Uchiha Hiroshin left behind the sealing scroll, offered a few words of comfort to Uchiha Yuan, told him to come find him if he needed help with anything in daily life, and then turned to leave.
To be honest, although Uchiha Yuan had fused with this body's memories, he wasn't much affected by them—after all, the original owner was only ten years old.
And with a month having passed, the sadness had already been greatly diluted by time. Uchiha Yuan no longer felt intense grief over their deaths.
Still, since he had accepted this body, handling their final affairs—and possibly avenging them if he could—had become his responsibility.
Uchiha Yuan took out everything inside the sealing scroll.
Two small jars containing ashes, some ninja tools, a dozen explosive tags, four Fire Style jutsu scrolls, two Wind Style jutsu, two genjutsu, one Water Style jutsu, one general-use jutsu, and a short blade capable of conducting chakra.
This was basically the entirety of his parents' possessions. When they left for the battlefield, they had taken everything with them, worried that then-seven-year-old Uchiha Yuan wouldn't be able to guard it at home alone.
Now, looking at these relics, Uchiha Yuan felt a bit bitter.
After calming down, he packed up the rest and went out carrying the ashes of his parents.
He buried them in the Uchiha clan cemetery. For ninja like his parents, who died without significant value, their names couldn't be inscribed on the memorial stone, and naturally, they couldn't be buried in Konoha's official cemetery.
After handling their affairs, Uchiha Yuan returned home and examined their inheritance.
First were the four Fire Style techniques:
C-rank Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique
Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique
Fire Style: Flame Bullet
B-rank Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet
Then two C-rank Wind Style techniques:
Wind Style: Great Breakthrough
Wind Style: Gale Palm
The two genjutsu were traditional techniques widely circulated since Konoha's founding:
D-rank Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique
B-rank Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death
Then a C-rank Water Style jutsu:
Water Style: Water Clone Technique
The Water Clone Technique is similar in concept to Shadow Clone Jutsu. In a sense, it could be considered a general-purpose jutsu.
However, Water Clone only possesses 10% of the original's power and cannot stray far from the user, making it essentially a weakened version of the Shadow Clone.
This technique was likely used by Uchiha Yuan's father. He remembered that his father's chakra affinities were Fire and Water, and his mother's were Fire and Wind.
But his father wasn't proficient in Water Style. As a member of the Uchiha, Fire Style was naturally his main focus.
His mother learned Wind Style because "wind feeds fire," enhancing the power of Fire Style.
The final general-use jutsu was a D-rank Body Flicker Technique.
Uchiha Yuan's father had a two-tomoe Sharingan and was a Konoha special jōnin. If he had managed to awaken a three-tomoe Sharingan, he likely would've been promoted to full jōnin. His mother, on the other hand, never awakened the Sharingan and was merely a chūnin.
Even so, in Yuan's memories, his mother wasn't weak. She had a trump-card Wind Style technique, which, along with the chakra-conducting short blade, had been passed down to her by Yuan's maternal grandfather.
That jutsu could infuse Wind-nature chakra into the short blade, forming a razor-sharp sword—it was her greatest reliance in battle.
But that technique wasn't among the relics. His parents were said to have been killed by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Most likely, they had no chance to destroy the sealing scroll—there was only one explanation: the technique was taken.
The Uchiha clan wouldn't do something so vile. Having been in this world for a month, Yuan had come to understand the Uchiha very well.
They were proud and confident and would never stoop to secretly stealing their clansmen's belongings.
With that in mind…
It could only have been Konoha. Danzo? Or the Third Hokage?
Uchiha Yuan personally leaned toward Danzo—stealing others' family-inherited jutsu? That was just the sort of dirty trick only he would pull.
Two days later, fully recovered, Uchiha Yuan returned to the Ninja Academy.
It was now Year 42 of the Konoha calendar. The Third Great Ninja War had been going on for three years.
Last year, the Academy had forced all fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year students to graduate early and sent them to the battlefield as cannon fodder.
Among that year's fourth-years were Namida Raidou and Yamashiro Aoba, both of whom had some minor presence in the original story.
The class after them, though, was full of familiar faces: Ebisu, Genma Shiranui, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuhi, Might Guy, Ibiki Morino, Uchiha Obito, Rin Nohara, Shizune Kato...
These peers were all within 1–2 years of each other, since the Academy's typical entry age was 5–7.
Uchiha Yuan was also their peer, but he hadn't been in the same class as those future pillars of Konoha.
Still, most peers at the Academy knew each other—especially those from the same clan.
Uchiha Yuan was one year older than Uchiha Obito—Yuan was ten, Obito was only nine.
Although Obito was young, he was already "famous" within the Uchiha.
On one hand, Obito's grades at the Academy were terrible—he was consistently at the bottom of every subject. On the other, he was totally unlike most Uchiha: kind, optimistic, full of energy, always talking about becoming Hokage—like someone completely brainwashed by the Will of Fire.
But it was precisely because of that personality that Obito made it into the elite class.
A Uchiha like that was surely a favorite of the Third Hokage.
Uchiha Yuan followed his memory to 4th-year Class 2, which was mostly composed of young heirs from major clans and children of village ninja—essentially the elite class.
The classes behind 2nd were the standard cannon-fodder groups.
Thanks to the Uchiha's reputation, Yuan had few friends in this class. When he returned, his classmates merely glanced at him—no one came to talk.
"Uchiha Yuan, did you hear? They say our class is about to graduate," said a girl sitting in front of him, her white eyes visible beneath a layer of gauze over her forehead.
Her name was Hyuga Asana. Logically, since the Uchiha and Hyuga clans were like fire and water, the two shouldn't get along—but in reality, she was one of Yuan's few friends.
That was because Yuan's mother and Asana's father had been squadmates during the Second Great Ninja War.
"Where'd you hear that?" Yuan frowned.
"My brother is one of Lord Hiashi's guards. He said things aren't going well on the front lines—looks like it's our turn to head to war," Asana said calmly. There was neither fiery devotion to the Will of Fire, nor fear of the battlefield.
Yuan was already used to that tone from her.
He remembered that before entering the Academy, Hyuga Asana had been very lively.
But at age four, she disappeared for a whole month.
When they met again, the ugly mark had already been branded onto her forehead. Since then, she had become indifferent to everything—eventually becoming the girl she was today.
(To Be Continued...)