But it didn't matter. Hiruzen Sarutobi could think whatever he wanted. As long as Jie was around, the Third Hokage wouldn't be able to touch a single hair on the Uchiha clan's collective head.
Right now, however, Sasuke was only three, pushing four. He hadn't received any formal ninja training yet. To ensure his little brother didn't end up taking a beating, Jie Uchiha quietly slipped into a concealed vantage point where he could observe the situation without exposing himself. With his current strength, hiding from a bunch of toddlers was incredibly simple.
However, the plot's direction immediately strayed from what Jie had anticipated.
After Sasuke announced his name, the older bullies acted as if they had just heard a terrifying ghost story, stumbling backward in fear.
"You... you're from the Uchiha clan?"
"The Uchiha clan that controls the Konoha Military Police Force?"
The boys swallowed hard, their faces pale with terror as they stammered out their questions.
"That's right, I'm from the Uchiha clan!" Sasuke declared proudly, puffing out his chest. "My older brother is the young clan head, and my dad is the Captain of the Military Police Force!"
"He really is an Uchiha! He's the clan head's kid!"
"Help, Mom! The Uchiha monster is going to eat us!"
"Mom, I promise I won't run around anymore! Save me!"
Hearing Sasuke's boast, the bullies began screaming like they'd seen a demon. Snot and tears streamed down their faces as they turned tail and fled, crying out for their mothers.
Sasuke stood there, blinking in confusion.
Jie, watching from the shadows, was equally baffled. 'Is the Uchiha name really this effective in the village? Even fearless little brats burst into tears just hearing the word Uchiha. Don't tell me the parents in Konoha use our clan's name as a boogeyman to scare their misbehaving kids?'
After thinking about it for a moment, Jie gave up trying to understand the village's parenting methods. Anyway, it was definitely Hiruzen Sarutobi's fault. The Hokage must have used some underhanded methods behind the scenes to make the villagers misunderstand the Uchiha so deeply. Feeling completely justified, Jie comfortably pinned all the blame on Hiruzen.
Although Sasuke didn't quite grasp the situation either, he looked down and saw the little girl still squatting on the ground, crying softly. Subconsciously, he reached out a hand.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Hinata Hyuga looked up at Sasuke timidly, a faint blush flashing across her cheeks. She didn't dare take his hand.
"I'm fine," she whispered.
Hinata's tiny voice was like a mosquito's hum; even though Sasuke was standing right next to her, he couldn't hear her clearly.
"Stop! Let the girl go!"
Hearing the sudden, loud shout, Sasuke subconsciously grabbed Hinata's arm and pulled her to the side to dodge.
An orange blur flew right past them, missed entirely, and smack!—faceplanted hard into the dirt.
'Naruto?' Jie's mouth parted slightly in surprise. 'Why is Naruto here too?'
"Ah, ouch, ouch, ouch!" Naruto Uzumaki groaned, tears welling in the corners of his eyes as he sat up, clutching his bruised nose with both hands.
"Who are you?" For some reason, looking at the blond boy in front of him gave Sasuke a strange, irritating sensation. He immediately frowned.
"Me?" Naruto let go of his nose and puffed out his chest confidently. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage! Now let that girl go!" His grand declaration was completely undermined by his bright red, throbbing nose.
"What arrogant boasting," Sasuke snorted coldly. "The future Hokage is obviously going to be my older brother!"
"Impossible, the Hokage seat is definitely mine!" Naruto shouted, clenching his fists.
"No! It'll definitely be my brother!"
"It's me!"
Standing off to the side, Hinata watched the two boys bicker endlessly, her small face full of absolute confusion.
Unable to gain the upper hand with words, Naruto instantly flared up in anger. "You jerk, take this!" He raised his fist and charged.
"Too slow. Compared to my brother, you're nothing!" Sasuke effortlessly sidestepped Naruto's wild punch and planted a kick right into his stomach.
"Ah!"
With just one kick, Naruto tumbled across the ground like a rolling gourd. He lay there, struggling to push himself up, but his body refused to cooperate.
After all, since Minato Namikaze's death, Hiruzen Sarutobi had only provided Naruto with the bare minimum to survive, entirely to divert the villagers' hatred. Expired milk, instant ramen for three meals a day... if it weren't for the Nine-Tails' chakra constantly nourishing his body, Naruto would have broken down long ago. Because of this, there was no way his current physical conditioning could compare to Sasuke, the well-fed, well-trained young master of the Uchiha clan.
"Now you know the gap between us," Sasuke scoffed, looking down at him. "The one who will become Hokage is definitely my brother, not a dead-last like you who can't even beat me!"
Though Naruto was entirely unwilling to concede, the sharp pain radiating from his stomach kept him pinned to the dirt. He could only glare fiercely up at Sasuke to show his defiance.
Hidden in the trees, Jie watched this amateur scuffle—like two fledglings pecking at each other—with great relish. Seeing that the fight was over, he prepared to step out of his hiding place and wrap things up.
Suddenly, a mechanical voice rang out in his mind, freezing him in place.
'No way. This works too?!'
Looking down at Sasuke and Naruto glaring at each other, Jie's eyes widened in disbelief.
Just now, the System's notification had chimed, letting him know that his long-awaited chance for a breakthrough had finally arrived.
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