Naruto, are you all so good at self-seduction

Sasuke, aren't you going to school? You're going to be late!"

"Today is Saturday!"

"Ah, I forgot, Mom."

Dressed neatly, little Sasuke walked out of his room. In the living room, his father was sitting there reading a magazine while his mother was tidying up the dishes.

Sasuke greeted them and then asked, "Where's Brother?"

"He's gone out. He has a mission today," Mikoto replied with a smile.

"Seriously, he promised to train with me earlier," Sasuke said, his expression dimming as he murmured in frustration.

"If it's about shuriken practice, Mom can train with you," Mikoto said cheerfully.

"It's not practice; it's training," Sasuke corrected his mother's phrasing.

After quickly finishing breakfast, Sasuke rushed out the door.

"I'm leaving!"

"That kid really is hardworking," Mikoto remarked, watching Sasuke hastily leave.

"That hardly counts as effort," Fugaku suddenly commented, still focused on his magazine.

Mikoto just rolled her eyes and ignored him.

As Sasuke rushed past the garden and was about to go through the gate, he suddenly spotted a black cat perched on the wall of his house, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Whose cat is that?"

The cat was sleek and shiny with deep black fur, remarkably beautiful, and its gem-like eyes seemed almost sentient, observing Sasuke calmly from its high vantage point.

The entire Uchiha clan loved cats, and many families kept them as pets, including several ninja cats.

However, Sasuke thought this particular one was the most beautiful he had ever seen.

He couldn't help but feel a strong urge to scoop it up and squeeze it tightly.

"Come here, little kitty," Sasuke called, spreading his arms and waving at it.

The black cat, however, looked at him with an expression that clearly said, "Idiot!"

Sasuke: "…"

That usually worked on other cats...

Not discouraged, Sasuke jumped onto the wall, aiming to grab the cat directly.

But the black cat wouldn't let him succeed. Just as Sasuke approached, it leaped up high and landed on the roof of the house across from him.

Sasuke stared, momentarily stunned, then leaped after it. But as soon as he landed on the roof, the black cat had already jumped back to its previous perch on the wall.

"Damn it!" Sasuke growled, continuing the pursuit, but the black cat was just as quick, jumping away from him as he started to move.

After a few back-and-forth attempts, Sasuke started to feel a bit tired and simply stood still. The black cat also ceased its movements, looking down at him with a disdainful gaze from the other side.

"Ah!" Sasuke felt frustrated.

"Hey, Sasuke, what are you doing?"

At that moment, a voice suddenly came from the street below. Following the sound, Sasuke saw a familiar face.

"Shisui! Help me catch that cat!" Sasuke shouted, pointing at the black cat.

A cat?

Shisui glanced toward the black cat, which also looked back at him. The two exchanged surprised looks.

"What do you want to catch it for?" Shisui asked, his expression peculiar.

"It's too fast; I can't catch it," Sasuke replied.

You'd be lucky to catch it…

Shisui thought to himself.

"You can't be forceful with cats; they respond to gentle approaches." He then mimicked Sasuke's initial attempt, spreading his arms toward the black cat.

"Little kitty, come here."

"…"

The black cat gave him a look that clearly said, "You gotta be kidding me," staying perfectly still.

Shisui felt a bit embarrassed and started making exaggerated movements to entice the cat.

The cat, seemingly resigned, finally leaped into Shisui's arms.

Shisui's face lit up with joy as he reached out to pet the black cat, only to get swiped by its paw.

Sasuke jumped down from the wall and approached Shisui, looking at the cat in his arms with surprise. "Why? I did the same thing!"

"Maybe... it didn't feel your sincerity," Shisui deadpanned.

Sasuke nodded, half-understanding, while the black cat rolled its eyes from Shisui's embrace.

"Can I hold it?" Sasuke asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Uh…" Shisui hesitated, meeting the fierce gaze of the black cat.

"Of course," Shisui said as he passed the cat to Sasuke, restraining its paw so it wouldn't squirm.

