The Beginning of a Bond!

Three days later, the day had come for the Uchiha Clan to move as a whole.

At the new site, Hiruzen Sarutobi had thoughtfully made sure the basic layout was already built.

As Hokage, his actions had undoubtedly led some foolish people to praise him as wise and magnanimous.

But to the Uchiha Clan, this was clearly a signal urging them to move as soon as possible.

Today.

In the eyes of most Uchiha, it was the day their clan suffered humiliation!

On the road.

For some reason, there were far more bystanders than usual along the roadside today.

Every so often, murmurs of discussion drifted over.

If Fugaku Uchiha and some of the clan's stronger members hadn't kept their hot-tempered clansmen in check, a few of them would probably have charged over and started hitting people.

The Uchiha, who valued their clan's honor so highly, had been forced to move their home today.

On top of this utter humiliation, they had become a topic of conversation for others.

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

As for Sasuke.

He mingled indifferently with the crowd.

He didn't feel much attachment to the Uchiha.

As a transmigrator, he didn't care about what other people said, either.

Taking these villagers who blindly followed what others said seriously would clearly be foolish.

As for the Uchiha... there weren't many decent people among them, either.

They were either arrogant about their talents or acted like bullies.

Still, however bad they were, he was a member of the Uchiha now.

There wasn't much he could do for the time being, but he'd have to think things over carefully from here on.

After all, as the clan head's son, he got very good food.

If the clan was wiped out, he wouldn't find another place with such a good free feast.

As much as possible... he'd try to keep the Uchiha from being wiped out.

As he pondered.

A commotion broke out up ahead.

A figure came stumbling toward them.

"Baka... come and catch me!"

"You really think you can catch me?"

A small figure held a bucket of paint in his hands.

The three whisker marks on his cheeks made his identity clear.

Konoha's greatest tragedy, the Child of Destiny—Uzumaki Naruto!

At that moment, Naruto was dashing forward with a smug look on his face, while two adults chased after him, furious.

It was obvious that Naruto had used the bucket of paint in his hands on them.

"I don't know what Lord Hokage is thinking. A demon fox like that should've been executed. Why leave him in the village?"

"Lord Hokage is just merciful. In any other village, they'd have killed him long ago, right?"

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

The two middle-aged men spoke, then couldn't be bothered to chase Naruto any longer.

Instead, they turned and left.

With no "pursuers" left, Naruto stopped.

The onlookers, who had been focused on the Uchiha Clan's move, now shifted their topic of discussion as well.

[That demon fox brat]!

"How irritating. Why did I have to run into him?"

"Mom, who's that? Why do you hate him?"

"He's the demon fox, a monster who brought disaster to the village. Don't look at him. He'll notice you and eat you!"

"Something that almost destroyed the village should be driven out!"

All kinds of venomous curses reached the ears of the five-year-old boy.

The Uchiha were even harsher.

After all, their clan's relocation today had everything to do with the Nine-Tails Rebellion.

Naturally, the Uchiha's hatred of Naruto ran deep.

The smug look on Naruto's face had now vanished completely.

He'd finally managed to get people to pay attention to him, but now he was utterly silent.

Just as Naruto looked up, ready to throw the bucket of paint in his hands at the crowd and run off again.

A gaze met his.

It belonged to a child about his age in the Uchiha Clan's procession.

The Uchiha...

Naruto knew that name very well.

The Konoha Military Police Force held a great deal of power.

Most importantly, the people of that clan had always been displeased with him.

In fact, last month, when he'd been causing trouble, they'd caught him and given him a stern warning at the Military Police Force.

Every Uchiha looked at him with disgust.

But this boy, who was about his age, gazed at him with clear, bright eyes.

Before long, though, Sasuke left with the Uchiha procession.

Naruto threw the bucket of paint at the crowd, then disappeared from sight.

Only after they reached their new home did Sasuke understand his clansmen's anger.

The place was already close to the village wall.

They'd chosen to completely isolate the Uchiha from the village's center of power.

Most of the clan members were still indignant, loudly voicing their discontent.

Some of them, however, had cold looks in their eyes, as if plotting something.

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

The most unusual one was Sasuke. As soon as they reached their new home, he started eating and drinking to his heart's content... He could be considered a freak among the Uchiha Clan.

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

Itachi left as well.

Sasuke knew they were probably going to soothe the clan's anger and deal with some sensitive matters.

For now, though, it had nothing to do with him.

Besides, he knew the original story. With Uchiha Shisui around, they wouldn't be fighting just yet...

Back in his room, Sasuke continued manipulating the nature transformation of his Lightning Style chakra, using it to temper his cells.

This time, Sasuke stopped very quickly.

"Has my body already reached its limit?"

Sasuke held out both hands, a trace of helplessness on his face.

After all, he was only five.

After being tempered for this while, his cells had already adapted to being scoured by the nature transformation of Lightning Style chakra.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

Suddenly, Naruto's image appeared in Sasuke's mind again.

As a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and a member of the Uzumaki Clan.

Naruto's physical constitution was clearly much stronger than his.

Most importantly, he hadn't even trained, yet he already had an incredible physique, recovery, and chakra reserves.

If...

If he could examine Naruto's body and give him a shock with his Lightning Style.

Maybe he could find a way to break through his physical limits!

Sasuke had no intention of letting himself stagnate like this.

And then being forced to accept the fate Uchiha Itachi had arranged for him.

"Zzzzt..."

An electric arc rose from Sasuke's fingertip.

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

"Achoo!"

Naruto, who was eating delicious cup noodles [expired instant noodles], sneezed.

"Is someone thinking about me?"

Naruto rubbed his nose, but the image of that boy appeared in his mind.

"The Uchiha?"

"Being able to move with your family must be a happy thing..."

"Family..."

Naruto sniffled, then went back to enjoying his meal.

The inexplicable bond between the two children seemed to be starting early...