The Eternal Eye Forged by Blocking the Road and Delivering Beatings

Emerging from the Akimichi Clan's shop, Naruto had not yet entirely shaken off the embarrassment of buying on credit just moments before.

Yet, a quick turn of his mind brought the thought of disgusting the Third, and his mood brightened once again.

Naruto at this point was a pure rookie lacking any golden finger by his side, so naturally, it was impossible for him to actually run over and meddle in that business of Hizashi Hyuga going off to his death.

Once he dragged himself into that mess, the days ahead would grow difficult indeed.

After all, having never properly attended the Ninja Academy, Naruto—even carrying the power of a chakra-card within his body—remained, when all was said and done, a three-year-old toddler.

At best, he was a baby wielding a giant hacking blade.

He intended to leverage this Hinata affair to make a grab for it, and should it succeed, Hyuga Hiashi would be forced to acknowledge this favor.

Even the main body, after the Sage of Six Paths took back his cheat items, could not possibly single-handedly beat the entire Ninja World.

His strength couldn't even surpass Hashirama Senju's prime period, so whatever plots needed to be hatched must be hatched, and whatever factions needed to be won over must still be won over.

Halfway on the road home, Naruto passed a dango shop.

Inside, Itachi Uchiha wore a smile so warm it verged on cloying, dragging his own foolish younger brother along to eat dango.

The joy on Sasuke's face was practically overflowing.

Naruto's eyes lit up; this was his pre-booked Rinnegan split eye.

Whether this pair of brothers could bounce up to that tier where Madara Uchiha danced depended entirely on them.

Grinning broadly, Naruto sauntered over and called out a greeting, "Yo, Second Pillar!"

The moment Sasuke heard that, his face instantly collapsed.

"What are you doing here, you annoying guy!"

Sasuke let out an angry shout; he had finally managed to spend a little time alone with his dear older brother, yet someone had to come along and ruin the mood.

Naruto rolled his eyes and pulled a stack of banknotes from his pocket.

"Naturally, I'm here to spend money. Your lord here has money now. Boss, bring me a bowl of salty tofu pudding!"

The dessert shop boss's face stiffened like an iron plate, staring at Naruto as he said, "This is a dessert shop."

"Uh..."

Naruto sheepishly shoved the banknotes back into his pocket, muttering under his breath, "Only turncoats eat sweet stuff all day long."

Sasuke grew furious, sticking out his neck and shouting, "I want to duel you!"

Naruto clapped his hands together. "Fine by me!"

This was precisely what Naruto had been hoping for. Over the past half year, beating up the Second Pillar had already become a habit for him; whenever they ran into each other, a beating was guaranteed.

The Uzumaki bloodline combined with the talent inherited from Minato Namikaze made crushing this good-for-nothing Uchiha—who had only managed to angrily awaken a One-Tomoe Sharingan after his entire family died—as easy as breathing.

Without the layer of the Nine-Tails seal, if anyone claimed Naruto's innate talent ranked second, no one would dare claim the first.

Naruto was doing this simply to force Sasuke's Sharingan to advance quickly.

That Rinnegan had to wait until the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan to be dug out. According to the original timeline, by the time Sasuke awakened the Eternal Eye, the Fourth Great Ninja War was already halfway through.

That simply wouldn't do. For the sake of his own calculations, he had to ripen the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan before that cheap senior brother of his came rushing over.

Thus, Naruto idly wandered around the Uchiha Clan Grounds whenever he had free time, looking for opportunities to beat up Sasuke and leaving the ANBU responsible for surveillance with their hearts in their throats all day long.

Back when the Nine-Tails wreaked havoc, the fact that the beast was controlled by the Sharingan was no secret among the Konoha higher-ups.

As the Hokage's personal guards, the ANBU knew it inside out. In their eyes, Naruto's behavior was no different from actively sticking his neck out to deliver a free meal.

Fortunately, Fugaku Uchiha at present had no plans to raise the banner of rebellion, and the entire Uchiha clan had not yet been pushed to the point of revolting.

Regarding this "enthusiastic supervision" from Naruto, Fugaku and Itachi consistently turned a blind eye.

After all, having suffered Naruto's beatings, Sasuke's rate of progress was indeed vastly faster than before.

Yet this made life miserable for Sasuke. Since he couldn't beat the guy to begin with, how could he possibly match this old hand who had lived through two lifetimes?

Every time they crossed paths, he was beaten until he couldn't take care of himself, to the point where he would take a detour whenever he spotted him from afar in the streets.

The bizarre part was that every single week, he invariably ran into that Naruto character who had come out to procure ingredients.

Sasuke didn't know that Naruto patiently staked out his mandatory routes every single time, having already figured it out into a regular pattern.

Yet this time, Sasuke could no longer endure it. Even knowing that Naruto was picking a fight, he absolutely refused to allow Naruto to humiliate his beloved older brother.

Throwing the thought of his insufficient strength behind him, he straight-facedly issued a challenge to Naruto.

Naruto instantly cracked a grin. He led Sasuke straight to the training ground and hooked a finger at him.

"Come on, bring it."

Sasuke wore a blank expression. "???"

Naturally, he couldn't make sense of whatever meme Naruto was playing at. He fished a kunai straight out of his pants pocket, aimed it at Naruto, lifted his chin, and spoke with extreme arrogance, "Hmph, brat, this week's me is completely different from last week's me. I've already learned the art of the kunai from my brother, so if you don't want to get scuffed up, you'd better surrender early."

Acting as though he hadn't heard a thing, Naruto stood in place, shoved a finger into his nostril, and picked it. "Hoo~"

He even blew a breath outward.

Sasuke immediately blew his top. "You've got a death wish!"

Furious to the max, Sasuke charged straight in.

Five minutes passed.

Naruto walked out of the arena looking thoroughly refreshed.

Sasuke's eyes were already swollen into mere slits.

Itachi Uchiha stepped forward and gently hoisted his younger brother onto his back.

Hanging on Itachi's back, Sasuke sobbed aggrievedly, "Big brother, why didn't you stop him?"

Without answering directly, Itachi instead stared at Naruto's retreating back and said with a solemn expression, "Sasuke, you must remember, how lucky it is in this life to have a rival worth chasing. A person like Naruto is worth going all out to pursue."

He knew Naruto's background; Naruto's mother and his own mother were best friends, so the guy definitely wouldn't meddle in a kid's fight—even though he himself was just a little tyke.

Moreover, having awakened his eyes due to Obito killing his comrades, Itachi saw clearly that Naruto had been holding back the entire time.

Hearing those words, Sasuke's face fell a mile: it wasn't you taking the beating, and once we get home later, the old man's gonna chew me out as a good-for-nothing again.