"Hold it tightly and don't let it escape."

Sasuke took the beautiful cat carefully in his arms.

You're dead.

Shisui sensed the malice radiating from the black cat's stare but pretended not to notice.

"Is your brother home?" he asked.

"He's gone out on a mission," Sasuke replied, reaching out to brush the cat's fur, only to receive another swipe.

Shisui gave the cat a light smack. "Behave yourself!"

"What the heck?!" Sasuke protested, looking at Shisui in disbelief.

"It swiped at you," Shisui defended himself.

"Still, you can't hit it!" Sasuke glared, continuing to soothe the cat. He found it amusing that the cat didn't fluff up despite getting smacked.

"...Where's your father?"

"He's at home," Sasuke replied grumpily.

"Let's go, kitty. I'll take you to train."

As Sasuke prepared to leave, the black cat poked its head out of his arms and glanced back at Shisui.

Shisui, feeling a bit out of place, couldn't help but chuckle, giving the cat a reassuring hand gesture. He turned and walked back into the Uchiha residence.

On the first day of the surveillance mission, Kanzuki, using a transformation technique to conceal her identity, was thus taken away by Sasuke, who thought she was an ordinary cat.

"Kitty, do you have a master?"

"Why aren't you meowing, kitty?"

"I'll count to three, and if you don't meow, you'll be mine from now on."

"3…"

"Meow~"

"Let me ask again. I'll count to three. If you don't say anything, you'll belong to me."

"…"

"3… 2! 1!"

"..."

"I'll give you a name."

Sasuke held the black cat in front of him, deep in thought.

"You're so beautiful; I'll call you… Little Black?"

"..."

"Right, let me see if you're a boy or a girl."

Kanzuki could no longer tolerate it and began to struggle fiercely, clawing at Sasuke's arm painfully. In pain, Sasuke instinctively let go, allowing the black cat to escape his grasp.

You idiot child.

Kanzuki leaped onto a nearby roof, watching Sasuke from above while cursing internally.

This is really messing up my mission.

Thinking this, she decided to head toward Sasuke's house.

"Little Black, where are you going?"

You're the one who should be called Little Black; your whole family is Little Black!

"Do you not like that name? I can change it."

"Wait a minute, kitty."

Sasuke chased after Kanzuki, afraid she might get lost.

Kanzuki felt frustrated by this and leaped across rooftops, quickly disappearing from Sasuke's sight.

Sasuke froze for a moment, then jumped up to the rooftop, only to find that the black cat had vanished from view. Disappointed, he turned to leave.

After a while, Kanzuki returned, only feeling relieved after seeing Sasuke had left.

Finally gone.

At that moment, Shisui walked out from Sasuke's house and paused upon seeing Kanzuki still sitting on the wall.

He leaped to the black cat's side, planning to pick her up.

"Get lost."

The cold words came from Kanzuki's mouth.

Shisui's outstretched hands froze in mid-air, and he awkwardly retracted them. "I thought you went to train with Sasuke," he said.

"Don't you know I'm on a mission?" Kanzuki retorted coldly.

"What's that to you? Our clan leader's daily movements aren't exactly secrets. I can tell you about them. Didn't I say that I'd be there for you?" Shisui countered.

"So what if Sasuke is just a kid? What's wrong with spending time with him?"

"Why don't you go spend time with him?" Kanzuki shot him a sidelong glance.

"I… have things to do too," Shisui replied with a forced smile.

"What are you going to discuss with your clan leader?" Kanzuki asked inquisitively.

"That's not in the scope of your mission, is it?" Shisui raised his eyebrows. "Are you going to eavesdrop on our clan leader's conversation?"

Kanzuki ignored him.

Shisui shrugged. "Last night, the ANBU and the Military Police Force were unexpectedly mobilized. Did you know about that?"

Kanzuki jolted.

"I just learned from Lord Fugaku that four guys messed up during an illusion technique experiment, alerting the Military Police and causing all that commotion," Shisui continued.

