Reading Memories

Yami along with Ino and her father Inoichi entered Ichiraku. They went towards the counter and Teuchi came from the back.

"Oh Inochi, are you here for dinner" Teuchi asked. He has been running Ichiraku ramen since Inoichi and others were just chunin so he was friendly with them.

"Yes Teuchi, I brought my daughter here as well" Inoichi said pointing towards Ino who greeted Teuchi.

"Oh Yami you are here as well? Where is Sasuke?" Teuchi asked.

"He is busy sharpening his tools. I'll have 1 Miso ramen and 1 takeout for Sasuke" Yami said as he sat on the chair.

"I will also have 1 miso ramen." Ino said and Inoichi also ordered the same.

"4 miso ramen coming up. Ayame start preparing." Teuchi said as he started his preparations.

"So Yami what class are you in?" Inoichi asked.

"Class 3-A."

"Wow, you must be pretty strong for you to be put in class 3-A only at the age of 5" Inoichi asked.

"Yes, he is very strong. Today he defeated the topper of his class in a single punch" Ino said excitedly showing her fist. She then realized what she had done and quickly looked down in embarrassment.

'Oh, my princess you don't stand a chance against this guy.' Inoichi thought as he could see his daughter was head over heels for Yami but Yami considered her just like a normal friend.

Teuchi served them 3 bowls of ramen and packed a takeout for Sasuke. Yami and the others started eating ramen. After a few minutes, all three of them finished their meal and paid for themselves.

"Ino, Mr. Yamanaka I will get going now" Yami said picking up his takeout.

"Can't you wait for a while? We can go eat some dessert" Ino asked a little disappointed.

"No Sasuke's ramen will go cold and he is also hungry so I better go as early as possible" Yami said and said his goodbyes to the father and daughter duo and started walking in the direction of the blacksmith shop.

"Ino if you want to stay his friend then your strength must be around his level too or else he may go far from your reach" Inoichi said to encourage his daughter.

"Yes dad you are right I need to become strong so that I can stand shoulder to shoulder with Yami and fight with him" Ino said giving a determined gaze to her father.

'A 5-year-old did something that the will of fire speech from Hokage sama couldn't do. Times have really changed' Inoichi thought.

On the other side of the village in the Hokage building

Iruka and Tanaka were standing in front of two people. One of them was Hiruzen Sarutobi the 3rd Hokage and the other person was Shikaku Nara, The Hokage's advisor.

"So you are telling me that Yami Uchiha defeated Neji Hyuga in a single punch? I have heard about Neji had he has one of the strongest Kekkai Genkai from the Hyuga clan. Tanaka tell me every detail of the match" Hiruzen said.

"Hokage same I can't explain it in words. To explain it in simple words he dodged Neji's every attack, broke his most powerful move, and knocked Neji out in a single punch" Tanaka said.

"Tanaka if you have no problem then we could ask someone from the Yamanaka clan to read your memory of the fight and show us" Shikaku suggested. He knew how important a person's memories are to them so even the Hokage cannot order anyone's memory to be read without proper reason. The only way is to read it with the person's permission.

"I have no problem with that." Tanaka shrugged.

"Shikaku have Inoichi himself come here and don't tell him the reason. I don't want any of this to go outside this office and Iruka bring me the report from the infirmary's doctor. I want to see in what condition Neji was brought in" Hiruzen said and Shikaku and Iruka body flickered.

10 minutes later Hiruzen, Shikaku, Inoichi, Tanaka, and Iruka are in the Hokage's office.

"Hokage sama what do you need me to do?" Inoichi asked as he looked around.

"Inoichi I want you to read Tanaka's memory of Neji Hyuga's fight with Yami Uchiha and then show it to us." Hiruzen said.

"Yami's fight where he defeated his class topper in a single punch?" Inoichi asked.

"Inoichi, how do you know about this? Did it already spread in the village?" Shikaku asked.

"No that's not the case. My daughter is head over heels for this kid so she kept talking about how cool and strong he is" Inoichi sighed.

Hearing this everyone in the room tried to control their laughter. They knew how much Inoichi loved his daughter and when drunk he used to say that he would beat up any boy who would try to come close to her.

Inoichi started reading Tanaka's memory and after a few seconds he opened his eyes and said

"Wow that kid really is strong"

Inoichi passed the memory to Hiruzen and then to the others. They all were very impressed by it.

"Iruka show me the infirmary report" Hiruzen said and Iruka handed him a file.

"Hmm...the punch wasn't a normal one. It contained chakra so that it could give a shock to the lungs. Yami controlled the chakra precisely so it wouldn't even touch the heart." Hiruzen said while combing through his beard.

"Hokage sama he seems a good candidate for Anbu. Maybe we should train him under Kakashi." Shikaku suggested.

"No Yami has already lost his clan and by putting him in anbu we would be putting more darkness on him. Let things be as it is. He is smart enough to not ask for direct graduation which means he is smarter than I thought. He will be a good seedling for the future." Hiruzen said.

"What do you need me to do?" Shikaku asked.

"Just make sure that my friend Danzo doesn't have his men close to the Uchiha brothers. That will be all for now." Hiruzen said and everyone left the office one by one.