Chapter 22: The Filial Son Wants a Rematch, But I’ve Already Reached Two-Tomoe

Reiji paid no attention whatsoever to the discussions about him throughout Konoha.

At present, all he wanted was to lie low in Konoha and, at the very least, stay there until he reached Jonin-level strength.

The shinobi world was simply too dangerous!

He had worried about running into people like Pain, Hanzo, or Obito, but fortunately, he hadn’t encountered any of them.

Instead, Orochimaru had suddenly defected and given him a completely unexpected surprise!

He had nearly died!

As for his encounter with Orochimaru, Reiji had originally intended to keep it from the Izumi family. He didn’t want them to worry.

Unfortunately, the news had passed from Uchiha Fugaku to other clan members, and after making its way through several people, the Izumi family eventually found out.

Rather than feeling proud, they were all filled with lingering fear.

Especially Izumi.

She grabbed Reiji and inspected him from head to toe, turning him over several times and making absolutely sure he hadn’t lost anything or suffered any serious injuries before finally relaxing.

"I finally understand why you always say the shinobi world is so dangerous."

Izumi spoke with lingering fear.

It had been a perfectly ordinary B-rank mission with no particular difficulty, yet somehow they’d ended up being sent to intercept Orochimaru.

"That ANBU commander was way too unreasonable! How could he... how could he force you to do something so dangerous?"

After hearing Reiji recount the entire experience, Izumi puffed out her cheeks indignantly.

To be fair, she wasn’t wrong.

Reiji thought the same thing inwardly, but outwardly, he merely coughed twice.

"Be careful what you say. Keep those words inside the house. Don’t say them outside."

"Also, from now on, just listen to me. Don’t think about graduating early. I’ll be enough to guide your training."

"Try to reach Jonin-level strength by the time you graduate at twelve. At least then you’ll have some ability to protect yourself."

Izumi opened her mouth, clearly stunned.

"Jonin-level strength at twelve? How am I supposed to do that?"

The teachers at the Ninja Academy were always talking about Hatake Kakashi, who had become a Jonin at twelve.

They had mentioned it so many times that nearly every student knew the story by heart.

"I believe in your potential."

Reiji spoke seriously.

During the original story’s Uchiha massacre, thirteen-year-old Izumi’s Sharingan had already reached the three-tomoe stage.

That alone showed how outstanding her Sharingan talent was.

Combined with his daily guidance, reaching Jonin-level strength by twelve should be possible.

Izumi was still complaining bitterly about how impossible it sounded when—

Knock, knock.

Someone suddenly knocked on Reiji’s front door.

He walked outside and saw Uchiha Itachi.

His face was slightly flushed, and he was breathing somewhat heavily, as though he had run all the way there.

"Uchiha Reiji, fight me."

As he spoke, Uchiha Itachi activated the Sharingan he had only recently awakened.

Ever since losing to Reiji at the Ninja Academy, he had been thinking about this day.

He wanted to fight Uchiha Reiji again after awakening his Sharingan!

However—

Just as he was eagerly waiting for the battle, Reiji shook his head and refused.

"Sorry. I’ve already reached two-tomoe."

As he spoke, he opened his Sharingan.

"..."

Uchiha Itachi opened his mouth.

He stared at the two pairs of tomoe in Reiji’s eyes.

It felt as though a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head.

All the excitement and anticipation he’d been carrying vanished instantly.

Without saying another word, he turned around and left in a daze.

He didn’t even notice Uchiha Izumi peeking curiously out from inside Reiji’s house.

When he returned home and saw his adorable little brother running toward him, Itachi finally came back to his senses, and his mood improved somewhat.

"...Brother, I heard that the Reiji brother who graduated with you fought some kind of snake."

Not yet three years old, Sasuke repeated something he’d heard from his father.

"A snake?"

Itachi was slightly surprised.

What snake?

"You just got back, so you probably don’t know yet."

Uchiha Fugaku walked out and explained.

"Orochimaru defected from the village because of his human experimentation."

"As for what Sasuke said about Reiji, he participated in the operation to intercept Orochimaru. Apparently, he held Orochimaru back for several minutes and successfully stalled him until the ANBU arrived."

"Although he relied on a forbidden technique, many people believe that even without that technique, he already possesses Chunin-level strength."

As the Uchiha clan head, Fugaku naturally felt proud to have such a talented member among his clan.

"Intercepted... Orochimaru? Chunin-level strength..."

Uchiha Itachi’s expression froze once again.

The tiny trace of happiness he’d been desperately suppressing after awakening his Sharingan completely disappeared.

...

After the Orochimaru incident ended, Reiji returned to his day-to-day training.

He also spoke with Might Guy and asked him to try to arrange missions within the Land of Fire whenever possible.

Perhaps because Guy still felt guilty about what had happened previously, he readily agreed.

Meanwhile, news that Uchiha Itachi had awakened a one-tomoe Sharingan at the age of eight also spread throughout Konoha.

It caused another small sensation.

Some people even began referring to Reiji and Itachi together as the "Twin Stars of the Uchiha."

But this had little effect on Reiji.

After that, his life became rather monotonous.

Daily training.

Daily guidance for Izumi.

Occasionally going out on missions.

Fortunately, he didn’t encounter another troublesome incident like the Orochimaru incident.

That saved him a great deal of trouble.

One day—

Reiji was at the Uchiha clan’s training grounds, guiding Izumi through her usual exercises.

A young man with black, neatly parted hair and sharp features walked toward him.

"Uchiha Reiji!"

The man’s tone didn’t sound particularly friendly.

Reiji was puzzled.

He hadn’t done anything recently, had he?

He turned around and discovered that it was Uchiha Inabi.

When Reiji had graduated early, Uchiha Fugaku had told him that the clan would assign him a Jonin-level instructor.

If he had any questions regarding his training, he could consult that person whenever he had time.

However—

Ever since graduating, Reiji hadn’t actually gone to see Uchiha Inabi even once.

"Inabi-senior."

Reiji politely greeted him.

"No need to be so formal."

Uchiha Inabi waved his hand and got straight to the point.

"The clan head assigned me as your instructor within the clan. Naturally, I should fulfill my responsibilities."

"But you haven’t come to see me even once, so I had no choice but to come find you myself."

"I heard that the village assigned Might Guy as your instructor, and he only specializes in taijutsu. So how are you doing in the other areas?"

"Especially your control over the Sharingan. How much progress have you made?"

Seeing this, Reiji roughly understood why Inabi had come.

Apparently, because he had never gone to seek his guidance, Inabi was worried that he was wasting his talent.

Perhaps he also suspected that Reiji had neglected training his Sharingan.

So—

This was probably an inspection.