Chapter 42

Sasuke had only just left, and Itachi did not dwell on the matter. His fingers moved lightly a few times behind his back, and then he vanished into thin air.

Once Itachi was gone, Sasuke could not sit still either. It had not been easy to become a kid again—how could he stay cooped up at home every day? Besides, going out for a stroll was part of training too.

Ten minutes later. "Hm?"

"Where is he?"

"Didn't we agree to eat?"

Susanoo stood there holding a huge tray of food, frozen in place. There was no one in front of him, only himself left dumbfounded.

On the street. "Look, that's the kid from the Uchiha family! The Uchiha are Konoha's guardian gods now. I think they should've moved back to their old clan grounds ages ago."

"That's the clan head's younger son, Uchiha Sasuke. I heard he's an incredible genius ninja."

"A genius is great. The village will have someone to rely on in the future!"

"Hey, have you noticed? This kid is really adorable. He'll definitely grow into a handsome young man. Who knows how many little girls he'll charm to death."

"What nonsense are you spouting? He's still so young!"

The moment Sasuke stepped onto the street, the voices around him exploded.

They were all praising the Uchiha.

Some even praised him personally.

Even a little brat like Sasuke could have his background dug up so clearly. Then famous ninja like Uchiha Natsume, Nagasaki Uchiha, and Shisui Uchiha would probably be praised to the skies, wouldn't they?

Even though Sasuke had lived two lives and was much more mentally mature than his peers, under this kind of praise, he could not help feeling a little smug. "Sasuke!"

Just then, a familiar voice reached his ears. "Lee?"

"Teacher Guy."

Sasuke turned and saw Rock Lee and Might Guy.

Under the sun, that glittering green tracksuit and mouthful of bright white teeth were truly dazzling. "Sasuke, Teacher Guy told me to come find you for one-on-one taijutsu practice."

"That way, he can find my problems faster."

"Sasuke, are you willing to sweat with me for the sake of youth?"

Rock Lee explained everything in one breath, his face full of vibrant energy.

As expected.

Guys who wore green were all hot-blooded idiots. "Sure. Let's go to the public training ground."

Sasuke did not hesitate and nodded right away.

Before long, the two entered the training ground.

Might Guy acted as the referee.

When people heard Sasuke had arrived, a crowd of little fangirls gathered around the training ground, each of them starry-eyed. "Sasuke, I've been training very hard recently. Don't get careless."

Lee looked confident and raised his arms into a fighting stance. "Take off those weights on your body first."

"If you fight me wearing that stuff, you won't even be able to catch my shadow."

Sasuke lifted the corners of his mouth and smiled.

He had not expected Lee to already be strapping on things like that at this age.

No wonder he later managed to squeeze into the Konoha Twelve on pure taijutsu alone. It was not without reason.

After hearing that, Lee turned to look at Might Guy—his teacher had said he was not allowed to take them off without permission. "Since your opponent has said that, then go all out!"

"With our youth, face our opponent head-on!"

Might Guy suddenly caught fire. "Yes!"

"Teacher, I'll listen to you!"

Lee clenched his fists until they cracked.

Then he removed all the weights on his body.

One lump of iron after another smashed into the ground, gouging deep pits into the surface. When Sasuke saw that scene, the corner of his mouth could not help twitching a few times—was this guy already this monstrous at this age?

"Sasuke, I hope you'll also use your full strength against me."

"When you trained with us before, you definitely held back, right?"

"Let me see exactly how strong you are!"

"Please!"

Lee set his stance again, his face filled with excitement. "Since you put it that way, I won't hide anything either."

"Lightning God Mode!"

Sasuke raised a finger and directly activated Lightning God Mode. Immediately afterward, Armament Haki was released at the same time. "This..."

A terrifying pressure bore down on him. A layer of cold sweat seeped from Lee's forehead, and his pupils trembled unconsciously. "Lee!"

At that moment, Might Guy gave a low shout. "I understand, Teacher!"

