Naruto is my big battery!

Just as a rough prototype for improving the Ten Shadows Technique took shape in his mind, the school bell rang.

Sasuke shook his head, deciding to head home before continuing his train of thought.

He straightened up, grabbed his school bag from the desk, slung it over his shoulder, and walked straight out of the classroom, passing Naruto who was busy arguing with Shikamaru.

The evening in Konoha was a beautiful orange-red; Sasuke stepped on the elongated shadows of utility poles as he walked along the street toward the new residence arranged by the Third Hokage.

"Hey! Sasuke!"

Behind him came the sound of shoes scuffing against the dirt, followed by the sharp crack of a pebble being kicked hard against a roadside utility pole.

Naruto followed at a distance, hands clasped behind his head, trailing slowly behind Sasuke.

"Are you running so fast because you're scared of me? Heh, you must be terrified of the ultimate move I just developed."

Sasuke really didn't want to engage with such mindless provocation.

This blond kid's voice was even louder than Itadori's, and he had absolutely no sense of social cues.

"Hey! Are you even listening to me!" Seeing Sasuke ignore him, Naruto quickened his pace to get closer, still chattering away.

"Why are you taking this road? This is the way to my house! Don't tell me you admire me so much that you're secretly stalking me?"

Sasuke sighed.

"Who stalks someone by walking in front of them?"

"You bastard! Don't think you're so great just because you act cool at school!" Seeing Sasuke's attitude, Naruto's voice climbed another octave.

Sasuke suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Naruto clearly hadn't expected this; he failed to brake in time and nearly collided with Sasuke's back.

He hurriedly jumped back a few steps, assuming a defensive stance.

"W-what! You want to fight?"

Sasuke looked up and pointed at the apartment building ahead.

"I live here."

Naruto stood frozen, mouth agape, watching Sasuke walk up the stairs.

"No way..." Naruto muttered, quickly scrambling to catch up.

Sasuke reached the second floor, stood before the room at the very end, and pulled the key given by Hiruzen from his pocket.

Sasuke turned his head.

Naruto was standing in front of the door next to his, clutching a keychain with a frog doll.

His eyes were filled with disbelief as he stared fixedly at Sasuke.

"You, you, you!"

"How are you actually living here! This is my turf!"

"You did this on purpose! You definitely did this on purpose, right! Your goal is to ambush me in the middle of the night!"

Sasuke inserted the key into the lock and turned it to the right; the door swung open.

"Obviously, it's my turf now, too."

"How can that be! Where did you even get the key!"

"The Hokage gave it to me."

"No way! You! You can't live here!"

Too noisy.

Sasuke had originally intended to push the door open and shut this boisterous guy out.

But as he pushed the door to enter his room, his movements stalled.

A strange flow of energy was seeping outward from Naruto's abdomen, following the wake of his agitated emotions.

Sasuke let go of the doorknob and turned to scrutinize Naruto.

He focused the last of his cursed energy into his eyes.

In the vision of a jujutsu sorcerer, the scene before him underwent a cataclysmic change.

He saw not just Naruto, but a dark red energy field that threatened to drown the entire hallway.

That wasn't chakra. Or rather, it wasn't just chakra.

It was filled with violence, hatred, a desire for destruction, and immense malice.

This energy radiated negative emotions that made his scalp crawl.

A single word flashed through Sasuke's mind in an instant.

Special Grade.

The magnitude of these negative emotions was definitely at the level of a Special Grade cursed spirit, perhaps even among the elite of them.

Cursed energy is, by nature, energy extracted from the negative emotions of humanity.

And right now, a collective of negative emotions sufficient to drown an entire city stood before him, radiating energy outward with lawless abandon.

Sasuke stared at Naruto Uzumaki's abdomen for a long time.

Naruto felt a bit unnerved by the intensity of Sasuke's gaze.

He took half a step back, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Wh... why are you looking at me like that? I'm warning you, I'm really strong!" Naruto's voice involuntarily dropped a notch.

