Kaida went back to his temporary house, or one could say a mansion, because in real life, the house of Fugaku Uchiha looked fitting for the clan head and leader of one of the, if not the biggest and most powerful clan of Konoha.

After entering the house, Kaida went to the hall where Hae and Mikoto were sitting, watching television. Yes, there was a television in Fugaku's house, but not the same as the televisions we are familiar with. The television was completely wired and worked in a very close range, meaning if one show was broadcasted on those wires, the maximum distance it could be transmitted was 10 km, which was itself a technological marvel in Naruto's world.

Due to that reason, it was extremely expensive, and since there weren't many interesting shows broadcast on television, not many people were fans of getting one.

"So you're finally back. I'm pretty sure I told you to rest for a day," Hae said with a smile that wasn't actually a smile.

"Aunt, I was just out for a walk with brother, and I'm perfectly fine, rather than fine, I'm feeling much better than ever," Kaida said.

"Okay, okay, I know how much you hate resting, but still refrain yourself from doing any training for some time. Even Mikoto said that you should take some rest, and she is a veteran Jonin, so you should listen to her advice," Hae said.

"ME? When..." Mikoto was saying when Hae gave her a stern look, and she changed her sentence.

"Oh! I remember, yes Kaida, try to take a rest for some time and let your body get adjusted to your new condition. After that, you can train as much as you want," Mikoto said.

"As you say, aunt, I will rest for some time," Kaida said.

"Meaning he won't spar against brother?" came a small little voice from the corner of the hall where the door was located. The door was half-open, and from behind, a small boy was peeking.

With dark black eyes and hair of the same color, with looks from his mother's side, the boy looked so cute that no one would have believed that this boy was going to become one of the most badass characters of this world.

Kaida looked toward Sasuke and asked, "You want me to spar against your brother?" There was a small smile on his face.

"My brother is super strong, but brother Shisui said that you are stronger in something, which is obviously a lie, and that's why my brother will fight you and show you that he is more powerful than you," Sasuke said, as if he were stating a universal truth like the sun rising from the east or the Nine-Tails being the most powerful among all the tailed beasts.

"Brother actually said that, really?" Kaida couldn't believe his eyes. He was actually stronger than THE ITACHI Uchiha? HOW?

As far as the Naruto anime goes, Itachi was a genius no one could compare to. He was the most powerful ninja from the Uchiha side, much more powerful than Shisui himself, and if I dare say, even Sasuke with Indra's chakra.

The reason was that even when Itachi was dying, he was able to fight Sasuke with the same level of Mangekyou Sharingan as well as years of training under Orochimaru, and could have won by all means if not for his guilt.

That Itachi Uchiha was weaker than him at something was impossible. Also, like many others, Kaida was a fan of Itachi Uchiha, which didn't help.

"I think he said the right thing, Sasuke. Kaida is very powerful at kenjutsu," Yomi added when Kaida was thinking those thoughts.

"I'm sure I'm not better at it than Itachi. He is the son of Fugaku-sama, as well as one year older than me. There is no way I could be better than him. There is a reason he is said to be a genius on par with his brother," Kaida said.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"And so are you. I don't remember how many times my husband talked about how quickly you were progressing, Kaida. Don't sell yourself short," Mikoto said, but the pride from listening to the compliment about her son was visible on her face.

"Well, a simple spar won't hurt, I guess," Hae said with a smile, but Kaida could tell that she wanted him to win the spar, for some reason.

(A.N: Asian parents compare their children a lot, but they always want them to be the better one 😉)

"For the record, I don't doubt that goofy head's judgment. No matter how much he tends to fool around, when he is serious, I could not compare to him... still, until then, I believe in his assessment," Itachi said, entering the hall right behind Sasuke.

"What are you saying, brother? I'm sure you are more powerful than him and will beat him in minutes," young Sasuke said with a huff from his nose.

