In the middle of the courtyard, Yami could be seen with a staff wrapped in foam padding for minor injuries.
He stood still, eyes closed, patiently waiting, surrounded by rubble, walls, and obstacles that provided numerous blind spots, allowing attackers to strike without him noticing.
"I'VE GOT YOU!" a shout came from behind him, only for Naruto to leap onto him, also wielding a foam-wrapped staff, attempting to attack.
Yami remained unfazed; in fact, he knew Naruto had come to see him, so he moved aside, causing the blond's attack to miss.
"Huh?" he wondered, seeing his surprise attack fail, only to receive a blow to the stomach, sending him flying backward. He fell to the ground, hurt, but unharmed.
But Naruto didn't give up. Clutching his stomach, he rose with great determination, striking Yami without hesitation.
"I won't give up," he roared, launching another attack. "I'll get my lifetime ramen reward for a year, and no one will stop me."
Without any class or composure, Naruto felt his way through again, hoping the same tactic that had failed before would work this time.
"You're loud, Naruto," Yami complained, holding his staff and intercepting the attack, bringing them to a standstill.
At that same moment, out of Yami's sight, Sasuke was seen holding the same staff as the two fighting.
Without thinking, and this time silently, I attacked Yami from the side, but his opponent already knew this.
The older of the two swung his weapon, sending Naruto flying straight toward Sasuke, but without hesitation, he leaped over the blond, ignoring him, and continued his attack.
What followed was a slow, or at least for me, clash of arms, with neither of them giving an inch.
Even though there was a year's difference between them, Yami was clearly using this—his experience, height, and size—to his advantage, starting to gain the upper hand against Sasuke, making him click his tongue.
Naruto, who had just woken up and rubbed his head, watched all this unfold and, without thinking, grabbed his weapon and launched an attack.
"I'm still here!" he roared, beginning to fight without hesitation.
"Idiot, you're in the way," Sasuke complained, watching his teammate join the fight, and he was right, he was in the way.
Yami took advantage of this to trip and move Naruto so that he would obstruct Sasuke's movements, managing to strike him.
After a few minutes, Yami spun his staff around his body to strike Pato on the side of his head, making him scream and sending him flying against a wall, where he lay on the ground for a few minutes.
Taking advantage of the kinetic energy of his movement, he continued spinning his staff to strike Naruto.
He tried to dodge by leaping backward, but Yami held the staff at one end, striking the blond man in the head with the other, sending him flying backward and crashing to the ground.
The prodigal son managed to defeat the two reincarnations of the Sage of Six Paths' sons, but not under the influence of the Quargy, as he wasn't fighting two, but three.
Hydraulically, hidden among the obstacles, Hikari watched everything unfold like a trained assassin.
Using his henchmen, he studied his brothers' movements, planning to defeat him and claim the prize—in this case, his room.
Right now, he was in a supervised training session to see how they would fare in a controlled environment.
The idea was for it to be a free-for-all, but however unfair it might be to say, Yami was far superior to the other three, so that would guarantee him absolute victory.
So I changed it so that if any of those three managed to defeat Yami in this competition, they would get a prize.
Naruto got free ramen at Ichiraku every day for a year. Sasuke, who I don't know why he was even here in the first place, I promised a B-rank Fire Style jutsu. Hikari's prize was a lot of money. I don't know what she'll do with all that money—girly stuff, probably—something I have no idea about, since she's much more of a lady than I am.
I don't mind admitting that I was quite a tomboy when I was a kid, and I still am in some ways.
On the other hand, if Yami could stand there for two hours without being knocked down by any of the three of them, I'd give him a custom weapon.
Naruto, thinking his attack was much worse than Sasuke's, got up first, returning to the attack, followed by the aforementioned, using his staff like a spear.
Meanwhile, in the shadows, I watched Hikari move, trying not to be seen by Yami, waiting for the right opportunity to strike, like a snake.
I watched all of this from a high vantage point, registering everything that happened, observing their successes, their failures, their strengths, and their weaknesses.
I focused mainly on Yami, since he's only 5 years old now; He'll be 6 in a few months, so this year he'll be joining the academy that will be opening its enrollment soon. That means I'll have little time to continue overseeing his training, but seeing what I have in store, I shouldn't worry, at least not in that style.
...
As I walked incognito through the lawless zone, I noticed the subtle changes. The main and most important thing: it wasn't dirty.
There was no more trash, condoms, blood, diarrhea, or the occasional foul smell clinging to the walls.
I made this perfectly clear to those two. If they were going to run a place—since they practically controlled and organized the entire lawless zone—they had to do it in a clean place, and that's something I drilled into their heads. They might be slobs, but they weren't pigs.
Luckily, they listened, and the place is now breathable. There are still some questionable areas, but people don't change so easily, and there will always be some dirty people, so there's not much that can be done. Those are the ones who are easiest to manipulate and exploit, so eliminating them immediately would be a waste.