"Ah—ha—"

Lee roared, raised his momentum to the peak, and charged fiercely toward Sasuke.

Standard Konoha taijutsu.

Combined with Lee's monstrous physical ability, the power this taijutsu unleashed was simply frightening.

But...

"Too slow!"

"Bang!"

"Lee, is this all the speed you have?"

"Bang!"

"Not enough. If this is your level, you'll never stand at the peak of the Shinobi World. You still need more training!"

"Bang!"

Lightning God Mode plus Armament Haki.

Sasuke's current speed left Lee several streets behind.

A crushing victory.

That was right. Sasuke finally experienced the feeling Susanoo must have had when he had beaten him up back then.

If this feeling had to be described in one word, it was—fucking amazing!

The people watching from the side all thought more or less the same thing—this kind of fist-to-flesh fighting was just satisfying to watch.

The key was that both of their fighting skills were not bad.

Even though Lee had been suppressed the whole time, he kept looking for chances to counterattack.

Lee's stubborn refusal to go down, combined with Sasuke's unbelievably handsome attacks, was simply a beautiful sight.

And at that moment, one person's face showed surprise and delight.

Might Guy.

As the person closest to the fight, and a taijutsu master himself, he could tell at a glance that Sasuke was not simple.

Aside from using Lightning Release to strengthen his body and increase his speed, reactions, and attack power, Might Guy also noticed the Armament Haki on Sasuke's body.

Although he did not yet have the term "Armament Haki" in his mind, he knew it was definitely a special method of using energy.

With both enhancements at once, it was normal that Lee could not win.

Might Guy was excited because—on the path of youth, there really had always been people charging forward!

That was right. Might Guy had taken an interest in his talent.

With Uchiha Sasuke's talent and current physical condition, if he learned the Eight Gates...

At that thought, Might Guy's gaze grew burning hot.

If there was someone who could accompany Lee in charging forward on the road of youth, that would also be a great thing for Lee.

After fighting for a full half hour, Lee finally could not hold on anymore.

To be honest, even Sasuke admired Lee's physical condition a little.

Under this kind of overwhelming assault, Lee had actually endured for so long...

Lee flipped over and stood up, patting the dirt from his body.

That man across from him called Susanoo was indeed absurdly strong, but from beginning to end, he had held back while fighting and had not gotten serious at all. Looking back at himself, every time he fought that man, the amount of time he lasted was far worse than Lee's.

It was not that his body could not take it. It was that the string in his bones had loosened.

That guy Lee's will on the path of taijutsu was as hard as iron, unmoved by thunder. "Do you want to go to the medical team?"

Sasuke walked up to Lee and reached out his hand. "It's fine. Teacher Guy will treat me later."

Lee grabbed Sasuke's hand and grinned. "Sasuke, you've shot up another level again!"

"And that was still without using chakra, just fists and kicks."

"Looks like on this track of youth, I'll have to work even harder if I want to catch up to you."

Sasuke pulled him up, and Might Guy walked over to the two of them at that moment. "You're Uchiha Sasuke?"

"If one day you want to follow me and train in taijutsu, my door is always open to you."

"I'll take Lee to the medical department first."

After leaving those words behind, Guy picked Lee up and left.

Sasuke tilted his head, frozen in place.

What did that mean?

Was Might Guy planning to teach him the Eight Gates?

At that thought, Sasuke shook his head again and again. With that thing, punching someone else once crippled half your own life first. If you lost control even once, it would be a lifelong matter. Just look at what happened to Lee in the original story and it was clear.

Forget it. Better not touch that thing.

Sasuke turned and left.

In the Hokage's office. "His taijutsu attainment can surpass Guy's direct disciple?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the image in the crystal ball, his brows furrowing.

Uchiha Sasuke. This child had to be thoroughly tested.

Shisui and Itachi had both grown up under the influence of the Will of Fire. Although this kid Sasuke shouted slogans loudly, not a single necessary procedure could be skipped. As long as the most outstanding seedling of this Uchiha generation was held in his hand, everything afterward would be easier to handle.

