"Yes, yes, I didn't see anything at all." Mie understood perfectly what Izumi was worried about, so she simply played along. "This scroll is from Itachi—it contains some ninjutsu notes that Shisui passed on to him. You don't have to worry about what the rest of the clan might say. Just work hard, and above all, keep yourself safe. I don't want to see you covered in wounds like that again."
Izumi didn't know how to respond. Since coming to this world, he had always felt out of place—like he didn't quite belong anywhere. He was alone no matter where he went, and with the parents of this world rarely present in his life, that loneliness had only deepened.
Mie shifted uneasily under his steady gaze, feeling oddly flustered.
"Sister Mie… can I be your little brother? Not just a clan sibling—a real little brother." The words slipped out before Izumi even realized what he was saying.
"Hmm… alright," she said after a moment, a smile tugging at her lips. "Since you helped me and Itachi get along, I'll agree. But you have to promise me one thing—take care of yourself. No more coming back all battered and bleeding."
"I promise."
With those two simple words, something inside Izumi settled. At last, he truly felt a part of the Naruto world. He was Uchiha Izumi—not someone from another world clinging to the past.
Mie soon left for class, and Izumi leaned back against a tree to rest. Bored, he opened the system interface, only for his face to darken in frustration. If he could, he'd give the system a beating it would never forget.
The main quest to gain Uchiha Itachi's favor was complete… but the reward was absurd—the Clone, Transformation, and Substitution Techniques. The same basic "Three Basic Ninjutsu" every academy student learned on day one. Izumi didn't even have the energy to complain anymore. If he kept bickering with the system, he might become the first transmigrator in history to die of sheer irritation.
And the next main quest? To defeat Gin. Izumi didn't know Gin was Kakashi, but he did know that anyone in the ANBU was no pushover. In the manga, ANBU members might throw a few shuriken and collapse for the sake of plot, but Izumi wasn't under any delusion that he had a protagonist's plot armor—that was Naruto's domain, not his.
At least the side quest was done. This time he earned a hundred points and a "mystery pack," which, predictably, turned out to be just assorted ninja tools. Nothing truly valuable.
Closing the system, Izumi opened his eyes—now the crimson of his Sharingan. The instant he activated it, he sensed another presence nearby.
"Who's there? Come out!" His Sharingan was a secret that could never be exposed. If word got out, disaster would follow—Uchiha Obito, for one, would certainly fix his gaze on him.
"Izumi…"
To his surprise, the small figure that stepped into view was none other than Hyuga Hinata.
"H-Hinata? What are you doing here?" Seeing her, Izumi instantly abandoned any thought of silencing a witness. Hinata, Itachi, and Mie were three people in this world he would never harm.
"I… um…" Under his gaze, Hinata's face turned crimson. Knowing her personality, Izumi didn't press the question any further.