I'm not that Naruto Uzumaki

"Who the hell are you, you rude brat!"

The haughty young boy's dark pupils suddenly dilated upon hearing this, clearly infuriated.

Naruto frowned slightly and tilted his head to the side before locking his gaze onto the figure a few meters away. His hands began methodically removing the weighted lead blocks and arm guards he had purchased from the ninja tools shop.

Ever since discovering this place, he had been guessing who its owner was. Just now, he had already sensed the chakra of the two newcomers and figured they were likely the owners of the training grounds, so he waited for them here.

Uchiha Itachi was one of his possible candidates, especially since the targets in this area were primarily used for shuriken and kunai practice, and every single one bore marks of perfect bullseye hits without exception.

However, he was somewhat surprised to see Itachi bringing Sasuke along. Given the current tension between their clan and the village, shouldn't Itachi be busy?

Before long, Naruto finished removing his weighted gear. He crouched down and carefully sealed them into a storage scroll he had bought at an exorbitant price from the ninja tools shop.

Just the scroll alone had cost him half a year's savings. Compared to it, all the weighted equipment felt like mere freebies. On top of that, the scroll had a limited number of uses.

While Naruto was occupied with his task, Sasuke clenched his fists in anger, his body trembling with frustration.

"Bastard! How dare you ignore me!"

Even though not everyone in the village knew him personally, anyone who recognized the Uchiha clan emblem on his clothes would never dare to disregard him like this.

"Alright, Sasuke, we're all from the same village. There's no need to take it to heart. The training ground is meant to be used, after all. Besides, this kid seems stronger than you."

By the time Naruto finished packing away his scroll, Uchiha Itachi had already walked over.

"Hello, I am Uchiha Itachi, and this is my younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke. You've been training here for the past few months, haven't you?"

His deep, magnetic voice carried an air of maturity. The two distinct lines under his eyes—whether wrinkles or tear troughs—made him appear particularly composed and enigmatic.

Now standing only a couple of steps away from Itachi, Naruto realized he had to look up slightly. At the moment, he was only 1.2 meters tall.

He also noticed Itachi's sharp gaze and suspected that he had already recognized his identity.

Naruto nodded and replied, "I apologize for using your training ground without permission. And thank you for leaving the ninja tools behind."

"Hmph! So you've heard of the Uchiha name, haven't you? Shouldn't you at least introduce yourself?"

Sasuke's arrogant expression turned even more smug upon hearing Naruto's apology. He snorted loudly, stepped up beside Itachi, and tried to put on a mature demeanor.

This left Naruto slightly amused. Sasuke was indeed quite attached to his brother at this age, but why did he seem like a little fox relying on a tiger's might? To survive what was coming after the clan's destruction, he would certainly need to be tough.

"Your brother already knows who I am. Since I've been caught by the owner of this place, I'll take my leave."

Naruto glanced at the still-childish Sasuke with an impassive expression and then turned to walk past Itachi.

However, the moment he stepped beyond Itachi, a system notification suddenly rang in his mind.

Naruto abruptly stopped, then swiftly turned back and extended his hand toward Itachi.

"Hello! On second thought, in the presence of a great clan like the Uchiha, I should properly introduce myself."

Itachi looked down at Naruto, a flicker of surprise flashing through his eyes. However, being a polite person, he naturally extended his hand in return.

[Data collection in progress...]

"Nice to meet you, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

[Collection complete! Current data integrity: 5%. Please continue gathering information!]

"Thank you very much! I should head home now!"

Upon hearing this, Naruto sincerely expressed his gratitude, let go of Itachi's hand, and turned away without hesitation, leaving only his back to the two Uchiha brothers.

"What a weirdo! ... Huh? Nii-san! I've seen that guy before—I recognize his hair!"

Sasuke suddenly exclaimed as he watched Naruto disappear.

"Hm. Last winter, he was wearing a mask."

Itachi's voice was soft as he gave a subtle hint. Watching Naruto leave the grove, an inexplicable look of concern crossed his face...

As soon as he exited the grove, Naruto used the Transformation Jutsu to change his appearance. After sprinting for a while, he arrived at his small apartment.

With a single thought, he entered the mirrored world. After carefully reading the update notes, he followed the prompts and headed toward the Uchiha district, where he quickly spotted Uchiha Itachi.

Naruto walked straight up to Itachi's character. A pop-up window appeared.

[Would you like to watch this character's storyline?]

Naruto selected "Play," and suddenly, he found himself in the middle of a chaotic battlefield where ninjutsu flew in all directions. The scene zoomed in, revealing a seven or eight-year-old Itachi wielding kunai and swiftly taking the lives of enemy shinobi like a ghostly reaper…

"This actually feels a bit like watching a movie," Naruto mused, intrigued by the new feature.

The scene progressed to Itachi joining the Anbu, featuring glimpses of Kakashi, Might Guy, and even Orochimaru.

Soon, the story reached the night of the Nine-Tails attack. From that point on, the village's oppression of the Uchiha clan began, deepening the divide between the clan and the village. The footage ended at the moment when Itachi's father, Uchiha Fugaku, instructed him to act as the clan's spy within the Anbu, especially to monitor Uchiha Shisui and keep an eye on Konoha's higher-ups.

After watching, Naruto realized that aside from many inner monologues revealing Itachi's deep struggles, there was also a trove of interesting information about both the Uchiha clan and Konoha's leadership.

For example, his father, Namikaze Minato, had almost failed to become Hokage. Additionally, most Uchiha members had now become dangerously extreme—many could be considered full-blown lunatics.

And all these "lunatics" possessed the Sharingan. Even the slightly more rational ones were incredibly arrogant. This arrogance was reaching a critical breaking point, while the ordinary Uchihas were merely subservient followers in their eyes.

Itachi had already awakened his three-tomoe Sharingan, but after seeing his inner thoughts, Naruto realized that the mental burden on him was immense. He wasn't far from becoming a lunatic himself—he just needed to cross a psychological threshold.

Even in the original anime storyline, Itachi had always been self-righteous and arrogant like the rest of his clan, despite his internal conflict over the tension between the Uchiha and the village.

Thinking back, the mature and composed impression he gave during their earlier meeting was quite misleading. No wonder Kabuto once said that Uchiha Itachi was the best liar.

Even after being resurrected by Edo Tensei, Itachi admitted that in life, he never trusted others' strength and insisted on saving the village in his own way. After Shisui's death, he firmly believed that massacring his own clan was the only rational course of action.

Instead of taking revenge on Danzo, he immediately blamed the tragedy on the clan's internal pressure and struggles.

This kind of logic had baffled Naruto in his past life when he watched the anime.

But now, after living in this world, he understood.

This was all Hashirama's fault.

Senju Hashirama once said that protecting the village was his sole belief. To do so, he would not hesitate to kill friends, brothers, or even his own children if they threatened its peace.

Uchiha Itachi had perfectly inherited the Will of Fire.

But wasn't it supposed to be the Hokage's job to make these hard decisions?

Why did Itachi, a mere Anbu, have to prove his loyalty this way?

Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi only spoke of wanting peace but never truly acted on it. Danzo merely manipulated Itachi, exploiting his love for Sasuke—one played the good cop, the other the bad cop.

And Itachi willingly became their tool.

What baffled Naruto even more was that Itachi knew Danzo coveted the Sharingan yet still left Sasuke behind in Konoha.

Danzo was known for his unethical experiments, including transplanting Hashirama's cells. Did Itachi not worry about his foolish little brother suffering an "accident"?

If that's not lunacy, then what is?

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