Chapter 3

After training for this long, his cells had already adapted to the ** of Lightning Release chakra."Naruto Uzumaki!"

Sasuke's mind flashed again with Naruto's face.

That guy was the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, and a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan.

His physical constitution was obviously a huge cut above Sasuke's.

Most importantly, he had never trained properly at all, yet he already had such a body that could take a beating, such powerful recovery, and such a terrifying amount of chakra.

If...

If he could study Naruto's body and shock him a little with Lightning Release...

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

Sasuke had no desire to just stop where he was.

Even less did he want to follow the path Itachi had arranged for him."Zzzzt, zzzzt..."

Tiny arcs of electricity leaped from Sasuke's fingertips."I really want... to let Naruto have a taste of this..."

--

"Achoo!"

Naruto, who was hugging an expired cup of instant noodles and slurping it down in big mouthfuls, felt his nose itch and let out a loud sneeze."Who's thinking about me?"

He rubbed his nose, and for some reason, that face from earlier in the day surfaced in his mind."Uchiha..."

"A whole family moving here and there. Sounds pretty lively."

"Family..."

He sniffed, lowered his head, and kept wrestling with the instant noodles.

The strange bond between the two little guys seemed as if it was about to sprout ahead of time.

The Hokage's office."Lord Hokage, the Uchiha side has settled in."

"Anbu have been arranged to keep watch around the perimeter."

"Danzo's Root also has informants there."

"For now, there hasn't been any trouble."

--

The Anbu reported every detail of the Uchiha relocation."Mm. Thank you for your hard work."

"Looks like that fellow Fugaku chose the safe path after all."

"Prepare some food and clothes. I need to make a trip out."

"School starts in a few days."

As Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke, he took off the Hokage's ceremonial robe.

He left the office building.

In front of the old apartment building, the Third stood at Naruto's door carrying food and clothes."Knock, knock, knock—"

"Who is it?"

"Old man!"

"Why'd you come all the way here?"

"Let me tell you..."

As soon as the door opened and Naruto saw who had come, his eyes lit up and he pounced over.

He chattered on about the "new stuff" that had happened recently.

Catching fish, raiding bird nests, pulling pranks, and that Uchiha guy he had run into today...

Watching Naruto in front of him, face full of trust and body brimming with life, the Third curved his lips, a deeper meaning hidden in his eyes.

The jinchuriki now was more or less already something in Hiruzen Sarutobi's palm.

With this dependence, controlling him later would be—

"Naruto, do you want to go to school?"

"You'll get to make new friends, learn lots of things, and become an amazing ninja in the future!"

The Third smiled like a kind, benevolent grandfather, coaxing his own little grandson."School?"

"I want to go!"

Naruto clenched his fists and bounced in excitement.

--

An hour later.

The Third came out of Naruto's home.

An Anbu helped him put the Hokage's robe back on."Keep watching him closely."

"Root's people are not allowed to approach him. The same goes for any other unrelated people. Stop them if you discover them."

The Third left those two sentences behind, his voice without warmth, then turned and left.

--

The Uchiha's new residence."Sasuke, you'll be going to school in a few days."

"These are new clothes. I prepared them for you."

"When you get to school, you must get along well with your classmates. Maybe in the future, they'll be comrades fighting shoulder to shoulder with you."

--

Sasuke, who still had not gone to sleep, was pulled in front of Mikoto, who carefully and thoroughly explained everything about entering school.

There was clearly still a full week before school officially started."Mm."

"I know, Mom."

"I'll be careful."

--

"Sasuke, you're not asleep yet, are you?"

"I knew it. You were hiding away to refine chakra again..."

Mikoto had only just left when Itachi's footsteps followed.

It was another round of hard-core preaching.

Sasuke looked disgusted and impatient, and did not give him a pleasant expression the whole time.

Itachi's mood visibly dropped by half, and he retreated dejectedly.

Sure enough, once a younger brother grew up, he could no longer be controlled.

Early on the morning of school registration, Sasuke was still dreaming in bed when Mikoto Uchiha and Itachi dragged him out from under the covers.

