Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

He looked at himself, at that emptiness, and was about to say something—

"Get out."

However, it wasn't him who said those words.

It was that seven-year-old "Sasuke" with the hole in his chest.

The moment the words left his mouth, Sasuke suddenly felt a powerful repulsive force erupt from his entire inner world!

It was as if he were an outsider in her inner world.

"What--?!"

Before Sasuke could even react, his consciousness was instantly distorted by this brute force, and he was kicked away violently.

……

On the rooftop, Sasuke's body trembled violently, his eyes snapped open, and he let out a rapid gasp.

He braced himself against the tile with one hand, a fine layer of cold sweat beading on his forehead.

The feeling I had just experienced...

He was driven out by his own inner world.

He was kicked out of his own soul by that illusion.

A strong sense of humiliation suddenly welled up in my heart.

"Meow~"

A lazy meow broke the silence.

Sasuke looked in the direction of the sound and saw a completely black cat stepping out from the shadows of the eaves.

It stopped a short distance away, tilting its head, seemingly observing him with curiosity.

Is it Kisuke Urahara's cat?

Sasuke's tense nerves relaxed slightly.

He slowly let out a sigh of relief, forcibly suppressing his inner turmoil.

Sasuke reached out, picked up the black cat, placed it on his lap, and stroked its smooth back gently.

The cat didn't resist; it just closed its eyes comfortably and purred softly.

People seem to be more likely to let their guard down when facing an animal that cannot speak.

"It's ridiculous."

Sasuke chuckled to himself, as if he were talking to a cat, or perhaps to himself.

"It was clearly my inner world, but it was kicked out instead."

His hand, which was stroking the black cat, paused slightly as his thoughts were once again drawn back to that blood-red world.

"You're nothing but a coward hiding in the shadows of the past. One day, I'll drag you out myself, and then..."

"And then what?"

A deep male voice suddenly rang out in his arms.

Sasuke's stroking motion froze instantly.

He lowered his head and met those cat-like eyes that were gleaming.

The cat tilted its head back and calmly met his gaze, as if it were the one who had just spoken.

Sasuke paused for a moment, then regained his calm demeanor and continued to slowly scratch the cat's chin.

"...You are more composed than I expected."

The black cat looked at him with interest. "I thought you'd be so scared that you'd just throw me down."

Sasuke didn't answer its question, but merely glanced at it indifferently, while Kakashi's image flashed through his mind.

He had previously summoned a talking ninja dog, although its personality was somewhat eccentric.

Furthermore, although few, Sasuke had seen talking ninja cats in the Uchiha clan's territory.

In this world full of all sorts of strange abilities, the appearance of a talking cat doesn't seem like anything to be surprised about.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and focused his attention back on the creature in his arms.

"Were you sent by Kisuke Urahara to spy on me?" Sasuke's tone was very calm.

"The word 'surveillance' doesn't sound good."

The black cat wagged its tail, a hint of amusement in its voice, "I'm just curious about the interesting person Urahara mentioned."

It stretched out its paw and gently pressed the back of Sasuke's hand.

"Your spiritual pressure was very unstable just now."

The black cat shifted into a more comfortable position, curling up on Sasuke's lap. "Did you go inside and see 'that thing'?"

Sasuke remained silent, simply continuing to stroke the cat's back, which was taken as tacit agreement.

The black cat seemed to sense his bad mood and simply lay there quietly without asking any further questions.

After a long while, Sasuke spoke again, his voice much calmer.

"Hey."

"Hmm?" the black cat responded lazily.

"What's your name?"

The black cat seemed surprised by his question, paused for a moment, and then chuckled softly.

"Me? My name is..."

It deliberately drew out the tone, then raised its head, its golden eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

Yoruichi Shihōin.

Chapter 20 Unlovable Children

The following morning, in the dining room of Urahara Store.

Sasuke appeared at the dining table with a faint dark circle under his eyes and a blank expression, looking even worse than usual.

Good morning, Sasuke.

Kisuke Urahara waved his fan and greeted him with a smile, as if he hadn't noticed anything.

He pushed a steaming cup of tea in front of Sasuke. "Didn't you sleep well last night? Is the bed here too hard? Are you not used to it?"

Sasuke pulled out a chair and sat down, glancing at him indifferently. He knew that Kisuke was asking about his spiritual pressure disorder from the previous night.

"It's alright." He uttered two words succinctly, lowered his eyes, and picked up his miso soup.

Seeing that Sasuke didn't respond, Kisuke Urahara didn't seem to mind. He rested his chin on his fan and casually changed the subject.

"Speaking of which, Miss Kuchiki didn't look too good when she left yesterday. After all, transferring the power of a Shinigami to a human is a grave crime in Soul Society."

His eyes darted around Sasuke's face with interest as he spoke in a joking tone.

"Not reporting a comrade's serious crime to the Seireitei is an outright crime of harboring a criminal. Why don't you do that, Sasuke? You seem to really dislike her."

Sasuke paused slightly as he drank the soup.

He slowly put down the bowl, raised his head, and looked directly at Kisuke Urahara.

"I have no companions."

His voice remained as cold as ever. "Secondly, I hate writing those boring reports. Her life or death is none of my business."

Sasuke didn't give Urahara a chance to press further; he leaned forward slightly and threw the question back at him.

"But you are, Manager Urahara."

Sasuke took the initiative, his tone tinged with accusation, "As far as I know, the 'artificial body' you gave her was supposed to help a Shinigami who had lost their power to slowly regain their spiritual energy by working within it, right?"

Kisuke Urahara stopped waving his fan.

Sasuke's gaze sharpened. "However, yesterday I didn't sense any signs of spiritual energy recovery from that woman. On the contrary, her spirit was still being suppressed and broken down by something."

"What you gave her was not an ordinary prosthetic body."

Kisuke Urahara's smile froze for a moment, and his eyes, which had been squinting, slowly opened, revealing undisguised surprise.

He hadn't expected that the boy would be able to grasp this point through just a brief encounter.

"Oh?"

Kisuke Urahara quickly reverted to his carefree demeanor, chuckling as he said, "Sasuke-kun is truly observant; he even noticed such a minute detail."

“That’s right, that’s definitely not an ordinary prosthetic body.”

Instead of explaining the true purpose of the prosthetic body, he changed the subject and steered the conversation in another direction.

"However, the fact that you can see through this shows that Sasuke's ability to perceive and analyze spiritual energy far surpasses that of ordinary people. This will be of great help to me in researching the power within your body."

Sasuke snorted coldly and didn't press the matter further.

Based on the other party's reaction, he confirmed his guess.

From the moment Rukia Kuchiki stepped into this shop, she had already fallen into this man's scheme.

And myself...

Sasuke picked up the cup of tea in front of him, which had already gone cold, and drank it all in one gulp.

Perhaps, it's the same.

Just as the air began to fall silent, Kisuke Urahara suddenly raised an eyebrow, his fan stopped in mid-air, and his gaze turned to the window.

"Oh my, oh my..." he uttered a vague exclamation.

A spiritual pressure, not particularly strong but filled with chaos, was rapidly approaching from afar.

Sasuke naturally sensed it too; it was Hollow's spiritual pressure.

Kisuke Urahara closed his fan, tapped the table lightly with the fan ribs, and wore a half-smile.