Chapter 4

Fugaku put down the document in his hand and looked up at him. "Why did you approach that child?"

Sasuke did not dodge the question. His tone was very calm. "I just wanted to be friends with him."

"There's something about him other people don't have."

"As for what everyone says about demon foxes and all that... I don't believe it."

When he said that, the corner of Sasuke's eye twitched, and those black eyes of his shone for a rare instant.

He had not continued tempering his Lightning Release chakra today because his body had reached its limit. No matter how hard he forced himself, he could not complete the task the system had given him.

Right now, he only wanted to find another chance to zap Naruto and see if he could find a breakthrough through that route.

But after Fugaku heard what he said, he froze instead.

A five-year-old child wanted to play with another child. What reason did he need?

Had he overcomplicated things?

Fugaku was silent for a while. His fingers tapped twice on the desk, and he suddenly changed the subject. "Sasuke, let me ask you something."

"If one day a rift opens between the clan and the village—how would you choose?"

He had asked Itachi this question before.

Back then, Itachi's answer had been: he would use his own hands to become that bridge and support both sides of the rift.

No matter how pretty those words sounded, they were not the answer Fugaku wanted.

After Sasuke heard him, he did not even think about it. He raised his head and looked at his own father. "What rift or no rift?"

"I don't have a choice."

"I'm an Uchiha. I am now, and I will be in the future."

Sasuke answered without the slightest hesitation.

When Fugaku heard this, the corners of his mouth actually tugged into a faint smile.

That was right. They were Uchiha.

They had been before, and they would still be in the future.

Since cracks had already appeared in the clan's ship, then every person surnamed Uchiha had to have that awareness!

The study was quiet for a good while before Fugaku waved his hand and let Sasuke leave.

After returning to his room, the first thing Sasuke did was sit down and refine chakra.

There had only been one purpose in saying those words in front of that cheap old man today—to nail down the clan head's stance first.

As the clan head, he spent all day looking left and right, weighing this and that.

On the surface, it looked steady. In reality, it was useless as shit.

In the end, had he not still sold out the clan's radicals along with himself, staking the clan's fate entirely on Konoha?

In the end, the entire Uchiha clan was left with nothing but annihilation.

So this first step had to begin with the clan head. He had to carve the words "the clan" into his bones.

The next day.

On the way to school, a blond boy walked all alone. "No way, that demon fox is going to the Ninja Academy too?"

"Are you kidding? That's the monster that nearly destroyed our village!"

"What right does someone like that have to go to school?"

"What if he becomes a powerful ninja in the future and turns around to take revenge on us?"

"No, I have to go complain to Lord Hokage..."

The street that had originally been lively instantly took on a strange atmosphere because of that small figure's appearance.

The adults' faces were full of disgust and loathing. The curses spilling from their mouths were uglier than the last, and some children even threw trash and fruit cores at the boy.

That was right. It was Naruto, on his first day of school.

When he went out, he had specially put on the cleanest clothes he had washed himself. Although those clothes had already become a little too short, they were still his newest set.

He had also washed his face seriously three times, and had even scrubbed his hands several times.

He had already made up his mind. He was going to welcome his brand-new life.

Because yesterday, someone had been willing to be friends with him.

Naruto clenched both hands tightly, enduring with all his might, pretending he could not hear those curses and could not see those disgusting expressions either.

He only wanted to hurry, hurry and find the boy who had reached out to him yesterday—Uchiha Sasuke!

Bang!

Just then, half an apple smashed down in front of Naruto's feet. "Tch, just a demon fox, and he thinks he's worthy of going to the same school as us?"

"Yeah, yeah! My mom said you're a monster. Monsters should just be killed outright. Can you go die by yourself?"

"So disgusting. Did you guys see those marks on his face? Those are the marks of a monster."

Three little brats blocked Naruto's way, their faces full of smug mockery.

They even felt that they had done something especially amazing—the demon fox even adults feared, and yet they dared to bully him!

Just as Naruto was trying hard to endure it, a black figure suddenly entered his field of vision. "You guys are bullying someone of mine, Uchiha Sasuke?"

The low voice reached Naruto's ears.

For the first time, he felt that this arrogant-as-hell tone actually was not that annoying. "Someone of yours?"

"Is there something wrong with your head?"

"That's a monster, a demon fox!"

The leading little boy's face was full of disdain. He had not heard the danger in Sasuke's words at all. "Exactly, exactly. If you're friends with a demon fox, you're a monster too, right?"

Another brat also jumped out and jeered along. "Trash can only stay with trash. That's called..."

Smack!

Before he could finish, the brat who had been shouting was sent flying with a slap. "Bang, bang!"

Naturally, the remaining two could not run either.

Sasuke pressed the child's head down with one hand and slammed his face straight into the ground.

"Dad! This guy wants to kill us!"

"Waaah—"

The child's forehead was scraped open, and he immediately howled like a pig being slaughtered.

Not far away, when the adult man saw his son get beaten up, he rushed over in a flash, intending to snatch the child back and conveniently teach this ignorant little brat a lesson.

"Pfft!"

The next second, a hand clamped tightly around his wrist.

The force was astonishing, directly squeezing this chunin wearing a forehead protector down onto one knee.

"Hey, didn't you hear his self-introduction just now?"

"Uchiha Sasuke—"

"What, Chunin Morishita, are you planning to make a move against a junior of our Uchiha clan?"

Uchiha Natsume's gaze was as cold as a blade. The killing intent and displeasure he had accumulated all over his body erupted with a boom at this moment.

"Lord Natsume, I'm not..."

"I was just anxious to protect my kid. I absolutely never meant to go against you Uchiha."

Morishita's face was twisted in pain, and he could only give in.

He knew full well what kind of style the Uchiha had.

