At the same time Ino was wrestling with Evil Ino on Turtle Island, Konoha Village.
Sasuke, who had been promoted to Chunin, observed outside the Shueisha bookstore for two days. He was extremely dissatisfied with the book sasukes youthful story published by this bookstore, and he harbored a lot of resentment towards the author named Haruno Sakura.
However, a few days ago, because Ino occasionally appeared in the store to reconcile accounts with the bookstore owner, he didn't want to be seen in such an awkward situation, so he refrained from showing up. He only came after hearing that Ino had left the Village two days ago.
The bookstore owner was a very reasonable businessman. He knew that Ninja had great power, and even with Jiraiya as his backer, he would avoid offending them if possible. After Sasuke expressed his dissatisfaction, he immediately proposed a compensation plan.
He said politely, "Sir, how about this? Hmm, we'll give you a commission of one tael for every book sold."
Sasuke was furious: "What kind of joke is that? Do you think I'm here for money? I want you to stop selling this book!"
"Two taels."
"You're insulting me! You're insulting the Uchiha Clan!"
The bookstore owner calmly said, "Alright, a commission of three taels, no more."
Sasuke immediately hesitated.
He wasn't stupid. No matter who the author of this book was, the infatuated girls in the Village were the main buyers. Whether this book existed or not, they would still be infatuated. If he stopped the sale of this book, it wouldn't have much impact on those guys. But if he agreed? He would get a commission of three taels for every book sold?
It smelled pretty good.
Kakashi officially took Sasuke as his apprentice and systematically helped him develop a training plan.
Sasuke was nominally a Clan Ninja, but in reality, his Clan was long gone. If he didn't have the Sharingan, it wouldn't be a problem to call him a commoner Ninja.
His foundation was just the Ninja Academy curriculum, which wasn't low, but definitely not high.
Ino had already created her "Compound Ninjutsu: Poisonous Pufferfish." This Ninjutsu wasn't particularly brilliant and had a lot of room for improvement, but in the evaluation of Tsunade and Jiraiya, it was already comparable to Kakashi, who invented Chidori at the age of twelve.
Sasuke's understanding of Ninjutsu was still at a very basic stage.
He didn't know that in the future he would be constantly using Susanoo to slash wildly. From his current perspective, the foundation of a Ninja was still Ninjutsu. If you talked to him about Gundam, he would definitely think you were talking nonsense.
Kakashi had extensive theoretical knowledge and spent several days in the infirmary explaining the application of Ninjutsu to Sasuke.
He explained in great detail how to use Lightning Release, how to use Fire Release, and how to use the Sharingan.
Sasuke's Clan inheritance was gone, but Hatake's Ninjutsu inheritance was still there. Using secret medicines to increase Chakra, special methods for body forging, and developing entirely new Chakra natures—all these things could be taught.
Sasuke felt that he couldn't even compare to Ino in the field of Ninjutsu, let alone Uchiha Itachi. When he fought Zabuza Momochi before, he developed a bit of interest in sword techniques, so Kakashi taught him his family's sword techniques.
Kakashi stopped practicing his family's sword techniques after the age of twelve, so his understanding of sword techniques wasn't profound, but it was enough to teach Sasuke.
Secret medicines to increase Chakra, medicinal baths to speed up body recovery, and large amounts of meat for daily training—all these things required money!
The master leads the way, but individual practice is key.
It's impossible for the master to teach you Ninjutsu and all sorts of things, and then also pay you, right?
Earning your own cultivation resources is also a form of training.
Sasuke was currently short on money, the kind of short that was really severe.
Jiraiya formally returned the Uchiha old mansion to Sasuke two days ago; the house was considered returned to its original owner.
The bloodstains, corpses, and such in the old mansion from his memory were long gone. Now, only empty rooms and some simple furnishings remained there.
The house was given to him, but money? There really wasn't any! Jiraiya was also short on money and couldn't subsidize Sasuke with the Village's funds.
The bookstore owner looked at Sasuke calmly. He had seen many Ninja like this. What about the Fifth Hokage? What about Miss Yamanaka, who had the reputation of a genius? There wasn't a single Ninja who didn't love money!
Sasuke also thought money was good, but he had come over so aggressively, and suddenly changing his tune would make him lose face. He needed to find an excuse. Just as he was about to speak, he felt a sharp pain in his eyes, his vision went black, and his consciousness was instantly pulled into a strange space.
In a hazy perception, he heard two people talking.
One voice said, "Brother, don't keep fighting. Let's stop the war."
The voice, seemingly of the older brother, seemed surprised and asked, "Why are you here?"
The younger brother said, "Father said that people need to understand each other. Through the bridge of understanding, we have finally met again, and this time it's just you and me."
The older brother no longer dwelled on the issue of the two brothers meeting at this time, in this space. He sneered, "Understanding? Still the same old stuff. Do you understand me?"
The younger brother said with certainty, "I understand you. I've understood you from beginning to end, but this understanding should be mutual. You are a genius, an existence everyone looks up to. I and all your followers understand you very well, but you are unwilling to humble yourself to understand us, which is why they abandoned you and sided with me."
The older brother laughed scornfully, "The victor's smugness? Ashura, you are as hypocritical as ever. By now, you are completely surrounded by your own hypocrisy, unable to even see your true nature. Your will is entirely dominated by the old man's theories. What is the meaning of your life? To be a very obedient echo chamber?"
The younger brother, Ashura, said unhurriedly, "True nature is not important. Suppressing one's true nature, listening to more voices, and striving to make this world a better place—that is our responsibility."
The older brother didn't want to talk to him anymore. He waved his hand, "Suppressing everything with powerful means and eliminating all conflicts—that is our responsibility. Coward, I have nothing to say to you. Take your bridge and get out."
"I will come again."
"Get out!"
"...Customer? Customer, are you alright? Are you okay?" The bookstore owner thought Sasuke was trying to extort him and was a little flustered. He ran out from behind the counter, wanting to help him up, but as he took two steps, he saw Sasuke stand up by himself.
Sasuke clutched his head. The pain in his eyes rapidly receded, and a trace of pure Dojutsu Power flowed into his left eye from the eye seal. In just an instant, he knew that his left eye's Dojutsu Power had increased significantly. Although it hadn't reached the Three Tomoe level, it had undoubtedly taken a big step forward from before.
This evolution was very unstable. He casually brushed off the owner with a few words, then left Shueisha in a hurry.
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