Chapter 6

For the whole night, the two of them soaked themselves in training just like that.

Early the next morning.

[Lightning Release nature transformation tempering progress: 659/1000]

Sasuke glanced at the numbers on the panel, and his mood could not have been better.

After one or two more rounds, this mission would be wrapped up.

Aside from waiting for the mission reward to arrive, Sasuke was also pretty curious about what his body would become after surviving a thousand temperings. "Gurgle..."

Just then, a rumble came from beside him, cutting off Sasuke's thoughts. "Heh heh..."

"My stomach... seems like it growled."

Naruto raised a hand and scratched the back of his head, grinning with a simple, goofy look. "Come on, let's fill our stomachs first."

Sasuke dragged Naruto off to wash their faces, then headed for the living room.

Mikoto Uchiha and the cook had already set out breakfast.

After training hard for an entire night, the two boys had basically no resistance to food.

They greeted the adults, then dug right in.

Mikoto rested her chin in her hand, smiling as she watched the two little guys in front of her.

A head of red hair suddenly flashed through her mind. "Kushina, this child is quite sturdy, and his heart isn't bad either."

"You..."

Mikoto murmured silently in her heart, the corners of her eyes growing a little damp. Anyone with eyes could tell her heart was far from calm.

The weekend arrived. "Mom, I'm going with Naruto to his place."

"Tomorrow I'll go to school together with Naruto."

"We've brought everything, don't worry."

"Mm, I'll make food myself. Aunt Buhin is coming too."

"Then we're going..."

After saying goodbye to Mikoto Uchiha, Sasuke took Naruto and walked toward the village.

In the shadows, the Uchiha family's elite jonin, as well as the Anbu ninja, all quietly followed and moved out.

No question about it—the most important thing in the whole village right now was the commotion caused by these two little brats.

Sasuke knew it perfectly well. Naruto still knew nothing.

In the Hokage's office.

After the Anbu finished reporting the intelligence, he knelt on one knee and waited for the Hokage to speak. "I understand."

"Go pass word to the school. On Monday, I'll go over and say a few words."

"As for the rest, handle it according to what was decided before."

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke unhurriedly. "Understood."

The Anbu figure flickered and vanished.

Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up the report on the desk.

[The strength Uchiha Sasuke has displayed can already be compared with Uchiha Itachi]

[Right now, Uchiha Fugaku is watching him closely and is putting his full effort into cultivating this boy]

Another genius had appeared in the Uchiha, but Hiruzen Sarutobi was not flustered in the slightest.

As long as the person was still in the village, then that genius belonged to the village!

When the two of them reached Naruto's door, Aunt Buhin frowned as soon as she stepped inside.

This place... was far too unlike a home.

When she pulled open the refrigerator door, it was piled full of milk and bread that had long passed their expiration dates.

On the shelves sat box after box of instant noodles, their outer packaging covered in dust.

This was the place where a child lived.

Could these things be what he usually used to fill his stomach?

Forget growing properly—a child who ate expired food every meal and was still alive could already be considered blessed by the heavens.

Aunt Buhin was a proper cook by trade. Her skills were there, and so was her professional ethics.

Not to mention that the pay Uchiha Fugaku gave was absurdly high.

She knew very well that she could not take this money for nothing. "Young Master Sasuke, Young Master Naruto."

"I'll clean up the home here."

"You two go outside and play for a while. Just come back for lunch."

Aunt Buhin smiled as she looked at the two children, her eyes full of warmth.

These two little guys were sensible and polite, and not the least bit rowdy.

After only a few days together, Aunt Buhin already liked them from the bottom of her heart.

Her tone naturally became a little closer too. "All right."

"Sasuke, I'll take you to a great place."

"It's super fun!"

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand and rushed out the door, running toward the woods in the distance.

Of course Sasuke knew where that secret base was.

But his recent training intensity had not been low, so he was also willing to accompany Naruto out for some fresh air.

Even with an adult's mindset, there were times he could not hold up.

Now that the mission was close to finishing, relaxing a little was no big deal.

The two of them caught fish and felt for shrimp in the creek, fooling around for an entire day. By the time they returned to Naruto's door, the sky had already grown dark.