If this kept going, he would be dragged into the Police Force.

At that point, whether he could come out in one piece, even he was not sure.

"Naruto!"

"Come on, let's go to school."

Sasuke glanced at Natsume, did not stop him, and did not say much either. He directly called Naruto to leave together.

The people in the Police Force, especially the clan's pro-war faction, were not people Sasuke planned to get involved with before he had enough strength to shut everyone up.

"Mm!"

"Sasuke, I can call you that, right?"

"Of course."

"Here, this is my treasured cup ramen. I'll give it to you."

"Thanks. Then I'll give you a practice kunai."

Watching the two little figures walk farther and farther away, Natsume's expression became even stranger.

"Chunin Morishita, I suspect you of betraying the village. Come with me to the Police Force."

"You'd better cooperate. Otherwise, your family will have to be brought back for questioning too."

After throwing down those words, Natsume directly hauled the man away.

As for resisting?

He had tried to lay hands on an Uchiha junior in the middle of the street just now. That alone was enough for him to suffer.

No matter how far the Uchiha had fallen, they were still not someone a civilian ninja like him could touch.

In the Hokage's office.

"Lord Hokage, early this morning, Uchiha Fugaku's second son contacted the target again."

"Moreover, an elite jonin of the Uchiha clan was guarding him from the shadows."

The Anbu reported everything that had just happened to the Third, exactly as it was.

"Mm, I understand."

"Go."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded.

"Yes."

The Anbu vanished with a Body Flicker.

At this moment, a figure walked out from the side.

"Itachi."

"Your mission is complete?"

"Tell me, what attitude does your clan have toward the Jinchuriki?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe, and the calm on his face turned grave.

Itachi had been standing at the side the entire time.

The reason Hiruzen had made the Anbu withdraw was that he was afraid something that should not be said would pop out of the Anbu's mouth.

"The clan has no thoughts about the Jinchuriki."

"This is only Sasuke acting on his own."

"Of course, if someone really does interfere, I will handle it immediately."

Itachi spoke with a serious expression.

But in his heart, he had other calculations.

Only, none of it showed on his face.

The morning course schedule was culture class.

To put it bluntly, it was a self-praise convention cooked up by that shameless old bastard Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Apparently, these teaching materials had all been personally compiled by the Third Hokage.

On the surface, they talked about historical events, war analysis, local customs and practices...

But in reality, every single line praised how awesome he was.

Even his photo had been printed in them.

It had to be said, when it came to thick skin, if Hiruzen Sarutobi claimed second place, no one would dare claim first.

The strongest Hokage, the Professor of Ninjutsu...

Giving himself titles like that was really not something one could do without a thick skin. "Sasuke, look, is that the Third Hokage?"

"Why does he look exactly like the old grandpa who often comes to see me, brings me things, and never looks down on me?"

"I... could Lord Hokage have been secretly watching over me all this time?"

Naruto lowered his voice, his tone full of excitement, and hurriedly shared this discovery with Sasuke, who sat at the same desk.

That was right. The two of them had been assigned to the same class.

School had just started, so they could choose seats freely. Since the two of them were friends, they naturally sat together. "I know."

The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched.

This guy Naruto—would he really be able to accept the Third's true face later?

The effect of this brainwashing class... really was impressive!

This matter was quite troublesome.

In Sasuke's plan, Hiruzen Sarutobi and that group of higher-ups had to be cleaned out sooner or later.

But Naruto was different. This guy was the child of destiny, the author's own son, and could not just be tossed aside casually.

It seemed he had to find a way to make Naruto understand the concept of a "good person" all over again.

The morning classes quietly slipped away while he was pondering these things.

Noon.

Everyone else ran off to the cafeteria to eat.

Naruto sat alone in the classroom.

He had no money in his pocket and could not afford a meal. "Take it."

"I saved it for you."

Sasuke pushed the lunch box he had brought in front of him.

There had been several lunch boxes in his bag to begin with. They had not been specially prepared for Naruto. It was just that he had a big appetite and needed to eat several portions. "Eat. I have more."

Sasuke took out a second lunch box and started eating directly.

Thinking so hard that morning had burned through a lot of his strength.

Besides, he had more or less come up with a solution.

The afternoon was ninjutsu class.

At first, it mainly covered the basic principles of ninjutsu, chakra nature classifications...

These foundational things had long since been taught at home to children from clans.

Someone like Naruto, who knew absolutely nothing, could only listen with his ears perked up, his face full of curiosity.

The moment the school bell rang, Sasuke was the first to rush out of the classroom.

Naruto had originally wanted to go home with him, only to realize Sasuke had already left, and he felt a little disappointed.

But he did not chase after him either.

He was afraid that if he got too close, he would scare away the friend he had finally managed to make.

Under the setting sun, he dragged his lonely shadow behind him as he walked in the direction of home.

Elsewhere, Sasuke slipped deep into the woods. "Uncle Natsume, are you there?"

Sasuke called out softly. "Whoosh—"

A figure appeared directly in front of him. "Sasuke, do you need something from me?"

Natsume looked at him with an even tone.

As an expert in the clan from the same generation as Uchiha Fugaku, in Natsume's eyes, Sasuke was simply a junior.

It was just that this child's status was special: he was the clan head's young master. "Uncle Natsume, I want to borrow some money."

"Can you give it to me first?"

Sasuke held out his hand directly.

Though he felt a little puzzled, Natsume still took out some money and gave it to him.

Sasuke took the money, did not say another word, turned around, and left.

By the lake, Naruto picked up a stone and threw it into the water. Watching the ripples spread in circle after circle, the heart he had only just calmed down was stirred up again.

Sure enough—he still could not learn how to get along with friends. "What, were you waiting for me?"