Back to School

He forcibly suppressed the urge to ask Iruka to teach him ninjutsu.

After all, once he learned the Shadow Clone, it would, bluntly speaking, be used to skip class. Asking the teacher in charge to personally teach him how to skip class was a bit too cruel. And he would owe him a favor... Better to ask a more useful ninja instead. It was not as if there were none.

After they spoke a few more words, Iruka left. Sasuke looked at the several notebooks in his hands and let out a deep sigh.

The coursework was not difficult, just basic arithmetic—simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of integers, around a third- or fourth-grade level. There were also ninja-world-specific subjects such as identifying simple Hand Seals, setting traps, history, and military studies. Anyone with normal intelligence could handle them. At worst, he could activate the Sharingan and memorize everything by rote.

But on second thought, this was only the Ninja Academy's second year, and the difficulty was already like this. By the time they graduated after six years, would it not shoot straight up to advanced calculus and physics?

The main problem was the hassle of having to translate all the textbook content into Chinese himself. No matter how powerful the Sharingan was, it could not make him learn a language in three days.

Hokage's Office

An Anbu knelt on one knee and reported.

"Other than his daily training, Sasuke has spent the past three days sorting through the Uchiha Clan members' identity records and organizing the remaining supplies. He has displayed no abnormal behavior."

After speaking, he handed the Third Hokage photographs taken inside Sasuke's bedroom for review: the still-incomplete "Overview Map of the Uchiha Clan Grounds," "Identity Registration List," and "Items That Could Prove One's Identity."

Hiruzen Sarutobi took two puffs from his pipe and nodded slightly.

"It seems hatred has not made him lose his reason. Hardship can make a person grow."

Several thousand corpses had suddenly been squeezed into Konohagakure's Public Cemetery. If each person had their own grave, the number would indeed be far too enormous. That was unrealistic.

Since Uchiha Sasuke wanted to do something for his clansmen, and had considered this without taking the initiative to ask, he at least knew what was what. If he did not make some gesture himself, resentment and suspicions would inevitably arise in the boy's heart.

The original intention had been to train him into a loyal-to-Konoha elite Anbu, following Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha. Frankly speaking, the Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai truly possessed immense strategic value as combat power, while all he needed to offer was a tiny bit of care.

"Prepare another list of the Uchiha victims for me. It does not need to be so detailed..."

After issuing several orders, Hiruzen Sarutobi had not moved from his seat from beginning to end. So long as his subordinates made the preparations, he could go earn some goodwill.

"Send for Shikaku as well."

On Monday, he went to school wearing black clothes especially for the occasion.

Across two lives, he was nearly forty years old, but human instinct was human instinct. When it was time to be nervous, he was still nervous as fuck.

His silence and reticence were not Sasuke forcing himself to maintain a persona. However, the lowered eyes and gloomy expression were indeed an act.

Seats were never fixed. First come, first served. Students gathered into little groups, and the school did not mind in the slightest.

The moment he stepped through the door, he nearly got scared back out by the screams.

"Ah! It's Sasuke-kun!"

"I'm sitting next to Sasuke-kun today."

"Get lost! It's my turn!"

Six or seven female classmates would not stop talking, chattering endlessly. The conversation basically could not move on from him, and the volume was incredibly high.

Fuck, was this Sasuke's daily life? What sins had he committed in his previous life?

Pretty?

What was pretty about a bunch of tiny kids? They had not even grown into their features yet. What they would look like in the future was still unknown.

Beige-blond hair! A crisp short cut, with a teal hairclip pinning up part of her bangs.

She had something of a tomboyish air to her. Among all the girls, she also seemed to hold the highest status.

This had to be Ino.

Leaving everything else aside, her sense of style stood head and shoulders above the rest.

Still, that could not stop Sasuke's inner roar.

"Please, just let me go! Don't come over here!"

The "king's seat" by the window had already been claimed, so he could only settle for second best and sit beside some random boy.

The very next moment, the girls began fighting over the empty seats around Sasuke.

No one could blame Sasuke in the original story for always keeping strangers at arm's length and ignoring people. Did he dare answer anyone in this situation?

He would bet that if he answered one little question from a girl, continued the conversation, or even merely used a slightly gentler tone while driving them away—

He might satisfy their little desires, but the price would be his freedom! After a whole day of school, merely listening to them chatter would be enough to leave him utterly exhausted.

"Did you hear? Everyone in the Uchiha Clan was killed. Only this one from our class survived."

"Of course I heard. Those arrogant Uchiha from the Police Department haven't been seen for days. Their clan grounds have been sealed off too."

"I heard the one who wiped out the clan was also an Uchiha."

His hearing was excellent. He could hear every conversation in a mere classroom clearly. If only he could actively turn off this kind of sensitive hearing.

He had already mentally prepared himself to become one of Konoha's top three hot topics for the next few weeks, but in a world so lacking in entertainment, how long it would take for the news to die down remained debatable.

After all, Kakashi's father, Sakumo Hatake, had been talked to death and still remained at the top of the gossip rankings for a long time afterward.

The boys' whispers, though they concerned news about his own family, were quiet and only came from a few individuals. Compared to the girls around him, it was the difference between a library and a marketplace.

Sasuke himself did not Care About it, but the rumor had already spread last week. Sasuke had also taken several days off, and only returned to school today.

Naruto sat far back in the classroom, watching Sasuke's back from a distance. Expectation flickered in his eyes, but he had no idea how to approach him.

"Successfully talking to Sasuke" was a difficult mission that none of the girls in the class could accomplish. Naruto felt the chance that Sasuke would pay attention to him was practically zero. Besides, Sasuke had lost his family. He had to be terribly sad right now.

The Sharingan could not yet detect the eager gaze behind him. Sasuke repeatedly reviewed the textbook knowledge and Japanese pronunciations in his mind, as though focusing on chanting scriptures would prevent the surrounding environment from disturbing him.

His greatest short-term wish was that the teachers would not call on him to answer questions.

In his memories, Sasuke had always ranked at the top. Whenever there was a new concept, teachers would have Sasuke demonstrate it in class. It really was not Sasuke himself trying to show off.

This was too miserable.

Perhaps out of consideration for his family situation, the teachers did not call on Sasuke much on his first day back.

Several times, they wanted to call his name. Their fingers were already pointing at him, only to considerately shift to another student.

Some teachers instinctively called on Sasuke to answer a question, only remembering after they had done so that perhaps it was not appropriate.

There were not many classes: three in the morning and three in the afternoon.

Two of them were Taijutsu training classes. Then it was no longer a question of whether the teacher wanted to call on someone to demonstrate. Everyone had to step forward and perform, and the order made little difference. At least he would not need to speak Japanese.

School classes consisted of teachers organizing students to fight each other. Did that not sound absurd?

It could not be helped. This was the ninja world.

"Next group, Uchiha Sasuke..."