The moment the door was pushed open, Naruto froze right in the doorway, his whole person stunned. "This..."

"Where did my treasured instant noodles go?"

"And the milk and bread Grandpa Hokage gave me? And my—"

"New clothes?"

Naruto stared at the clean room. All his "treasures" had vanished without a trace.

For an instant, his mind seemed to crash, unable to turn. "Naruto, no matter how much you like eating something, you can't keep storing it forever."

"Those things couldn't be eaten anymore. Eating them is bad for your stomach."

"Auntie made you new food, and bought new clothes too."

"Come eat quickly. Go wash your hands first. Don't come to the table covered in mud."

Aunt Buhin's tone was gentle, a smile on her face. "Expired... what does that mean?"

Naruto turned to look at Sasuke, his face full of curiosity. "Expired means the stuff has gone bad and can't be eaten."

Sasuke had a bit of a headache.

How exactly had this guy survived until now?

Maybe the physique of the Uzumaki Clan really was that freakish.

If it were any other child, eating these things every day, they would have been in the hospital long ago. "But when I ate them, I didn't feel anything wrong."

"It's just that my stomach would act up once in a while..."

Naruto looked a little unable to save face, but his mouth refused to yield.

After all, he was the mouth in the ninja world most capable of talking back. "Enough. Wash your hands and eat first. Try on the new clothes later."

As Sasuke spoke, he pushed Naruto toward the bathroom.

At the same time, he gave Aunt Buhin a look.

This assist was too on point.

Sasuke had still been wondering how to make Naruto discover these things on his own, but Aunt Buhin had directly pierced through it.

Children were like this. They became happy quickly and forgot quickly too.

After Naruto tried on the new clothes, the grievance of having those "treasures" thrown away had already vanished like smoke.

Aunt Buhin prepared dinner, finished her work, and left.

In the bedroom, only Naruto and Sasuke remained.

Sasuke glanced at the progress—[981/1000]—then dragged Naruto into training again.

By now, the chakra inside him could already be released and withdrawn freely, and it would no longer leak outward.

The courtyard in the deep night was silent. Anbu figures hid in the treetops, but Sasuke was not panicked in the slightest. Outside, there were also people from the Uchiha Clan watching, so he was even more able to act without restraint.

The system prompt suddenly exploded, as if something had burst open in his mind.

[Ding, congratulations to the host for completing 1000 temperings of the body with Lightning Release nature transformation chakra.]

[Reward: Lightning God Mode.]

[High-quality mission completion. Additional reward: special bonus gift pack.]

As soon as those prompts fell, the chakra in Sasuke's hand also scattered. He let go of Naruto's hand, a smile on his face. "Naruto, have you remembered the chakra extraction technique I taught you just now?"

Naruto nodded foolishly. "Mm! Are you going to let me try it myself tonight?"

"That's right," Sasuke said seriously. "But eat first. You have to keep yourself in good condition. After you finish eating, start training, and tell me tomorrow how it feels."

"Okay..."

When it came to coaxing Naruto, Sasuke was already well practiced. Seeing that the boy had already closed his eyes and started extracting chakra, he smoothly opened the system panel. "System, open the special bonus gift pack."

Before his voice had even faded, a surge of heat slammed into his eye sockets. His originally pitch-black pupils changed color in the blink of an eye, blood-red spreading across his eyeballs as three tomoe slowly spun open around his pupils.

His vision suddenly became sharp. His perception spread out, and even the movements outside sounded as if they were right beside his ears. His spiritual power also shot up by a large chunk. "This... is the Sharingan?"

Sasuke had not even deliberately sensed it, yet he knew clearly which trees the Anbu outside were in. He could even see through the wall and see the enormous chakra surging inside Naruto's body, and the red monster curled up deep in his lower abdomen. "Opening the Three Tomoe at five years old," he curled the corner of his mouth. "By the time I graduate, maybe I can even get the Mangekyo."

He was already fantasizing about what ocular technique the Mangekyo would bring him.

He closed his eyes and withdrew the Sharingan. Now was not the time to show off.

With Lightning God Mode, plus the Three Tomoe Sharingan, he could now clash with an ordinary jonin.

