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"Whee-oo,"
Kuro couldn't help but whistle as he strolled through Konoha's busy streets, practically bouncing with every step. Happy? That didn't even begin to cover what he was feeling right now. He was over the moon, floating on cloud nine, ready to burst with excitement, pick a cliché, they all fit.
He'd finally hit the level requirement for the job change quest.
Finally...
Months of grinding, training, and putting up with the most mind-numbing tasks had led to this moment. It felt surreal to him, like he'd been chasing this goal forever and suddenly it was right there in his grasp.
"Arise... Arise..." The words slipped out before he could stop them, his voice dropping to what he thought Sung Jin woo sounded like. He was so caught up in his own little fantasy that he didn't notice the strange looks from people passing by.
A woman with her shopping bags actually stepped a little further away from him. A group of kids pointed and whispered. One old man just shook his head like he'd seen too many weirdos for one day.
Great. Just great. Here he was, having his epic protagonist moment, and he probably looked like some guy talking to himself on the street. But honestly? He didn't care. Nothing could kill this buzz.
But throwing all that excitement aside for a moment, Kuro had a more pressing issue to deal with before his job change quest and that was finding a new place to live. His current shithole of an apartment was tiny, run-down, and reeked like dried piss no matter how many cleaning products he threw at it. (And yes, those existed in the ninja world, because apparently even shinobi's needed Febreze.)
The walls had cracks running through them, and the assholes upstairs seemed to have a hobby of shouting at all hours or dragging their chairs on the floor constantly, making unnecessary noise. Every second in that place was pure torture, and there wasn't even enough room to swing a kunai properly, let alone train.
What he needed was somewhere with actual space, big enough to move around freely, maybe even decorate the place so it didn't look like a prison cell. It had to be relatively hidden too with a backyard, that he could practice his abilities without nosy neighbors wondering why the hell he was pulling weapons out of thin air.
So far, his house hunt had been a complete disaster. Every decent place he'd looked at was either right next to some busy intersection where he'd never get a moment's peace, or uncomfortably close to one of the prestigious clan compounds. Because apparently, privacy was a luxury reserved for the rich and powerful.
But he had one more option left to explore.
As much as he didn't like the idea, he wasn't entirely against it either. His plan was to approach none other than Sasuke Uchiha about renting a place in the Uchiha compound. With Itachi having wiped out the entire clan, the whole district sat empty except for Sasuke himself.
Why the hell Sasuke hadn't sold off those houses was beyond him. It would've been prime real estate, probably worth a fortune. But Kuro figured it was some sentimental bullshit about keeping the last sacred Uchiha grounds intact or whatever moral high ground nonsense drove people to hold onto empty buildings.
Honestly, he didn't give a damn about all that emotional yip yap. The Uchiha compound was huge and empty, which made it perfect for what he needed. He was getting sick of walking to the regular training grounds every single day, plus lately he'd been getting this weird feeling that something was watching him. Could've just been his imagination, but it was creepy as hell.
Of course, there was no guarantee Sasuke would actually let him rent or buy a place there. The kid was pretty damn aggressive when it came to anything Uchiha-related, and having some random guy living in one of their homes would probably be massively offensive. Still, Sasuke was just a kid, even if he was a prodigy. But still a kid and easy to convince, he simply just had to play his cards right.
If he got rejected, though, he wouldn't lose sleep over it. Part of him wasn't even sure he wanted to get that close to Sasuke this early anyway. It was weird enough that he'd just met Naruto, and now here he was planning to approach Sasuke too. Well, it probably didn't hurt to get to know them before all the serious plot shit started going down. Making those connections early could make surviving this world a hell of a lot easier.
The better they knew him, the better his chances of survival increased. Who knows? Maybe some of that plot armor might brush off on him.
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Meanwhile, across the village in the empty Uchiha compound, Sasuke was at his daily grind. Shirtless in the sunlight, wearing nothing but grey shorts, he moved through a series of Taijutsu moves. With heavy weights strapped to each limb to make it even harder.
His fist shot forward in a sharp jab, as he then spun on the heel of his foot, using the momentum to launch himself into the air. He shot forward a roundhouse kick that sliced through the air before he landed and immediately flowed into the next combination of moves. A punch, pivot, knee strike, backfist, and an elbow strike.
By the time he finished the sequence of moves, he was gasping for air, with sweat pouring down his bare chest and back. His lungs burned, but it was a good type of burn. That put him just one step closer to his goal.
Sasuke stared down at his heavily calloused palms, before slowly clenching them into fists. The skin was rough, scarred from years of relentless training.'Is this enough to beat Itachi?' the question haunted him every damn day. That bastard had taken everything from him, his parents, his clan, his entire world, and then had the audacity to tell him he wasn't worth killing. The hatred that burned in his chest wasn't just anger; it was pure, concentrated venom that had been festering for years. He couldn't understand how his own brother, someone he'd looked up to, could slaughter their family in cold blood and walk away like it meant nothing.
Just thinking about it made his head throb with a familiar ache. "I'm going to kill him and make him suffer," he muttered through gritted teeth.
He sighed and headed inside his house, showered off the sweat, and threw on a fresh set of clothes. As he opened the refrigerator to grab something for breakfast, the sound of the doorbell echoed through the empty compound.
*HWEEEEE*
Sasuke froze.
Nobody ever came here...
Well, almost nobody. Those scummy, greedy real estate bastards show up every few months, practically salivating over the chance to get their hands on the compound. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't shocked by the ridiculous number of zeros they threw around in their offers.
But there was no fucking way he was selling what little remained of the Uchiha clan. This compound was their legacy, their history carved into stone and wood (So he believes...). If he sold it, he'd be spitting on everything the Uchiha name stood for.
