Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Kaen did his taijutsu katas on the running water as the sun only started to rise. After spending the whole day yesterday reporting about his encounter with the intruder, the exercise was refreshing to him. He felt stiff after repeating his report to every higher-up in the village. And there was Danzo, who wouldn't let even the most minor details be left out of his report.

It was tiring, to say the least. So Kaen felt happy letting his body loose. He had copied dozen taijutsu styles over the years and still had a long way to go in mastering them. But the fight with the intruder gave him first-hand experience using his taijutsu. He now had an opponent to fight in his mind.

Kaen determined where he lacked from that brief fight, and now he could perfect his taijutsu even more. Still, Kaen knew it would take years before he mastered it to his desired level. So, he didn't rush it, trained regularly and systematically, and tried to enjoy it. After a few hours of doing katas, he left for the nearby forest.

It was an isolated patch of woods on the outskirts of Konoha. It was a perfect place for Kaen to train undisturbed. This small patch of woods became home to Kaen as much as his house. Here he could calmly train his archery skills. As today was free for Kaen, he spent all day in the woods training his archery and practicing using his Sharingan.

"A bow? What an unusual weapon?" Kaen felt chills running down his spine as a voice spoke from behind him. "Two tomoe Sharingan at the age of ten, and seeing your movements, I now understand how you could have defeated a jonin from Kumogakure."

"Hokage-sama," Kaen turned slowly to see an old man standing on a branch, watching him calmly. "Stalking is a crime."

"What?" The Third Hokage asked, bewildered.

"As the highest position occupying person in Konoha, you should not commit crimes as it reflects the village poorly as well as the position of Hokage. But I will overlook this and only warn you, but there won't be a second time."

"Heh, cheeky brat," Hokage chuckled. "Very well, I will keep your Sharingan a secret if you keep my stalking secret too."

"Giving a bribe to an officer of the law is a crime, Hokage-sama."

"Now, I don't know if you are joking or being serious," Hokage said, scratching his beard. "Oh well, I will do a favor to this dedicated officer and won't speak of your Sharingan."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Kaen bowed his head. "To what I own the pleasure of you seeing me personally?"

"To the intruder that tried to kidnap the heiress of Hyuga. You have done well capturing him alive. I wanted to hear personally what you could say about the intruder."

"I have reported everything I knew already."

"I missed the report. In this old age, it isn't hard to forget or misplace some documents. So, please give me another report if it isn't too hard for you."

"If Hokage-sama so wishes," Kaen agreed. "The intruder specialized in hiding his presence. I think he didn't have much real combat experience, as he underestimated me even after seeing my Sharingan. The other part that struck me was that he was ready to die. I would presume his goal was to be killed by Hyuga-sama."

"Your judgment isn't wrong. The title of prodigy wasn't lost on you. Now I wonder why you were denied a team and joined the police force instead."

"My team didn't pass the test, and I was offered to join the police force soon after. I had no reason to refuse."

"It had nothing to do with you hiding your abilities?" The Third Hokage asked.

"Deception is part of being a shinobi. I cannot simply reveal all my trump cards."

"A bow and seals. I don't think there ever was an Uchiha who used these weapons."

"They were best suited for me, Hokage-sama. Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Hiashi Hyuga wanted to thank you personally."

"That won't be necessary. I only did my job."

"Very well, I will tell him that, but before I go, can I ask what Konoha is to you?"

"For now, it is just a village that I live in," Kaen replied.

"For now?"

"I hope in the future the village will be an irreplaceable family that could keep me safe and a family that I would do everything to keep safe. So, when I die, I would die knowing that everyone behind me had my back."

"Is that your dream?"

"No, my dream is something that is not obtainable. My dream is to grow old and watch as children play on the streets and then laugh when one of them falls on their faces and then give candy to them as an apology for laughing," Kaen replied, looking at the blue sky. "Yet, to achieve that dream, my hands needed to be soaked by so much blood that everything I touched would reek of it. How could such a man offer children candy with his bloody hands that took countless lives?"

"Then why take such a path?"

"I am an Uchiha," Kaen said. "There is no other path for Uchiha. But one filled with death and blood, filled with hatred. At least that's what everyone thinks, including you, Hokage-sama. But everyone forgets that to hate, one needs to love first. The stronger the love is, the stronger the hate will be once that love is lost. I will stay on this path because I believe in the future that the village will provide, and I will do anything to protect that future."

"It is hard to believe you are only ten years old."

"Orphans grow faster than anyone else. Now, if you have done interrogating me, I would like to return to my training."

"Then I will not disturb you anymore," With those words, the Third Hokage disappeared in smoke.

"A shadow clone, huh? I couldn't even tell."

From appearing and disappearing, Kaen felt how powerful the Third Hokage was. His skills were far beyond what Kaen had, but it wasn't something that he couldn't obtain. Kaen thought that his sneaking skill was already good, but seeing how the Third Hokage could hide his presence so well, Kaen knew that he still had much room to improve.

…

His conversation with the Third Hokage weighed on Kaen's mind. He didn't know why he spoke so much with the Third Hokage, why he told him his ideals and dreams, but somehow his benevolent smile made Kaen trust him. Was it genjutsu? Kaen questioned it, but in the end, he dismissed it.

