Konoha's Sunshine Was Too False

Sasuke lowered his head and looked at Escaping Rabbit, who was lying on the ground chewing on grass roots.

"Sure." Sasuke rested his hand on the rabbit's head. "But I'll need something in return."

The wrinkles on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face eased a little. He took the pipe from his mouth and turned it halfway around in his hand.

"What do you want? A ninjutsu scroll? Or some more advanced ninja tools?"

"I want unrestricted access to the Konoha Library, and Chakra Metal." Sasuke looked Hiruzen in the eyes.

"I want every theoretical text you have on chakra pathways, the meridian system, and the transformation of ninjutsu."

Modifying the Ten Shadows Technique required a great deal of theoretical knowledge.

His Cursed Energy was too weak right now. He had to fully understand how chakra worked before he could properly refine Cursed Energy.

Hiruzen Sarutobi studied Sasuke's face for several seconds.

"All right. I agree." Hiruzen nodded.

"I'll have Anbu issue you a special pass. But there's one thing you need to understand: you can't enter the forbidden jutsu section where the Scroll of Seals is kept. The things in there are too dangerous for you right now."

"Deal."

Hiruzen put his pipe back in his mouth. The embers glowed and dimmed among the tobacco.

"Aside from these rabbits, I have one personal hope."

Hiruzen looked past Sasuke toward Naruto, who was still gasping for breath on the ground, and Sakura and Ino, who were leaning against the stone wall, exhausted.

"I hope you can live in the ordinary sunlight alongside Naruto and the others."

Hiruzen's voice grew a little hoarse, carrying the hopes of an elder.

"Don't let the shadows of the past consume you completely. Your comrades in Konoha can become new bonds for you."

Sasuke followed Hiruzen's gaze. Naruto was sprawled on the sandy ground, still grumbling indignantly about something.

Sasuke looked away. "Maybe they'll become my bonds, but that has nothing to do with you."

"As long as Konoha doesn't provoke me, I won't attack it. That's my bottom line."

Hiruzen's fingers loosened slightly around his pipe.

"That's all I need to hear."

"But, Lord Hokage." Sasuke suddenly spoke, his tone tinged with sarcasm.

"Your sunshine is awfully false."

Hiruzen froze for a moment.

Sasuke pointed toward Naruto.

"That monster is sealed inside him... You treat him like a useful tool, but you don't even give him the most basic respect. You let people bully and mock him."

"He's stupid right now. He doesn't know anything. But what if he eventually catches on, can't take the way you treat him, and decides to burn this village to ash?"

Sasuke watched Hiruzen's expression darken. "I'll only stand on his side."

"How do you know what's inside him..."

"My eyes can see a lot of things." Sasuke cut Hiruzen off.

Itadori swallowed Sukuna's Finger to protect others, yet the Jujutsu Higher-Ups casually decided whether he lived or died.

Principal Yaga devoted himself entirely to his work, only to be sentenced to death in return.

Gojo had the greatest power and still stood on humanity's side, yet those rotten higher-ups treated him like a thorn in their side.

Konoha's leaders were a lot like those old fossils in the Jujutsu Society.

If Sasuke hadn't thought Hiruzen was a decent person, then once he had gained power, he would have followed Gojo's example and slaughtered his way through Konoha's leadership.

The training ground was so quiet that all they could hear was the wind rustling through the leaves.

Hiruzen's fingers stiffened around his pipe.

He looked at Sasuke. The wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen in the sunset.

The old man sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly.

"The village has its reasons, Sasuke."

"Things aren't always black and white. I may be Hokage, but I can't always do whatever I want."

"That's your problem, not his fault." Sasuke cut him off without mercy.

Hiruzen didn't argue. He tapped his pipe twice against the edge of a stone post, knocking out the ash.

"I understand where you stand." Hiruzen put his pipe away. "Then it's settled regarding the rabbits."

"One more thing." Sasuke picked up Escaping Rabbit.

"These rabbits can't go too far from me. If the village sends them too far away to scout, they'll disappear."

Escaping Rabbit looked up at Sasuke and blinked its red eyes without making a sound.

It knew that the rabbits couldn't stray too far from Sasuke, their original. It had nothing to do with where Sasuke was.

But since Sasuke had said that, it kept its mouth shut.

Hearing this restriction, Hiruzen thought it over briefly.

