After leaving the Hokage's office, Ryosuke headed back to look for little Sasuke.
He wanted to ask him about Itachi.
The more he learned about Itachi, the better his chances of staying out of the Uchiha Clan Massacre.
That was right. Since he had no intention of interfering, he would inevitably attract a lot of attention as one of the Uchiha Clan's survivors. And that meant trouble.
On his way, though, he saw his class practicing "ninja sparring" on the training field.
In reality, it was just an outdoor activity.
As a member of the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke had no one to practice with.
Instead, the other children picked on him.
Quite a few of them were throwing stones at him.
Little Sasuke never fought back.
Maybe he didn't understand why any of this was happening, but he was already used to silently putting up with it.
Ryosuke felt as if he were suffering right alongside him.
He went over and warned the three mischievous kids.
"If I catch you bullying Sasuke again, you'll regret it."
Ryosuke was half a head taller than the tallest of them, and the kid immediately backed down.
"Another Uchiha Clan creep. Why are they still in Konoha?"
"I heard all the Uchiha Clan members are murderers."
The children around them looked at Ryosuke with wariness and disdain.
Ryosuke could only sigh as he went over to little Sasuke and began practicing footwork with him.
It was clear he wasn't like the other children, who went to the Ninja Academy just to play.
Little Sasuke worked incredibly hard.
Ryosuke knew he was probably doing it to surpass his older brother and earn more attention from his parents and brother.
"Sasuke, has Itachi been home lately?"
"Ryosuke, are you really interested in Itachi? He came home yesterday, but he left again pretty quickly."
It seemed it would be difficult to get any information about Itachi from little Sasuke.
Just before class ended, a group of older children suddenly blocked Ryosuke and Sasuke's way.
"Hey, you two from the Uchiha Clan. Wait a minute."
Ryosuke turned around. The kids he had scared earlier—the ones who had thrown stones at little Sasuke—were standing at the entrance to the field with four older boys.
They were students in the graduating class, and it looked like they wanted to stick up for the younger kids.
"What do you want?"
Ryosuke stepped in front of little Sasuke and asked coldly.
"Did you bully my little brother? I want you to apologize to him."
The freckled boy looked down at Ryosuke as he spoke.
The two younger boys beside him wore smug expressions.
"They threw stones at me first. Ryosuke only stopped them," little Sasuke protested, clutching Ryosuke's clothes.
"Apologize, or I'll make you regret it right now."
"What did you say?"
Ryosuke didn't move. He simply revealed his two-tomoe Sharingan.
The children instantly looked as if they'd seen a ghost.
"It's the Sharingan! He already has two tomoe. We're no match for him."
"That kid awakened it so young. Does that mean he's killed someone?"
The children instinctively backed away several steps.
Just then, their Chunin teacher walked over.
"What are you doing here? Get back to your own class."
The kids breathed a sigh of relief and immediately ran off.
"Ryosuke, you're amazing! You awakened the Sharingan too. Itachi did as well."
Little Sasuke lowered his head, looking a little upset.
He had worked so hard. Why couldn't he keep up with Itachi? Now even Ryosuke had awakened the Sharingan.
Ryosuke seemed to realize what was bothering him.
He lowered his head and ran a hand over Sasuke's hair. "You'll be just like us someday. Let's work hard together."
"Yeah." Little Sasuke finally regained some confidence.
The Chunin teacher saw the two of them but didn't come over. Instead, he looked wary.
The two of them returned to the classroom together.
There were only three days left until the graduation exam. The Third Hokage had already promised him what he wanted, so he couldn't just sit around doing nothing.
He sent a clone to the graduating class to see which ninjutsu they were reviewing.
He also wanted to find out whether the system would record techniques seen by his clone.
Half an hour later, Ryosuke, sitting in the classroom, dispelled the Clone Technique.
[ Ding! Congratulations, host. You have recorded the 'Transformation Technique,' 'Substitution Technique,' 'Shadow Shuriken,' 'Water Dragon Technique,' 'Earth Dragon Technique'... ]
A string of notifications sounded, listing several C-rank ninjutsu he had recorded.
It seemed clones could indeed activate the system, though the information wasn't transmitted to his main body in real time. Still, this was enough.
The graduation exam would only test these C-rank ninjutsu.
It looked like it would be easy.
After school that day, Ryosuke first walked Sasuke home.
Then he went to the forest to familiarize himself with the ninjutsu he had recorded.
The system could record ninjutsu, but he still had to learn each technique through practice.
Some techniques also required him to meet strict conditions before he could learn them.
For instance, several of the Lightning Release techniques he had recorded earlier required him to use Lightning Release chakra.
Otherwise, he could only use them once after recording them.
But Ryosuke only had Fire Release chakra right now.
That was awkward.
Fortunately, some basic C-rank ninjutsu didn't require any particular chakra nature.
But after practicing for only a little while, his chakra was already depleted.
His base stats were far too low.
His chakra reserves and chakra nature were both far behind those of the two male protagonists.
After resting for a while, his chakra still hadn't recovered much.
This gave Ryosuke a headache.
In the end, he could only use experience points to raise his chakra limit.
[Host: Uchiha Ryosuke Overall Strength: Genin Chakra: 2000/4000 Experience Points: 0]
Ryosuke immediately felt much more clearheaded.
Chakra was a combination of physical and spiritual energy.
His fatigue vanished as well.
But he was still at a loss about how to unlock other chakra natures.
So he couldn't use 'Lightning Release: Lightning Armor.'
However, he could use ninjutsu he had plundered, like 'Lightning Release: Sandamurei.'
But plundering ninjutsu required killing an enemy.
That was all well and good when he encountered an enemy, but he had no way to meet that condition in everyday life.
'Lightning Release: Sandamurei' was a B-rank technique, and each use cost 200 chakra.
With his current reserves, he could use it twenty times.
That should be enough for an ordinary fight.
"Once I graduate, I can leave the village. That's when I'll be able to make the most of the Plunder System."
Ryosuke was full of anticipation for the future.
Just then, he suddenly heard a faint sound from deep in the forest.
"Someone's in the woods."
Ryosuke immediately went on guard.
Before you continue