“Sasuke, your face… Oh my goodness, poor child!
Come here and let Mom take a look!”
The moment Sasuke returned home, his mother noticed the large swelling on his face.
Mikoto’s heart ached when she saw it, but Sasuke patted his chest.
“I’m fine, Mom.
I just… fell by accident.”
“I’m fine…”
Sasuke lied.
Even now, he still couldn’t figure out what had happened.
Everything had happened far too quickly.
He hadn’t even had time to react before he was sent flying.
And by the time he recovered—
Naruto had already run away…
Sasuke didn’t understand.
If that guy was so good at taijutsu, then why had he performed so terribly during practical class…?
“This child… How could you be so careless?”
“Come here.
Mom will put some medicine on it!”
Mikoto hurried into the room and brought out the medicine kit, carefully treating Sasuke’s injury.
“Hiss!”
Sasuke winced in pain.
At that moment—
“Are you sure you fell?”
A voice came from behind Sasuke.
Sasuke’s entire body stiffened.
He turned around.
His father was staring at him coldly.
Sasuke lowered his head, not daring to meet his father’s eyes.
“Father, I…”
“After your medicine is applied, come to the study and see me.”
His father turned around and left.
Mikoto sighed.
“It’s okay, Sasuke.”
“If something happened, just tell your father.
Don’t lie… Your father won’t make things difficult for you.”
Sasuke lowered his head, his little face filled with dejection.
After his injury was treated, Sasuke nervously made his way to the study, half of his face still swollen.
“Kneel!”
Fugaku shouted coldly while examining a scroll at his desk.
Sasuke immediately dropped to his knees and didn’t dare make a sound.
“Who did this?”
“…A classmate.”
“What’s his name?”
“His name is… Uzumaki Naruto.”
Upon hearing the name, Fugaku frowned.
He glanced at the injury on Sasuke’s face, his eyes filled with confusion.
Uzumaki Naruto…
Wasn’t he the Nine-Tails jinchuriki?
Sasuke had actually been beaten by the Nine-Tails jinchuriki?
Fugaku narrowed his eyes, immediately sensing that something was strange.
As far as he knew, the Nine-Tails jinchuriki had lived a difficult life before entering the academy.
That was the fate of most jinchuriki.
But the problem was…
Sasuke had lost.
Obviously.
If the boy had won, he would have proudly told his mother instead of lying.
Sasuke was different from Itachi.
Itachi had experienced the battlefield from a young age.
He had even lived through the Nine-Tails’ attack.
Sasuke, on the other hand, had grown up surrounded by love and affection.
He was a flower raised in a greenhouse.
There was no comparison.
But…
They were both his sons.
Even if there was a gap between them, it shouldn’t have been something an ordinary child could overcome.
His opponent was a jinchuriki, but at this age, he clearly shouldn’t have been capable of using the Tailed Beast’s power.
Unless…
That child had also been secretly trained from a young age.
The Third Hokage…
Had your wariness toward the Uchiha really reached this level?
“Why did you fight?” Fugaku asked coldly.
“…”
Sasuke didn’t dare answer.
He genuinely couldn’t.
He had waited for someone after school and challenged him, only to get beaten up.
If his father found out, he would probably skin him alive…
“Forget it.”
Fortunately, Fugaku didn’t pursue the matter.
He stood up and walked past Sasuke.
“As a member of the Uchiha Clan, failure is shameful.”
“But refusing to face your own failure is an insult to the Uchiha!”
“Kneel here and reflect until nightfall.”
“If you can’t figure it out, don’t get up.”
Bang!
Fugaku finished speaking and slammed the door shut.
Sasuke immediately let out a breath of relief.
He understood the principle.
But the problem was…
How had that guy done it?
…
“Ding!
Check-in complete!”
“Check-in Location: Nine-Tails Sealing Space.
Duration: 4 hours.”
“Check-in Reward: Sealing Space Gift Pack ×1.”
Naruto woke up a little after four in the afternoon.
He felt completely refreshed after the long sleep.
All the unpleasantness from earlier had been forgotten.
So what if he had beaten Sasuke?
So what if he might have exposed the fact that he was actually absurdly strong?
It wasn’t a big deal.
After all, worrying was useless.
Aside from making himself feel worse, it wouldn’t help solve anything.
He might as well relax and deal with things when the time came.
“Ding!
Successful act of slacking.”
“Obtained 20 Lazing Points.”
The system notification sounded.
Naruto raised an eyebrow and opened the check-in gift pack.
“Obtained Skill: Tailed Beast Bomb, Level 1.
(Cannot be used.)”
“Requirement: Nine-Tails Chakra Access must reach 5%.”
“Can be dismantled.
Dismantling it will grant 200 Lazing Points.”
Naruto’s eyes widened.
“There really is a Tailed Beast Bomb?”
“But…”
Naruto looked at the requirement again.
He needed his Nine-Tails Chakra Access to reach 5%.
Each check-in only increased it by 0.01%.
That meant he needed a full 500 increases.
And there was no guarantee that every check-in would even reward him with it.
Being able to use this ability anytime soon was probably impossible.
As for waiting until the Nine-Tails was completely unlocked…
Who knew how many years that would take?
“Let’s just keep it.”
Naruto didn’t really care.
This kind of thing was all about fate anyway!
Though getting only 200 Lazing Points for dismantling it did make the system seem a little stingy.
He could worry about that later.
Time to go fishing.