Naruto: Konoha Spring of the Uchiha Prodigies

What did my family do while I was away? Why are the villagers acting this way?

Seeing this, Itachi Uchiha had no choice but to find a secluded corner, use his transformation technique to hide himself, and then continue to gather information in the village.

"Uncle, has something happened in the village lately? Why does everyone seem a bit off?" Uchiha Itachi, disguised, found a stall owner and, after selecting a few items, asked casually.

"You just arrived in the village a few days ago?" The stall owner glanced at Uchiha Itachi before asking.

"Yes, I just moved to the village from the City of Fire yesterday."

Perhaps seeing that Itachi Uchiha had picked out a lot of things, the stall owner decided to give him a word of advice. He leaned close to Itachi and said in a low voice, "Now that you've moved to the village, you have to be careful of the police force. They're not reasonable at all and they'll beat people up."

"Hitting someone?" Itachi Uchiha said in disbelief.

"Yes, they were beating people. Just a few days ago, the garrison, in an attempt to protect the village's serial killer, stormed into the streets and beat anyone they saw. Many people were badly beaten. And that's not all; some people were arrested and taken to the garrison and haven't come back yet. We don't know what kind of torture they're going to suffer," the stall owner said. "You absolutely mustn't mess with them in the village."

Chapter 73 Itachi Uchiha's Experiences

Uchiha Itachi walked dejectedly on the road back to his clan's territory. Just now, he had asked several villagers, and all he got were pretty much the same answers.

It's hard to imagine that his family would turn out like this just because he left the village for a short time.

In the past, although the garrison command would sometimes clash with the villagers, there was never such a thing as the entire garrison command being mobilized to brutally beat up the villagers.

"Did Shisui just stand by and watch this happen?" With this question in mind, Itachi Uchiha returned to the clan's territory. As he passed the Security Department, a scene in the Security Department's training ground once again caught his attention.

Inside the training ground, Uchiha Zaito kept throwing shuriken at a boy wearing a police uniform. The boy fled in a sorry state, with fireballs exploding behind him from time to time.

Unable to dodge in time, the boy was thrown over by the aftershock of the Fireball Technique explosion behind him, falling heavily to the ground and rolling several times before stopping. When he raised his head, traces of bloodline limit were seeping from his cheeks, which had been scraped by the rubble on the ground.

At this moment, Uchiha Zaito, the instigator of all this, roared at the man with a stern expression: "What kind of expression is that? What kind of look is that? And what are those tears? Can your tears protect the village? Can they protect the Will of Fire?"

"Get up! Don't hide! Charge at my shuriken and ninjutsu!" Uchiha Zaito shouted angrily, pointing a kunai at the boy.

After a while, Fujiwara Yoki finally mustered up his courage, stood up, roared to bolster his courage, and charged towards Uchiha Zaito.

Seeing this, Uchiha Zaito fired several shuriken at his opponent and used the Great Fireball Technique several times in succession.

While shouting, Fujiwara Yoki skillfully dodged the shuriken and ninjutsu. When he couldn't dodge them, he used the substitution jutsu to take the hits. After several twists and turns, he finally arrived in front of Uchiha Zaito and thrust a kunai at him. However, Uchiha Zaito simply stretched out his hand and grabbed his wrist, causing the kunai to fall to the ground.

Exhausted, Fujiwara Yoki could no longer hold on and collapsed to his knees, panting heavily.

At this moment, Uchiha Zaito glanced down at the other party and said coldly, "Is that all? You're really useless."

Upon witnessing this scene, Itachi Uchiha frowned, shook his head, and then walked towards his home.

[Is this how they treat their own kind? This family is truly hopeless.]

However, after he left, Fujiwara Yoki stood up shakily again. Seeing this, Uchiha Zaito's eyes revealed a faint smile, but when he spoke, his voice was still extremely cold: "You've finally gotten something out of it, but it's not enough. Go back and get some rest. We'll continue with extra training tomorrow."

"Yes!" Fujiwara Yoki replied with difficulty, raising his head.

The next second, a token was thrown into his arms, and Fujiwara Yoki looked puzzled.

"I haven't collected my allowance for this month yet. Please collect it for me when I leave. Then go to the pharmacy in Nara and buy five doses of herbal bath ingredients. I'll use them when I get home. Please send the rest of the money to my office tomorrow morning."

“Captain, there’s no need for that. I have money to spare,” Fujiwara Yoki said.

"Just take it!" Uchiha Zaito said coldly. "You should keep that little bit of money for yourself to buy something nutritious and improve your health. If you drag the team down again in the next mission, I won't let you off easily."

