Chapter 13 Bastard Danzo enters!

"Although the Great War is over, we cannot yet say that the world is now

 totally at peace. Even now, some struggle through difficult

 days because of the sad incident of two years past. So how do we break this

 down? As a young ninja, this isn't someone else's problem. Today, we take our

 first step on the path of the ninja. In this chaotic world, it is most certainly not

 a peaceful path. But despite this, we vow it here. Ninjas are precisely those

 who dare to advance down a difficult path. Ninjas are those who push forward

 and endure. Using everything we have learned at the academy, we will fulfill

 our duties as ninja of Konoha."

tachi read the scroll in a sonorous voice before slowly rolling it back up.

 And then he turned his gaze out over the sea of graduates and current

 students, guardians, and teachers, below him.

 "Valedictorian, Uchiha Itachi."

His grades had all been nothing but perfect from the day he started school

 until his graduation. He had passed the graduation exam in his fourth month

 at school.

 Although there were some exceptional graduates during the urgent

 days of the Great War, such as Hatake Kakashi, Itachi was the youngest post

war graduate and valedictorian.

 And thus, the curtain fell on his school days.

 There had been all kinds of quarreling among the teachers

 about Itachi reading the formal reply as the valedictorian.

 The majority of the graduates were twelve years old. There were some

 who, like Itachi, had managed excellent grades and were younger graduates,

 but at seven, Itachi was indeed far too young. Even if he did have the grades,

 the thinking, and the ninja skills far beyond his seven years, there was

 concern that he was simply too immature to hold up before the other graduates.

 And there was one more thing.

There were complaints about the fact that Itachi had been born into the Uchiha clan, mainly from the teachers with lineages connected to the Senju clan.

In the end, however, they bowed before his overwhelming abilities and grades, and the way he excelled in all things, despite the issue of his age and the prejudice toward the Uchihas. There could be no other valedictorian.

Itachi walked through the schoolyard, petals of sakura blossoms fluttering through the air.

Before him were three people—his father, mouth pulled down at the corners despite the felicitous nature of the occasion; his mother, smiling gently to greet him from the other side of his father; and his baby brother, whose recent mastery of his ability to walk delighted him to no end.

His family.

Spotting his big brother in the throngs of people coming and going, Sasuke opened his adorable round eyes wide.

"Itaaa!" he cried in a clear voice.

Their mother told him to call his big brother "Itachi," but he still couldn't talk properly, so that turned into "Ita." And seeing his little brother calling out so happily and tottering toward him, Itachi felt something overwhelming.

He adores me unconditionally…

And as his older brother, Itachi had to protect Sasuke unconditionally.

His mother followed along behind the baby and his tottering steps and bright smile, hands outstretched to catch him.

"Be careful, Sasuke," he called, calmly.

And then Sasuke disappeared from his field of view.

Someone stood between them, blocking his view.

A man… a dark man.

Itachi couldn't exactly put into words just what was dark about this man.

Everything about him was dark.

"Are you Uchiha Itachi?" the man asked, looking down at him. The right

 side of his face was covered by bandages. He was clad in black, but his arm

 from his left shoulder was exposed, revealing the white robe he wore

 underneath.

His left eye alone glared at Itachi.

"I see …"

 Unflinchingly, Itachi met the gaze of the man clouded in a sinister aura.

 Behind him, his mother grabbed the shoulders of Sasuke, as the baby

 attempted to continue his stroll.

 "You are the bearer of bad luck."

 "Bad luck?"

"They call chaos, those lines," the man said, pointing at the lines running

 from Itachi's eyes down his cheeks. "Chaos will follow you throughout your

 life."

 The stain of a single drop falling on a clear day …

 Who exactly was this man?

 "I have a question for the most talented genius ever to grace the halls of the

 Academy."

 Itachi silently waited for the man to continue.

"Ten of our brethren have been shipwrecked. One of them has caught a

 nasty, infectious disease. If he is allowed to live, the other nine will also get

 sick and die. If you were the captain of that ship, what judgment would you

 hand down?"

 The question of why the man would ask Itachi something like that when

 they were meeting for the first time flitted through his mind. But in the next

 instant, he was offering a response, his thoughts in simple words.

 "No matter what happens, the one who is sick is destined to die. If I were

 the captain, I would think that my priority would be to save the lives of

 the other nine. I would choose to kill the one and save the nine."

 A bold smile crossed the man's face.

"A very unambiguous response." He moved toward Itachi. "I look forward to the day we meet again," he almost whispered as he passed the boy.

 Itachi felt the malicious echo sully his heart with darkness.

 "Itachi …" His mother came racing over, Sasuke in her arms.

 "What did he say?" his father asked, having come chasing after his mother

 at some point.

 "Nothing important."

 "Oh, really," his father said, turning his eyes on the man's departing back.

 "Who is he?"

 "Shimura Danzo. He's a close aide of the Third." A dark shadow lurked in

 Fugaku's voice as he answered Itachi.

 "Chaos will follow you throughout your life."

 The words Danzo left lingering in the air became sharp thorns and pierced

 Itachi's heart.

 Placing a hand on his aching chest, Itachi stared at the man's back as he

 walked away, until it disappeared.