The Beginning of Bonds!

Three days later, the day arrived for the Uchiha clan to relocate in its entirety.

At the new site, Hiruzen Sarutobi had thoughtfully ensured the general layout was properly constructed.

As Hokage, his actions undoubtedly led some simple-minded folk to loudly praise his wisdom and magnanimity.

But to the members of the Uchiha clan, this was undeniably a signal urging them to move as quickly as possible.

Today.

In the eyes of most Uchiha clansmen, this was a day of humiliation for the family!

On the road.

For some reason, there were an unusually large number of idlers along the roadside today.

From time to time, bursts of discussion drifted over.

Had it not been for Fugaku Uchiha and some of the clan's powerhouses keeping them in check, some of the hot-tempered Uchiha clansmen would likely have rushed over to beat them up.

The Uchiha, who regarded family honor as so paramount, were being forced to relocate their clan grounds today.

Under the weight of such profound shame, they had also become fodder for gossip.

This double humiliation planted the seeds of hostility toward the village in the hearts of many Uchiha...

As for Sasuke.

He was nonchalantly mixed in with the crowd.

He did not have much emotional attachment to the Uchiha.

Given his identity as a transmigrator, he did not care about the chatter of others.

To take these villagers, who merely echoed what others said, seriously would clearly be a foolish act.

As for the Uchiha... they weren't exactly a bunch of saints either.

They were either arrogant and conceited or overbearing and tyrannical.

But no matter how bad they were, he was currently a member of the Uchiha.

There wasn't much he could do for the time being, but he would need to think things through carefully moving forward.

After all, as the son of the Uchiha clan head, the food was quite good.

If the clan were wiped out, he wouldn't be able to find such good free meals anywhere else.

He should try his best... not to let the Uchiha be exterminated.

While he was lost in thought.

A commotion broke out ahead.

A figure came stumbling over.

"Baka... come and chase me if you can!"

"Do you really think you can catch me?"

A small figure was holding a paint bucket in his hand.

The three whisker-like marks on his face made his identity clear.

The greatest tragedy of Konoha, the Child of Prophecy—Uzumaki Naruto!

At this moment, Uzumaki Naruto was sprinting forward with a smug look on his face, while two adults followed behind him, looking utterly exasperated.

Clearly, the paint bucket in Naruto's hand had been used on them.

"I really don't know what the Hokage is thinking. A demon fox like this should be executed; why keep him in the village?"

"It's only because the Hokage is merciful. In any other village, he would have been killed long ago, right?"

"Forget it, stop chasing. I don't want to have anything more to do with this demon fox. Who knows, if we catch him, we might be cursed with bad luck for the rest of our lives."

As the two middle-aged men spoke, they couldn't be bothered to chase Uzumaki Naruto any further.

Instead, they turned and left.

Without his "pursuers," Uzumaki Naruto came to a halt.

The onlookers, who had originally focused their attention on the Uchiha clan's relocation, now shifted their topic of discussion.

[The Demon Fox brat]!

"How disgusting, why are we so unlucky to run into him?"

"Mommy, who is that person? Why do you hate him?"

"He is a demon fox, a monster that brought disaster to the village. Don't look, or he'll target you and eat you!"

"Something like that, which nearly destroyed the village, should be driven out of the village!"

All sorts of spiteful curses reached the ears of the five-year-old child.

The Uchiha's behavior was even more pronounced.

After all, today's clan-wide relocation was inseparable from the Nine-Tails incident.

Naturally, the Uchiha's loathing for Naruto ran deep.

As for Naruto, the smugness that had just been on his face vanished completely.

Having finally managed to attract some attention, he was now incredibly quiet.

Just as Naruto looked up, preparing to splash the paint bucket in his hands and then run away, a gaze met his.

It was a child in the Uchiha clan's procession, roughly his own age.

Uchiha...

Naruto was very familiar with that name.

The Konoha Military Police Force held immense power.

Most importantly, the people of this clan had always been very dissatisfied with him.

In fact, when he had caused trouble last month, he had even been dragged to the Military Police Force and given a stern warning.

Every Uchiha looked at him with disgust.

Yet this child, who was the same age as him, stared at him with a clear gaze.

But soon, Sasuke followed the Uchiha procession and left the area.

Naruto tossed the paint bucket toward the crowd and disappeared from the scene.

Upon arriving at the new clan grounds, Sasuke finally understood the clansmen's anger.

This place was nearly bordering the village's perimeter wall.

This was a choice intended to completely isolate the Uchiha from the center of power in the village.

Most of the clansmen were still filled with righteous indignation, shouting their dissatisfaction.

A small number of clansmen, however, had cold, dark eyes, as if they were plotting something.

There were also clansmen like Uchiha Shisui who breathed a secret sigh of relief...

The most peculiar one was Sasuke; as soon as he arrived at the new clan grounds, he started eating and drinking to his heart's content... This could be considered a freak occurrence within the Uchiha clan.

In the evening, after dinner, Fugaku Uchiha left the courtyard.

Itachi left as well.

Sasuke knew it was likely to appease the clansmen's emotions and to handle some specific matters.

However, these things had nothing to do with him for the time being.

Plus, knowing the original plot and with Uchiha Shisui around, they wouldn't be fighting just yet...

Returning to his room, Sasuke continued to manipulate the nature transformation of his Lightning Release chakra, beginning to temper his cells.

This time, Sasuke stopped very quickly.

"Has my body already reached its limit?"

Sasuke stretched out his hands, a hint of helplessness appearing on his face.

After all, he was only five years old.

After this period of tempering, his cells had already adapted to the scouring of the Lightning Release chakra's nature transformation.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

Suddenly, Naruto's appearance surfaced in Sasuke's mind once again.

As the Nine-Tails jinchuriki and a member of the Uzumaki Clan, Naruto's physical constitution was clearly much stronger than his own.

Most importantly, even without training, he possessed a powerful physique, recovery ability, and chakra reserves.

If...

If he could observe Naruto's body and give him a jolt with his own Lightning Release, perhaps he could find a way to break through his physical limits!

Sasuke had no intention of stagnating like this, only to be forced to accept the fate arranged by Itachi Uchiha.

"Zzzzt..."

An electric arc flickered at the tips of Sasuke's fingers.

"I really want to... give Naruto a shock..."

"Achoo!"

Naruto, who was currently eating a delicious cup of noodles [expired instant noodles], let out a sneeze.

"Is someone thinking of me?"

Naruto rubbed his nose, yet the figure of that boy appeared in his mind.

"An Uchiha?"

"Being able to move away with one's own family must be a very happy thing..."

"Family..."

Naruto sniffled, then returned to enjoying his meal.

Between the two children, that inexplicable bond seemed as if it were about to begin ahead of schedule...