Sasuke returned to his room.
He paid no attention to the clan's relocation.
After all, with his current strength and standing, he couldn't take part in it.
Rather than waste time on that, he was better off improving himself first.
He sat cross-legged and began refining his chakra.
The Top-Tier Chakra Refinement Technique began to circulate, and Sasuke quickly sank into his training.
Chakra extracted from his cells continuously flowed into his broad network of pathways.
Soon, what had started as a trickle gradually filled them.
Chakra began circulating through his body.
"If I use Lightning Style Chakra Nature Transformation to stimulate my cells right now, wouldn't that make the process faster?"
Feeling the chakra flowing through his pathways, Sasuke suddenly had a bold idea.
He put the thought into action at once.
Sasuke raised his fingers, transformed his chakra into Lightning Style chakra, and began stimulating his cells.
New chakra kept appearing inside his body.
As soon as it emerged, he transformed it and used it to stimulate his cells.
The Top-Tier Chakra Refinement Technique seemed to have taken this as a challenge.
Its chakra-refinement speed increased as well.
At the same time, his mission progress rose to 1/1000.
"Grrr..."
After just an hour of training, he had used up all the energy he'd just taken in.
His stomach growled with hunger, forcing Sasuke to stop.
"Hungry again..."
"I'll go find Mother!"
Sasuke got up and left his room.
Compared with Fugaku Uchiha, who treated Itachi and Sasuke differently, Mikoto Uchiha was much kinder.
Since Fugaku's attention was usually focused on Itachi, Mikoto cared even more about Sasuke.
She also granted most of his requests.
"Mother, I'm hungry."
"Could you make me something else to eat?"
Sasuke found his mother and asked, looking a little embarrassed.
After all, he'd only eaten an hour ago.
"Of course."
Mikoto answered indulgently.
Children got hungry quickly. It was normal...
But before long, Mikoto no longer thought so.
By late that night, she was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with Sasuke's body.
He'd eaten six meals since the afternoon!
And every time, he'd cleaned his plate.
Mikoto was starting to worry.
If Sasuke hadn't still been so full of energy, she would have called a medical ninja to examine him.
Even so, she told Fugaku Uchiha about it.
This continued for two days.
At the training ground, Fugaku Uchiha watched Uchiha Sasuke training, an uncertain look on his face.
He'd been so busy with the clan's relocation these past few days that he hadn't had a chance to check on Sasuke sooner.
His younger son was eating enough for several days every day.
And it kept happening.
Could he have awakened some sort of special constitution?
"Father."
Sasuke wasn't surprised that Fugaku Uchiha had come to watch him train.
After all, he was Fugaku's son.
Today's training was mainly about getting a proper handle on the strength he'd gained over the past few days.
Gaining more strength through training was important, but mastering that strength mattered just as much.
After completing the first stage of his Taijutsu training, Sasuke went over to Fugaku Uchiha and greeted him.
"Your Taijutsu is good."
"Show me a ninjutsu."
"Let me see what you've accomplished in your training recently."
Fugaku Uchiha folded his arms and spoke calmly.
Sasuke was already used to his father's stern, low voice.
"Understood, Father."
Sasuke nodded.
Ninjutsu...
As the young master of the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke had already learned their signature ninjutsu—the Fire Style: Can't-Burn-You... Ahem, the Great Fireball Technique.
Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger.
Sasuke's Hand Seals flowed smoothly.
He wasn't fast, but his form was precise.
The chakra inside his body stirred into action.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
As Sasuke formed the final Tiger Seal, the chakra inside his body grew hot.
Then it burst from his mouth in a sudden rush.
A thin stream of flame shot out, then transformed into an enormous fireball.
It reached a terrifying ten meters in diameter!
A wave of heat swept outward, turning the few training dummies at the target into charcoal.
"This..."
Fugaku Uchiha's folded arms abruptly tensed.
His pupils trembled violently.
The Great Fireball Technique's size, power, and duration—
They were all nearly on par with his own.
Even Itachi's fireballs only reached about eight meters across during regular training!
And Sasuke, his younger son, was only a little over five years old!
Thinking of Itachi at five, Fugaku Uchiha slowly shook his head.
But his eyes grew ever more fervent.
He hadn't expected his younger son's talent to be so impressive, on top of how much more he'd started eating...
Boom!
Just as Fugaku Uchiha was reeling in shock, the fireball at the target suddenly exploded!
The enormous fireball vanished, leaving a huge crater in the ground.
Black smoke drifted from its surface.
The distortion in the air around it was proof enough of the crater's temperature.
Another pleasant surprise!
It seemed Sasuke's body really had undergone some kind of strange change.
And it was changing for the better.
In the middle of the clan's frustrating relocation, this was a wonderful piece of news.
It made Fugaku Uchiha overjoyed.
As for how much Sasuke ate... Who cared!
"Very good."
"From now on, if you want something to eat, tell Mikoto..."
"Never mind. I'll hire a professional cook instead. I'll arrange it."
"Keep training."
Fugaku Uchiha praised him with a smile.
He even took the initiative to offer Sasuke extra meals.
"Thank you, Father..."
Sasuke smiled.
That was right. This had been his goal all along.
He'd deliberately shown off today to solve his food problem.
Who knew what Sasuke had been through these past few days just to get something to eat...
Every day, he'd spent ages thinking up excuses to ask his mother to cook.
Fugaku nodded and turned to leave the training ground.
With his meals taken care of, Sasuke continued training to master his strengthened body.
He wouldn't move on to the next stage until he'd fully mastered his current strength.
He understood that trying to do too much at once would only leave him short of mastery.
That was the prudence expected of an adult.
The morning passed quickly.
"Master Sasuke, here's the lunch prepared for you."
"I'll bring you another meal every two hours."
A woman about the same age as Mikoto appeared at the training ground.
Fugaku Uchiha's efficiency was truly impressive!
Before you continue