[Konoha Academy]
During the break, all the students were playing.
Right now, Sasuke had not experienced the night of the clan's extermination yet; he was still a carefree and slightly arrogant child.
He happened to be racing with Naruto.
Sasuke, of course, easily won against Naruto.
When Naruto, gasping for breath, ran past the finish line, he immediately bounced up from the ground, "I didn't go all out just now!"
Sasuke said a little smugly, "You already went all out, dead last."
Naruto, unwilling to admit defeat, said, "If I really go all out, you're no match for me!"
"Next, let's compete in high jump!"
Sasuke snorted, "You can't compare with me at all."
"What did you say?"
Sakura and Ino said from the side, "Naruto, just give up, you can't beat Sasuke..."
The scene of a few children fooling around was heartwarming.
But around these children, there were several pairs of eyes watching them.
Not far away, in the treetop, there were two groups of people.
There were those regularly monitoring Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and those led by Kakashi, monitoring Sasuke.
And higher up, Itachi stood with arms crossed, wanting to look at Sasuke a few more times in these last moments.
After tonight, he would never see this beloved younger brother again.
But none of them knew that besides them, there was another group of people also watching this area.
———
"Fourth Elder, Itachi is indeed on top of a nearby tall building."
In the shadow of the alley, Yusuke was reporting to Rengoku.
Rengoku leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, ["Find all of them first. We only have one chance. Once Itachi leaves, we move."]
"Yes! Fourth Elder!"
Yusuke took two others to continue gathering intelligence.
Rengoku and two other clansmen were lurking here, the two clansmen were a little nervous.
But seeing the elder calm and collected, they too were influenced and calmed down.
Rengoku wasn't putting on an act; he was looking at his own golden finger.
On the Bond Template, the dozen or so Uchiha who just attended the meeting had all reached one star in their relationship with him.
And Makumi, Kiyan, Yusuke, and Rinjin had reached two stars.
Rengoku first claimed each of the first stars. Accompanied by the system prompt sound, countless battle memories appeared in his mind.
["Ding, Uchiha Makumi's Level 1 Bond has been unlocked."]
["Ding, Uchiha Kiyan's Level 1 Bond has been unlocked."]
["Ding, Uchiha Yusuke's Level 1 Bond…"]
Although Rengoku had the Mangekyo Sharingan, his strength and body didn't match it.
He could only exert at most 30% of his strength.
In battles, it wasn't intentional holding back, it was that he simply didn't know how to fight.
Now, having digested the battle memories of a dozen people, he had already become a qualified Mangekyo Uchiha.
When Rengoku clicked open the second stars one by one—
["Ding, Uchiha Makumi's Level 2 Bond has been unlocked."]
["Ding, Uchiha Kiyan's Level 2 Bond…"]
Makumi, Kiyan, Yusuke, and Rinjin each provided roughly 10% of their chakra or eye power to him.
Though it wasn't clearly stated, through these two upgrades, Rengoku figured out the Bond Template's mechanics.
If there's some familiarity and acquaintance, it can form the first star and unlock level one. If there's trust and some friendship, it can reach two stars and level two.
The Great Elder had three stars and level three with him because he had staked everything, his life and fortune, on Rengoku.
That was considered absolute trust.
Rengoku didn't know whether three stars was the limit. He suspected there should be even higher levels.
He slowly opened his eyes. His chakra volume was now more than twice that of the clan's elite.
Although his increase in eye power was limited, he didn't need to worry about the Mangekyo making him blind in the short term.
Time passed gradually, and Rengoku's group had waited from midday to afternoon.
During that time, Yusuke came to report a few times. Itachi, like a pervert, kept staring at Sasuke from the tall building.
Only near the end of the school day did Itachi leave.
"Fourth Elder, Itachi just left. We didn't dare follow too closely, so we don't know his destination."
"Sasuke went to the training ground, probably to train."
"There are three ANBU members monitoring him. One of them is probably Kakashi."
"Are you sure it's Kakashi?", A flash of light appeared in Rengoku's eyes.
Yusuke nodded, "That hairstyle, there's only one person like that in all of Konoha. Even with a mask, it only makes him more conspicuous."
Rengoku narrowed his eyes slightly. Just when he needed it, Kakashi happened to be watching over Sasuke.
But then again, there weren't many suitable people. It was reasonable for Kakashi, the ANBU captain, to be assigned this task.
Yusuke continued, "There are four ANBU members around the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Should we—"
Rengoku raised a hand to stop Yusuke from finishing, "Our opportunity this time is based on the Third Hokage not daring to tear things apart. If we touch the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the Uchiha will be in great danger."
"Yes, I understand!"
Yusuke also wanted to capture Naruto, but since the Fourth Elder had a plan, he naturally had to obey.
This was the importance of command authority.
"Let's go. Let's take our young clan head home."
———
[Training Ground]
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!...
Several shuriken flew toward the target.
With crisp sounds, every shot hit the bullseye.
Sasuke coolly swung his hand and was also satisfied inside.
'Nii-san has been so busy lately, always saying "next time, next time."'
'I must practice hard, so Nii-san will look at me in a new light!'
Sasuke's eyes sparkled, as if he had already heard Itachi's praise.
He touched his ninja tool pouch. He had thrown out all his shuriken, time to retrieve them.
While other students were still playing with paper shuriken, Sasuke already had real iron ones.
When he ran to the target to pick up his shuriken—
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Several figures leaped down, startling Sasuke.
"Little Sasuke, it's late. Why aren't you home yet?"
Sasuke focused his eyes and saw they were familiar clansmen, so he relaxed, "Senior Rengoku, why are you here?"
Sasuke's relationship with Rengoku wasn't particularly good or bad, but they knew each other.
Rengoku smiled, "Of course to take you home."
Sasuke didn't understand why Rengoku came to pick him up, but he didn't have any suspicion and only said, "Senior Rengoku, wait a bit. I need to pack up."
At this moment, the group monitoring Sasuke, Kakashi and the others, got anxious.
They suddenly flashed out from nearby.
"Wait! You can't take Sasuke!", Kakashi spoke out.
Rengoku shielded Sasuke with a stance of caring for his safety.
He shouted sternly, "Who dares target Sasuke!"
Kakashi was stunned. He was wearing ANBU uniform and an ANBU mask, wasn't it obvious?
But the moment he looked at Rengoku, Rengoku's eye power burst out, "Take him!"
Kakashi's vision went black and he immediately fell to the ground.
"You guys!", The other two ANBU never expected the Uchiha to make a move and couldn't react at all.
With a planned ambush, they were instantly knocked out by Yusuke and the others.
Sasuke was startled. After all, he was only 7 years old, still in the age of playing ninja games.
"Senior Rengoku, this… what's going on…?"
After knocking out Kakashi, Rengoku's face revealed a smile.
He stared into Sasuke's eyes, genjutsu activated, "Nothing's wrong. Go to sleep. When you wake up, everything will be fine."
"I…"
Sasuke's eyelids grew heavy and he soon fell into a deep sleep.
Rengoku handed Sasuke over to Yusuke, "Be careful. He's our key asset."
Yusuke nodded and carried Sasuke on his shoulder.
Rengoku squatted down and lifted Kakashi's eyelid, then asked the clansman next to Yusuke, "Hikari, you know medical ninjutsu, right?"
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