When I entered the factory, the two of them were already waiting for me.
"Oh, big sister, you're finally here," Daiki greeted me, adjusting his mop of hair and trying to look stylish. I had a feeling that with that hairstyle, he'd eventually get a Stand or be recruited into a school as the ultimate biker.
"It's about time you got here, boss," Makoto commented more calmly, holding a baby in his arms, which caught my attention.
"What happened? Did you and your wife have a fight about her taking care of the baby?" I asked teasingly, walking over to my seat.
"She's a bit busy, and I didn't have anyone to leave her with, so I brought her," he explained. I simply held out my hands, and he handed me the baby.
I looked at the baby boy, about two months old, who was sleeping peacefully.
"Heh, bringing a baby to a work meeting, that's for losers, and it seems your wife has you wrapped around her little finger, lapdog," Daiki mocked, laughing.
I saw Daiki's hair fall over his eyes, but the next second he opened his mouth.
"Cecy," he said, just a name, and with that, Daiki's laughter and smile died, leaving him motionless.
"Damn it, we said I wouldn't talk about it anymore," he exclaimed angrily, pointing at Makoto.
"Sorry, being a father probably made my memory fail me a bit, forgetting that detail," he justified himself with a mocking smile.
Unlike Makoto, Daiki is single, and not by choice, but because he has bad luck choosing partners. Sometimes a spy from another village, other times con artists, prostitutes, crazy women, or in some cases, not women at all.
Cecy was someone Daiki knew. He had a woman's face, spoke like a woman, acted like a woman, and had the build and figure of a woman, but he was a man. A bad memory for Daiki, especially how he found out.
For him, the worst day of his life; for the two of us, the funniest.
"Can you be quiet? You're going to wake the baby," I said firmly, glaring at Daiki, hitting him hard on the spot.
I think I know who to add to the matchmaking department first, besides Kakashi.
"Heh," Makoto laughed, to which Daiki could only give him a death stare, but silently.
"Well, let's cut the crap; since Makoto has to get back early with his son to avoid his wife hitting him at home, let's finish this quickly," he declared.
"Understood," Daiki said.
"I don't get hit at home," Makoto complained.
"Right, before I say anything, I'd like to address one specific point before we talk about anything else," Daiki said immediately afterward, drawing our attention.
"And what would that be about?" I asked.
"Well, it has to do with the Uchiha clan." That sentence immediately set off alarm bells.
"Go on with what you have to say," I ordered, to which Daiki nodded.
"Well, the Uchiha police have been, to put it mildly, more unbearable than usual," the would-be Stand user explained.
"More than usual?" Makoto asked. "Be more specific."
"That's what I'm getting at," Daiki complained. "The Uchiha, generally speaking, are always going on about being the superior clan, one of the founders, and that you shouldn't mess with them, and for some reason, that pride has caused several problems, especially with my men."
"But that's always been the case; like them with the village police, it's normal for you to clash," I said, recalling the situation between the yakuza and the Uchiha police, something I've heard Daiki and Fugaku tell me several times.
"Yes, but it's one thing for us to have occasional run-ins, but for them to seek us out to fight, especially considering we're civilians, is another matter entirely," Daiki complained.
What he said made me think.
I knew the Uchiha were overreacting to the situation with the yakuza and the mafia, but I didn't realize it was this serious, and especially that Fugaku hadn't said anything to me.
Suspicious.
"I think I'll have to talk to Fugaku about this," I told myself, but at that moment, the motorcyclist without a motorcycle continued talking.
"That's not all. One of my men said he also saw some Uchiha talking to ninjas wearing ANBU masks."
"ANBU masks?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes, one with a white mask," Daiki finished explaining.
Only some ANBU wear white masks, since ANBU usually have some other color on their masks. So the only ones who fall into the white-mask category are Root ninjas.
...
As I walked through the clan's forest with Yami, I kept thinking about what I had discussed with those two, especially the topic of characters with Root ninja masks.
At that moment, I realized I had already arrived at the secret training ground.
"Well, we're here," I said, stopping Yami as he turned to look. "Show me how much you've improved."
"Understood, Mother," Yami exclaimed, making a hand seal. At that moment, a flower sprouted from the ground.
I simply approached to pluck it, seeing that it was a living flower with roots in the soil.
"For how little you've practiced, I think that's good," I said, making Yami nod.
"Yes, Mother," he said, as if he were already acting like a ninja, which annoyed me a little, but I brushed it off; I hoped that meeting other children his age would change his behavior a bit.
"Well, let's leave that aside. We'll have time to perfect your Wood Release later; for now, let's see if we can awaken that Sharingan in a less traumatic way," I explained, tossing him a wooden sword. "En garde."
With that said, we both got into fighting stances, ready to see if the fight could awaken their Uchiha instincts and, by default, the Sharingan.