October 10

Usually, only on weekends would the four little ones come over to play with Sasuke. If they looked for him on weekdays, they would be turned away. It really was like picking one day to give Sasuke a break. The old man did not come freeloading every time either, or the kids' gatherings might not have been able to continue.

After spending a month on it, Sasuke had built the greenhouse: half-meter-high brick walls, three-meter-high double-layered glass walls, and a single-layer glass roof. The 400-square-meter greenhouse had cost a full 250,000 Ryo in materials alone, and they were not even the best materials. All the labor had come from Sasuke and his Shadow Clones.

Afterward, he repaired the surrounding wall, effectively taking up an entire street. The Uchiha estate had gained several hundred more square meters of yard space as a result.

And so far, there had been no sign of Konoha interfering.

But that was limited to inside the clan grounds. Outside the clan gates, the shopfronts that had once belonged to the Uchiha had quietly reopened for business. Only one Konoha Military Police Force building remained, still displaying the Uchiha's former glory while being scorned by Villagers in their idle chatter.

Sasuke used the farmland that had already been harvested to practice Fire Style. After burning away the small amount of leftover straw, he practiced using Earth Style to turn the soil. Once it had been plowed over, he burned it again with Fire Style to kill insects and weeds.

Fire Style was manageable. He could even try controlling the shape of the Great Fireball Technique, spreading it flat to cover half a mu of land in front of him, then keeping the flames low and burning it for longer. The key to ninjutsu lay in the final few Hand Seals.

But using Earth Style to till the land was somewhat beyond him. After all, he had not been born with Earth-nature Chakra. One mu of land consumed his full Chakra reserves twice over—once in the morning and once in the afternoon, with perhaps one more attempt before bed at most.

Still, with continuous ninjutsu practice, he could feel his progress very directly. The motivational effect was obvious too.

He could use three Shadow Clones at once, but their duration became much shorter and unstable. Sasuke did not want to suddenly go poof in front of the teacher during class, so he still maintained two Shadow Clones each day.

He would not go hungry this year no matter what. For the remaining time before year's end, he followed the example of Konoha's other farmers and planted some crops in the empty fields. Not much, just two mu in total. In this first year since crossing over, he needed to study "the effects of Konohagakure's autumn and winter climate in the Land of Fire on various crops."

In the remaining farmland, he scattered some rice, wheat, and corn at random, then haphazardly planted sweet potatoes and potatoes, seeing whether he could grow some fodder for livestock during the winter.

He had provoked Naruto into coming to the Uchiha fields to farm, and unexpectedly, Naruto had actually stuck with it. He did not grow many vegetables, though. Knowing there was not much time left this year, he took Sasuke's advice and tried planting potatoes, tomatoes, and corn. More often, whenever he saw something interesting, he would stuff a couple of plants into the ground.

Of course, he often used passing by as an excuse to come over to Sasuke's house. It was hard to say whether he was bored from playing alone.

October 10, the Moe Festival. It was the day the Fourth Shinobi World War ended in the original story, and also the birthday of Naruto, the Fated Protagonist.

Here was a dark joke: today was also the anniversary of the deaths of relatives for a great many people in Konoha.

Naruto was being "hunted down" especially fiercely on the streets today. The group chasing after him was more than twice its usual size. It was like some unspoken holiday ritual.

After much difficulty, Sasuke stopped him and brought Naruto to his house to look at something nice.

Sasuke opened the door and pointed into the room. "Go on. Pick any ten."

It was a Dazzling Array, though it was really just Shuriken, Kunai, Senbon, and Tanto. There were simply enough of them laid out to make for a slightly shocking sight.

If Naruto came to Sasuke's house to practice with ninja tools, there were naturally plenty of Utensils he could use. The academy had ninja tools as well, but they were communal and had to be returned after class. Sasuke had seen Naruto practicing in other little woods a few times, throwing stones. It had been far too shabby.

These standard ninja tools were made of metal, so they were destined to be expensive. Prices were usually directly correlated with the materials used. Even a standard small Shuriken started at 100 Ryo apiece. But since they could be recovered and used repeatedly for practice, they could be considered a one-time investment. Compared with an Explosive Tag that cost several hundred Ryo, they were a bargain in every respect.

Naruto looked at Sasuke blankly, not understanding what he meant.

"Happy birthday. It's your birthday present."

"Wow!"

Naruto let out an excited howl and charged into the room.

"This is the first birthday present I've ever received. Thank you, Sasuke! Even though I really wanted Instant Ramen, I like this present too!"

Sasuke rubbed his forehead. Got it, got it. You really do like Instant Ramen.

"Sasuke, how did you know it was my birthday?"

Uh... how many people in the whole village did not know?

But he could not say that. It was somewhat taboo.

He casually made up an excuse. "The academy teachers registered everyone's information before. Did you forget?"

Naruto looked confused. "Huh, really? I don't remember that at all."

"When is your birthday, Sasuke?"

The moment Naruto asked that, a powerful sense of suffocation rose in Sasuke's chest.

Sasuke: I really don't know that.

Suppressing the stifling emotions in his heart, he searched through the memories of Sasuke's previous self...

Before he had recalled much, his last birthday came flooding back, filled with scenes of Itachi Uchiha by his side. Then, right after that, he could not help remembering the day of the massacre.

July 23. It had been not long after his rebirth. No wonder he had felt inexplicably miserable during those days. He had thought they were rebirth after-effects—though in a sense, that was not far off.

"Did you remember something sad? Sorry."

Remembering the Uchiha massacre he had heard about, and realizing that he might currently be at one of the crime scenes, Naruto became flustered when he saw Sasuke's eyes suddenly redden before him. What if he breaks down crying later? What am I supposed to do...?

Sasuke: Damn it, this isn't under my control. I don't want this either.

He washed his face with clean water, and for the moment, he was fine.

But the way he forced himself to pull it together did not make him look fine at all in Naruto's eyes.

Sasuke did not answer, and Naruto did not feel it was right to keep asking about his birthday.

A faint creak came from the ceiling...

As if sensing something, Sasuke fired two Shuriken in that direction.

The Shuriken embedded themselves in the ceiling. Clearly, they had hit nothing.

"What's wrong?"

"Maybe there are rats in the floorboards."

Naruto only thought Sasuke was trying to cover up his earlier embarrassment.

Sasuke formed Hand Seals and summoned a Shadow Clone, then followed the direction of the sound outside to investigate.

Sharingan, activate!

On the outer wall, there was only a thin Chakra outline surrounding something. As his gaze focused on it, the Chakra outline shifted position.

Looking in that direction, it moved farther away to keep hiding...

They had not immediately come up to fight him. Root? Invisibility?

His first thought was, naturally, the Gekko Clan. It seemed they had hidden their Chakra, but not completely. Had Naruto's howl brought them over to check what was happening?

If he knew they were Anbu, then he should take the initiative to avoid them.

But what if he did not know...

Sasuke leaped onto the wall as well, holding the Hand Seal for Fire Style at its final sign, ready to strike.

"Who are you?! What are you doing sneaking around in Konoha?!"