For the next period of time, nothing major happened in Konohagakure, and Uchiha Itachi returned to his usual peaceful days.
Every morning, he went to the training ground for taijutsu training and reviewed the ninjutsu taught by his father. Children could enroll in the Ninja Academy at age six, so he would be able to start next year, but he had already mostly taught himself the ninjutsu taught there. Going to the academy would just be a formality—once he passed the required exams, he could officially become a ninja.
At noon, Uchiha Itachi would go join Uchiha Mikoto for lunch. At three months old, Yuka and Sasuke were right at the age where they loved drinking milk. Mikoto did not breastfeed, so the two little ones had started on formula early on. Sasuke was not a picky eater; every day he would hold his bottle and drink with great relish, but Yuka was very picky, and whenever it was time for milk, she would become utterly uncooperative.
Momoko could do nothing at all with her—she couldn't coax her, she couldn't trick her, and left with the milk bottle, she was completely at her wit's end.
Only when Uchiha Itachi arrived would Yuka behave a little better.
She would babble in incomprehensible baby talk, raising both hands high toward Uchiha Itachi.
The meaning was clear: Hold me.
Uchiha Itachi understood. He took the milk bottle from Momoko's hands, picked up Yuka with one hand, and shoved the bottle right into Yuka's mouth. The motion was swift and natural, clearly something he had done many times before.
"Gulp, gulp." Fully satisfied, Yuka obediently drank her milk, a completely different person from the one who had just sworn she wouldn't open her mouth.
Momoko wiped the sweat from her brow; feeding Yuka milk always left her completely drenched: "Young Master Itachi, the little miss seems to only listen to you and just loves sticking close to you."
"Yuka certainly does love sticking to Itachi." Uchiha Itachi sat in a chair, feeding Sasuke while gently patting his back, rocking her body back and forth slightly. "Itachi spends a lot of time with her; perhaps she's already familiar with Itachi's scent."
Uchiha Itachi didn't speak. He lowered his gaze expressionlessly, only to see that little rascal Yuka, while drinking her milk, still rolling her eyes this way and that, who knew what mischievous ideas she was hatching in her mind. Her attention distracted, milk spilled from the corners of her mouth and seeped into her bib.
He raised a hand, extended his index finger, and gently poked Yuka's fair, tender forehead.
"No getting distracted. Eat properly."
Yuka blinked, seeming to understand what he had said, and her attention returned to the milk bottle. Her round eyes stared straight at the bottle, almost crossing, putting her whole body into the effort of drinking. In no time at all, she drank until her cheeks puffed out like plump, soft steamed buns, yet she simply refused to swallow the milk.
Itachi's lips curved into a faint smile, his eyes fixed steadily on her.
"Drink nicely, and when you're done, big brother will take you out to play."
Hearing that she was going out to play, Yuka obediently complied: "Gulp."
"Mhm, very good."
Itachi carefully wiped the corner of Yuka's mouth, put the milk bottle back in its place, and carried her slowly toward the door.
"Itachi," Uchiha Itachi called out to stop him, instructing, "The sun is strong at noon. Don't keep her out in it too long, lest she get sunburned."
"Understood, Mother."
Uchiha Itachi carried Yuka to the shade of a tree, where two reclining chairs were placed that would rock gently when someone sat in them.
He sat down, placed Yuka against his chest, carefully secured her, and closed his eyes to take a brief nap, not forgetting to gently stroke her back with both hands in an attempt to coax her to sleep.
But Yuka, having just eaten her fill, had not a shred of sleepiness. Her eyes were wide open, looking curiously at everything around her.
The sunlight filtering through the gaps in the leaves cast mottled patches of light and shadow, falling upon her sparse hair. She giggled and reached out to catch the untouchable light. After trying several times and finding she couldn't catch it, she tried instead to catch the leaves occasionally blown down by the wind. This she could catch; quick-eyed and nimble-handed, she grabbed whatever leaf came her way and tossed it at Uchiha Itachi. In no time at all, Itachi was covered from head to toe in bits and pieces of leaves.
The sensation of the leaves was too obvious. Uchiha Itachi opened his eyes to see Yuka excitedly playing with the leaves, tossing torn-up leaves onto him as she played, practically using him as a trash can.
"..." Itachi was silent for a moment, not stopping Yuka's behavior, but instead quietly watching her every move.
His gaze was like that of a master examining whether a future disciple met the standards.
Her reaction speed was very fast; with a little training, that speed could become even faster. Her fingers were nimble, and though she was only three months old, the strength in her fingers was quite impressive—yes, those were hands suited for making hand signs.
Yuka didn't know yet that her brother had woken up. She played happily with the leaves until she found that no more leaves were falling; falling leaves depended on the wind, and when the wind stopped, naturally no leaves fell down.