He didn't believe the Third Hokage would use powerful genjutsu on him. And since Kaen didn't notice it with his Sharingan, no genjutsu was involved. So why did Kaen trust him? He didn't know and couldn't concentrate on his training for the rest of the day. Before going home, he went to feed some stray cats. Playing with cats usually cleared Kaen's mind of unnecessary things.

As always, seeing me, the stray cats started to rub themselves on my legs while I fed them. While petting and scratching them, Kaen relaxed and forgot his talk with the Third Hokage. He was so relaxed that he didn't see or hear another person getting behind him. Only when the other person tapped on his shoulder did Kaen notice her.

"You shouldn't give so much sausage to them. It is not very healthy," The girl had purple hair. "It is best to give them cat food. It is made for them, after all."

"It is disgusting, so I would not make them eat something like this," Kaen replied. Ash didn't like it, so he thought it was just cheap food cats eat so they won't starve.

"Well, it is not for you," The girl responded. "By the way, I am Yugao Uzuki. What is your name?"

"Wait a minute, your purple hair. I have seen it before," Kaen said as he looked at her hair.

"Well, we did meet before, but you always run away when you see anyone approaching you when you feed the cats."

"No, now I remember you. You are that ANBU that followed the blonde," Kaen put the name and appearance together and remembered her being an ANBU. "Did the Third Hokage put you to watch me?"

"What? No."

Kaen was still suspicious. He didn't like when he was being watched. From the early days since he was proclaimed a prodigy, the elders of the Uchiha clan would observe all his movements. Kaen didn't like when the elders watched. He felt like he was a tool for them to make and use. So, since then, he started to feel the most insecure when someone watched him.

"Hmph, I know your type. You get close to your targets to find their weakness. You find mine, but I will warn you, if you do something to these cats, I will kill you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't deny I know you are an ANBU. What do you want? Information on the Uchiha clan?"

"Don't be an asshole," She said and put an orange cat on Kaen's head. "I thought you looked lonely, so I wanted to make friends."

Lonely? Maybe I was lonely, Kaen thought. He had not met Shisui in a long time, and when he did meet him, it was only for a couple of hours. And ever since Itachi became genin, Kaen made sure to put some distance from him. The only person who checked in on him from time to time was Mikoto Uchiha, but even then, Kaen didn't want to get closer to her.

"Hmph, so what if I don't have any friends? I don't need your pity," Kaen responded and took the orange cat from his head but didn't let it go from his hands.

"Sheesh, are all the Uchiha so bad at socializing?"

"I wouldn't know," Kaen replied. "Sorry, I didn't mean what I said. I am Kaen Uchiha. I was just tense lately."

"Police work?"

"Something like it. So, you are put to watch that blonde?"

"Sometimes, the jinchuriki's safety is the top priority after the Hokage's."

"He has a name," I said. "Even though he is just a boy of four years old, he is the village's hero."

"Hero? Didn't the Fourth Hokage die because of him?"

"As an ANBU blaming others for your inability to perform your duties is disgraceful. I don't think I want to be a friend of someone who can't even form their own opinions on what they see and not from what they are told. Good day."

Even if she was lovely, Kaen didn't like people who would judge or blame others without knowing the truth. Seeing the boy walk around with his head bowed while people called him a demon and a monster made him sick. All of them put their grievances and hatred toward the boy. They only wanted to show their pain while not trying to understand the boy's pain.

…

Kaen sat on a tree and looked at his bow and arrows. It has been a week since the fight with the intruder, who was identified as shinobi from Kumogakure. Of course, the Raikage denied his involvement and proclaimed that the shinobi was working alone. It was clear that the Raikage abandoned his shinobi as he failed his mission. Nothing could be done, so the Hokage let the incident slide.

As Kaen thought of these things, he felt something crawl on his arm. Kaen activated his Sharingan on instinct and took a look. Finding a spider in his hand, he quickly tossed it into the air and used great fireball jutsu to incinerate it. Kaen hated bugs, and spiders were the worst. Their long and hairy legs and many eyes creeped the hell out of Kaen.

To Kaen, the only good bug was a bee. The rest should be annihilated from existence. Kaen looked around to confirm that nobody saw him overact like this to a mere spider. His dignity would be tarnished if anyone knew. After he calmed down, he went to sit in another place to look at his bow and arrows.

This time an idea came to him about how to make his arrows stronger and faster. It was so simple that Kaen felt stupid not thinking of it before. Chakra coating was a simple technique in theory, but Kaen knew it wouldn't be easy looking at his bow.

Usually, chakra coating is done on blades made of steel. But the bow was different, it was made of wood, and the bowstring was made of sinew, not speaking of the arrow itself, which is made of wood and steel. Kaen would have to coat all the parts separately with different amounts of chakra not to break them.

Kaen knew it would need nearly perfect chakra control, so he started working on it. It was possible, so he could do it. It didn't matter how long it would take him to master this technique. He knew that it would make him stronger, which was all that mattered.