Prelude

Sasuke returned home with a strange sense of delight. As he lay on his bed, he suddenly thought of something and turned to Black Shadow. "Can completely destroying a corpse really prevent Impure World Reincarnation and stop the dead from revealing secrets?"

"Even the Fourth Hokage's soul was taken by the Death Reaper, yet he could still leave behind a self-aware chakra within Hokage. I'm beginning to doubt whether souls are truly unique."

"You should ask whoever developed the Shadow Clone Technique that question." Black Shadow could not answer Sasuke's doubts. He was merely a Demon, not omniscient or omnipotent. From his experience, he did not know whether a soul was unique, but he was certain that "memories" and the "self" were not. Mechanical lifeforms could replicate data and split into a whole group of identical "selves."

Sasuke fell silent and dropped the subject. He fixed Black Shadow with a blazing stare. "I killed someone else. Will you give me new power?"

"Young man, don't bite off more than you can chew." Black Shadow mercilessly refused Sasuke. "First, develop one move to its absolute limit."

"Can one move alone defeat Itachi?" Sasuke muttered quietly.

"The same Great Fireball Technique can shake the heavens and earth in Madara Uchiha's hands, but when you use it, it's like letting out a fart. Why do you think that is?" Black Shadow shot back, instantly leaving Sasuke depressed.

He spent the entire night sleepless.

The next day, at the Ninja Academy, the teacher on the podium droned on endlessly about Konoha's founding history, the greatness of the Will of Fire, Konoha's warmth, and so on.

Sasuke had no interest in listening to nonsense, especially this kind of censored, altered, and whitewashed nonsense. Konoha had been founded jointly by the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan, yet that fact had been glossed over in the history textbooks.

Sasuke seemed to think of something, and an odd smile curled across his lips. "As one of the founders, Madara Uchiha became Konoha's first rogue ninja. How ironic. I'd guess that when Madara Uchiha was still alive, no one would have dared call him a rogue ninja. Even after he left, they could only say that he abandoned Konoha, not that he defected."

"If Madara Uchiha really was a rogue ninja, then wouldn't the statues in the Valley of the End be Konoha slapping itself in the face? It was only because the Uchiha Clan had declined in recent years that anyone dared pin the label of 'rogue ninja' on Madara Uchiha. Back when the Uchiha were powerful, they wouldn't even dare mention Madara's name."

Black Shadow nodded. "That's how it goes. Once a person is gone, the tea turns cold. Only the living have deterrence; the dead can only become topics of conversation. If the Senju Clan still existed, do you think the Third Hokage could possibly have earned the title of 'strongest Hokage'?"

"Yeah, being alive is truly wonderful." Sasuke's idle remark seemed unrelated, but Black Shadow suddenly reminded him, "Hokage is secretly watching you~"

"Whatever. People are always sneaking looks at me. One more doesn't matter." Sasuke clearly had no special feelings toward Hokage, since Indra's Chakra had been completely suppressed by the Demon. Then again, Sasuke's circumstances alone were enough to draw Hokage's attention.

"If you were willing to put some effort into it, you could still become Hokage's closest friend."

"Forget it. He's an idiot who needs other people's approval to find meaning in his own existence. I'm afraid his stupidity might rub off on me."

"Hehe, Hokage may be stupid, but he became the ultimate winner in life. Unlike certain people who look clever on the surface but actually... lost miserably!"

Black Shadow's mockery immediately made Sasuke flush red. He argued, "Hokage is the Fourth Hokage's son, has Uzumaki blood, is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Asura's reincarnation, and the child of prophecy spoken of by the Sage. With so many halos stacked on him, if Hokage still couldn't make something of himself, how would he be any different from a pig?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right about everything." Black Shadow's attitude was thoroughly perfunctory.

Sasuke took a deep breath and suppressed the resentment surging within him. Then he saw Black Shadow staring at a pink-haired little girl. "Sakura Haruno? What are you looking at her for?"

Black Shadow withdrew his gaze. "I was thinking that compared to you and Hokage, that little girl seems to be the real winner in life. She lost nothing along the way and only ever gained."

