Chapter 353: You Can't Kill Utatane Koharu
"Naruto?"
Hearing Naruto's voice, Sasuke immediately frowned.
Naruto's sudden appearance disrupted his plans.
He couldn't understand why Shiromo had brought Naruto here. Wasn't this just asking for trouble?
Once he recovered, his mission would be to assassinate the Konoha elders. With Naruto's personality, would he really just stand by and let him do that?
So what would happen then?
Another fight?
Sasuke felt extremely frustrated about Naruto's arrival.
Naruto, on the other hand, reacted completely differently. Seeing Sasuke's condition, he hurried over and started fussing over him.
Sasuke coldly (tsundere-like) brushed him off and followed Shiromo's voice, walking up to him.
"Why did you bring this idiot Naruto here? You know about that mission, right?"
"Have you forgotten what I told you before about the evolution of your eyes? What's the next step?"
Shiromo smiled and asked instead.
"… "
Sasuke froze for a moment, then quickly understood.
Of course he remembered what Shiromo had told him back then.
He just hadn't expected to progress this quickly.
He had already reached the Eternal Mangekyō stage.
So the next step… wasn't it to "drink milk"?
A trace of embarrassment flashed across Sasuke's face.
No wonder Shiromo had brought Naruto here.
Compared to killing a couple of stubborn old relics, awakening the Rinnegan was far more important.
For the sake of awakening the Rinnegan, he and Naruto would soon become even closer than real brothers.
At that point, there would be no distinction between them. Hiding this mission from Naruto would only create distance, so it was better to be completely honest.
"Thank you."
Sasuke understood Shiromo's intention and expressed his gratitude.
"Mm."
Shiromo patted Sasuke on the shoulder, then turned to Naruto.
"Naruto, take good care of Sasuke. Since you treat him as your best friend and brother, then you need to consider everything from his perspective and fulfill his needs."
"Otherwise, if he runs off again and you have to chase him, just be ready to cry."
"Abuse brings momentary satisfaction, chasing leads to the crematorium."
After saying that, Shiromo took Kushina and returned directly to Amegakure.
"Sasuke, in a few days you should be able to remove your bandages. Since Naruto is here, I'll head back to the Land of Waves. There's still plenty for me to take care of there."
Itachi, being perceptive, also prepared to leave, giving Naruto and Sasuke space to be alone.
He had already heard that Orochimaru had fulfilled a promise he once made to Sasuke.
Itachi had been there at the time.
In short, the Uchiha clan now had a successor.
There was no need to worry about the clan dying out just because Sasuke and Naruto got too entangled.
Even in the worst-case scenario, if Sasuke's daughter Sarada didn't exist, there was still Uchiha Hikari.
If someone wanted the Uchiha to go extinct, they still had a long way to go.
"Ah? Nii-san, you're leaving too?"
Sasuke was momentarily surprised.
But after thinking about it, his brother staying here really wasn't appropriate.
It would turn him into a "third wheel."
With his brother around, he wouldn't feel comfortable "drinking milk."
Leaving was for the best.
"Mm. Uzumaki Naruto, I'm entrusting my little brother to you."
"Leave it to me."
…
Everyone left, leaving only Naruto and Sasuke.
"Sasuke, what's going on with your eyes?"
Naruto broke the silence first.
Sasuke patiently explained his situation.
Several days passed. During that time, Naruto used shadow clones to take excellent care of Sasuke.
However, while cleaning the room, Naruto accidentally found that torn mission scroll.
The one that originally had Utatane Koharu's bathing photo printed on it, which had been ripped off.
The photo Naruto had picked up earlier was the very piece Sasuke had torn from this scroll.
Now, seeing the material and fragments, Naruto recognized it immediately.
Then he looked at the contents.
Naruto went to find Sasuke, who was removing his bandages.
"Sasuke, you can't do this."
"So you finally found it."
Sasuke removed the bandages and turned to Naruto with a complicated expression.
Is Naruto an idiot?
He had deliberately placed the scroll in the most obvious spot so Naruto would notice it, yet it still took him this long to find it.
"Sasuke, you can't do this."
Naruto repeated himself with a serious expression.
"Naruto, I know you care about Konoha and want to become Hokage. I do too. Great Konoha is my… ahem, Konoha is my hometown."
Sasuke awkwardly corrected himself.
The song from that Amegakure New Year performance that Itachi had shown him through genjutsu was so catchy that he almost started singing it out loud.
"But Naruto, you have to understand, being Hokage isn't just about passion."
"Look at Konoha now. It's developing so rapidly."
"I dare say that the current Konoha is the happiest it has ever been in its history."
"And all of that is thanks to 'reform.'"
"But reform always requires bloodshed."
"Either your own people bleed, or your enemies do."
"Do you really think the Fire Daimyō was killed by some mysterious demolition genius from Iwagakure?"
"If that were true, why would Konoha still maintain such a strong alliance with Iwagakure, without any conflict at all?"
"The people I'm going to kill now are the same. Their very existence is an obstacle preventing others from reaching a better, happier future."
Sasuke patiently explained everything to Naruto.
Of course, he also mixed in some personal bias.
For example, the Konoha elders weren't actually obstructing reform at the moment.
They were quite adaptable.
They would only become obstacles if a weak Hokage took power.
"Sasuke, what are you even rambling about? What I mean is, this Utatane Koharu is Kakashi-sensei's fiancée. If you kill her, Kakashi-sensei won't come back!"
Naruto scratched his head as he spoke.
"…Who?"
Sasuke wondered if he had overused his Mangekyō Sharingan and started hallucinating.
"Kakashi-sensei."
"I meant, who is Kakashi's fiancée?"
"Utatane Koharu."
"…"
Images immediately flashed through Sasuke's mind, scenes he had once seen using his Mangekyō abilities. He even involuntarily imagined Kakashi entangled with Utatane Koharu, and felt like his brain had been contaminated all over again.
"Are you serious? Where did you even hear something like that?"
Sasuke took a deep breath and asked.
"Uh… actually, it's fake."
Naruto scratched his head awkwardly.
"You idiot. I knew it. Naruto, are you messing with me?"
Sasuke was speechless.
"No, no, Sasuke, it's like this. Kakashi-sensei thinks women are like fine wine, the older they are, the richer they become. He voluntarily let Granny Chiyo from Sunagakure take him away to have children."
"To bring Kakashi-sensei back to Konoha, I gave him this photo of Utatane Koharu, hoping he'd realize that Konoha also has elderly women."
"If you kill this old lady, then Kakashi-sensei won't come back!"
Naruto explained anxiously.
(End of this chapter)