The next morning.
When Takumi woke up, he couldn't help but support his waist with his hand.
Looking back at the sweetly sleeping Kurenai, a knowing smile appeared on Takumi's face.
Truly a happy problem to have.
Stepping out of his home.
People on the street immediately greeted him with warm enthusiasm upon seeing him.
"Out for a stroll? Come take a look in my shop? Everything's free!"
"Going out on a mission again? Try to rest a bit more, don't overwork yourself."
"Hang in there, Takumi-kun! I'm your fan!"
"Takumi-kun, please take care of your health. This is a wild ganoderma I picked from the mountain yesterday. Take it to nourish yourself."
Faced with everyone's enthusiasm, Takumi could only wave his hands repeatedly, putting on a humble, embarrassed expression.
"You're all too kind. Please don't offer things for free."
"I'm just taking a walk. I'll make sure to rest."
"Thank you for your support, but pay more attention to your studies, okay? Become an excellent Shinobi in the future."
"Grandpa, this is too precious. I can't accept it."
After finally escaping the enthusiastic crowd, Takumi couldn't help but sigh in relief.
"Where should I go today?"
Takumi had done a targeted simulation before leaving home. Nothing would happen today, so he was very relaxed.
Doing a targeted simulation every morning had almost become his daily routine.
If he wanted to be lazy, he would set the simulation target further ahead in time.
If he encountered special circumstances, he would immediately start preparing countermeasures.
If nothing happened, he would just wander around.
He thought for a long time, but before he could come to a decision, Sakura came looking for him first.
However, Ino wasn't with her.
She seemed to have gone out on a mission.
"Takumi-kun~ Let's go eat something delicious, then go shopping, and watch a movie together."
Without Ino around to interfere, Sakura seemed very excited.
"Uh... alright."
Takumi thought about it. He had nothing to do anyway, so it would be good to relax.
But at that moment, he seemed to have forgotten that when shopping, women transform into a different creature.
Just as Takumi was being dragged off by Sakura to go shopping, in a certain ward at Konoha Hospital.
Sasuke sat on the hospital bed, his head lowered, his face hidden.
If you looked from below, you could see his face was currently very twisted.
And the reason for all this was the faint conversation coming through the crack in the ward door.
"Did you hear? That Uchiha traitor attacked Konoha yesterday, apparently summoning a monster dozens of meters tall."
"I heard, I heard! I heard Takumi-kun stepped up to stop him and defeated that person."
"That's right. Takumi-kun is truly amazing."
"Yeah, yeah. Even though he's about the same age as my younger brother, he's already an Elite Jonin, proficient in Medical Ninjutsu, even more skilled than Tsunade-sama... Ah, he's just too perfect. If he were just a little older..."
"Oh? If he were a little older? What are you thinking? A great person like Takumi-kun definitely has tons of girls after him. How could it possibly be our turn, us insignificant people?"
"I'm just imagining! Can't I even imagine?"
"Alright, alright, let's hurry with the rounds. We have a lot of tasks today."
The voices went from far to near.
By the time they finished speaking, the two chatting nurses had already pushed open the door to Sasuke's ward.
"Uchiha Sasuke, right? Your eye recovery is progressing very well. Perhaps it's because the donor was your older brother? You can be discharged today..."
The lead nurse looked at the medical chart in her hand and said with her head lowered.
However, as she spoke, the nurse behind her quickly tugged on the hem of her clothes.
"What is it?"
The lead nurse was puzzled but saw the nurse behind her constantly making meaningful eye movements.
"Huh? Ah!"
Letting out a short exclamation, the lead nurse then remembered that the donor seemed to be the Uchiha traitor who attacked Konoha yesterday.
She seemed to have said something very inappropriate.
"Um, Sasuke-kun, you can be discharged today."
The lead nurse quickly laughed it off, then quickly left with the other nurse as if fleeing.
Thud.
The door closed, isolating the sounds inside and out.
"Damn it..."
A voice suppressed to the extreme. Sasuke spat out these two words through gritted teeth.
He wasn't talking about those two nurses.
He was saying this to himself.
He hated his own weakness.
Faced with the enemy who slaughtered his clan, he was actually completely helpless.
Especially when Itachi held him and plucked out his eyes alive.
He had even wet himself!
At the time, he hadn't felt anything.
Because he was in the midst of the fear of almost having his life taken away.
Moreover, the pain of having his eyes gouged out alive left him no room to think about anything else.
He heard about it afterward from the mouths of those gossipy nurses.
Though those nurses just treated it as chit-chat and didn't even mean to mock him.
After all, they had seen far worse scenes.
But for the proud Sasuke, this was truly a fatal blow.
Just thinking about that scene being witnessed by many nurses, and having more people know about it through their gossip, he seemed to see a scene that would appear in the future.
He walks on the street, and the people around him avoid him, whispering.
"Look, that's the one. He wet himself in fear of the enemy. So shameful."
"Stay away from him. He has a stench on him."
"His older brother is a traitor. Maybe he's a spy sent by his brother."
"And he dares to call himself a genius? Compared to Takumi, he's just too far behind."
…
He had been having nightmares for several days.
He didn't resent Takumi.
Because Takumi hadn't done anything to wrong him.
The only people he resented were two.
One was Itachi, and the other was himself.
Towards Takumi, he only felt gratitude.
Because his current eyes were perfectly transplanted by Takumi, without any sequelae.
However, hearing the news that Takumi had defeated Itachi still filled his heart with unwillingness.
One was a person he admired.
And the other was his enemy, but he couldn't defeat him, and had even wet his pants under his killing intent.
Thump!
He punched the bed. The sound was absorbed by the sheets, making a noise like a fart.
Sasuke's cheek twitched. Looking at the sheets, his face gradually twisted. "Even you dare to mock me?!"
Riiip!
Bang!
Crunch.
Thud.
"Huff... huff..."
Sasuke stood panting in the middle of the room.
The sheets, vases, etc., in the ward… everything that could be smashed… he had smashed them all.
The sheets were torn into shreds.
Scattered messily on the floor, proclaiming their innocence.
After venting his anger, Sasuke felt much better.
Then, he changed out of his hospital gown, put on the clothes the nurses had washed for him, and left the hospital.
The cleaning staff who came in later to tidy the room were dumbfounded upon seeing the mess.
"Did a battle happen here?"
The cleaning staff couldn't figure it out at all.