Sasuke agreed. "At least her parents are alive. But her personality really isn't my type. It's hard to imagine that the Sasuke in the manga eventually married her."

"On the surface, perhaps Sasuke Uchiha softened because Sakura Haruno had pursued him for so many years. Or perhaps Sakura Haruno forced Sasuke. On a deeper level, after the Fourth Great Ninja War, Sasuke Uchiha was one of the only two supreme powers in the world. He needed to leave behind a bond—or rather, a hostage—in Konoha, so Konoha could truly feel at ease." Black Shadow had no issue interpreting the original manga's plot from the darkest possible angle.

Perhaps sensing Black Shadow's malice toward Sakura, Sasuke could not understand it. Black Shadow did not explain. He had merely thought of another "Sakura"—Sakura Kinomoto.

Not long after the Demon had escaped the Abyss, he had been extremely weak. In that magical world, he had wanted to acquire a set of "Cardcaptor Sakura and the Mysterious Magic Book" to devour, but the Magic Lamp had brought him a set of "Cardcaptor Little Yin and the Unspeakable Book of Reception," which had nearly gotten him killed.

That was truly an unpleasant memory.

"I can tell you're not in a good mood. What, do you want to stir something up?" Sasuke asked eagerly.

"What's with you? Why are you so excited?" Black Shadow asked in confusion.

"I just figured something out. Why should certain people be allowed to pull strings in the shadows while everyone else can only defend themselves cautiously and passively? I can take the initiative and use the same methods against them. Even if I can't hurt them, I can at least make them sick!"

Sasuke bit his lip as though he were brewing some extreme emotion. "I really hate this village. I hate its upper ranks. They stand at the heights of both power and morality, yet they still love manipulating public opinion. I don't even like Hokage, but his situation disgusts me deeply, so I want to use it as an entry point."

Black Shadow gave Sasuke a deep look. There still seemed to be some conscience left in Sasuke's heart. It had to be cleansed! Cleansed with pure darkness!

"What do you think of my proposal?" Sasuke asked expectantly.

After considering it for a moment, Black Shadow said, "Regarding Hokage Uzumaki, I need to remind you that his situation isn't so simple. Minato Namikaze personally sealed half of the Nine-Tails inside Hokage. As Hokage, did he not understand what Jinchuriki went through?"

"All these years, the Third Hokage tacitly allowed Hokage's circumstances. Jiraiya never once visited Hokage. Kakashi turned a blind eye to him. All these 'important figures' chose to handle it coldly. But what about everyone else? Were Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki really so unpopular that no one was willing to help their child? Or did everyone who wanted to help fall silent for one reason or another?"

Sasuke was a little dumbfounded. "I didn't think that far! I just wanted to expose Hokage's true identity, then stir up public opinion against the upper ranks, just like how they drove Hatake Sakumo to death back then."

Black Shadow shook his head repeatedly. "Public opinion only produces its proper effect when paired with sufficient power and authority. Take Shimura Danzō, for example. No matter how he guides public opinion, he can always claim it was for Konoha.

"But if an ordinary civilian tries to start a public opinion war, they will only be deemed a destabilizing factor within the village. The moment such signs emerge, ANBU or Root will reasonably and humanely eliminate them. Especially when it concerns Hokage, the upper ranks will absolutely uphold the principle of killing rather than risking a mistake. They have both the power and the ability to do so. At worst, they can simply wipe the memories of everyone who knows. It isn't that difficult."

Black Shadow paused before continuing, "Besides, with Hokage's thick nerves, as long as the Third Hokage says a few emotional words, he will probably choose to forgive him and throw himself into his embrace. If even the victim doesn't care, what meaning does public opinion have?"

Sasuke stared in shock. "Then what should I do?"

Black Shadow smiled. "I have a plan that strikes at the root, but I'm afraid you won't be ruthless enough to carry it out. If you truly want to use Hokage as an entry point to strike at the upper ranks, the most effective method is to kill Hokage directly. If the Jinchuriki dies, they will surely be heartbroken. And if the Jinchuriki's death is tied to their poor decisions—say, starving to death because he couldn't get food, or dying from an infection after villagers beat him badly—that would be the true art of killing without shedding blood~"