"Shut your mouths already."
Ryan let out a low growl.
He wasn't worried about these two strange-looking sunflowers being discovered by his family. If it really came to that, he could just claim they were some kind of summoned beasts and muddle through.
The real problem was—
Having these things stuck on his shoulders was not only absurd, it was embarrassing.
If Sasuke saw this, who knew how hard he'd laugh.
"Snow Leopard, shut up!"
"Shut up, shut up!"
The two sunflowers seemed incapable of understanding human language, yet their mouths kept spewing out lines that made Ryan's soul ache.
In the end, Ryan casually plucked two freshly transplanted sunflowers from the yard and stuffed them straight into the mouths of the talking ones.
The long-faced sunflowers were instantly terrified.
With their own kind jammed into their mouths, they looked at Ryan with fear in their eyes and didn't dare utter another word to provoke this cruel human.
Ryan sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes, and began carefully sensing whether there were any changes in his body.
Since these bizarre sunflowers could grow directly on him…
There was no way they didn't come with some kind of effect.
About ten minutes later—
Ryan suddenly felt a subtle change in how chakra was being refined inside his body.
"My chakra… the refinement speed got faster?"
Roughly speaking, his chakra refinement was now about ten percent faster than usual.
The boost wasn't huge, but even after he stopped actively refining chakra, the effect remained.
In simple terms—
These two sunflowers provided passive chakra regeneration.
"Sunflowers, huh…"
Ryan glanced at the two plants on his shoulders with clear disdain and then looked up at the starry sky.
"Maybe they'll change again during the daytime."
These plants were clearly inspired by Plants vs. Zombies, but considering how abstract his system was, anything was possible.
Actually producing suns would be completely unrealistic—
But if they really could spit out suns, that would be downright terrifying.
Given their current effect, Ryan guessed their chakra recovery would be stronger during the day.
"Who are you talking to out there?"
"Go wash your hands and come back for dinner."
His mother's voice came from inside the house.
Ryan jolted in fright and hurriedly put away the two bizarre sunflowers.
He shouted a response and rushed into the bathroom to clean up.
When he finally sat down at the dinner table, both his father and Sasuke—seated to his left and right—had expressions darker than thunderclouds.
Only his mother kept piling food into his bowl, saying things like "You're growing, eat more."
She completely ignored Fugaku and Sasuke, who were silently shoveling rice with their heads down.
The two of them glanced at Ryan's bowl—stacked full of dishes—then looked back at their own bowls, which held nothing but rice.
Their faces darkened even further.
"I'm full!"
"I'm full too!!"
Neither of them had any appetite left. After finishing the rice in their bowls, they immediately headed back to their rooms.
Mikoto watched the father and son leave and complained lightly.
"Honestly."
"One big one and one small one—both so hard to deal with."
Then she turned back with a smile and continued adding food to Ryan's bowl.
"Eat more. Don't mind your dad and brother."
Ryan forced an awkward expression. "Mom… that's enough. I really can't eat anymore."
He truly felt like the food was already stuck in his throat.
"Oh, right."
"Ryan, what do you think about the girl from today? Did you two become good friends?"
Women's curiosity was practically instinctual. When Mikoto asked about this, her eyes practically burned with gossip.
She looked like a teenage girl prying into romance—
Except this time, it was her own son.
"She's alright." Ryan quietly pushed the food back into his mother's bowl. For some reason, an image of Ino as an adult flashed through his mind, and he added,
"She's a pretty cute kid."
Mikoto smiled warmly. Seeing that Ryan was embarrassed, she didn't tease him further. Instead, she went to the living room, picked up two envelopes, and placed them in front of him.
"Enrollment notices."
"In three days, you and Sasuke start school."
Ryan's movements froze.
He lifted his head and looked at his mother with a complicated expression before nodding.
"Okay. I understand."
His mood sank noticeably. He picked up the Ninja Academy notice and returned to his room.
Starting school…
For him, that wasn't necessarily a good thing.
It meant the Uchiha massacre was drawing closer.
Mikoto noticed something was off and scratched her head in confusion.
"Is he unhappy about going to school?"
The Yamanaka girl was about the same age as her sons. Mikoto had even gone out of her way to ask around, hoping Ryan and Ino might end up in the same class.
She hadn't expected Ryan to react like this.
That night, Ryan told Sasuke about starting school.
Sasuke immediately pulled a long face, snatched the notice, and hid himself in Itachi's room to sulk.
The next morning—
While cultivating, Ryan heard movement from the living room and immediately stopped, rushing out of his room.
He knew—it had to be Itachi coming back from a mission.
"Hm? Ryan, you're up this early today?"
Itachi, chewing on bread in the living room, turned around in surprise when he saw Ryan fully dressed.
Usually at this time, Ryan was either still asleep or wandering through the living room in his pajamas.
Today was rare.
Ryan, of course, wasn't about to tell him he'd spent the entire night cultivating chakra with two sunflowers on his shoulders.
He walked straight up to Itachi and opened his mouth with his usual daily interrogation.
"Itachi!"
"Let me ask you—"
Having been conditioned by now, Itachi didn't even wait for Ryan to finish.
"I choose you and Sasuke!"
"Both live! Both of you live!"
Ryan: "..."
For a moment, Ryan didn't know how to respond.
"…This is boring."
He pursed his lips, said nothing more, and walked past Itachi into the kitchen, grabbing a carton of milk from the fridge.
"Father's not here?"
The house was unusually quiet. Sasuke was still asleep, and normally both parents would already be up by now.
Itachi hesitated for a moment before answering truthfully.
"He went to a clan meeting."
"Why didn't you go?"
The question struck directly at Itachi's heart.
He forced a smile. "I came back to see you and Sasuke."
"By the way, I have some free time these days. I can train with you."
"And I can even take you to school."
Itachi was always gentle with his younger brothers. Being around them eased all the turmoil in his heart.
"I have plans today."
Standing at the door while putting on his shoes, Ryan flatly rejected the offer.
Itachi, who had been quietly hopeful, couldn't hide his disappointment.
"Oh, and don't come home so often if you're free," Ryan added.
"You promised me you'd protect Shisui properly."
Ryan had a bad feeling—Shisui's time was running out.
Right now, the only thing he could do was make sure Itachi kept a close eye on him.
Ryan's own plan was to leave a Shadow Clone near the Naka River—and bring a few dogs with him.
Oh, and antidotes too.
Itachi had thought his brother might finally be softening, only to be disappointed again.
"I will."
Sometimes, when facing Ryan, Itachi even felt like he was the younger brother.
He sighed softly and said,
"Then I'll have to leave Sasuke to you."
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