The Forgotten Sasuke

Chen had never expected that his interference would not only rob Naruto of the chance to play the hero and save the girl, but also ruin his good impression in Hinata's eyes.

"What's wrong? You seem to dislike him a little."

Pretending he didn't know anything, Chen asked.

"My family says he's a fox demon, a bringer of calamity. And he's always causing trouble. He even splashed paint on some of my clan's shops."

Hearing Hinata's words, Chen didn't know what to say for a moment.

He knew Naruto liked to paint the Kage Rock, but surely he hadn't started doing that when he was this young?

Or had Naruto always intended to become a house painter?

"Whatever he is, at least he's still just a little kid. You should treat him like any other child.

"As for the things he does, I think he's just trying to get people to notice him. He probably doesn't mean any harm."

Chen couldn't say much more. Naruto had been saddled with the fox demon accusation, but the paint-splashing was his own doing.

"Maybe. Chen-kun, you're really kind."

Hearing Hinata's words, Chen didn't know how to respond. He didn't seem to have much to do with kindness.

Chen didn't spend any more time with Hinata. He turned and headed home.

"Strange. Why do I feel like I've forgotten something?

"Never mind. If I've forgotten it, I won't think about it."

Muttering to himself, Chen went home. He spent his afternoons developing ninjutsu; after all, he felt he ought to have a technique of his own.

Immersed in the world of ninjutsu development, time seemed to fly by. By the time Chen came to, evening had already fallen.

"Hey, are you sure you didn't forget something?"

The system's voice rang out, but Chen looked confused.

Thinking the system had issued a quest, Chen opened the quest panel, only to find it completely empty.

"Forget what? Are you trying to mess with me again?

"Come on, I've barely had any time to rest. Just let me laze around for a while, all right?"

The system didn't say anything else. Somewhere in Konoha, however, a certain unfortunate soul was crying.

Early the next morning, Chen headed to Training Ground No. 7 as usual. He hadn't gone far into the training ground when he spotted a lump on the ground.

Poor Sasuke had been buried in the dirt for nearly a whole day and night.

Seeing Sasuke reminded Chen what he'd forgotten the day before.

"Is the brat still alive?"

Looking at Sasuke lying motionless, Chen grew a little worried.

Playing around was one thing, but if he actually killed Sasuke, he'd probably have to flee Konoha ahead of schedule.

"Please, let me out!"

Hearing Chen's voice, Sasuke burst into tears.

Only then did Chen notice what seemed to be some yellow liquid on Sasuke's face. As soon as he moved closer, he caught a whiff of urine.

There were also plenty of weeds on Sasuke's head, along with a lump of dried shit.

Seeing this, Chen felt a little guilty, so he decided to bully Sasuke one less day.

After successfully digging Sasuke out, Chen didn't dare go near him. There was no helping it—the smell coming off Sasuke was unbearable.

Never mind what was on his head. After spending nearly a day buried in the ground, Sasuke had wet himself spectacularly.

Buried in the dirt like that, it was no wonder he smelled so awful.

Sasuke ran home, sobbing all the way.

But he smelled so strongly, and for some reason, Sasuke hadn't even cleaned the lump off his head.

And so, Sasuke suffered another mortifying ordeal. People all over the streets saw him running around with a lump of shit on his head.

"Do you think Fugaku unlocked the Mangekyō Sharingan because he saw Sasuke like that?"

Chen watched Sasuke's retreating figure and spoke.

"You guessed wrong. Fugaku had already unlocked the Mangekyō Sharingan by then.

"More precisely, he unlocked it before the Nine-Tails Incident.

"Other than Fugaku himself, only the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, knew about it."

Hearing the system's words, Chen was stunned. He'd only said that offhandedly; he hadn't expected there to be a story behind it.

"So Minato knew about Fugaku's situation, yet still chose to trust the Uchiha?

"What should I say?

"He really was a good Hokage. It's a shame he died young. Otherwise, Konoha might not have ended up like this under the Third Hokage."

The system didn't answer Chen. Who could say how things might have turned out?

The Third Hokage had indeed devoted himself to Konoha, but as Hokage, he lacked a certain boldness.

Perhaps the Third Hokage had once possessed that boldness, but as he grew older, it had gradually worn away.

Some of Konoha's problems were indeed Danzo's handiwork, but if the Third Hokage had acted decisively, many things wouldn't have turned out this way.

Konoha was still powerful, but it was already beset by turmoil.

If Konoha really was a paradise, why had Tsunade and Jiraiya chosen to leave? Was it really only because of Tsunade's fear of blood and Jiraiya's love of gathering material for his books?

Chen didn't want to judge the Third Hokage. Perhaps he wouldn't have done any better in the old man's position.

But he didn't like him.

Chen set aside those thoughts and continued training. The system, apparently bored, started stirring up trouble again.

"Ding. System notification: Sneak into Hyuga Hinata's room at midnight. Failure penalty: Dress in women's clothes, stand on the Hokage Office Building roof, and perform a striptease for three hours."

"You damn system! How can you do this to me?

"If you want to kill me, just say so. Don't give me quests like this!"

"I think it sounds fun. Why not take the chance to make Hinata yours?

"You can blame everything on me, the system. You were forced into it; it wasn't your idea.

"See? I'm such a considerate system."

Listening to the system, Chen was truly speechless. What kind of bizarre system was this? Why did it keep coming up with such ridiculous quests?

"First of all, I'm five, and Hinata's a year younger than me. She's four. What do you think could happen between us?

"Also, that's the Hyuga House. The whole clan is full of Byakugan users. How do you expect me to get past all those Byakugan?

"Lastly, if I really did that, do you honestly think anyone would believe I'd been forced?"

"Now that you mention it, I forgot you can't get it up yet."

"You—"

"All right, all right, don't get mad. For this quest, all you have to do is show up in Hinata's room. And 'midnight' can mean any time after sunset.

"So use your head and figure out how to get into Hinata's room at that time.

"Don't worry. I absolutely, absolutely won't make you do anything you shouldn't at your age."