Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

"What's wrong?" Minato seemed to notice Sasuke's confusion and looked curious.

"Judging from your appearance, you must be a member of the Uchiha clan, right?"

He paused, a hint of self-satisfaction in his voice, "I didn't expect that Naruto would find a friend with whom he can enter each other's inner world. It seems that he has been doing quite well these past few years."

"friend?"

Sasuke savored the word, a barely perceptible sneer playing at the corners of his lips. "You seem to have misunderstood something. The reason I'm here is simply due to some unexpected events."

He raised his head, his Sharingan staring directly at Minato.

"Besides, I don't know why you think he'll be doing well."

Minato's smile faltered slightly, and he looked at Sasuke with some confusion: "Why do you say that? Although sealing the Nine-Tails inside him will cause him some trouble, the Third Hokage should take good care of him."

"Moreover, as the son of a village hero, everyone should also..."

Sasuke scoffed, "The son of a hero?"

Chapter 29 The Broken Hero

"The son of a hero?" Sasuke chuckled as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

"Fourth Hokage, it seems you know nothing about your son's life these past years."

Minato's heart sank, and an ominous premonition enveloped him.

The smile vanished completely, replaced by a solemn expression, and his voice became somewhat subdued: "What...what do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is that your so-called son has no friends or family in the village. From the time he can remember, he has lived under the scorn and contempt of everyone."

Minato's eyes trembled violently.

Sasuke's voice continued, like a dull knife, cutting into his soul again and again.

"When I saw him, he was being chased away with a broom by a grocery store owner, like a stray dog."

“I saw him sitting alone on the swing after school, watching other children being picked up by their parents, while he could only hug his knees and wait for the sun to set.”

The color drained from Minato's face instantly.

He instinctively took a step back, his body trembling slightly.

Impossible, the Third Hokage...

He tried to find excuses for himself and the village, and an idea popped into his head.

"Is it to protect him?"

Minato's voice was dry and hoarse, as if he was trying to convince himself, "Not revealing his identity is to prevent him from being targeted by my enemies. Yes, that must be it."

"Then all we need to do is hide his identity."

Sasuke stepped forward and sneered, "But your son, Naruto Uzumaki, has a nickname that everyone in the village knows."

He paused, a look of pity on his face: "A fox demon!"

Sasuke never expected the Third Hokage to be so ruthless, not only refusing to reveal Naruto's identity but also fabricating a demon fox identity.

It's also thanks to Naruto's thick skin.

"A fox spirit?" Minato's pupils constricted instantly. He seemed to understand something, but he couldn't believe it.

"Impossible!" he instinctively retorted, his eyes filled with disbelief. "The Third Hokage, the head of the village, how could he..."

He froze, his gaze unconsciously sweeping across the dark sewers, as if he could see Naruto's life outside through them.

"So, what do you imagine Naruto's life would be like?"

"Let me tell you, from the day he was born until now, in the entire village, apart from a ramen shop owner and a ninja academy teacher, no one has ever been willing to say a complete sentence to him."

"He could only resort to the most foolish pranks, such as graffitiing the Hokage Rock, to gain even the slightest bit of attention."

"This is the son of a hero that you think is doing well."

"What about Kakashi?" Minato hesitated for a moment, then asked reluctantly.

Naruto is his son, and Kakashi Hatake is his disciple. Logically speaking, they are brothers, and what older brother wouldn't take care of his younger brother?

"Kakashi Hatake?"

A complex look flashed in Sasuke's eyes as he retorted to Minato, "He himself is a drowning man who needs to be saved, so what makes you think he can pull your son ashore?"

Minato's body jolted violently.

"What did you say? Kakashi, he..."

These words struck Minato's heart like a heavy hammer.

His proud disciple is still living in such pain.

Sasuke looked at Minato's dejected appearance, and his sneer deepened.

"You sacrificed yourself and your wife for the village, sealing the Nine-Tails inside your newborn son, thinking yourself a hero who saved the world."

"But what did the village give you in return? They saw your son as the embodiment of disaster, transferring all their hatred for the fox spirit onto an innocent child."

"They enjoy the peace you brought, yet they recklessly damage your most cherished relics."

"This is the village you protected with your life, Fourth Hokage."

Minato stood frozen in place, remembering Kushina's dying words and the promise he had made to the infant in swaddling clothes.

The light in his eyes dimmed completely, overwhelmed by endless regret and self-blame.

"I......"

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but nothing came out.

The Fourth Hokage, who saved Konoha, shed silent tears like a child who had done something wrong.

Sasuke stared silently at the man who had collapsed before him, his eyes devoid of any pity.

However, just when Sasuke thought that the other party would continue to sink into despair, Minato's trembling body gradually calmed down.

He slowly raised his hand and wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve.

When he looked up again, his azure eyes regained their clarity.

"Thank you for telling me all this."

Minato's voice was still hoarse, but his tone was incredibly serious.

“However, in what you just said, I heard your indifference towards Konoha, your disdain for the villagers, and even your contempt for the concept of ‘village’ itself.”

Minato slowly opened his mouth, and this sudden turn of events caused Sasuke to raise an eyebrow slightly.

"You seem to have no sense of belonging to Konoha."

Sasuke's eyes turned cold. He hadn't expected that this man could recover his thinking so quickly after such a huge blow.

As expected of the Fourth Hokage.

"A sense of belonging?" Sasuke scoffed. "That kind of thing means nothing to me."

“My family, my parents, were all slaughtered that night.”

His voice was icy cold, as if he were telling someone else's story: "To me, whether the village exists or not makes no difference."

He raised his head, his dark eyes staring directly at Minato, showing no sign of backing down.

“I can’t be like you, still caring about this village after learning what your son has suffered.”

Minato's blue eyes, which had just regained their clarity, contracted violently once again upon hearing those words.

"……What did you say?"

Minato's voice trembled, "Your clan, the Uchiha clan... was completely slaughtered?"

Sasuke looked at him like this, his eyes showing no emotion whatsoever.

"Just a few years after your death, on a blood-red night, the entire Uchiha clan territory was wiped out."

How can it be? !

Watergate's mind went blank; he couldn't even process the terrifying amount of information contained in the message.

That's the most powerful clan in Konoha, one of the two cornerstones that co-founded the village with the Senju clan.

They possess a bloodline limit that makes all ninja villages wary, and their clan is full of geniuses.

How could such a family, such a behemoth that could shake the very foundation of the Land of Fire, possibly be completely slaughtered?

Sasuke Uchiha was getting annoyed and didn't intend to continue explaining.

Turn around, ready to leave this space.

Just as he was about to mobilize his power to forcibly break free from this spiritual world, his movements paused slightly.

He remembered Naruto's face, which was always on the verge of tears because of defeat.

Annoying...

Cursing inwardly, Sasuke stopped and turned his head slightly.

"Hey."

Minato looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"The seal you left inside Naruto can convert the Nine-Tails' chakra into his own power, but it also severely hinders his control over his own chakra."

"Please adjust it."

After he finished speaking, he didn't pause again.

The space around Sasuke's body began to distort.

Only one sentence remained, echoing in this desolate sewer.

"Right now, he can't even use the most basic transformation technique properly."

Chapter 30 Double-Edged Sword

Sasuke's consciousness receded from that dark sewer like a receding tide.