Sasuke withdrew his gaze, the dark red energy field in his eyes dissipating as the hallway returned to its former state.

I could experiment to see if I can convert the emotional energy leaking from him into energy to drive the Ten Shadows Technique. Plus, with him around, he's basically a signal jammer; I shouldn't be discovered when experimenting with cursed energy in the future...

Hokage, you've done a great thing.

Sasuke thought back to the way the people on the street looked at Naruto.

So that's how it is. Is he feared because of what's inside his body?

It's exactly the same as how the higher-ups in the jujutsu world treat Itadori.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Sasuke spoke, his tone not sharp, but rather quite gentle.

Naruto froze; he wasn't used to Sasuke addressing him so suddenly.

"Wh... what?"

"I just moved in, and I don't have any kitchenware yet." Sasuke looked at him. "What do you usually eat?"

Naruto's eyes lit up instantly, the defensiveness and provocation from moments ago cast aside.

"What's this? So you still have to rely on me to take care of you?"

He yanked his door open, dashed inside, and returned in less than two seconds, clutching three cups of instant noodles in different flavors.

"Instant noodles! Ichiraku Ramen is the best, but cup noodles are great too! I've got seafood, tonkotsu, and miso!"

Naruto held the noodles up to Sasuke, his face filled with the expression of a child showing off his treasures. "Which one do you want? I'll make an exception and give you one!"

Sasuke looked at the processed food and reached out to take the seafood flavor.

"Thanks."

Sasuke took the cup and pushed open his own door.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted from behind him.

"Tomorrow at shuriken practice, I'm definitely going to beat you! Since you've been taken care of by me, I'm your boss now!" Naruto's voice echoed through the hallway.

Sasuke walked into his room and pulled the door shut behind him.

"Whatever you say."

The door closed.

Naruto stood in the hallway, staring at Sasuke's tightly shut door for a long while.

He looked down at the frog key in his hand, then back at the room next door.

Sasuke seemed different from before, and even more different from the adults in the village.

"Tch, big deal." Naruto muttered, turning to open his own door.

The room was simple: a kitchen, a bedroom, a living room, a bathroom, and a small balcony.

The furniture was sparse and functional—just a single bed, a wardrobe, and a wooden table.

A faint scent lingered in the air; it must have just been cleaned.

Sasuke tossed the cup noodles onto the table and walked to the center of the room, sensing the energy fluctuations coming from Naruto through the wall.

Naruto seemed to be rummaging for something next door; his footsteps were heavy, accompanied by the sound of a chair dragging across the floor.

With his movements, that dark red negative energy waxed and waned, gently washing over Sasuke's room.

Sasuke waited quietly, waiting for the moment when the emotions would be amplified!

A glass crashed next door, followed by Naruto's exclamation, and a tiny peak appeared in the energy fluctuations.

Now.

Sasuke quickly crossed his hands in front of his chest.

He drew out his chakra, guiding it along his meridians toward his hands.

As it passed through his arms, he added a nature transformation to the chakra, then channeled the power downward, injecting it into the shadow at his feet.

To be honest, the nature transformation was rough, but since the Ten Shadows was Kei's innate technique, the shadow on the floor still rippled.

It's working!

Sasuke took a deep breath.

He closed his eyes and began to mobilize the meager amount of cursed energy within his body as a primer, attempting to draw in and assimilate the negative energy seeping through from next door.

He had imagined that capturing negative energy would be difficult, but the actual process still left him deeply astonished.

That energy was filled with exclusivity, fiercely resisting any guidance.

Sasuke felt as if he were trying to grab a hedgehog with his bare hands.

He gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead, as he forcibly suppressed that violent aura into his meridians.

"Hiss—"

A stabbing pain like a knife cut through his meridians.

But he succeeded.

A small wisp of strange cursed energy, mixed with chakra, took form within his body.

Sasuke's fingers flew rapidly, his thumbs interlocking to form a hand seal resembling the head of a canine.

The fluctuating shadow in the corner of the room began to churn; something was about to break free from the darkness.

"Jade... Dog?"