His clothes were carefully straightened several times. Only after confirming that there was not a single flaw to pick at did Mikoto take Sasuke out the door.

Itachi stood at the entrance and watched them go, a smile on his face, though his heart held some regret—on his younger brother's first day of school, he just had to have a mission he could not shake off. This was probably the first time he had ever disliked a mission for coming at the wrong time.

Because the Uchiha Clan had only recently moved, by the time the two of them arrived at the school gates, the grounds were already packed with adults and children.

Sasuke swept his eyes around and did not see Naruto.

Thinking about it, that was normal. That guy had no one to send him to school. Maybe the Third Hokage would stuff him straight into the school. Most likely, he would not see him today.

But just as he withdrew his gaze, the school gate erupted into commotion."Why is that demon fox here too?!"

"What's a demon fox, Mom?"

"Don't ask stupid questions. Getting involved with that thing brings bad luck. Stay away from him at school, do you hear me?"

"Mm..."

"Tch, that kind of troublemaker? I can't be bothered to play with him."

"I know, I know! He's the demon fox! The village was destroyed because of him!"

All kinds of chaotic words drilled into Sasuke's ears.

He looked toward the noise.

A little boy stood on an open patch not far away, clutching a wrinkled piece of paper in his hand. His clothes had been washed until they were faded white. His head was lowered, and his expression could not be seen. His whole body was curled in on itself, as if he wanted to hide himself away from this world."Sasuke?"

Mikoto was just about to help him fill out the registration form when she turned her head and found her son gone.

She saw Sasuke walking toward that noisy crowd. She was a little curious, but did not stop him. She thought her son had probably found a little friend he wanted to make.

Footsteps stopped in front of Naruto."Hello, my name is Sasuke Uchiha."

That voice was very calm, as if he had casually said the most ordinary thing in the world."What's your name?"

Naruto's whole body trembled. He slowly raised his head and stared blankly at the little boy in front of him, who was half a head taller than he was."Naruto... Uzumaki."

He almost subconsciously said his own name.

He had never imagined something like this. He had not even dared to dream of it.

On the surface, he spent all day laughing and fooling around without a serious bone in his body, but the shadow in his heart had never dispersed. But now, someone like a beam of light was standing right in front of him."Naruto Uzumaki... Then I'll call you Naruto, okay?"

"We'll be going to school together from now on. Want to be friends?"

Sasuke stretched out his hand, open and natural.

Naruto was completely dumbfounded.

It was not just him. The parents nearby, who had still been chattering a moment ago, were all stunned too, each with their mouths hanging open, forgetting to close them.

A child from the Uchiha family, who had just been ostracized by the entire village, actually wanted to be friends with Konoha's demon fox monster?

Was there anything more absurd in this world?

"...Okay!"

Naruto nodded hard, a not-too-bright silly grin hanging on his face.

After the two little guys agreed to be friends, Sasuke very simply withdrew his hand and turned back to Mikoto's side.

Naruto handed the enrollment notice in his hand to the teacher, then waved at Sasuke and took off running.

Strictly speaking, he fled.

He was still not used to this kind of scene. Pretending to be crazy, acting dumb, and laughing things off—he could do all that without blushing or his heart skipping a beat. But when someone treated him seriously and kindly, he had absolutely no idea how to deal with it.

Sincerity, sometimes, was even more powerful than a ninjutsu's ** power."Mom, do you think he's a monster too?"

Mikoto was standing there in a daze when Sasuke's voice suddenly came beside her ear."Huh?"

"No... Mom doesn't think that."

Mikoto had not thought in any other direction at all. She and Itachi had already reminded Sasuke several times about making friends.

But the problem was—Sasuke's eye for choosing friends seemed a little off...

"Mom, let's go back."

Sasuke did not ask any more.

Mikoto answered, took his hand, and turned to leave.

Behind them, the little girls who had been charmed by Sasuke's face now had their thoughts turn sour—who told him to go and make friends with Naruto of all people?

Of course, Sasuke did not care about any of that at all.

Women... heh, he could not be bothered.

