1 Chapter 1 : Uncle

Konoha Village.

Uchiha Itachi walked into a remote and uninhabited alley, and came to a gymnasium at the end of the alley.

Looking up, he saw a striking plaque with five big red characters engraved on it: Body Transformation Department.

Itachi shook his head, feeling somewhat helpless. He didn't like to run errands, especially for someone who was not very likable, and that person happened to be his uncle.

But he had no choice. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door of the gym.

At the front desk, a young woman with blond hair and blue eyes was lazily resting her chin on her hand, yawning with boredom.

Itachi remembered the woman's name.

Her name was Samui. This big sister was fair and beautiful, especially her eye-catching bosom. However, even such a beautiful front desk couldn't save the gym's bleak popularity as always.

Gym stuff. It was said to be quite popular in Kumo Village in the north, but obviously, there was no market on Konoha's side.

"Itachi, are you here to find the curator?" Samui greeted Itachi with some surprise.

Itachi nodded. The curator mentioned by Samui was his uncle, Uchiha Mugen.

"The curator is training in the equipment area. Let me guide you there," said Samui as she walked out from the counter. She was bored anyway.

"No need to trouble you, I'll go there by myself," Itachi said calmly, and bowed politely to Samui.

Looking at Itachi's leaving back, Samui's sea-blue eyes flashed an inexplicable meaning.

She came to Konoha Village three years ago. On the surface, she worked in this gymnasium, but she was actually a spy of Kumo Village, according to the information collected by Samui.

Itachi Uchiha, the son of the patriarch of the Uchiha clan, the most powerful clan in Konoha, took part in and passed the Chunin exam alone at the age of 10. Not long ago, Itachi made history again, becoming the youngest member of Konoha Anbu at the age of 11.

Such a genius is one of Samuel's key observation objects. Finally had the opportunity to get close to Itachi, as a spy, how could she easily miss it. So, she followed quietly.

...

Huge training area. Looking around, there are all kinds of equipment: gantry frame, bench press, chest press machine, seated rowing machine...and groups of dumbbells and barbells, all of which have a cold metallic luster.

Itachi once heard from his mother that his uncle specially went to Kumo Village three years ago to import these equipment, and spent a lot of money and thought,

The reason the store is deserted, is because it is located in a remote area, in contrast to the luxurious equipment. At this moment, there isn't even a single customer.

"It's no surprise there are no customers when the store is in such a remote area," he thought.

Suddenly, he heard a sound coming from the depths of the gym.

"That is..."

A certain man was humming low and rhythmically.

At first, the sound resembled the low roar of a dangerous beast, full of a warning to keep strangers away, echoing through the gym.

Itachi kept his cool and walked slowly through the equipment area, gradually approaching the source of the sound until he saw a bare-chested man doing press training with a pair of dumbbells of unknown weight.

It was his uncle, Uchiha Mugen.

Itachi was stunned because it was the first time he had seen a human back with such visual impact.

The man's majestic latissimus dorsi, like rolling mountains, constantly rose and fell with his movements, while a python-like erector spinae muscle ran through his back, and the muscle lines spreading along the middle seam connected the surrounding muscle groups with a high degree of separation, making it look like a Christmas tree full of fruits.

Even the most difficult muscle group of the lower back was as distinct as the abdominal muscles.

What he saw was not the back of a human being, but a devil's face formed by the fusion of a large number of muscles.

Especially below the scapula on both sides of Uchiha's back, the three extremely developed muscles, teres major, teres minor, and infraspinatus, wriggled and squeezed each other.

At first glance, it looks like a pair of demon eyes staring evilly at Itachi, making him feel an inexplicable palpitation and pressure.

If there is any softness on this "fiendish" devil's back, the only thing left is the purple five-pointed star birthmark at the bottom of Uchiha's thick and thick neck, where it connects to the left shoulder.

Itachi quickly came back to his senses, and his complexion returned to normal.

Although he had already met his uncle, Mugen, he didn't immediately explain why he came. Instead, he stood quietly and waited patiently for the latter to complete his training.

Here's the modified text with spaces between paragraphs removed:

Finally.

With a "bang," Mugen threw the pair of giant dumbbells in his hand on the ground, and the entire floor of the gym seemed to shake violently. After intense exercise, his muscles swelled and turned red due to congestion, and a lot of sweat even formed white steam, which was curling up. Samui stepped forward at the right time and handed over a white towel with both hands for Mugen to wipe off his sweat.

