite them supposedly being on the same level as the Hyuga, the other clans knew differently just by witnessing which clans dominated the battlefield.
No one likes having someone or something being severly better than them and now that the eye catching Senju is gone, will it be Uchiha clan next?
Fugaku didn't know, however the mere birth of a blind child was severly weaponized against them and brought greatly harm to the reputation and pride of the Uchiha clan. It was undoubtedly a wake-up call for Fugaki, it was a signal that a storm was brewing.
···
Before dawn, Chiba woke up from his sleep and saw a small aura outline laying on his chest. He knew that his sister har sneaked into his bed last night, he was more impressed with how she did it without alerting him.
As long as her parents were out on missions, Koizumi's always felt fear being alone and always gets into Chiba's bed. If Chiba wasn't home either, then she'd run all the way across the clan compound to sleep at her grandma's house.
Gently peeling her off of him, Chiba tidied up a bit and went out on his cane
[Daily quest, 1000 swings, reward: 0.02% template.]
Although it is only .02%, it was from the peak combat power of the One Piece World. The 1000 swings weren't easy as they couldn't be half assed swings, they had to have perfect posture and use 100% of his current strength.
It's not easy and only God knew if the daily task will change in the future. Chiba will naturally not give up any opportunity to become stronger, especially if it was something he could achieve with just hard work.
He knew the darkness that Konoha had, secrets that would infuriate and enraged the ordinary people. How would the civilians feel if they knew that their Hokage allowed their children to be kidnapped and brainwash to become tools for whatever Danzo deemed necessary for the village.
Chiba also knew how many powerful geniuses had been swallowed by Konoha's darkness.
The senju and Uchiha, Hatake sakumo and the untold number of children of civilians and clan members that had potential.
This darkness caused Konoha to fall down from the strongest village amongst the five great nations, to having to sacrifice a member of a village clan just to appease their enemies and prevent war.
Pulling out his cane/sword, Chiba slashed it in the void and used every ounce of strength that he had.
This cane sword was made by Chiba with the money left by both of his parents inheritance and money he got from selling his parent house. It was made of chakra metal and could be considered one of the better swords in Konoha.
It could absorb chakra without any problem, however the current Chiba was not use to it yet.
When Chiba completed his daily tasks, he was covered entirely in sweat as he washed up before Koizumi could enter the bathroom
Hearing the shower turn on awoke Koizumi, and she woke up to see a fresh Chiba walking out of the bathroom, she yawned.
"Brother Chiba, you sneaked out to train again.... Today is the day of the entrance ceremony, why didn't you rest for a day?!" Koizumi said angrily.
He smiled and touched Koizumi's head.
"Sorry, as compensation I'll treat you to some dango!" (I think it's dango the mtl said Meatballs)
Sweets have always been the koizumi's weakness, and Chiba wasn't any better as he was known to eat a couple skewers of Konoha's famous Dangos at once
"Well, if your treating me....
Chiba smiled and nodded.
"Yes, let's get dangos!"