Upon hearing this, the boy holding the girl's hair noticeably shook, his expression wavering with hesitation.
"Let her go." Uchiha Shisui, who had grabbed him, said calmly, "Bullying the weak, and a girl at that—such behavior is truly disgraceful."
"Huh?"
Hearing this, the boy, whose resolve had been somewhat shaken, instantly tightened his grip on her hair, making the girl let out a cry of pain as pitiful tears welled up in her eyes.
He couldn't fathom how some pint-sized squirt had the guts to meddle in his business.
Anyway, the adults of the Uchiha clan hadn't arrived yet, so he might as well teach this little punk a lesson right along with her.
Catching his eye signal, the other two underlings had no choice but to step forward, preparing to pull Uchiha Shisui apart.
Before they could even process what was happening, a flash crossed their eyes, and Uchiha Shisui dodged right under their noses. At the same moment, both of them were struck down by a sudden force, landing flat on their faces in utter bewilderment.
"……!"
Seeing his underlings defeated by a five- or six-year-old Uchiha brat, the boy's eyes widened in an instant burst of fury.
"You dare hit them!"
Without another word, he whipped out a kunai.
He had picked this up at one of the ninja training grounds, and it seemed it would come in handy right now!
Seeing the clumsy way the boy gripped the kunai, Shisui—who had felt a twinge of guilt moments before for resorting to violence—froze, his gaze hardening.
His voice was bright and crisp, yet his tone dropped exceptionally low: "I have no desire to hurt you lot, but you—"
"Cut the crap!" Interrupting him, the boy dropped the girl and lunged fiercely toward him with the kunai in hand.
After a flurry of wild stabs, Shisui, who had no weapon, could only rely on agile dodging.
After a dozen seconds, realizing his barrage of attacks was useless, the boy gritted his teeth in a mix of anger and annoyance, feeling as though he was losing all his dignity in front of his underlings.
Still, there was a difference in stamina among children; he refused to believe this little punk could keep dodging forever.
Sensing the boy's intent and wishing to avoid a prolonged scuffle, Shisui nimbly leaped up onto a nearby ledge, wisely putting distance between them to conserve his stamina.
"What are you dodging for? Get down here!" the boy shouted viciously.
Frowning, Shisui was about to say something to make the boy back down when a calm voice drifted over from the other side.
"Sano, it's only been a while, and you've already stooped to bullying others? Picking on someone so small, aren't you ashamed?"
The boy called Sano turned to look at the newcomer. His expression flashed with surprise, and his eyes widened when he took in Nariya Ueshima's current appearance.
"How is it you?"
He was one of the orphans who had come to Konohagakure together with Ueshima, but after they were each adopted by different villagers, they rarely crossed paths.
Back when they were first brought to the village, he had deliberately initiated a conversation with Ueshima because he had mistaken him for a very pretty girl at the time. As for the result...
Better not to mention it.
"Mind your own business!" Sano said loudly, his face flushing red as if recalling that mortifying mistake about someone's gender.
"She's the one who went crazy and smashed the glass of our shop, so I brought people here to teach her a lesson."
Hearing this, Nariya Ueshima was slightly taken aback, and Shisui, standing on the ledge, paused as well.
So that was how it was?
Meanwhile, the water-blue-haired girl who had been accused shakily stood up, wiping her tears as she whispered her grievance: "Who told your mom and dad to falsely accuse me of stealing your family's cake..."
"Huh?"
Sano immediately erupted into a fierce shouting match with the girl, looking as though he was about to lay hands on her again.
As if grabbing hold of a lifeline, the girl hurriedly scrambled to hide behind Nariya Ueshima.
"Even if smashing your window was wrong of her, that's no excuse for you to treat her so roughly." Nariya Ueshima thought for a moment before looking straight at the angry Sano.
"And it's certainly no excuse for you to pull out a kunai and try to harm a five- or six-year-old child."
"..." Sano's chest heaved violently as he froze in place.
"Go home and ask your parents first, get the facts straight. And put that kunai away."
Hearing Nariya Ueshima's words, Sano stared fiercely, as if wanting to argue back, but when he met that calm cyan right eye, all the words died in his throat.
Dammit.
He cursed inwardly, then obediently put the kunai away.
Seeing this, Nariya Ueshima's expression eased somewhat.
Showing off that pathetic kunai technique in front of the genius Uchiha Shisui was almost too painful to watch; it was utterly agonizing.
Without paying any more mind to the scowling Sano, Nariya Ueshima turned his gaze to Uchiha Shisui, who was still standing on the wall enduring the cold wind not far away.
"It's over, come down."
"..."
Shisui paused for a second, then gracefully leaped down and walked over.
At first, he had thought the newcomer was an accomplice of those guys, but apparently not.
And with just a few words, he had managed to defuse the situation. Shisui couldn't help casting a few extra curious glances at the young boy before him.
"You're Uchiha Shisui, right?" the other asked first.
"Yes." Shisui admitted openly, "Though why do you know who I am?"
Nariya Ueshima lowered his head slightly, staring at Shisui—who was still just a little squirt—his gaze lingering on the boy's uniquely Uchiha curly hair, and couldn't help cracking a smile.
"When filling out the enrollment forms, I heard Teacher Tsugawa say that the most formidable student of this year's batch was you, Shisui, and I accidentally caught a glimpse of your photo."
"..." Shisui blinked in a daze.
Enrollment forms?
Does that mean this person was also accepted into the Ninja Academy? But his age didn't seem quite right.
"May I ask your name?"
Hearing Shisui's polite and curious inquiry, Nariya Ueshima assumed a profound expression. "You'll find out when school starts tomorrow."
With that, he gave Shisui a crisp wave. "See you tomorrow."
"Hey, are you just going to leave like that?" Sano, snapping out of his daze, hurried after him with big strides.
Leaving behind only two bewildered underlings, a relieved girl, and Uchiha Shisui, who already displayed a composure beyond his years.
...
"Why are you following me?"
"Who told you to poke your nose into other people's business?" Sano retorted angrily, catching up to him.
"If I hadn't stepped in, you'd be the one hurting after getting beaten by Uchiha Shisui."
"No way? How old is he even? He's not even as tall as my shoulder."
Nariya Ueshima glanced sideways at him. "It seems you weren't listening to me very carefully just now."
Sano: "?"
"Shisui is a genius at the academy. Don't let his age fool you—just think about how humiliating you looked a minute ago."
Remembering how he had thrashed around without managing to lay a single finger on Uchiha Shisui, Sano's face flushed crimson with anger. "Hey, Ueshima, you're going too far!"
Paying little mind to Sano's foot-stomping, Nariya Ueshima walked into the vegetable market and calmly began selecting vegetables.
Sano watched from the side. Although they hadn't seen each other in a while, he knew more or less that Ueshima's adoptive parents had passed away, leaving him to live on his own.
Still... why on earth was someone living alone buying this many vegetables? Wouldn't they spoil and lose their freshness if kept too long?
Besides, judging by what he had just said, it sounded like he was starting at the Ninja Academy tomorrow.
Compared to himself, who was stuck helping out at the cake shop, Sano couldn't help feeling a twinge of envy.
"By the way, what's going on with your eye?"
Nariya Ueshima: "Just covering it up to look cool."
Sano: "..."
This guy really hadn't changed a bit. He must have been completely blind back then to ever think this was a cute girl!