"Wood Release!"
"That's Lord First's Wood Release!"
"No, that's Naruto's!"
"Naruto is the Fourth Hokage's son! And he inherited the First Hokage's Wood Release, too!"
"With them here, our Konoha is sure to be safe!"
The crowd erupted in astonished chatter. A few people had even clenched their fists, seemingly thrilled to witness the legendary Wood Release with their own eyes.
But in the Uchiha Clan's compound, a young man stared at the enormous wooden wrist supporting the meteor. A deep look of frustration flashed in his eyes.
He wore a light-gray, short-sleeved shirt with a stand-up collar and a zipper. Black bangs hung over his forehead, and three Tomoe spun rapidly in each of his crimson eyes.
This handsome young man was none other than the younger brother of the current Uchiha Clan Head: Sasuke.
It had to be said: the Uchiha Clan's peculiar constitution seemed to require them to be steeped in pain and disaster before they could gain strength enough to transform themselves completely.
Thanks to the tacit cooperation between Minato and Fugaku, the Uchiha Clan had never turned against the village. After Fugaku and many of his clansmen died as war heroes, and Itachi took over as Clan Head, the Uchiha Clan had instead become part of the village's power center.
But Itachi, who had never defected, believed he could protect Sasuke through his own strength.
As a result, even with Itachi specifically asking Kakashi to help train him, Sasuke had still fallen farther and farther behind Naruto.
Naruto, who had been carefully taught by Minato and Kushina since childhood, was nothing like the "dead-last" who did nothing but cause trouble and pull pranks, and couldn't even form Hand Seals properly.
Even back at the Ninja Academy, Naruto's grades had matched Sasuke's. The two of them