Cheering sounds rang around Naruto.
Needless to say, of course Sasuke had easily and effortlessly won the match.
Naruto, as usual, pouted and said some stiff words like he hadn't performed well, or hadn't been serious.
Many people disliked Naruto for acting like this and thought he was overestimating himself.
But Rengoku knew very well, this was Naruto's way of survival.
Only by shamelessly being an annoying pest would someone pay attention to him.
In reality, he was a very lonely, and very afraid of loneliness, a child.
After all, outside of school, it was already a blessing if people around him weren't throwing rocks at him.
And the one who created this situation was the cold-hearted Third Hokage, whose goal, of course, was to control Naruto.
If the Third Hokage had even a bit of conscience, Naruto's childhood wouldn't have been so miserable.
Not only did he take away all the inheritance of the Fourth and his wife, but he also forbade others from approaching Naruto.
Otherwise, with the connections of the 'Little Sun' Namikaze Minato, Naruto wouldn't have had to go hungry every other meal.
The Third only did post-disaster cleanup for Naruto, but constantly indulged him in making trouble.
Naruto just wanted someone to notice him, while the Third wanted everyone to hate Naruto.
That way, he could become Naruto's only light.
Rengoku's thoughts drifted. Kakashi was also extremely pitiful, having suffered deep psychological trauma from his father's death at a young age.
He had barely begun healing through his companions, only to then witness his best friend's tragic (fake) death and was forced to kill Rin himself.
His entire mental world collapsed, and he developed severe PTSD, spending each day in decay, guarding Obito's eye.
He spent more time at the memorial stone than at any restaurant.
Every day, he numbly completed various missions assigned by the Third Hokage, without thinking, living like a walking corpse.
He never even considered whether his father's death was suspicious, or whether his teacher's only child was doing well.
In Rengoku's view, though the Sharingan temporarily boosted Kakashi's power, it limited his potential.
Like the White Fang didn't have the Sharingan, but his short blade had slaughtered Hidden Sand to the point they wailed and cried. Directly forcing Hidden Sand to create a boss like Sasori.
As Rengoku pondered, time slowly passed.
He also realized that what was taught in the ninja academy wasn't much.
Now that it wasn't wartime, the little kids who had just entered school at age seven.
Were only learning simple literacy, some cultural knowledge, physical training, and being repeatedly brainwashed with the Will of Fire.
One must admit, a school is a good place for the heirs of each clan to bond.
Currently, these kids weren't very strong and had no room to grow in strength.
What was more important was forming small groups for Konoha's easier control in the future.
What they learned might be useful for civilians, but for noble clans, it was barely worth mentioning.
The Anbu protecting Naruto, and Jiraiya, were both closely watching Rengoku, afraid he'd have some idea about the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
If Rengoku were to use his Mangekyo to enslave the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki at this time, Konoha would immediately fall into chaos.
Jiraiya didn't dare relax at all.
He couldn't grasp Rengoku's behavioral patterns, so he could only stay alert and monitor him.
But Rengoku was only standing near Sasuke, not to mention making a move on Naruto, he hadn't even looked at him directly.
As the school experience day ended, Rengoku brought Sasuke and the others to the school gate.
At this moment, many parents were already at the gate to pick up their children.
Rengoku keenly noticed that Naruto, who was usually noisy, suddenly had a gloomy expression on his face.
He deliberately held Sasuke's hand. Sasuke looked at Rengoku with some confusion, as their relationship wasn't that close.
Rengoku whispered into Sasuke's ear, "Call Naruto over and say a few words to him, and I'll tell you about Itachi."
Sasuke trembled all over, just as he was about to say something, Rengoku quickly added, "Be natural, someone's watching nearby."
Sasuke's thoughts turned quickly, inheriting the Uchiha name made him more shrewd than the other brats.
He silently nodded, then pretended to be very close to Rengoku and grabbed his arm.
Rengoku, acting like a doting older brother, directly picked up little Sasuke and placed him on his shoulders, letting Sasuke ride on his neck.
Sasuke gave a slightly exaggerated cheer.
But it didn't attract much attention, since many fathers at the school gate were doing the same.
However, one person paid a lot of attention to this, and that was Naruto.
He looked with great envy at those children with parents, being able to act spoiled in their family's arms.
While others, upon seeing Naruto, treated him like a plague, pulling their kids away from him with disgusted expressions.
Under the influence of their parents, many academy kids also showed disgusted looks toward Naruto.
"Naruto!"
With a gloomy expression, Naruto suddenly heard someone calling him.
Naruto immediately perked up, saw it was Sasuke, and quickly ran over.
Jiraiya, who was nearby, felt his heart tighten and stared closely at Rengoku.
"Didn't you say, I saw you were very dissatisfied with losing today. Didn't you say you're better at high jump? Tomorrow I want to make you lose fair and square!"
Sasuke, riding on Rengoku's shoulders, had a smug look on his face.
"Hmph, arrogant Sasuke, who's afraid of who? Tomorrow I'll show you how strong I am!"
Naruto didn't care about the content at all, as long as someone talked to him, he was happy.
Now that Sasuke was challenging him, Naruto was overjoyed.
Sasuke laughed from Rengoku's shoulders, "Tomorrow I'll let you see how powerful us Uchihas are!"
Rengoku didn't look at Naruto, only carried Sasuke and slowly walked past him.
In the evening, the setting sun stretched people's shadows very long.
When Rengoku's shadow overlapped with Naruto's shadow, a wisp of darkness stirred within the shadow, but no one noticed.
"Then see you tomorrow!"
Seeing Sasuke walk away, Naruto was still waving his hand repeatedly.
Sasuke, on Rengoku's shoulders, also waved to show he heard.
———
Rengoku had already walked far with Sasuke.
"Rengoku-senpai, let me down," Sasuke said quietly.
"Heh… what's the rush, we're still being watched," Rengoku replied as he walked.
Sasuke, hearing that, lowered his head and whispered to Rengoku, "Rengoku-senpai, Nii-san…"
Rengoku noticed that the line of sight had already gone far, so he slowly began to explain.
"Your brother was forced to defect."
"What?", Sasuke trembled all over, shocked.
"Rengoku-senpai, what exactly is going on?"
"Isn't Nii-san the captain of the Anbu?"
"What exactly happened?"
Rengoku replied with deeper meaning, "Who do you think in this world loves you the most?"
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