The line to Sasuke absolutely could not be cut. "Lord Hokage, someone brought another silk banner."

The guard at the door walked in carrying a new banner. "Put it there."

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and nodded.

The guard put the item down and withdrew. "Knock, knock, knock—"

The door sounded again. "Enter."

Sarutobi put away the crystal ball and cleared his throat.

The door opened, and Uchiha Fugaku walked in with Shisui and Itachi.

All three of them looked rather grim. "You've come together. What happened?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's tone also sank a little. "We investigated something, and this matter requires you, Lord Hokage, to make the decision."

Fugaku's voice was very low. "These days, the streets have been full of people praising us Uchiha, and raising you up along the way. We've already traced the line behind it."

"It's Danzo Shimura. Even confinement didn't stop him."

"In addition, we also discovered several suspicious Uchiha clansmen."

Fugaku paused there. "Suspicious Uchiha?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi had long since known about the matters before that. Danzo's little moves could not hide from him at all.

But that last sentence left Hiruzen Sarutobi a little confused. "Mm."

"Back when several Shinobi World Wars were fought, after our Uchiha clansmen died, we recovered every Sharingan we could."

"But to be honest, there was still a batch of eyes we couldn't find."

"That means the Sharingan may have ended up outside."

"Over the years, whenever we heard that someone outside had obtained a Sharingan, our entire clan would mobilize to pursue it, so they never appeared in the Shinobi World."

"The only one that can be seen is Kakashi Hatake in Konoha Village. That eye was given to him by Obito, so we didn't pursue the matter."

"But this time, so many Sharingan of unknown origin suddenly appeared, wandering around the village..."

Uchiha Fugaku roughly explained the matter.

After Hiruzen Sarutobi finished listening, his expression sank at once.

Danzo wanting to swallow the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan was not something that had started only a day or two ago. He had even said it several times right in front of him.

Now that something like this had appeared.

To put it plainly, Danzo did not want to give up the power in his hands and intended to completely cut off his path of retreat. "I understand."

"Fugaku, what do you have in mind?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi thought for a few seconds, then asked.

Since they had come to him, they must have a plan in mind. "Lord Hokage, we hope you can issue the Uchiha a special mission."

After Uchiha Fugaku finished speaking, he handed over the scroll in his hand.

Hiruzen Sarutobi opened the scroll and read it carefully.

After finishing it, a hint of pleased surprise appeared on his face.

These Uchiha people had indeed been influenced by the Will of Fire. They had changed quite a lot.

If this had been the Uchiha of the past, they absolutely would have charged up and fought head-on when encountering something like this.

But now, they could actually produce such a meticulous plan.

They had even taken the village's reputation and Hiruzen Sarutobi's situation into account without leaving a single gap. "Fugaku, I approve this mission."

"I'll leave the next part to you."

"I'll handle the rest afterward and give the Uchiha a satisfactory explanation."

"Also, after this matter is over, the Uchiha should move back into the village."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said it with a thoroughly straightforward expression.

Hearing this, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Itachi, and Shisui Uchiha were all stunned.

They had always been trying to find a way to move the clan grounds back, but no matter how hard they had worked before, it had been useless.

They had not expected that this time, unexpectedly...

"Thank you for your trust, Lord Hokage."

"We will make sure this mission is done well."

Uchiha Fugaku cupped his hands and thanked him, then left directly with the two others.

Once they had gone far away, Hiruzen Sarutobi put away the scroll in his hand and placed it in the drawer beside him.

Then he took out a blank scroll. "Danzo... if you had just stayed quietly inside Root, you would not have ended up where you are today."

"But now..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head and sighed.

The loyalty the Uchiha were showing now, as well as their attitude toward him, both satisfied him greatly.

And with all the old scores between him and Danzo from before, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not intend to go easy this time.

He was going to uproot Danzo's forces completely.

As for the ninjas in the Root Organization, he would take them all under his own command.