After parting ways with Hatake Kakashi, Sasuke turned toward the village library.
It was a weekday. The Academy was still in session.
That no longer mattered.
Everything the Academy could teach him, he had already taken apart and reassembled in his head. Like his brother once had, he now sent a shadow clone in his place each day. Attendance satisfied. Time reclaimed.
As he walked, a fragment of conversation surfaced.
Naruto had found a new teacher. Homura.
A specialist in taijutsu.
The village didn't officially call Homura the strongest, but titles were politics. In pure technique, stripped of forbidden amplifications like the Eight Gates, even Might Guy fell short. So had his father.
Sasuke remembered the stories. The man's fists had crushed elite ninja with casual precision. Even death had failed to bind him for long.
Strength like that always left a mark.
"So the investment is starting to move," Sasuke thought, his pace unchanging.
Naruto was predictable. Once he made progress, he would come running, eager to test it. A spar would follow. Win or lose didn't matter. Sasuke only needed to watch. To feel the rhythm of Homura's techniques through Naruto's body.
Taijutsu could be learned that way.
The library rose ahead of him, quiet and familiar.
Inside, Sasuke moved without hesitation, threading through the stacks toward the inner shelves. He knew the layout well. This place had become useful to him long ago.
Some of the books here were crude. Others were surprisingly sharp.
Psychology texts, in particular, had proven valuable. Enough to shape certain… ideas. Not today, though.
He stopped in the medical section.
Not the scrolls of medical ninjutsu. Those were restricted, and he had no reason to force that door yet. Instead, he reached for something more basic.
Human anatomy.
He selected several volumes and carried them to an empty table.
The first book opened with a dry definition. Sasuke skimmed it and turned immediately to the skeletal system. He read quickly at first, eyes moving with mechanical efficiency, until he reached the sections detailing the skull.
There, he slowed.
Structure. Weak points. How bone curved and overlapped to protect what mattered.
The world's scholarship wasn't refined, but it wasn't ignorant either. With chakra woven into every field, progress had taken a different path. Some areas lagged. Others leapt ahead unnaturally.
Two hours passed without him noticing.
Then he felt it. A gaze. Calm. Measured.
Sasuke didn't look up right away. He already knew who it was.
"Uchiha Sasuke-kun," a gentle voice said. "What a coincidence."
Sasuke lifted his eyes.
A man stood across from the table. Silver hair. Round glasses. An unremarkable face that settled easily into memory and just as easily slipped away.
"Yakushi-senpai," Sasuke replied. "It is."
They had met before. Many times, always by chance. Always harmless.
"Are you researching something?" Kabuto asked, pushing his glasses up with a finger. His eyes flicked briefly to the titles stacked beside Sasuke. "Planning to become a doctor?"
"Not exactly."
Sasuke closed the book and smiled. Polite. Open. The smile of a younger student speaking to a trusted senior.
"I heard that medical ninjutsu improves chakra control," he said. "I've hit a limit in that area. I thought this might help. And knowing medicine won't hurt me later."
Kabuto's expression didn't change. Still warm. Still curious.
The library remained quiet.
Only pages turned.