"That's fine." He came up with a solution on the spot.

"If we need to scout outside the village or over a long distance, we'll send powerful ninja along with you. We'll deal with the distance issue."

Sasuke patted Escaping Rabbit's head. "If there's anything you want to know about the village, just ask it. It's already memorized you."

The next afternoon.

A yellow warning line had been strung around the edge of the training ground behind the Ninja Academy.

Iruka stood in front of dozens of students, a tactical board in his hand.

"This outdoor survival exercise will last three days!" Iruka raised his voice over the steady rustle of the woods.

"Everyone has a sticker shaped like a Forehead Protector on their forehead. If someone takes your sticker, you're out!"

He pointed to the dense forest behind him.

"Ten scrolls are hidden in the woods. When the exercise ends, anyone holding a scroll with their sticker intact will receive extra credit! You can go alone or in a team! The exercise starts now!"

The students quickly formed groups of two or three and rushed into the woods.

Naruto had been about to go over to Sasuke, but Shikamaru grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into a thicket in the opposite direction.

Sasuke walked into the depths of the woods alone.

The noise around him was soon swallowed by the dense foliage.

Sasuke stopped beneath a sturdy oak with the Jade Dogs and patted Escaping Rabbit on his shoulder.

Before long, more than a dozen Escaping Rabbits appeared at his feet.

"Fan out. Start scouting."

The rabbits turned into streaks of white and disappeared into the surrounding bushes and treetops.

Sasuke leaned against the trunk and closed his eyes.

About ten minutes later.

Escaping Rabbit's left ear suddenly twitched.

"Sasuke." Escaping Rabbit spoke in a soft voice. "To the left, three hundred meters away, there are three people behind a crooked tree."

"What are they doing?"

"They're setting a trap. They've strung up a tripwire. Looks like they're after you."

The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched.

Those brats really thought he was an easy target.

"Black. White."

"Go three hundred meters to the left. There are three people. Bring back their stickers, but don't hurt them too badly."

"Leave it to me!" White Dog wagged its tail excitedly, then shot off as a streak of white light.

Black Dog said nothing, silently following after White Dog, but it was just as fast.

The three boys were still hiding in the treetops, quietly discussing their plan.

"He's alone. If all three of us go after him, we can definitely take his number tag."

"But Naruto said he..."

"What are you scared of? The dogs are the strong ones. We'll attack him directly!"

Before he could finish speaking, a shadow shot vertically up from beneath the tree.

Black Dog pushed off the bark with its claws and leaped into the treetops.

It opened its mouth, clamped down on one boy's ankle, and yanked hard.

"Ah!"

The boy lost his balance and tumbled off the branch, crashing onto the leaf-covered ground.

The other two boys paled in alarm. They had just started to raise their Kunai when a white blur pounced from a branch to the side.

White Dog slammed its head into the second boy's chest. The tremendous impact sent him flying, and his back struck another tree trunk with a dull thud.

The last boy was so frightened that he dropped his Kunai. He turned and tried to jump down from the tree.

Black Dog had already landed where he would touch down. It let out a low growl and slapped a forepaw against the ground.

The boy's legs gave out, and he fell onto the ground, his face deathly pale.

The whole thing took less than ten seconds.

Sasuke walked over at an unhurried pace.

The three boys were sprawled across the ground, covered in dirt and leaves. They stared at Sasuke in terror.

Sasuke hadn't lifted a finger the entire time.

The expenditure of chakra and Cursed Energy had been close to zero.

As long as his intelligence network was spread wide enough, the Jade Dogs' ability to physically clear a battlefield was overwhelming in an exercise at this level.

But he still needed to get to the library soon and find a way to improve his Cursed Energy conversion rate.

"Stickers." Sasuke looked at the three boys cowering on the ground.

The boys tremblingly peeled the stickers from their foreheads and handed them over.

Sasuke took them and casually stuffed them into his pocket.

"Black, White, come back."

The two dogs quickly ran to Sasuke's feet.

"Good work," Sasuke praised them casually.

White Dog lifted its chin smugly. "Of course! Those brats couldn't even touch a hair on my head!"

Sasuke ignored White Dog's bragging.

He raised his head and looked through the dense treetops toward the deeper part of the woods.

Escaping Rabbit reminded him, "...Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino are heading this way."