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Time flew by.
Another week or two passed.
Uchiha Sasuke finally returned to the Ninja Academy.
But after coming back… he seemed like a completely different person.
Sasuke had always been cold, yes—but it had been a quiet, detached coldness. You could tell it wasn't born of malice.
Now?
Now, Sasuke radiated pure indifference.
His presence kept others at a distance. The air around him felt cold, almost biting.
Anyone who tried to approach instinctively felt that chill.
"What's going on with Sasuke?"
"He's acting so weird now…"
"Yeah, I called out to him earlier, but he didn't respond. He never used to ignore people like this."
In the classroom, a group of girls whispered anxiously, their faces full of concern and confusion.
Haruno Sakura watched Sasuke with worried eyes.
Yamanaka Ino, standing nearby, wore a similar expression.
She nudged Nara Shikamaru and asked, "Shikamaru, do you know what happened to him?"
If anyone had an idea, it would be Shikamaru—the smartest one in their class.
Shikamaru gave a wry smile.
He felt conflicted.
Most of the village civilians didn't know the truth. After all, the annihilation of the Uchiha clan was top-secret—Konoha's leadership had worked hard to suppress the news, to keep it from leaking to rival villages.
Only loyal inner-circle shinobi and a few major clans like the Hyūga, Nara, and Yamanaka were told the truth.
Ino, even though she was a Yamanaka, was still a child—no one would tell her something like that.
But Shikamaru knew.
He knew that the once-mighty Uchiha clan had been wiped out in a single night.
And Sasuke… was the sole survivor.
He couldn't even imagine what Sasuke had experienced that night.
Still, he had no intention of telling Ino.
"Ah… no idea," he replied casually, chuckling awkwardly.
Then he quickly opened his textbook and pretended to focus, clearly avoiding the subject.
"Tch, useless," Ino pouted.
Shikamaru really wasn't helpful when it mattered.
At that moment, Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, who now seemed to exist in a bubble of isolation.
His face stayed calm, but inwardly, his thoughts stirred.
Hang in there, Sasuke. The time for revenge hasn't come yet. When it does… I'll avenge your clan too.
And so, Naruto didn't approach Sasuke.
Right now, both of them were under the scrutiny of Konoha's top brass.
If they started talking too much—if the last Uchiha and the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki suddenly grew close—it would raise every red flag imaginable.
What are those two planning?
Why are they bonding?
No one would say it aloud, but Naruto knew: deep down, Konoha's higher-ups didn't want the Uchiha heir and the Jinchūriki to connect.
Not yet.
Not until they had spent years being "nurtured" by the Will of Fire.
Only then—when they were deemed sufficiently loyal—would the village elders feel safe enough to encourage their bond.
Naruto, of course, wasn't going to wait around for that.
That night, he returned home from the academy, putting aside all other training.
Tonight's focus was singular: the Meditation Star Gate technique.
This was a spiritual cultivation method he had created himself, and he had been practicing it for nearly a year.
From the very first stage to now, he had finally reached the third Star Gate.
And now, he could feel it—he was on the verge of breaking through to the fourth.
So, in the sealed space inside him, Naruto sat cross-legged and began focusing.
He used his vast mental energy to slowly shape the fourth Star Gate in his mind.
He had been stuck here… for a long, long time.
But now—
Boom!
In a sudden burst of clarity and force—
The Fourth Star Gate formed!
It opened.
In the next instant—
An immense, almost divine surge of spiritual energy poured through the newly opened gate and flooded Naruto's consciousness.
It was as though his mind expanded in all directions, absorbing everything around him.
He saw the world differently now—its patterns, its structures. Even his own body, down to the flow of chakra and cellular energy, felt new and vivid.
In the cage within him, the Nine-Tails suddenly stirred.
A strange, invisible wave had just brushed past him.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
He turned toward Naruto outside the cage and narrowed his eyes.
What's this brat up to now?
But the moment he truly looked, his pupils contracted.
The Kyūbi could feel it clearly—
Naruto's spiritual energy had become nearly tangible.
Huh? What the hell?!
This level of spiritual power was no joke.
In the shinobi world, mental energy—or seishin-ryoku—was one of the core components of chakra.
Stronger mental energy meant better chakra control, more powerful ninjutsu, sharper perception, faster learning—and crucially, stronger resistance to genjutsu.
And right now?
The Nine-Tails realized with shock:
This brat's mental strength… it's strong enough to resist the Mangekyō Sharingan!
Kyūbi couldn't help but reflect.
He, too, had once been overwhelmed by the Mangekyō—controlled like a beast by those cursed Uchiha eyes.
If I had this kind of mental strength back then... those damn Uchiha wouldn't have been able to control me!
Moments later, Naruto slowly opened his eyes.
A smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Not bad."
He could feel it.
His mind had changed—grown.
He was likely now immune to most illusion techniques cast by the Sharingan.
Of course, it still needed testing.
He hadn't actually encountered a real pair of Sharingan before, so he couldn't be certain.
But based on the level of mental resistance he had now…
At the very least, he was confident that Konoha's leadership wouldn't be able to do anything shady to him using genjutsu.
With the Uchiha clan now annihilated, there were no active Sharingan users in the village… except for Sasuke.
Well—except for Danzo, that old bastard.
That guy was probably rolling in Sharingan eyes right now.
An entire arm full of stolen eyes—each one a trump card.
But Naruto wasn't worried.
His mental fortitude had grown, and so had his observational prowess—what he jokingly referred to as his own observation Haki.
Now, with his heightened senses, he could detect the chakra auras of both Danzo and the Third Hokage from a considerable distance.
As long as I can sense them coming… I can stay one step ahead.
And with preparation?
Anything was possible.
...
TN:
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