Inside the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Sasuke was happily stuffing food into his mouth.

Mikoto sat beside him, staring at him with a thoughtful look in her eyes.

But in Fugaku's study, the atmosphere was not so relaxed.

Several people sat there, their faces darker than the next.

Fugaku, Itachi, Nagasawa, Natsume, Shisui."Clan head, logically speaking, we shouldn't interfere in Sasuke making friends..."

"But that's Naruto Uzumaki."

After a long silence, Nagasawa was the first to speak.

He was Fugaku's staunch supporter, the captain of the First Division of the Police Force. Every word he said came from the standpoint of the clan's interests.

Sasuke was the clan head's younger son. His every move would be watched by the higher-ups, and might even implicate the entire Uchiha.

The clan compound had only just finished moving not long ago, and the clan head's younger son ran off to get close to the Nine-Tails jinchuriki?

Wasn't that plainly asking for suspicion?

For the current Uchiha, it was very troublesome."Nagasawa has a point."

"Young Master Sasuke needs to be more cautious in what he does."

"Today's matter can at most be counted as a child throwing a tantrum, wanting to be different from others."

"But clan head—"

Natsume was also a pro-war faction member, and likewise did not want Sasuke provoking Naruto at a time like this.

If they were watched by Anbu, then it would really become a headache."Father... Clan head, Sasuke has only just left the compound, and he doesn't understand the outside—"

"Enough. I know."

"If this is only about Sasuke, there's no need to say more."

"If there is nothing else, all of you may go back first."

Fugaku did not wait for Itachi to finish speaking before directly cutting him off.

This younger son of his, he still had not figured out.

Recently, whether in talent or temperament, he had changed quite a bit.

Before he figured out what exactly was going on with Sasuke, Fugaku did not plan to interfere."Understood, clan head."

"But—"

Nagasawa nodded and stood up, preparing to leave.

On the way, he also dragged away Natsume, who still wanted to speak.

Shisui did not say a single extra word from beginning to end. He cupped his hands and also withdrew from the study."Can't understand it?"

"You think this will bring trouble to the clan?"

"Or are you afraid that those people in Konoha will be unhappy?"

Fugaku looked at Itachi's face full of confusion, and the anger pressed down in his heart also flared up.

This son was a piece the clan had planted among Konoha's higher-ups, but his performance... was truly not very satisfying.

On top of that, Shisui and Itachi were too close, their relationship ambiguous.

Most importantly, his younger son had now shown extraordinary talent as well.

With all these things piled together, Fugaku's attitude had unknowingly changed. "No, Father. I'm just worried about Sasuke—"

"Do what you're supposed to do."

"The clan needs you to act."

After Fugaku finished speaking, he waved a hand. "Go."

Sasuke had just stopped on the training field, the sweat on his forehead not yet wiped clean, when he heard footsteps coming from the distance.

Itachi walked up to him, his eyes carrying something hard to put into words.

Sasuke glanced up at him and frowned. "Brother, can you stop looking at me like that?"

"Free today? Spar with me?"

The kid sounded disdainful, but he had already put away the kunai in his hand, clearly waiting for Itachi to nod.

But Itachi did not respond at all. His mind kept circling back to Fugaku's cold face from earlier. "Um... Father told you to go to his study after dinner." Itachi paused, his tone a little awkward. "I have another mission later. I'll spar with you when I get back."

The trace of expectation on Sasuke's face scattered at once, and he wiped his sweat expressionlessly as he walked out.

After taking two steps, he looked back at Itachi. "Brother, there's something I've always wanted to say."

"I don't think the path Brother Shisui took was right."

"If the direction is wrong from the very beginning, then no matter how far you go, it's all for nothing."

With that, he strode out of the training field, leaving Itachi with only his small, thin back.

Itachi stood frozen in place, frowning and thinking for a long time, but he still could not grasp what his younger brother had meant.

The mission time was almost here, so he had no time to think further. His figure flashed, and he vanished from the spot.

In the study.

Sasuke sat properly across from Fugaku, his back ramrod straight.