A cheater was a cheater. Once the cheat was on, he really could do whatever he wanted.

Next, he had to find an opportunity to learn some genjutsu and Lightning Release. That cheap old man of his at home, Uchiha Fugaku, was a good route. Asking him for these things definitely would not be a problem.

As these thoughts ran through his head, Sasuke continued studying that Lightning God Mode.

The night passed quickly.

The next morning, after the two of them ate, they went to the ninja school together. As soon as they reached the school gate, they saw a new notice posted on the bulletin board.

[Hokage Speech]

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. When he saw those words, he sneered inwardly.

That old man, the Third, really could not sit still after all.

At the same time, in the ninja school principal's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi had already gone through all of this year's new students' enrollment information.

This was an open scheme he had laid out.

Any clan in the village could produce a genius, but what he had to do was use the Will of Fire as a **, binding these geniuses one by one to the village's ship.

Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly looked through the information on the ninja school's new students.

Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji, Naruto Uzumaki, Uchiha Sasuke... Name after name passed by, and the old man's gaze grew deeper and deeper.

The new students soon lined up properly in the **.

On the high platform, a figure wearing the Hokage's robe had long since been waiting there.

He was not particularly tall, but just by standing there, he inexplicably made people feel steady inside. "That's Lord Hokage?"

"So impressive. I want to wear those clothes in the future too!"

"I... will definitely become Hokage!"

"Lord Hokage is the best person in the village..."

A group of little brats who had just enrolled chattered nonstop, their words full of admiration for the Hokage.

Even the children from those large clans inevitably had longing in their eyes.

After all, that was the strongest in a village—the Kage!

"Naruto, why aren't you talking?"

"Isn't that the Hokage?"

"Didn't you used to shout every day that you wanted to become Hokage?"

Sasuke gently nudged the ** Naruto and teased him with a smile. "Huh?"

"Well... I do want to become Hokage!"

"I..."

Naruto got halfway through his words and then got stuck. Anyone with eyes could tell that his mood was not very good.

This little brat had most likely run into something he could not figure out.

Sasuke did not ask any more.

He knew Naruto was not stupid.

What Aunt Buhin said yesterday seemed to have taken effect...

Hiruzen Sarutobi, this time, if you want to set a trap for Naruto, it won't be that easy. "Where leaves dance, fire also burns without end..."

"The reason Konoha can become one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages is the Will of Fire!"

"All of you are inheritors of the Will of Fire. In the future, you must also carry this flame and carry Konoha's..."

Just as the crowd's discussion reached its peak, Hiruzen Sarutobi opened his mouth.

The moment he spoke, the old routine came out.

This talk of the village being home, of the village standing above all else, disgusted Sasuke from the bottom of his heart.

After all, back when the Nine-Tails ** happened, Hiruzen Sarutobi had Minato go die. That in itself was the greatest slap in the face to the Will of Fire.

The Third Hokage had not gone himself, instead pushing the younger Fourth Hokage out to take the blade for him.

Of course, very few people knew about these things.

On top of that, the Third Hokage usually put on that nice old man act, and it really was pretty good at fooling people.

At the very least, the bunch of brats in front of him had bought it completely.

Even Naruto, who had still held a little doubt toward the Hokage just now, now had a goofy smile on his face...

The speech dragged on for more than two whole hours.

If he had not already been tormented by the school principal's whole "I'll just say a few words" routine, Sasuke figured he really would not have been able to take it. "Clap, clap, clap..."

Applause rang out. Sasuke clapped along a few times as well, getting ready to leave. "Uchiha Sasuke, Lord Hokage wants you to go to the principal's office."

Homeroom teacher Iruka suddenly appeared beside Sasuke. "Hm?"

Sasuke froze for an instant, then said nothing more and followed Iruka away. "Lord Hokage specifically called him over!"

"Could it be that even Lord Hokage has noticed how amazing he is?"

"Sigh, it's just a pity he's always hanging around with that demon fox. Otherwise, he'd be practically perfect."

"But... he really is illegally handsome..."

The chattering discussions of those girls never reached Sasuke's ears at all.