Not good.
The mont his ankle was grabbed, Uchiha Sasuke instinctively ford a seal with his hands.
A jet of fla burst from his lips—a secret Uchiha Fire Release technique ant to blow Naruto away at close range.
But unfortunately... he was too slow.
Before the fireball could leave his mouth, Naruto hurled him through the air.
In this state, Naruto had gained terrifying speed and monstrous strength. His physical prowess alone now surpassed that of most seasoned shinobi.
Bang!
Flas erupted uselessly as Sasuke crashed like a cannonball into a tree, snapping it in half on impact.
"Damn it...!"
Through the cloud of dust, Sasuke clenched his teeth and forced himself upright, enduring the sharp pain that tore through his spine. But before he could even get his bearings, that monstrous figure—wreathed in seething red chakra—was suddenly right in front of him.
Gone was the usual sunny face he knew. Naruto stood over him now, eyes cold, red, and inhuman, the claws at the end of his fingers hovering just a breath away from Sasuke's throat.
"I suggest you stop prying into my business."
His voice was hoarse, but laced with exhaustion, hatred, bitterness… and a bone-deep loneliness.
The overwhelming negativity rolling off Naruto made Sasuke unconsciously take a step back. He could feel it—feel every inch of the pain Naruto carried.
He stared blankly at Naruto, stunned by the sheer difference in presence between them. His body scread at him to fight, but his instincts told him one thing:
He'll kill you.
Spitting blood onto the ground, Sasuke slowly relaxed his stance.
"I admit defeat. You win this ti."
It wasn't pride or stubbornness. Sasuke had experienced enough defeats to know when to acknowledge a gap in power.
The battle had been short—but then, real ninja fights often were.
Still, even in such a brief exchange, Sasuke could feel it: he was catching up.
In the past, Naruto never needed the Nine-Tails' power to beat him. But now, Naruto couldn't shake him off without resorting to it.
That alone was enough. Sasuke wasn't discouraged.
He believed in the power of his eyes—the noble Sharingan. One day, he would surpass Naruto, even if his rival had a tailed beast inside him.
Naruto slowly let out a breath. Sasuke's surrender had pulled him back from the edge.
He gave the Uchiha a final glance before suppressing the Nine-Tails' chakra and forcing it back into its seal.
"…But based on how you usually act," Sasuke said, "I thought you were thicker-skinned than this. You've been rejected by the entire village, and you never seed to show any hatred."
The red chakra dissipated. The monstrous claws shrank, retreating back into human hands. Only then did Sasuke feel his muscles unclench. For a mont back there, he had truly thought he was going to die.
Naruto's performance today was unlike anything he'd seen before.
"…Your acting skills are still as good as they were in the Academy," Sasuke muttered. "You're only nine, but you're harder to see through than Mizuki ever was."
Naruto's eyes narrowed. That na—Mizuki-sensei—made him pause just as he was about to turn away.
"…Mizuki-sensei?" he repeated, puzzled.
Though Mizuki had only started teaching at the Academy after Naruto graduated, they had crossed paths. Naruto rembered thinking he seed bright and friendly—one of the few people who didn't look at him with overt malice.
Sasuke scoffed. "Just a hypocrite."
He winced as he touched the injury on his back. "People want my eyes, Naruto. In today's shinobi world, my Sharingan is nothing more than prey to so."
He spoke plainly, but his eyes never left Naruto—always watching, always wary.
"He's just a regular ninja from an ordinary family. No secret jutsu, no bloodline. Sure, he's done a lot of missions, but only because of teamwork. His talent is average. His combat sense is poor. If he hadn't had so lucky encounter, he would've never even passed the Jōnin exam."
"It takes everything he has to rise above diocrity. The effort he needs to put in is a hundred—no, a thousand tis more than soone like us."
Naruto frowned. "...So he tried to steal your Sharingan?"
He looked at Sasuke with a strange mixture of pity and anger. Now it made sense.
Ever since the Uchiha massacre, Sasuke was left without his clan's protection. His Sharingan had beco a prize—one that others would do anything to obtain.
Naruto had heard rumors. After Sasuke returned to school, small clans kept trying to throw their daughters at him, trying to forge bonds through marriage.
But he hadn't known so people would go so far as to take what they wanted by force.
"Don't look at like that," Sasuke snapped.
That pitying look—it stung more than his injuries. It humiliated him even more than the loss.
He stood up fully, brushing dirt from his pants and locking eyes with Naruto. His voice turned cold.
"Do you know how I graduated from the Academy?"
Naruto didn't even blink. "You killed him."
Sasuke held his gaze. "Yeah. I killed him."
He didn't flinch or try to deny it.
"If he wanted my eyes, he needed to trigger my bloodline. So he played the role of the kind teacher. Taught things. Smiled at . Acted like soone I used to know. Gave good mories."
Sasuke's tone didn't waver, but sothing dark flickered in his expression.
"And maybe that's why it worked."
"My Sharingan awakened with two tomoe the mont it activated. From that instant, I had vision. Insight. The ability to see through him."
"He never imagined I could be so fast, so decisive. He never imagined I'd kill him."
"Even though I was a child… even though he was my first teacher… I killed him."
He let the words hang there, letting their weight settle into the air between them.
"…He taught a lot, though."
Maybe, once, it had been a beautiful mory.
But when the truth beneath the surface is laid bare, all that remains is sothing ugly—bitter and irreparable.