Flick

"Have this confidence in yourself, not others, you brat," Itachi said, giving Sasuke a classic forehead flick.

'Good lord, Itachi is handsome. With his position and being the oldest son of the Uchiha clan head, he could easily qualify for the role of a second-generation young master from a cultivation novel.

The only difference being this young master will beat the crap out of a person who would offend him,' Kaida went into a spiral of thoughts, seeing Itachi for the first time.

"Hey, I'm Itachi Uchiha. Nice to meet you," Itachi said, extending his hand for a handshake.

Kaida had to use his willpower not to come across as a dumb fan and ask for an autograph.

"Hey, I'm Kaida Uchiha. Nice to meet you too," Kaida said.

"So, are you up for a quick spar?" Itachi asked.

Since Kaida had already gotten approval from Hae, he could easily agree with him, but he asked, "I'm not that good at fighting. My ninjutsu is also not that good."

"No problem, we would only have a spar in Kenjutsu and Genjutsu combined," Itachi said.

"Fine, let's have this spar tomorrow," Kaida said with a sigh at the end.

'It seems like Itachi himself wanted this spar. Is he jealous... no, there's no way, right?' Kaida thought.

"You boys can go to the roof to discuss the details of that," Mikoto said.

(flashback ends)

...

After finalizing the rules of the duel, Kaida and Itachi went back to their rooms. While Kaida was told to take rest and Itachi didn't have anything else to do, both went to sleep.

The next day, Kaida woke up only to find Shisui sleeping next to him.

"I didn't know we were going to share this room," Kaida said.

"Well, we're not at our house, and I came back late. Since this was the room assigned to me before, and I didn't want to wake Aunt Mikoto in the middle of the night, I slept here. I'm sure my awesomeness may have kept bad dreams away from you last night," Shisui said with a wink.

"Leaving that bad joke aside, I have something important to ask you, brother," Kaida said.

"I'm all ears."

"Did you really say I'm better at kenjutsu than Itachi?"

Shisui nodded his head.

"Why does this not make sense? I'm not that good," Kaida asked.

"I think you're misunderstanding something here. I was talking about pure kenjutsu at that time. Itachi had not focused on that part as much as you, and do you know the reason for that

Because he is already so good at mixing Genjutsu with Kenjutsu that even an elite non-Uchiha Jonin may face problems against him. That's why you are better than him at pure Kenjutsu," Shisui explained.

Kaida understood what he meant.

"What about Ninjutsu?" Kaida asked, remembering the previous night when Itachi specifically told him that he wouldn't use Ninjutsu during the spar, as if he were giving Kaida a handicap.

"What do you mean by Ninjutsu?" Shisui asked.

"How do I compare to him in Ninjutsu?" Kaida asked, clarifying his question.

sigh

"Brother, it would be better if you don't know," Shisui said.

"I want to know now," Kaida said, now more than interested in knowing the answer.

"The answer is really simple, you know. You use that fire room a lot, right? Itachi has never used that once in his life. Can you guess why?" Shisui asked.

"Because he used something better?"

"No, he never had to use something like that. Itachi had the highest level of Fire nature possible; there is nothing to improve. You know he learned the Fireball Jutsu by seeing it just one time, without the Sharingan at that, and he didn't even have basic elemental chakra training at that time.

He was only five years old. And not only that, this brat's first fireball was bigger than what Fugaku-sama had shown him, which is what normal Chunin use.

In other words, on his first attempt, Itachi made a fireball bigger than many Chunin. Now, could you compare your ninjutsu with him? Heck, I'm sure that at my age, he would almost be more powerful than me," Shisui said, as if he were telling someone how much of a cheater his friend was, who took first place in the exam of life.

Kaida was beyond shocked at that point. He knew how much of a help the fire room was, and according to Shisui, he would have to spend the next 3-4 years for its effect to stop working on him, and Itachi was at that level from birth.

'Life truly is not fair,' Kaida thought.