Chapter 8

"Although no Great War is going on, we can not say that the world is totally at peace. Even now, there are those who struggle through difficult days because of the endless conflicts."

Reading the scroll, Izuna paused for a moment and then continued.

"So how do we break this down? As a young ninja, this isn't someone else's problem. In this chaotic world, it is most like not a peaceful path. But despite this, we vow it here. Ninja are precisely those who advance on this difficult path."

Izuna read the scroll in a sonorous voice, before slowly rolling it back up. And he turned his gaze towards the sea of graduates and current students, guardians, parents, and teachers, below him.

"Ninja are those who push forward and endure. Using everything we have learned at the academy, we will fulfill our duties as a ninja of Konoha."

"Valedictorian, Izuna Uchiha."

Just as Izuna finished speaking, the pre-established harmony of applause came and echoed all around.

His grades had all been nothing but excellent from the day he started school until his graduation. Just at the age of five, Izuna had passed the graduation in his sixth month at the academy. The Hokage himself alongside the Konoha council had been present during his graduation test.

Although there had been some exceptional graduates before him, such as Hatake Kakashi, who graduated at the age of five. Izuna had his grades left Kakashi and other graduates far behind.

Since Izuna had been the youngest valedictorian, thus the curtain fell upon his academic days.

Despite his exceptional skills and capability that went beyond the level of genin, some teachers had apparently been quarreling among themselves about Izuna reading the formal reply as a valedictorian.

The majority of graduates were twelve years old. There were also some who, like Izuna, had graduated with excellent grades and were younger, but at six, Izuna was indeed far too young.

Even if he did have the grades, the sharp thinking, and the ninja skills far beyond his age, there was still a concern among teachers that he was simply too immature to hold up before other graduates.

However people thought about him, Izuna couldn't less about that as he knew that there was one more thing.

Most of the teachers at the academy with lineage connected with the Senju clan complained about the fact that Izuna was an Uchiha.

In the end, however, they had no choice but to bow their head before his overwhelming abilities and grades, and sharp thinking. The way the six years old Izuna excelled in all things to a level unheard of, and despite the issue of his immature age and prejudice against the Uchiha, there could be no valedictorian other than Izuna.

____________

The graduation ceremony was over. Izuna walked through the schoolyard, petals of sakura blossoms fluttering through the air, along with his long, black hair.

It had exactly been six months since his graduation test, which he naturally passed, and today was the graduation ceremony. He attended it with the older graduates, some of them being twice his age.

Walking down the schoolyard, Izuna spotted two people in the throngs of people coming and going. Before him were two people, his proud father and his mother, who gently smiled at him.

"Ah, I'm so proud of you son."

His mother wrapped her arms around Izuna and hugged him tightly. The corner of his lips curled into a soft smile.

Akio too looked at his son, and lightly patted his head. The warmth of his father's palm spread itself around Izuna's head.

"Haha! You are just six, and you have come so far. I too am very proud of you."

Izuna simply nodded his head - the smile on his face widened.

'It's great to be a family.'

As the family of three walked down the bustling streets of Konoha, before them, the wall sectioning the Uchiha compound came into view. The Uchiha crest was drawn on the magnificent tiled gates.

People on the streets bowed their heads toward his father. Akio was the vice-chief of the Military Police Force, after all. Seeing this, Izuna's face couldn't help but stretch into a smile.

"Hmm. What is it, Izuna?"

Noticing his son's gaze on himself, Akio smiled and asked, while patting his son's head. His mother chuckled lightly, walking alongside Izuna.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just happy to walk alongside you."

"Is that so?"

"You know, you are the next face of the Uchiha clan other than the clan leader, after all."

"Haha! All right, enough flattering. Want to get some snacks along the way home?"

His father's words brought a soft smile to Izuna's face as he nodded his head, earnestly. It was then when he suddenly felt a piercing gaze on himself.

"Hm?"

Sensing an aura, Izuna turned southwest. An invisible field of chakra spread all around him, covering an area of more than two hundred meters around him. When he focused and spread his senses, he could sense the aura very clearly.

'An Aburame guy?'

At first, it was just a single insect, but soon he could sense the swarming of a large number of insects. And as if aware of being noticed, the swarm of insects flew away; the only sound of insect wings remained.

Aburame Clan. A clan residing in Konoha, the members of the clan used insects as weapons. And sensing that aura, Izuna immediately understood that.

"Hmm. So you've also noticed, huh. Impressive as always, son."

His father's words fell into Izuna's ears, bringing him back from his turmoil.

Izuna looked up to his father, his mother walking beside him.

"The Anbu."

As if understanding the questioning gaze of his son, Akio answered in an even voice.

To maintain peace and order in Konohagakure, the Konoha Military Police Force had been established with the Uchiha clan at its center. With Fugaku as the chief and Akio as the vice-chief, the Military Police Force worked day and night for the sake of the village.

In other words, the Military Police Force policed the village - the elite shinobi who monitor fellow shinobi.

However, another force maintained the tranquility of peace in Konoha; the Anbu.

Under the direct command of the Hokage, the Anbu was a unit composed of capable ninja and made an appearance on important missions inside, and outside the vicinity of Konoha. Even major crimes committed in the village were taken out of the hands of the Military Police Force and entrusted to the Anbu.

'Oh, I see. The Anbu, huh?'

Nodding, Izuna continued to walk slowly by his parents, before glancing past his shoulders, taking a look at the place where he felt the chakra signature earlier. Izuna's gaze, his mind sharply focused on that spot, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Three please!"

"Coming right up!"

The family of three then stopped by at a tea shop ahead. And after buying Izuna's favorite snack, they made their way to their house to the Uchiha compound.

_____________

In the underground base of the Foundation.

The whole base was submerged into the terrifying stillness of darkness, and the face of a man with a cross-shaped scar on his chin came into view, as the dim light of a candle illuminated his face.

With the right side of his face covered in bandages, and arms resting on an ebony chair, his left eye alone glared at the subordinate standing before him.

"That boy is a genius, no?"

Danzo tossed the white file onto the desk and looked at the subordinate, wearing a white tiger mask. Red shading stretched out to the sides from around the eyeholes, slanted upwards as if expressing anger.

"Yes, Lord Danzo. I have never seen a child like him."

The man in the tiger mask abruptly said. His voice was mixed with a dry rustling sound, as if something was stuck in his throat, making it hard to hear what he was saying.

Without responding to his subordinate, Danzo glanced at the picture on the front page of the white file.

"Izuna Uchiha, hm..."

"What's your next order?"

"Don't take your eyes off of him. And wait for further instructions."

Danzo muttered to no one; in his ears, he heard the sound of insect wings. Lifting up his weary hips from the chair, he then disappeared into the darkness.

< Chapter 8 > Fin.