Uchiha Sasuke spoke in a calm, even voice as he recounted his past. Across from him, Naruto stood still and silent.
His mind, which had been agitated for days due to his search for the truth about his own origins, suddenly quieted. Sasuke's words, strangely enough, brought him a sense of calm.
"I'm not telling you this to gain your pity or your sympathy."
Sasuke's steps were unsteady from his injuries, but he made no sound of pain. Gritting his teeth, he walked forward—one deliberate step at a ti—until he stood directly in front of Naruto.
"I don't know what happened to you," he said, his gaze firm, "but whatever it was... my pain is no less than yours."
Naruto blinked in surprise, montarily stunned. Sasuke, now standing before him, radiated sothing different—sothing more than stubbornness or pride.
"Even if the road ahead is painful... even if it's lined with thorns… I'll keep walking it. I'll grit my teeth and endure."
"Until I kill that man, I won't die at anyone's hands. And I won't be held down by you forever."
"Believe , I will surpass you. If you keep progressing at your current pace, I'll leave you behind. And when that day cos… when you're the one looking up at … I hope you still look at with that sa pitying expression you're giving now."
With that, he took a staggering step to the side and walked past Naruto without another word.
Naruto stood frozen, eyes trailing after Sasuke's retreating figure.
The scene was familiar. It mirrored the mory from so long ago—when Ryosuke had taken him to the hospital and encouraged him to challenge Uchiha Sasuke. That had been the first and only ti Naruto had ever taken the initiative to face Sasuke in combat. And, to his surprise, it was also the first ti he'd defeated him.
Sasuke had walked away just like this.
And every ti Naruto returned from a mission, Sasuke would seek him out and challenge him again. No matter how many tis he lost, Sasuke always ca back, inching closer to Naruto's strength with every defeat.
Naruto had once admired that tenacity.
But now…
Now, admiration didn't feel like the right word.
Because in that mont—Naruto felt the weight of a mountain crashing down on him.
---
anwhile, Ryosuke had no idea what was happening between Naruto and Sasuke.
He was focused on sothing else entirely.
Training.
In the days that followed, he kept his attention on strengthening himself, paying little mind to the ongoing political changes within the Hyuga clan.
After all... he was only nine years old.
It had been a while since the winter clan eting, and his ninth birthday marked an important turning point: the beginning of his third transformation.
Every three years, Ryosuke's body would undergo a transformation. And now, the progress bar in his mind was almost full.
The first transformation had been simple—a basic bloodline evolution that caused only a brief, stinging pain in his eyes.
The second had been more intense. The training was brutal, and the pain—both ntal and physical—had been agonizing.
Now, as the third approached, Ryosuke had a deeper understanding of the internal limiter in his mind. He had pushed himself relentlessly—training his body, refining his spirit, preparing for what would be the most drastic transformation yet.
And with greater change… ca greater pain.
The more he gained, the more he would have to endure.
Knowing this, Ryosuke brought up the matter to Hinata Hiashi—his father, and the head of the Hyuga clan—who had been consud with the recent family reforms.
Unsurprisingly, Hiashi imdiately set aside most of his work and delegated the responsibilities to the clan elders.
Not a single elder objected. They quietly accepted the burden.
Because this ti… unlike the first two transformations, many within the Hyuga clan now knew about Ryosuke's unique abilities. But the information had been tightly guarded. Those who were aware regarded him as the clan's future—and protected him as such.
With a thousand years of heritage behind him, Ryosuke could undergo his third transformation in relative safety, shielded from outside threats.
But safety didn't an complacency.
"Once every three years, huh…"
Hiashi sat across from Ryosuke in the study, repeating the words softly to himself.
That frequency—it was both a gift and a curse.
Transforming every three years gave Ryosuke trendous power. But if the limiter ever failed or triggered under the wrong circumstances, he could fall into dangerous pain and vulnerability.
If such a mont happened during battle... it could be fatal.
Hiashi had now realized this too.
"If your strength becos known in the future," Hiashi warned, his voice solemn, "then the truth about these transformations must never be revealed."
Ryosuke nodded in silence.
At present, the wider ninja world knew nothing about him. But once his strength was exposed—once his na spread—there would always be enemies looking for his weakness. The mont of transformation could beco the perfect ti for a deadly ambush.
"I understand."
He spoke without hesitation, without the impulsiveness of a typical nine-year-old.
Ryosuke had seen enough stories in his previous life—movies, shows, and books—where a powerful protagonist was betrayed or ambushed during training.
And even if they were fiction, they reflected a certain truth: human nature doesn't always follow logic.
Sotis the most dangerous enemies wore familiar faces.
He had even considered training loyal subordinates to protect him during these transformation periods. But even that ca with risk.
He'd seen enough fictional characters stabbed in the back by their own people to know how fragile trust could be.
Hiashi hesitated, then said quietly, "You've always been calm. I trust your judgnt in this."
"As for the secret about your transformations… only I know the full extent. Even the Great Elder is unaware of the specifics. He only knows your ability isn't ordinary."
"You can rest easy on that."
Hiashi had always been a rational father. Never overly affectionate, never indulgent. But he had given Ryosuke the one thing that mattered most:
Unwavering support.
He would not hold Ryosuke back.
He would be his strongest shield—his foundation.
Check my Pâtreon for (40) advanced chapters
Pâtreon /Fanficlord03
Change (â) to (a)
Reviews
All reviews (0)