"Four guys?" Kanzuki asked skeptically.

"Yeah, they were at the edge of the forest north of the village."

Kanzuki: "…"

"Do you understand what happened?" Shisui noticed something was off with Kanzuki and quickly asked.

"That group of guys came to trouble me, and I taught them a lesson with an illusion technique," Kanzuki replied nonchalantly.

Shisui paused, then burst into laughter. "That's quite a rare occurrence! That kind of thing used to happen often right after the war ended. Nowadays, very few people would dare to come looking for trouble with you. They probably did something to offend you."

Kanzuki shot him an annoyed glare, then fell silent, remembering what Masahiro had said at that time; he could guess how things had transpired.

"Look, Oboro, you haven't come to terms with the past yet, have you?" Shisui said at that moment.

"What do you mean?"

"About what happened back then. The Hokage promised that he would help you clear your name," Shisui said slowly.

"What good would that do? Will it just make the villagers think that Sen and Haruka's deaths were meaningless?" Kanzuki's voice suddenly dropped.

Shisui was silent, as he was one of the few who knew the truth about what happened back then.

At that time, Kanzuki was quite popular among the younger generation of ninjas. His team went on a scouting mission.

During that mission, his team was ambushed by the enemy, and at the last moment, Kanzuki's two companions decided to let him escape alone.

Shisui could hardly imagine how much courage Kanzuki mustered to abandon his companions for the sake of his mission.

Yet, the intelligence he brought back was a trap laid by the enemy. They misjudged the enemy's numbers, and when Tsunade led the Konoha ninjas to attack, they walked straight into an even larger ambush, resulting in heavy casualties for Tsunade's unit.

In a fit of rage, Tsunade berated Kanzuki in front of everyone.

"You bastard! Didn't you say there were only a few enemy squads? Did your squad really not see the camp of several hundred enemies? Or did you all fail to locate the enemy camp, leaving your companions to be ambushed while you escaped alone and fabricated a false report to fool me?!"

This was Tsunade's exact wording, and everyone heard it clearly. It might have been said in a fit of anger, but the rumors that followed quickly spiraled out of control.

Kanzuki Oboro became the scorned scum in everyone's eyes.

The report he returned with was indeed false, and the death toll from that mission was a grim reality. How could he explain himself?

Kanzuki didn't offer any explanation. When the Third Hokage learned the truth and wanted to clarify things for him, he was turned down.

"I don't want Sen and Haruka's sacrifice for my own sake to be reduced to nothingness. If that's the case, I'd rather have them be seen as proud heroes slain by my actions. At least this way, people would mourn their deaths. I'll bear the infamy myself."

That's what Kanzuki had said.

Shisui thought he was being overly extreme, yet he had no idea how to persuade him, only hoping the villagers would eventually forget about it over time.

However, ever since that incident, Kanzuki had changed completely.

Reclusive, taciturn, and cold.

He radiated a vibe that discouraged others from approaching him, and at the time, only Shisui dared to engage with him.

Shisui wasn't clear whether Kanzuki was genuinely affected by the experience or was forcing himself to play the role of a "scum."

Perhaps it was both.

"Shisui!" Suddenly, a feminine voice called out from below.

"What are you doing on the wall?"

It was Mikoto, who, after exiting the house, couldn't help but ask upon seeing Shisui.

"Oh, there's a cat. I'm just playing with it," Shisui replied hurriedly, reaching out to pet Kanzuki.

Another swipe struck him.

"You're really a menace," Shisui muttered under his breath, unable to help but complain.

"I'm leaving, Aunt Mikoto," he waved at her as he leaped off the wall and landed on the street outside.

Shisui turned to Kanzuki and suddenly smiled.

"Well, no matter what happens, I will always stand by you."

"Just focus on your mission. Bye-bye."

"..."

The black cat silently watched as Shisui's figure disappeared into the distance.

What's with this guy, suddenly getting all sentimental…

Kanzuki thought.