Legacy of the Uchiha

Sasuke rubbed Naruto's spiky hair and told him to wait a moment.

He activated his Sharingan and turned to inspect the room. He had no idea whether the Nine-Tails' Chakra had leaked out. If anyone noticed, he would inevitably have to give the Will of Fire an explanation.

This was not a matter of confessing and being treated leniently so he could go home for the New Year. Among ninjas, one careless move could get your brain searched. Who knew whether the Third Hokage was spying from three feet above his head? Resisting or not would make little difference.

In the dead of winter, the living room doors and windows were tightly shut. The room could not be seen from outside. The doors and windows elsewhere that were used for ventilation, along with the various wire traps, had not been disturbed either.

He peered outside through the window crack and found no abnormal Chakra nearby.

Only after confirming that there was most likely nothing unusual did Sasuke finally decide to ask Naruto's opinion.

"Whatever that big thing is, it's still inside your body. Do you want to ask the Third Hokage what he thinks? I'll listen to you."

Naruto barely managed to stop crying. He was still in the state of a little brat with tears, snot, and drool all over his face, crying like a storm beating pear blossoms. Without even thinking, he blurted out, "No!" then grabbed Sasuke's clothes and told him not to say anything.

"I think the old man Hokage definitely knows something. Whenever I ask who my parents are, he never tells me. You can tell he knows, but he's deliberately keeping quiet."

"He must know about the fox monster in my stomach too, right? Otherwise, there's no way all those things the Villagers say have no reason behind them..."

"I don't want anyone to know about what happened. I'm already the son of a Fox Demon. I don't want to become some other, even more terrifying monster."

"...Sasuke, am I too dangerous to be your friend? I'm scared that one day, what happened before will really happen right in front of me."

A friendship card from the Child of Destiny. Though mentally, Sasuke felt old enough to be Naruto's father.

"I was already someone who almost died. If you don't mind, then as for being friends... do whatever you want."

Hearing that Sasuke did not despise him, Naruto's expression finally improved somewhat.

"Then can you keep what happened today a secret? Please, don't tell anyone."

Keeping Naruto's secret would definitely mean taking on greater risks himself. How could the orphan of a rebel armed faction be as important as a nuclear weapon?

"I won't say anything, but you need to keep your own mouth shut too. Go wash your face with cold water first. You cried yourself into this state—if you leave my place looking like that, anyone who sees you will think I bullied you."

"Even if you're faking it, at least fake it properly."

Then he discussed a cover story with Naruto, an explanation they could give if the abnormality was discovered.

The excuse was put to use very quickly.

There was still some time before school started. Though the weather was cold, children could not stand being cooped up at home, especially children from ninja families. Their Physical fitness was far beyond ordinary people's, and their activity levels were as impossible to suppress as a dog's. They might endure being shut in for one day, but not for a second. Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto gathered to play every day or two.

Then Shikamaru and Choji came to ask Sasuke about it in private.

His answer was that Naruto had not learned Shadow Clone, had not learned Genjutsu, and still had not even mastered Clone Technique when he went back to it. He had been depressed after being outdone by Sasuke and Shikamaru. Setting aside Tree Climbing and Water Walking, after half a year, he had only learned one move: "Whirring Naruto Fan."

Maybe Naruto would forget after a while. Once he got over this slump, Sasuke could try teaching him other ninjutsu. If they tried enough, he ought to learn at least a little something.

Other than Wind Release, what innate Nature Transformation did Naruto have before gaining the Six Paths?

That depended on his parents. Between the two of them, it was impossible for his genes to have only Wind Release. No matter what, there should be at least one more nature with a high starting proficiency. Sasuke was not particularly skilled with them either, but aside from Yang Release, he really did have all the others. They could just try them one by one.

Hmm, he would start by teaching Naruto Water Release. It would be convenient for farm work...

Sasuke still had to review—and preview—his coursework. His first year was still about preparing to integrate into the ninja world: basic knowledge, Japanese, Nintaijutsu...

Although his ninjutsu had improved quite a bit, his Taijutsu might still be inferior to the original Sasuke's. He simply had no decent sparring partner and had never truly gone all out against anyone. Even though Itachi was a Water Release ninja, whenever he occasionally trained with Sasuke, even if he held back, he still completely overwhelmed him. The original Sasuke had never won.

He had run into Might Guy a few times, but they were only on nodding terms when they happened to pass each other during training. Sasuke could not catch up to him, and Might Guy had no intention of stopping. The Eight Inner Gates remained a long road ahead.

Naturally, the first goal of the new year's plan was to find a sparring partner. Then he would finish going through the textbooks for the next several years. To save time, when he had first transmigrated, he had only read the material for that semester.

Uchiha Clan Tutoring Materials had not been found elsewhere by Sasuke. They had been sitting among the pile of study materials in his bedroom all along. According to the original owner's memories, it seemed that his older brother had not had time to tutor him, so his mother, Uchiha Mikoto, had obtained these materials from upperclassmen in the clan to comfort him.

But what Sasuke had wanted back then was never study materials. He only wanted his brother to keep him company.

And without the Sharingan, he could not quickly imprint everything into his mind. He really had to study and memorize it word by word, sentence by sentence. Staying slightly ahead of his classmates in the same term was manageable, but there was also ninjutsu and Taijutsu training. Everything required time. It was simply impossible to devour six years' worth of textbooks in one go.

The complete six-year set of tutoring materials his mother had found had, unsurprisingly, been gathering dust on the bookshelf.

Now it was his turn.

The first step in studying was naturally to open his Sharingan and Control+C and Control+V—copy everything down first.

On one page of what looked like ordinary study material, the words began to rotate across the paper when his Sharingan swept over them, forming a Jutsu. The information inexplicably entered his mind.

At the bottom of the lake, in the bedroom photo album, a certain roof beam from which Naka Shrine could be seen...

What?

Without the Sharingan, it was study material. But once he activated the Sharingan—

At the bottom of the lake, in the bedroom photo album, a certain roof beam from which Naka Shrine could be seen...

Who could have Left Behind this message? Who else could it have been?!

There was no way this had been Left Behind for some other clan child using tutoring materials. It could only have been his parents.

The paper itself was not special. The information had been Left Behind entirely through Yin Release, the Sharingan, or special ink.

This was the inheritance his parents had Left Behind for him!

He had no idea what it contained, but if it were something ordinary, it would not have been hidden this way. Sasuke still forced down his excitement. He would pretend not to know and retrieve it slowly when the time was right. At the very least, he could not let anyone discover it.

Although he had previously been digging all over the clan grounds, that treasure hunt had long since stopped. If he suddenly resumed it, the Anbu might pay him a quiet visit to inspect whether his new discoveries were "legal."

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

Sasuke pretended that he was tearing down the old house to save materials for building a new greenhouse, a dark room for growing mushrooms, chicken coops, duck sheds...

There were several purposes behind this. First and foremost, after drawing the Anbu's attention, he wanted them to grow accustomed to his rummaging behavior again. Then he could dig out whatever was hidden behind that string of information.