Sasuke Wakes Up

Konoha Village.

Three days after Uchiha Fugaku awoke at the revolutionary base, Sasuke, who had been in a coma, also regained consciousness in the Konoha Village Hospital.

He looked around in a daze, realizing he seemed to be in the Konoha hospital.

Was I injured? Why am I lying in a hospital?

Suddenly, a wave of horrific memories flooded his brain.

Flames, corpses, bloodstains, and the deaths of his parents.

Impossible, it's impossible! How could my brother kill our parents? It's impossible!

He tried to clutch his head, but a sharp, intense pain shot through his left arm. In his memories, his brother Itachi had snapped his arm. The injury was there, the pain was real, and he was in the hospital—so his parents... had truly been murdered by his brother Itachi!

"Ah!"

Two tomoe appeared in Sasuke's eyes, spinning rapidly. A third tomoe even faintly flickered in his left eye, but as Sasuke suddenly fainted, they slowly faded away.

"Sasuke!"

Naruto, Hinata, and Neji burst into the ward.

They had come to visit Sasuke to see if he had woken up. Hearing Sasuke's cry, Naruto's heart tightened, and he rushed inside.

Seeing Sasuke slumped back into unconsciousness, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

"It seems he just woke up. He probably remembered what he saw a few days ago and fainted because he couldn't accept it."

Neji noticed the disheveled blankets and realized there had been signs of him waking up.

"Naruto-kun, is Sasuke-kun going to be alright?"

Hinata's face was full of worry.

Although they didn't talk much, they had helped each other during training for nearly three years and shared a deep friendship. How could she not be worried when a friend suffered such a tragedy?

"Don't..."

"Don't worry, Uncle Fei Shi is here; Sasuke will be fine," Neji comforted her.

Because they had spent so much time together and due to Fei Shi's guidance, Neji felt only protectiveness toward Hinata, lacking the hatred he held in the original timeline. He had discovered that Hinata wasn't untalented; rather, the clan head was too harsh, causing Hinata to become timid and socially awkward, leading her to fail at tasks she was perfectly capable of performing.

This led the clan head to view Hinata as a useless coward.

Hinata was kind, but did being good to her friends and family and feeling worry mean she wasn't cut out to be a ninja? No!

Even if Hinata wasn't meant to be a ninja, he, Neji, would absolutely support her and never allow anyone to hurt her.

After learning about the concept of the Main Branch and the Branch Family, he had once felt hatred toward Hinata, who was treated well by the Main Branch. But after Fei Shi pulled him aside to guide him, he had let it go.

Now, Hinata was the apple of his eye.

Naruto also wanted to comfort Hinata, but being interrupted by Neji left him feeling very confused.

Neji cast a subtle glance at Naruto. He had heard from Hinata that Naruto had saved her once a few years ago. Over the past few years, the way Hinata looked at Naruto had become increasingly strange, just like... just like how Lady Yugao looked at Uncle Fei Shi.

Trying to steal my sister away? Get lost!

Even if you're a friend, it's not happening.

Half an hour later, Naruto grew extremely impatient and stared at Sasuke's left cheek, lost in thought.

While Neji shared his experience with the Hyuga Gentle Fist with Hinata, a nurse entered to check on Sasuke's condition.

"Nurse-san, when will Sasuke wake up?"

"His physical condition is quite good now; he should wake up very soon," the nurse replied, patting Naruto on the head.

"Can I wake him up?"

"I suppose... you can."

"Alright!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

Neji and the nurse were puzzled. What are you so excited about?

Hehehe, Sasuke, don't blame me. It's just that such an opportunity is rare, hehehe.

Under the confused gazes of the nurse, Neji, and Hinata, Naruto raised his right hand high, and then—

Pang!

Sasuke's left cheek swelled up instantly.

"Ah! Itachi!"

Sasuke woke up with a start.

After he had fainted, he had a dream. In the dream, after Uchiha Itachi slaughtered the clan, he beat Sasuke up and told him to fight back.

He was beaten over and over until he collapsed from exhaustion. Itachi cursed him as a failure, unworthy of being an Uchiha, saying that at least the others had the strength to resist him. Sasuke, however, had none, and then Itachi slapped him hard across the face.

Sasuke jolted awake at this moment.

His left cheek was swollen high, and when he touched it, the pain was excruciating.

Could it be that Itachi hit me just now?

However, seeing the strange looks on the faces of the nurse Neji and Hinata, and Naruto who dared not look at him, Sasuke instantly understood what had happened.

"Naruto! I'm going to kill you!"

"Bleh, bleh, bleh, you bastard Sasuke, come and get me! Hahahaha!"

"You!"

Thinking of his injured left hand and recalling the events of that night, he slumped into a depression.

Seeing Sasuke like this, Naruto stopped messing around and patted Sasuke on the shoulder.

"Sasuke, if you're sad, just cry it out. It's okay, you still have us as your friends."

"Waaaah!"

Sasuke could no longer hold back his tears.

"Why! Why! That bastard Itachi killed our parents! Why!"

"They were his own biological parents! Why! Wuu wuu wuu!"

Seeing his rival and friend in such pain, Naruto felt terrible inside. He even wondered why Big Brother Fei Shi hadn't killed Itachi Uchiha that night.

But the most important thing right now was to comfort Sasuke, so Naruto spoke up.

"Sasuke, I know you're hurting, but you have to pull through. As your friend, I will help you! I'll help you take down that bastard brother of yours for killing Uncle Fugaku and Aunt Mikoto. It's not just me; you have all of us behind you."

"Hang in there, Sasuke. Just being sad won't accomplish anything."

"Hang in there, Sasuke-kun. You have to stay strong, we will help you."

For once, Hinata didn't blush and offered words of encouragement.

"Everyone... I, I will pull through. Thank you, thank you. Wuu wuu wuu, I think, I think I want to be alone for a while. Don't worry, I won't allow anything to happen to myself before I kill Itachi."

Neji pulled Hinata back to the Hyuga Clan, while Naruto, fearing that Sasuke might do something foolish, stayed at the hospital.

And what of the one in the know, Fei Shi?

Fei Shi Manor.

Fei Shi lay comfortably on a lounge chair, and Yugao Uzuki was feeding him grapes. Yes, just regular grapes.

"Is your disciple really going to be okay?"

She had done everything with Fei Shi except for the final step of shedding their clothes, and now her heart and soul were entirely with him.

Fei Shi doted on her greatly, and she had become the mistress of half this manor.

As Sasuke's teacher's wife, she felt a bit of pity. She knew the full story and was aware that some members of the Uchiha Clan and Sasuke's parents were still alive.

Forcing a seven-year-old child to endure such torture—as someone in the know, she couldn't bear to see a child suffer such immense pain.

Fei Shi replied with a serious expression:

"You wouldn't say that if you knew how great Sasuke's potential is. We had to resort to such a drastic measure to force out his latent potential. He and Naruto are the only two people in the Ninja World who have a chance to keep up with my pace. Do you understand now?"