Sasuke Under Attack

The next day.

Sasuke walked out of the new apartment with a gloomy expression. The environment here was not bad, but it was not the home where he had grown up.

He kept his head lowered, lost in his thoughts, completely failing to notice the blond boy several dozen meters ahead of him, who also had his head down and his hands in his pockets.

One in front and one behind, separated by neither too much nor too little distance, they each walked in the same direction, preoccupied with their own thoughts.

They were several dozen meters apart, both thinking about their own matters and neither noticing the other.

"Ding, ding, ding, ding..."

By the time Sasuke arrived at the Ninja Academy, the class bell had already rung.

He did not care. Maintaining his usual pace, he entered the classroom expressionlessly.

"Clatter..."

The sound of the door sliding open drew everyone's attention to Sasuke.

When they saw it was him, the previously noisy classroom instantly quieted considerably.

Iruka was standing at the podium.

He paused, a trace of pity flashing through his eyes. "Sasuke. Go take your seat."

All kinds of gazes from the class—curious, probing, pitying—fell upon him.

And the tragedy his family had just suffered, one that no one dared mention lightly, made him a magnet for everyone's attention.

Sasuke pressed his lips tightly together and walked straight to a seat in the corner. Feeling those piercing gazes on his back, his face burned and his chest felt unbearably stifled.

He did not know what everyone thought of him, but he knew he had to learn to endure it.

Naruto waved at Sasuke several times, but Sasuke ignored him completely.

Annoyed, Naruto deliberately let out a humph.

Once Iruka saw Sasuke take his seat, he began teaching.

"The greatest difference between ninja and ordinary people..."

"Chakra..."

What Iruka was teaching now was all basic material. Sasuke had learned it at home long ago.

He merely stared out the window in a daze, with no intention of studying.

Soon, it was time for outdoor physical training.

Iruka led the class to the training field.

Most of them had not yet learned the Chakra Refinement Technique, so it was really just an ordinary PE class.

Naruto had no friends at all, but after starting school, he discovered that Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Kiba, and the others did not reject him.

That was why he looked forward to outdoor physical training so much.

"Naruto, want to go play on the parallel bars over there?" Choji waved at Naruto while holding a bag of chips.

Naruto was about to agree when he saw Sasuke standing gloomily in the corner, radiating an aura that warned strangers to stay away.

All of a sudden, he felt that Sasuke looked a lot like his former self at that moment.

"Hey, stuck-up Sasuke, what's wrong with you?"

Naruto only knew that something had happened to the Uchiha Clan. He had no idea what exactly, and did not even know whether it had anything to do with Sasuke.

Sasuke slightly raised his eyelids. Seeing that it was that annoying guy Naruto, he did not bother responding and turned to leave.

"Hey! Stuck-up Sasuke! Did you take the wrong medicine?"

When Naruto saw that Sasuke was ignoring him, he kept shouting after him.

"Hey, Naruto, what are you doing? Don't you know something happened to Sasuke's family?" Naruto was naturally not the only one concerned about Sasuke.

There were also two girls, one with pink hair and one with blond hair.

They were Sakura and Ino.

"What happened?"

Naruto scratched his head, looking utterly clueless.

Sakura lowered her voice. "They said there was internal conflict in the Uchiha Clan, and several hundred people died."

Naruto was startled. "Did something happen to Sasuke's relatives?"

Ino looked around. Seeing that Iruka was not watching them, she whispered:

"It's worse than that. Sasuke's brother and father betrayed the clan, and they killed quite a few clan members too."

"Huh? Why?" Naruto's eyes turned into spirals.

He did not even have a single friend. If he had clan members, he did not know how much he would cherish them.

He simply could not understand why someone would betray their clan and kill their own people.

Ino shook her head, indicating that she did not know either.

Then she added in a low voice, "News came out yesterday that Sasuke and his mother were expelled from the Uchiha Clan."

Sakura cried out, "Ah! Then where is he living now?"

"I don't know..." Ino noticed Iruka looking their way and immediately said,

"Discussing this is forbidden at school. Don't ask Sasuke about it either. He'll be upset."

"Then... okay." Naruto readily accepted that.

But he looked worriedly toward Sasuke in the corner.

Will Sasuke become like me someday?

While they were talking, on the other side of the training field,

a boy several years older than Sasuke, also dressed in Uchiha Clan clothing, was staring fixedly at Sasuke with eyes full of hatred.

Checking the time, Iruka gathered the students together before class ended.

"Don't linger outside after school. Go home early. Naruto, stop looking around. I'm talking about you..."

Naruto pulled his gaze away from Sasuke and nodded sheepishly.

"Got it, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka was still very young at the time and could not distinguish between the Nine-Tails and Naruto, so his attitude toward Naruto was not particularly good.

The dismissal bell rang, and the students cheered as they immediately ran toward the school gate.

Iruka could not stop them even if he tried.

Sasuke also felt his whole body relax. With his head lowered, he headed out of the school.

When he reached the gate, his steps halted. Only then did he remember that his home was no longer in the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

So he changed directions.

Just as he turned into an alley, a figure lunged out like an enraged leopard.

He tackled Sasuke viciously to the ground!

Before Sasuke could even react to what was happening, the other boy's fist struck him in the nose.

"Ah!" Sasuke cried out miserably, clutching his nose as his mind went blank.

"It's all your fault! All because of your brother! My dad, my mom, and my little sister are all dead!"

The other boy straddled Sasuke, crying and roaring as he swung his fists, smashing them desperately into Sasuke's head and body.

Overwhelming grief and rage had completely robbed him of reason. His fists rained down like a dense storm.

By the time Sasuke came to his senses, he had already been hit several times.

"It has nothing to do with me! Nothing to do with me!"

Sasuke struggled and blocked desperately, but he was younger, and his taijutsu was far inferior to that of this clan member driven by hatred. Before long, he was beaten black and blue.

He could only defend himself, completely unable to fight back.

The other boy roared, "What do you mean it has nothing to do with you? If your damned brother wanted to defect, couldn't he have just left by himself?"

"Why did he have to kill people? Your brother is a beast! Your father is a beast too! Your whole family is full of beasts!"

"My brother isn't!"

Sasuke struggled desperately on the ground, anxious, furious, and enraged, yet his first instinct was still to defend Itachi.

"My little sister was only three, and your brother killed her too! He's a beast!"