At this time, Itachi said: "Uncle, my mother told you to come to my house for dinner tonight." Mugen did not look back and refused without hesitation, and his deep and solemn voice revealed a sense of alienation.

Itachi frowned slightly upon hearing this, but the other party's answer was within his expectations. However, thinking of his mother's appearance earnestly begging him before going out, Itachi still held his temper and said again: "Mother said she has something important to discuss with you, please be sure to come with me." Although the word "please" was used, Itachi's tone unknowingly brought a bit of toughness, just like when the Anbu ninja was investigating the prisoner.

Sensing the change in Itachi's tone, Mugen finally stood up, turned around and walked in front of Itachi, looking down at his nephew. He did not say a word. Itachi did not show any fear and also raised his head, looking at his uncle calmly. In his eyes, this man had a neat black short hair, sword eyebrows and starry eyes, a high nose bridge, and facial lines like being carved by a knife, giving people a sense of coldness and fortitude.

Mugen's figure is also very tall.

Standing close to 2 meters, his left and right shoulders hang on his body like two tires, and his pair of chest muscles are as thick as door panels. The whole person casts a thick shadow like a hill, covering Itachi.

From his appearance, Mugen can be described with one word: "Invincible"

But Itachi wasn't nervous at all.

Because he knew that Mugen, his uncle, was just a guy who was strong on the outside but capable on the inside.

Uchiha Mugen, 24 years old this year, is the younger brother of Itachi's mother Uchiha Mikoto.

As far as Itachi knew, his uncle hadn't shown any ninjutsu talent since he was a child, and when tested with chakra paper, it didn't respond.

The five chakra properties of water, fire, wind, thunder, and earth, are all natural abilities in the Naruto universe. However, Mugen, a member of the Uchiha clan, has not shown any of these abilities, making him a "ninjutsu insulator". The only advantage he has is that his body is relatively strong.

According to Itachi's mother, when Mugen was in ninja academy, he beat up a teacher in public after the teacher spoke rudely to him. As a result, he was expelled within three days of enrolling and became the number one bad student in the history of ninja academy. He also lost the qualifications to become a glorious Konoha ninja. After a few years, Mugen had a quarrel with the Uchiha clan again and moved away from the Uchiha Clan by himself after his sister Mikoto got married. He opened a gym in a small alley and looked like he had nothing to do with his clansmen.

More than ten years have passed, and apart from his family, almost no one knows that the man named Mugen in front of him once had the Uchiha surname. Itachi's mother Mikoto is very worried about his careless uncle, and Itachi himself looks down on him from the bottom of his heart.

In the gym.

The uncle and nephew stare at each other.

"So, if I don't go, what are you going to do," Uchiha Mugen folded his hands on his chest, looked down at his little nephew, and asked casually.

"As far as I know, father wants to arrange for you to work in the police department this time. If I were your uncle, I would not refuse such a good opportunity," Itachi responded bluntly, and his tone became tougher.

He overheard the conversation between his parents in the room the night before yesterday.

Mother is a "helping younger brother demon", she said a lot of good things for Mugen, so that the father, who has always been clear about public and private affairs, softened his heart and agreed to let his brother-in-law work in the police department.

That is an iron rice bowl, with high salary and good reputation.

In Itachi's view, uncle Mugen is already this old, so he should be sensible no matter what.

It can disappoint him.

"I heard correctly, you are teaching me how to do things," Mugen said.

Uchiha Mugen not only didn't appreciate it, but his eyes turned cold, and his tone slightly increased.

"Exactly," Itachi replied.

Itachi sighed, his voice was cold. His limited patience was exhausted.

As a genius who went to the battlefield to kill enemies at the age of 4 and was able to think from the perspective of Hokage at the age of 7, Itachi's mind is full of important events of the village and family. So, he didn't want to waste too much time on such trivial matters.

Sure enough, Itachi's response completely angered Uchiha Mugen. His eyes flashed, he lowered his right arm, and clenched his fist as big as a casserole, as if he planned to teach this nephew a good lesson. And Itachi silently raised his hand.

It's time for Mugen to see how big the difference is between a real ninja and a muscular man who spends all day lifting weights in the gym.