She tilted her little head up to stare at the large tree. After seeing no leaves fall for a long time, she somewhat dejectedly withdrew her hand and turned back to harass her sleeping brother.
Before she could even turn back, she heard a piercing "swoosh" sound in the air.
Thud—
That was the sound of a shuriken flying up into the tree branches.
"Swish, swish..."
That was the sound of leaves falling furiously before her eyes.
Yuka: "…?"
Is it raining leaves?
So many leaves! Falling all at once, she would need to grow fifty arms to catch them all!!
Uchiha Itachi poked her shoulder: "Why are you frozen? Weren't you just catching them?"
Yuka turned her head to cast a resentful glance at him, rolled her eyes, threw her head back, and collapsed into his arms to go to sleep.
Now, no matter how Uchiha Itachi shook her, she didn't budge at all, tightly closing her eyes and pretending to sleep, until she really did fall asleep, emitting even breaths.
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"..."
Well, she had a bit of a stubborn streak; perhaps she wouldn't be very cooperative when learning.
Fortunately, none of these were serious flaws.
Uchiha Yuka would never know that when she was only three months old, her strict brother had already set her on the path of having to learn ninjutsu in the future.
...
Time flew. From then on, Itachi even brought Yuka and Sasuke along with him when he trained. When he released ninjutsu at the training ground, Yuka and Sasuke sat side by side in the nearby strollers. Sasuke was curious about ninjutsu and usually watched with rapt attention, but Yuka lacked concentration. After watching for a bit, she would look elsewhere, sometimes staring blankly at the ceiling with her eyes wide open for a long time, and when she got tired of looking, she would tilt her head and doze off.
Taking advantage of the fact that her brother wouldn't take time out during training to pay attention to them, Yuka pushed slacking off to the absolute limit.
Over the course of several months, she hadn't watched much ninjutsu, but she had gotten plenty of sleep.
At birth she had been a pound lighter than Sasuke, but now she was three pounds heavier than him. All day long she ate and slept, ate and slept, and her face had grown quite round.
Several times, Itachi reached out and pinched a dozing Yuka, but before his hand even touched her, Yuka would tilt her head back and look at him with a pitiful expression, tears seeming to shimmer in her eyes.
Itachi: "..." He hadn't even hit her, had he?
Sasuke, meanwhile, curiously observed this scene. Seeing Itachi turn his head over, Sasuke imitated Yuka's expression, pouting his lips and putting on a pitiful look—though he didn't know what Yuka was feeling aggrieved about, nor what Itachi was doing. But what did a seven-month-old baby know? This was the age of eagerness to learn; whatever he saw, he wanted to imitate.
Itachi didn't even need to retract his outstretched hand; he placed it directly on Sasuke's forehead and gave it a medium-hard poke.
He instructed in a low voice: "Sasuke, you are a younger brother, but you are also an older brother. You need to set a good example."
Sasuke: "Waa."
Now he was truly aggrieved. Although it didn't hurt, he just felt wronged; he just felt it hurt. Why did his brother always poke his forehead and not his little sister's? Now Sasuke didn't even need to copy Yuka's fake tears; he cried, genuinely crying, tears instantly welling up and spilling over.
As for what Itachi had said?
How could he possibly understand it at this age?
Knowing nothing at all, Sasuke wailed loudly. Itachi subconsciously turned his head to look at Yuka, only to see Yuka curiously examining the howling Sasuke, seeming not to understand why he was crying. But seeing her brother look over, she thought about it for a rare moment and opened her mouth.
The meaning brimming in those dark eyes was clear: I should cry too?
Itachi pinched the bridge of his nose: "You cannot cry."
The moment his voice fell, Yuka also began to wail and howl right along.
Sorry, dear brother~ Your intervention was just a teensy bit slow~
The cries of the older and younger babies instantly echoed across the entire training ground, startling Momoko, who was standing by ready at the entrance.
"Oh my goodness, why are the young master and little miss crying?!" Hearing the children's cries, Momoko hurriedly pushed the door open and entered.
As soon as she stepped inside, she saw Itachi standing in front of the two babies' strollers, looking somewhat at a loss.
"What's wrong here?" Momoko was a bit curious. After all, these were the babies Itachi had been caring for for over half a year, and this was the first time he had made both children cry. It was truly a novelty.
Uchiha Itachi didn't know how to explain the current scene. To be honest, brilliant as his mind was, he couldn't figure out why his younger siblings were crying.
He couldn't help silently recalling what he had been doing before the crying started. He seemed to have... pinched a dozing Yuka? But before he could even deal with Yuka, he saw her looking at him pathetically, and then what...? Why did Sasuke start crying first? Why on earth was Sasuke crying?
When it all came down to it, it seemed to be the fault of a certain little troublemaker.
He shifted his gaze to Yuka, only to find this little troublemaker crying breathlessly, her cheeks and neck flushed red, her expression twitching as she choked out sobs, looking truly pitiful.
