Konaha Ninja Academy.
During the break between classes, all the students were playing around.
At this time, Sasuke hadn't yet experienced the Night of the Massacre. He was still a carefree, slightly arrogant child.
He happened to be racing Naruto.
Naturally, Sasuke won with ease.
When Naruto came wheezing across the finish line, he immediately bounced up from the ground.
"I didn't even use my real strength just now!"
Sasuke said smugly, "You were already giving it everything you had, weren't you—dead last."
Naruto refused to accept it. "If I use my real strength, you wouldn't stand a chance!"
"Next round, we compete in high jump!"
Sasuke snorted. "You're not even in the same league as me."
"What did you say!?"
Sakura and Ino chimed in from the side, "Naruto, just give it up. You can't beat Sasuke…"
The scene of the children playing and bickering together was warm and peaceful.
But around them, several unseen gazes were fixed firmly on the group.
Not far away, hidden within the treetops, were two separate teams.
One was assigned to constantly monitor Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
The other, led by Kakashi, was watching over Sasuke.
And higher up, Itachi stood with his arms crossed, wanting to take a few more looks at Sasuke in what would be their final moments together.
After tonight, he would never see his beloved little brother again.
What none of them knew was that, aside from them, there was yet another group watching from the shadows.
"Fourth Elder, Itachi is indeed on the nearby rooftop."
From within the shadows of an alley, Yusuke reported quietly to Yufeng.
Yufeng leaned against the wall with his eyes closed.
"First, identify everyone in the area. We only have one chance."
"Once Itachi leaves, we move."
"Yes! Fourth Elder!"
Yusuke took two men with him and continued gathering intelligence.
Yufeng and two other clansmen remained hidden here.
The two clansmen were somewhat nervous at first, but seeing the elder's calm composure, they too settled down.
Yufeng wasn't putting on an act.
He was checking his cheat system.
On the bond interface, the twenty-plus Uchiha from the earlier meeting had all reached one star in their relationship with him.
As for Mayumi, Jiyan, Yusuke, and Rinto, they had reached two stars.
Yufeng began by claiming the first star from each of them.
Accompanied by system prompts, countless combat memories flooded into his mind.
"Ding! Level 1 Bond with Uchiha Mayumi unlocked."
"Ding! Level 1 Bond with Uchiha Jiyan unlocked."
"Ding! Level 1 Bond with Uchiha Yusuke unlocked…"
Although Yufeng already possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, his actual combat ability didn't match his body.
At most, he could only bring out thirty percent of his strength.
It wasn't that he was deliberately holding back in battle—
He simply didn't know how to fight.
Now, after fully digesting the combat memories of over twenty people,
Yufeng had finally become a qualified Mangekyō Uchiha.
When Yufeng proceeded to activate the second stars one by one—
"Ding! Level 2 Bond with Uchiha Mayumi unlocked."
"Ding! Level 2 Bond with Uchiha Jiyan unlocked…"
Mayumi, Jiyan, Yusuke, and Rinto each contributed roughly ten percent of their chakra or ocular power.
Though there was no manual explaining it, through these two rounds of enhancement, Yufeng had already grasped how the bond system worked.
If two people were acquainted and shared some rapport, it usually unlocked one star, granting the first-level reward.
If there was trust and deeper rapport, it would reach two stars, unlocking the second level.
As for the Grand Elder, who had reached three stars, that was because he had placed the clan's very survival in Yufeng's hands.
That level of trust was absolute.
Yufeng didn't know whether three stars were the limit.
He suspected there were even higher levels.
He slowly opened his eyes.
His chakra reserves were now more than double that of an elite clansman.
Although the increase in ocular power wasn't large, at least in the short term, he no longer had to worry about going blind from overusing the Mangekyō.
Time continued to pass.
They had been waiting since early afternoon, and it was now late afternoon.
During this period, Yusuke reported several times.
Itachi was acting like a stalker, staying on the rooftop the entire time, staring at Sasuke.
Only when school was about to end did Itachi finally leave.
"Fourth Elder, Itachi just left. We didn't dare follow too closely, so we don't know where he went."
"Sasuke went to the training grounds—probably to practice."
"There are three ANBU monitoring him. One of them should be Kakashi."
"Kakashi, for sure?"
A sharp glint flashed in Yufeng's eyes.
Yusuke nodded. "That hairstyle—there's only one person like that in all of Konoha. Wearing a mask is just covering it up."
Yufeng narrowed his eyes slightly.
Perfect timing—just when he needed a pillow, one was delivered.
Kakashi was actually guarding Sasuke.
Then again, when you thought about it, there weren't many suitable candidates.
Having Kakashi, an ANBU captain, handle this task was perfectly reasonable.
Yusuke continued, "There are four ANBU watching the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. Should we—"
Yufeng raised a hand, stopping him from continuing.
"Our opportunity this time exists only because the Third Hokage doesn't dare tear off the mask."
"If we touch the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, the Uchiha will be in extreme danger."
"Yes, I understand!"
Yusuke also wanted to make a move on Naruto, but since the Fourth Elder had spoken, he naturally obeyed.
This was the importance of command authority.
"Let's go."
"Bring our young clan heir home."
Training Grounds.
"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh…"
Several shuriken flew toward the targets.
With a series of crisp sounds, all six hit the bullseye at the same time!
Sasuke coolly flicked his wrist, satisfaction rising in his heart.
Nii-san has been so busy lately… always saying 'next time, next time.'
I have to train harder—make Nii-san look at me in a new light!
Sasuke's eyes shone brightly, as if he could already hear Itachi's praise.
He reached into his ninja pouch—he'd thrown all his shuriken and needed to retrieve them.
While the other students were still playing with paper shuriken,
Sasuke already had real, iron throwing weapons.
As he ran over to collect them—
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several figures dropped down, startling him.
"Little Sasuke, it's getting late. Why aren't you heading home?"
Sasuke took a closer look and realized they were all familiar clansmen.
He relaxed immediately.
"Senior Yufeng… why are you here?"
Yufeng's relationship with Sasuke wasn't particularly close, but they knew each other well enough…