"Yes!" Fujiwara Yoki nodded, a hint of shame appearing on his face. During this collective operation of the Security Department, only a few people were injured, and he was one of them. This made Uchiha Zaito lose face. Fujiwara Yoki had just recovered from his injury when he dragged him to the Security Department for extra training.

However, Fujiwara Yoki had no complaints. After all, Uchiha Zaito was considered one of the top ninjas of his age in the village. Even some of the village's Jonin might not be able to get the better of him. Such an opportunity for one-on-one guidance from a strong person was not something that could be obtained casually.

After finishing training, Fujiwara Yoki went home with a smile, while Uchiha Itachi had already arrived home.

"I'm home!" Itachi Uchiha opened the door.

"Itachi? You're back." Mikoto poked her head out of the kitchen, looking at her eldest son with a big smile.

"Mom, are you all alone?" Itachi Uchiha asked.

"Yes, your father is working overtime at the security headquarters, and Sasuke went to his teacher to learn new ninjutsu."

"Teacher? When did Sasuke get a teacher? How come I didn't know?" Itachi Uchiha was taken aback when he heard this.

“It’s Chief Dou Huan,” Mikoto said with a smile. “Sasuke’s talent in Fire Release is not as good as his talent in Lightning Release, so your father specially asked Chief Dou Huan to teach him.”

"What?!" Itachi Uchiha exclaimed in shock. "How could Sasuke become Touhuan Uchiha's apprentice?"

“Itachi, Chief Dohwan is the head of the clan. How can you call him by his first name?” Mikoto’s eyes turned stern. “Didn’t your father and I teach you these etiquette rules?”

"I'm sorry, Mom, but..." Itachi Uchiha quickly apologized upon seeing this.

“There’s no ‘buts’ about it. Sasuke also really likes his teacher,” Mikoto said.

"Alright." Itachi Uchiha had no intention of arguing with Mikoto. He put down the things he bought and hurriedly left. In his eyes, Touhuan Uchiha would only corrupt his cute little brother, and he couldn't stand idly by.

"Sigh, this child." Mikoto could only sigh helplessly as she watched Itachi Uchiha rush out of the house.

……

In the backyard of Uchiha Touhuan's house, Sasuke quickly formed hand seals and summoned a lightning ball. Compared to when he first learned it, Sasuke had made considerable progress in this technique. The lightning ball he summoned now was much more solid than before, and its color had changed from a phantom pale yellow to a pale blue. Although it was still quite different from Uchiha Touhuan's solid lightning that was close to a dark blue, it was enough for him to achieve this level at his age to be called a genius.

Then, as Sasuke moved his finger, the lightning ball circled around the two of them a few times before shooting into the sky and exploding in mid-air.

"Teacher, I did it!" After finishing all this, Sasuke looked up at Uchiha Touhuan with an expression of anticipation for praise.

"Hmm, that's pretty good." Uchiha Touhuan said, patting Sasuke's head.

"So, teacher, what will we learn next?" Sasuke asked curiously.

Sasuke's question really stumped Uchiha Touhuan. The amount of offensive ninjutsu he currently possesses, whether he learned them or developed them himself, is too much for Sasuke to learn with his current chakra reserves.

Chapter 74 Brothers' Night Talk

Uchiha Touhuan thought for a moment, then took Sasuke to the study and picked out a scroll. After opening it, Uchiha Touhuan tore it open and handed him a small portion of it.

"What is this?" Sasuke was puzzled by Uchiha Touhuan's behavior.

"When I was ten years old, I created a movement technique called 'Lightning-Stepping Body Flicker Technique'," Uchiha Touhuan said. "It was also the introductory ninjutsu of my self-created Lightning Release Chakra Mode."

"Go back and practice the taijutsu from the beginning. Although it's just basic taijutsu, it should be enough for you to dominate the ninja academy," Uchiha Touhuan said. "Also, don't stop practicing the lightning ball techniques."

"What about the rest?" Sasuke asked blankly, looking at the scroll that was only half left in his hand.

“You can’t learn the rest of it right now. Once your chakra reserves and control are sufficient to manipulate four lightning orbs simultaneously like you did just now, then I’ll teach you the rest,” Uchiha Touhuan said.

“Alright.” Sasuke nodded and put away the scroll.

"Alright, it's getting late, you should go home soon too," said Uchiha Touhuan.

Uchiha Touhuan escorted Sasuke to the door, and as soon as he opened it, he saw Uchiha Itachi waiting there.

"Brother!" Sasuke ran over to his brother the moment he saw him after a long time.