...Was this a case where fake crying had turned into genuine emotion?
Itachi couldn't help laughing, but still reached out to pick her up, patiently soothing her emotions.
Soon, Yuka burped twice in satisfaction and fell asleep softly leaning against Itachi's shoulder.
Wonderful, successfully dodged another bullet!
Itachi knew nothing of what was going on in his little sister's mind. He simply stared at the sleeping faces of the two little ones for a long time after coaxing them to sleep, and ultimately concluded: Never try to guess a child's thoughts.
...
Normally, children would gradually learn to speak after seven months, which was related to each child's individual differences.
Uchiha Itachi had learned to call his mother at seven months. He had always been precocious and exceedingly clever, so these things were effortless for him. As for his younger brother Sasuke, he began speaking in his eighth month.
At first, Sasuke suddenly uttered a tiny sound one morning: "Mother."
The voice was very small, like the buzzing of a mosquito, but Uchiha Mikoto heard it clearly. Surprised, she picked Sasuke up and teased him with the milk bottle: "Sasuke, did you just speak? Say it again, let Mom hear?"
Sasuke closed his mouth and, no matter how Mikoto coaxed him, wouldn't say another word.
At noon, Uchiha Itachi came over to eat after finishing his training as usual, and as soon as he stepped through the door, he heard Uchiha Mikoto call out to him.
"Itachi! Come and listen, your younger brother can speak!"
Itachi's walking pace quickened a fraction. He strode into the room and walked toward the two cribs.
Sasuke was held in his mother's arms, holding a small toy and playing with it. He babbled nonstop, occasionally popping out the two-syllable word "Mother." Seeing Itachi arrive, he looked even more excited, opening his arms and making endless sounds.
"Oh my, my Sasuke is so smart." Mikoto smiled very gently. She touched her forehead against Sasuke's little face and coached him: "Bro—ther—Sasuke, Itachi is your older brother. Come on, repeat after Mom, bro—ther—"
Sasuke blinked: "I... brother?"
"That's right!" Although the child's immature voice didn't pronounce the "brother" syllable quite accurately, it was definitely that sound. "Sasuke is studying hard, oh! Sasuke is wonderful!"
Uchiha Itachi walked forward, gently poked Sasuke's forehead, and praised him along with her: "Sasuke is wonderful."
As soon as he finished praising, he turned his head, his words carrying an anticipation he didn't even realize: "Mother, what about Yuka? Has she started talking?"
Uchiha Mikoto shook her head, a puzzled look on her face: "I've been trying to coax her into talking all morning, but Yuka won't make a sound. It's really strange—she used to love making babbling noises, but today..."
"Where is she?"
"Momoko took her outside to get some sunshine."
Uchiha Itachi stayed and sat with Sasuke for a little longer, then turned and went outside. He hadn't walked two steps before he saw Yuka standing in a baby walker in the courtyard, toddling along as she chased the sunlight to play.
Under the warm spring sunshine, beads of sweat had popped out on her tender, fair cheeks. Her face was flushed, her smile sincere and cute, revealing two faint dimples. The sight of her stretching out her arms and stumbling forward as she ran appeared utterly innocent and lovely in Itachi's eyes.
"Yuka," Uchiha Itachi called out.
Hearing the sound, Yuka turned her head, and seeing it was him, she smiled even more happily, babbling as she lunged toward him for a hug.
Uchiha Itachi effortlessly lifted Yuka out of the baby walker, took out the handkerchief he carried with him to wipe the sweat from her forehead, and then stared quietly at her.
Yuka tilted her head: "?"
For some reason, Itachi always felt that Yuka could speak.
Her perception of sound had manifested very early. For a long time, Sasuke had been unable to accurately distinguish the source of sounds, but Yuka could. Whether it was his voice or the voices of their mother and father, she could accurately distinguish them. When she was very small, sounds could come from Yuka's throat—though those sounds were only unconscious baby coos, there was no reason she shouldn't be able to speak now that even Sasuke could.
"Yuka, I am your older brother."
Yuka seemed to understand, yet seemed not to understand, still tilting her head and staring at him.
"Bro—ther—" Itachi spoke slowly, deliberately pronouncing the term. "You need to learn these two words."
Yuka stopped looking at him, turning her head away with a haughty air, while softly wrapping her arms around his neck. She drooped her head against his shoulder, rested her cheek on it, and closed her eyes, looking tired.
Momoko hurried over, took a look at Yuka's condition, and said, "The little miss was kept by madam talking all morning; she taught her quite a few words. She's probably tired—I just took her out to rest a short while ago, so she must have gotten sleepy long ago."
Uchiha Itachi lowered his gaze and nodded, gently patting her back with his left hand.
So be it. She was still young; it wouldn't be too late for her to speak in a few more months. Let her be.