After all that acting, Sasuke finally arrived at Konoha's back mountain. He looked toward the Hokage Tower in the distance, his expression complicated.
This was where he'd first met Kurama Yakumo—and where he'd last seen her. Compared with Ino and Sakura, Sasuke still preferred Yakumo. But after he'd treated the inner demons tormenting her, the Kurama Clan had moved away.
A month after they left, Sasuke received a letter from Yakumo. At the end of it, she'd written where the Kurama Clan had gone into seclusion.
"Sigh... Time to get down to business!" Remembering the letter he'd tucked into his Storage Scroll, Sasuke's expression turned a little strange. He had complicated feelings about Yakumo, who was a little older than him.
After getting his thoughts in order, Sasuke set down his backpack and took out a Storage Scroll. He summoned a tent. The reason he'd come out at dusk was so he could spend the night here!
After cooking a meal outdoors, Sasuke went straight into the tent to sleep. Someone was still watching him, so it wasn't time to hunt yet.
In the Hokage's office, Sarutobi Hiruzen watched Sasuke's actions, his expression complicated. What was he up to? Taking a vacation?
"Maybe he just doesn't feel like staying there today," Nara Shikaku said, watching Sasuke as well.
"That's true. Today is an ill-omened day." Hiruzen nodded calmly at Shikaku's guess. After all, four years ago today had been a terrible day.
That night, once Sasuke confirmed nobody was watching him, he summoned his special Shadow Clone and had it turn into a little snake, hiding it in the back mountain.
Sasuke's goal was naturally to hunt down the Anbu assigned to seal off the back mountain. After all, he could switch places with this Shadow Clone at any time...
After leaving the Shadow Clone in the back mountain, Sasuke went to sleep. He'd sent the snake out; now he just had to wait for it to find prey!
The next morning, when Sasuke saw that his Shadow Clone was still there, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. He slung his pack over his shoulder and headed home.
Once home, Sasuke summoned ten Shadow Clones and had them train in the yard. The reason? Obviously, he needed to create an alibi!
After making all the necessary preparations, Sasuke hurriedly switched places with the Shadow Clone he'd left in the back mountain. The Shadow Clone that had just returned joined the training, too. As for what they were practicing—it was one-handed Hand Seals. After all, that was how you could clap your hands and summon whatever you wanted!
In the Hokage's office, Sarutobi Hiruzen watched Sasuke training with his Shadow Clones, his expression startled. The kid really was hardworking!
"No matter how hard he works, he's still just a slave shackled by the Will of Fire."
Watching Sasuke train, Sarutobi Hiruzen gave a sinister smile, then went back to spying on him...
In Konoha's back mountain, Sasuke quietly appeared atop a tree. He quickly changed into Root's uniform, then began wandering through the forest!
Why Root? Obviously, the scapegoat had to take the blame. Did that even need asking?
Using the Body Flicker Technique to move through the forest, Sasuke soon found his target: an Anbu squad.
The four of them were moving forward, and the one at the very front was undoubtedly the squad leader.
As soon as he spotted them, Sasuke pulled out a kunai and approached the four.
When he got close enough, Sasuke switched to his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, then appeared right in front of them!
"Where are you four off to in such a hurry?" Sasuke asked with a mischievous grin as he appeared before them.
"Who are you? How do you have the Sharingan?"
On seeing the Sharingan, the Anbu squad leader immediately challenged Sasuke. After all, the Sharingan was a rare sight in Konoha these days!
"Sigh... You recognize the Sharingan, yet you keep staring at it. I wonder if there's something wrong with your brain!"
Sasuke had originally wanted to chat with the Anbu squad leader. But when he saw all four staring curiously at his Sharingan, he sighed and shook his head. Was this what they meant by curiosity killed the cat?
"Illusion!"
Sasuke activated Illusion without a care, then slowly approached the Anbu squad leader with his kunai.
The kunai lightly grazed the Anbu squad leader's throat. The leader had fallen gloriously in battle.
That was the terror of Illusion: anyone who met Sasuke's gaze was immediately robbed of their five senses, becoming a passive recipient of information. They wouldn't even feel their own death!
After dealing with the Anbu squad with ease, Sasuke began to "loot the bodies." He still knew far too few ninjutsu. After sorting out everything useful, he handed the entire Anbu squad over to the Divine Refining Eye.
After sealing the squad leader's clothes in a sealing scroll, Sasuke continued with his assassination plan.
The day passed quickly. That night, Sasuke switched places with his Shadow Clone again and returned home.
Over the course of the day, Sasuke had secretly taken out three Anbu squads. He hadn't used the Sharingan on the last squad because he didn't need to. His combat ability had steadily improved!
Once home, Sasuke dismissed his Shadow Clone and went down to the basement.
When he opened his storage inventory, Sasuke found that he'd made quite a haul: a total of 15,000 General Proficiency. A Jonin was worth 2,000, and a Chunin 1,000. Each Anbu squad consisted of one Jonin and three Chunin.
One squad was worth 5,000, so three squads came to exactly 15,000. Besides the General Proficiency, Sasuke had also obtained an Earth Release Crystal. Using it would grant him Earth Release Chakra, but he wasn't interested in it for now.
After seeing that he had another large amount of General Proficiency, the first thing Sasuke did was max out his Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi proficiency!
[Maxed out Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi proficiency. Obtained one special fusion opportunity!]
The instant he maxed out its proficiency, Sasuke saw this dialogue box appear on the panel. At the same time, the proficiency value no longer appeared beside Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi!
"So that's how it works? As expected, 10,000 proficiency is the absolute limit! I didn't expect this to give me a special fusion opportunity, though!"
Looking at the system panel's prompt, Sasuke smiled casually, then put 3,000 General Proficiency into the Sharingan's Copy.
In an instant, Sasuke had only 5,000 General Proficiency left. In return, his panel now showed no ninjutsu whose proficiency he could improve, aside from Hand Seals!
"Robbery and murder really do make a man rich!"
The heir to the Will of Fire—robbing and murdering his way to riches!
Everyone, please throw me some votes! (づ●─●)づ
Before you continue