Itachi Uchiha reached out and caught Sasuke, affectionately patting his head.

"Itachi, you're back from your mission." At that moment, Uchiha Touhuan leaned against the door and asked, "You two brothers have a really good relationship. You came to pick up your younger brother as soon as you got back."

"Hmm." Itachi nodded and looked at Uchiha Touhuan, but his gaze was not so friendly at the moment.

Seeing his expression, Uchiha Touhuan didn't care at all and said, "It's good that you're here. It saves me the trouble of sending this kid home. Sasuke, go back with your brother."

"Yes!" Sasuke, clinging to Itachi, turned around and said, "Goodbye, Sensei!"

"Goodbye." Uchiha Touhuan smiled and waved to Sasuke before closing the door.

On the way back, Sasuke, who was being carried on Itachi's back, kept talking.

"Brother, our teacher is amazing! I practiced his ninjutsu for a long time before I could do it like him."

"Really? Chief Dohuan is a genius of our clan. To be able to learn his ninjutsu, it seems your talent is not bad either, Sasuke." Although Uchiha Itachi was full of worries, he still patiently spoke to his younger brother.

After a while, Itachi continued, "Sasuke, besides teaching you ninjutsu, what else did your teacher teach you?"

Itachi was a little nervous when he asked the question. He was really afraid that Touhuan would instill his ambition in his cute little brother.

"Yes!" Sasuke said, as if showing off his new toy to his closest friend. "My teacher told me a lot of interesting stories and taught me a lot about how to be a good person."

Upon hearing this, Itachi Uchiha's heart tightened. Could it be that his adorable younger brother had really been corrupted by Touhuan Uchiha?

"What did he teach you?" Itachi Uchiha asked hurriedly.

"Well, my teacher taught me a lot of principles, some of which I still don't understand, but others that I think are very true," Sasuke said.

Upon hearing this, Itachi wanted to ask more, but since the two had already arrived at their doorstep, Sasuke said to Itachi, "I'll tell you the details after we finish eating."

“Okay.” Itachi Uchiha nodded and went into the house with Sasuke.

"Mom, I'm home!" Sasuke called out energetically from the doorway.

"You're back, Sasuke. Go wash your hands and eat." Mikoto smiled gently as she saw her energetic youngest son. "And Itachi, go wash your hands too, it's time to eat."

“Okay.” Itachi Uchiha nodded and led Sasuke toward the bathroom. However, when they passed the dining room, he didn’t see Fugaku, which puzzled him. He turned around and asked, “Mom, hasn’t Father come back yet?”

“Yes, it seems the security team has a big mission recently. Your father said he won’t be home for dinner for the next few days,” Mikoto said, serving the two brothers their meals.

After the two brothers sat down at the table, Sasuke immediately began to wolf down his food. He had used up a lot of chakra while showing off his learning achievements in front of Uchiha Touhuan, and now he was hungry.

"Sasuke, eat slowly." Mikoto shook her head helplessly after watching Sasuke finish a bowl of rice, and then served him a new bowl.

"Hehe, Mom's cooking is the best," Sasuke said with a grin. "Even Naruto said so after eating Mom's bento."

"Really?" Mikoto smiled. "Then it seems I'll have to pack more lunches for Naruto tomorrow. By the way, Sasuke, do you know what Naruto likes to eat?"

"Mom, I'm your son, aren't I? You don't even ask me." Sasuke pouted.

"Haha, Sasuke, are you jealous?" Mikoto was amused by her son's expression.

"No way!" Sasuke would never admit to that.

The conversation between the two stirred up a storm in Itachi's heart. He knew Naruto's identity. Had the clan started to openly contact Jinchuriki now?

Shocked by the series of news, Itachi Uchiha hastily finished his meal. After eating, Sasuke grabbed Itachi's hand and looked at him expectantly: "Brother, can we sleep together tonight? How about I tell you the story that our teacher told me?"

“Okay.” Itachi Uchiha nodded.

After the two brothers returned to their room, Sasuke took out the textbook that Uchiha Touhuan had written for him and began to explain it to Uchiha Itachi.

Uchiha Itachi patiently listened as Sasuke explained the meaning of the contents of the document.

From the idea that human nature is inherently good to the idea that learning and practicing what one has learned is a pleasure, Itachi Uchiha felt increasingly uneasy as he listened. It wasn't that these ideas were bad; on the contrary, what Sasuke was saying was incredibly good. If Sasuke could truly do every single thing mentioned, then he would definitely become a model ninja who had inherited the Will of Fire.

This was completely contrary to his impression of Uchiha Touhuan as a schemer.