At the moment of tension, Samui hid aside, pretending to be panicked, but there was anticipation hidden deep in her eyes.

Samui has been working here for three years, and she has never seen Uchiha Mugen fight, but looking at his terrifying muscles, she knew he must be strong.

How will Itachi, the genius, defeat his opponent?

Samui was very curious.

But soon, something unexpected happened.

"Boom!"

There was a muffled sound, the sound of a fist hitting a human body heavily.

Itachi hadn't reacted yet, his eyes went dark, and at the same time, there was a sharp pain in his abdomen, which made him kneel down on one knee, his internal organs were overwhelmed, and finally,

he vomited out all the breakfast he had eaten.

"Why did I suddenly vomit? Is it because my stomach is uncomfortable?" Mugen asked with feigned surprise. He squatted down and rubbed Itachi's head, as if he was very concerned about his nephew's body.

Itachi's complexion was pale, he was too uncomfortable to speak and unable to answer.

He could only let Mugen rub his hair into a mess.

Mugen had played enough and then got up and instructed Samui who was beside him, "Get a bottle of water for my cute nephew, and bring the mop to clean the floor."

"…Oh," Samui responded with a surprised look.

In her perspective, Mugen clearly stood in place the whole time, without even moving a finger, and Itachi fell to his knees inexplicably.

It's just unbelievable.

Half a minute passed.

Itachi clutched his stomach, looked up at Mugen with difficulty, the calm on his face no longer existed, replaced by fear.

Of course he didn't suddenly feel uncomfortable, but was punched hard.

But the frightening thing is that, like Samui, Itachi didn't see how Mugen made his move at all.

Is it an illusion?

Or is it that the speed at which the hand moves so fast that it is invisible to the naked eye?

No matter what kind of possibility.

Itachi has to admit that Uchiha Mugen's strength is far superior than him.

It wasn't until this moment that he finally realized that his uncle, who seemed to have only well-developed limbs, had been hiding it for so many years.

The clown was himself.

"Go back and tell my sister that the food she cooks is really not to my liking. Don't come to me again in the future."

Mugen took a quick look at Itachi, and after two sentences, he waved his hand to see off the guests.

Then he picked up the towel and walked towards the bathroom.

"…"

Itachi looked at the back of his uncle leaving with complicated eyes, stood up enduring the abdominal pain, bent over and walked out of the gym slowly.

Samui hurried over with a mop.

"The curator..." she hesitated for a moment, but still couldn't help expressing her doubts to Mugen, "Do you hate Itachi Uchiha?"

Samui, who has a delicate mind, can naturally see that in the confrontation between uncle and nephew just now, it was definitely not Itachi's parents that were targeted from beginning to end.

It's Uchiha Itachi himself.

Facing Samuel's question, he definitely didn't answer immediately, but asked her back: "Then what do you think of my nephew's behavior?"

"Well... Uchiha Itachi is a genius, with a calm, precocious and polite personality, and he is very cool in both appearance and behavior," Samui said truthfully.

In her opinion, the curator should be happy to have such a cool and proud nephew, shouldn't he?

To her surprise, Mugen warned her, "Don't be fooled by that kid's harmless appearance. Mustelids are the most cruel and ruthless. They take pleasure in killing. Not only will they kill more prey than they need, but they will even kill their parents."

As he spoke, Mugen raised two fingers and poked Samui's smooth forehead, meaningfully.

Afterwards, leaving Samui stunned in place, Mugen went into the bathroom alone.

...

Splashing sounds could be heard from the bathroom. Hot water fell from the top, washing Uchiha's towering body, with white mist filling the air.

He glanced at the mirror and saw a strange phantom figure behind him, which was over three meters tall. The phantom is menacing, had a strong steel-like body, grey skin, wore a gold armor, and had a metal helmet covering the upper half of its face.

The phantom is actually formed by Mugen's spiritual energy. This existence known as "Stand". The name is The World (ザ・ワールド / Za Warudo).

When Mugen confronted Itachi, he activated the ability of a Stand-in, pausing the time of the whole world for one second, allowing him to strike without anyone noticing and punched his nephew. Of course, his punch was light. Otherwise, Samui at that moment would probably be a torn corpse.

PS: For you guys who haven't read Jojo or don't know the Stand Za Warudo, just think of it as a kind of guardian spirit that can pause time.

~ End of this chapter