The minute he put this place on the market would be the moment the Uchiha clan officially died. Once a mighty clan, wiped out in a single night by a single man was disgraceful enough. He wasn't about to disgrace their name any further by handing their home over to some money-hungry developers.
If those real estate vultures wanted the Uchiha compound, they'd have to pry it from his cold, dead fingers. But that wouldn't happen until after he killed Itachi. Once that bastard was rotting in the ground, then maybe they could have what was left.
Sasuke sighed and clenched his fist, his brows furrowing into a deep scowl. He headed toward the front door and yanked it open, ready to tell whatever sleazy businessman was standing there to fuck off.
Instead, he found himself staring at a tall boy who didn't look much older than himself, though he was definitely taller and built like he's been taking steroids his whole life. Withs his muscles showing clearly through his white shirt and black shorts, and with that dark hair and those empty dark eyes, the guy could've passed for any other Uchiha.
But then the stranger smiled. "Hi, I'm Kuroshin Kagemura... and I'm looking for a place to rent, or possibly buy." He extended his hand out for a handshake.
Sasuke's expression went completely flat. Without a word, he moved to slam the door shut, but the bastard was quick and his foot shot out, wedging between the door and the frame.
"Hey, just hear me out..."
Sasuke groaned internally as he was starting to get irritated by the boy. "Why the hell do you want a house here?" Sasuke's voice dripped with annoyance. "Don't you have parents? Did they kick you out or something?"
The smile immediately dropped from the boy's face. "I don't have any parents. They're all dead. I've been an orphan for a good few years now."
He said it with that same casual tone, even managing to force the smile back onto his face. But Sasuke knew that the ones who acted most casual about their pain were usually the ones hurting deepest inside. He should know, he was one of those fools.
Sasuke let out a heavy sigh. Even so, he wasn't about to cave just because of some sob story. He opened the door fully and tried to make himself as clear as possible. "I'm sorry to hear that, but nothing is for sale here, and nothing ever will be. Please leave." He moved to close the door again.
"Listen, listen," the boy said quickly, his foot still firmly planted in the doorway. "I'm talking 500,000 ryo for just one house. That's triple what they normally cost. I'm not looking to party or trash the place. I just need somewhere quiet, you won't even have to see me."
Sasuke froze again.
500,000 ryo? That was... a lot of money. More than he'd ever seen in one place. He could think of a dozen ways that kind of cash could help with his training, his gear, and his preparations for hunting down Itachi.
For just a second, he wavered.
"No. Thank you."
The boy let out a heavy sigh as the door slowly began to groan shut. He bit his bottom lip, looking like he was wrestling with himself. "800,000 ryo cash upfront..." he said, the words coming out like he already regretted them.
Sasuke's hand froze on the door handle.
After the massacre, he was left with an inheritance of 4,000,000 ryo from his family's estate. The only thing was he couldn't touch that money until he turned 19 and became a Jonin of Konoha. His family's lawyer had explained all the legal bullshit after the funerals, when everything still felt like a nightmare he couldn't wake up from.
A small portion of that inheritance covered his rent and basic utilities through some trust fund setup, so he wasn't exactly struggling to survive. But 800,000 ryo up front? That could buy him new jutsu scrolls, higher-grade weapons, specialized training equipment, anything that would help him get stronger faster.
800,000 ryo was far from chump change. Hell, it was more money than most shinobi saw in years.
Which made him suspicious as hell. A boy who barely looked older than him had that kind of cash lying around? Still, he'd just have to keep an eye on the bastard.
Sasuke opened the door wide and extended his hand. "Deal. What exactly are you looking for?"
While he did care about the Uchiha clan name, he cared more about getting stronger than anything else, about killing Itachi. Even if this was just three steps up a very long staircase, he was going to take that chance without hesitation.
The boy sighed in what looked like relief and shook Sasuke's hand, sealing the agreement. "Something decent..."
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"Alright, this is it." Sasuke led Kuro to a decent-sized Japanese-style home with traditional architecture that had seen better days. The backyard was spacious enough, complete with a large koi pond that sat bone dry after years of neglect. The grass had turned brown and patchy, since sasuke wasn't exactly been playing groundskeeper since he was the only one left to see it.
"You'll have to handle renovations yourself," Sasuke said, gesturing at the obvious wear and tear. "If you want something bigger, it'll be 4,000,000 ryo." a flash of greed sparkled in his eyes, before it returned to the usual empty darkness.
He led Kuro inside, watching the older boy's reactions carefully. This was definitely one of the more run-down properties in the compound, but even the worst Uchiha house was still pretty damn nice. Rich clan perks.
"So... what do you plan on doing with the place?" Sasuke asked. It was partly curiosity, but mostly a test. He needed to make sure this wasn't some elaborate real estate spy bullshit or someone trying to get their hands on Uchiha property for the wrong reasons.
"Renovate it a bit, and train mostly... but I won't be here much because of missions," Kuro said, looking around the interior. As he dragged a finger across one of the walls and grimaced at the layer of dust that came away.
Sasuke's eyebrow raised slightly. "Missions? You're a shinobi?" He'd noticed Kuro wasn't wearing a headband, though given how built the guy was, it wouldn't have been surprising and would explain the large sum of money.
Kuro nodded absently. "Yeah..." he said, still lost in thought as he examined the house.
Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks. "So if you're a shinobi, you're the perfect test. Fight me."
That snapped Kuro right out of his thoughts, his face twisting into a look of pure confusion. "What the hell?"
The only reason Sasuke was doing this was because he needed to gauge just how far he still was from Itachi's level, and testing himself against another shinobi seemed like the logical way to do it. He had to know where he stood and just how far that staircase was.
But little did he know that he was challenging the Solo Leveling Shinobi...
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