Chapter 37: Guiding Uchiha Sasuke
The moment he saw Naruto's power, Franklin immediately retreated. The might of the Nine-Tails was far beyond anything he had imagined. The idea of trying to communicate with the beast was promptly thrown out the window — with his meager few hundred points of combat power, he was nothing but trash before the Nine-Tails, with absolutely no leverage to negotiate.
Looking at the now fast-asleep Naruto, Franklin gently covered him with a blanket before once again switching places with his phantom double and temporarily returning to the old Uchiha compound.
Feeling the spiritual energy within him nearing depletion, Franklin immediately took out a supreme-grade spirit stone and circulated a technique to replenish what he had lost.
He didn't know how much time had passed when a strange noise suddenly reached his ears. Franklin instantly extended his spiritual sense and turned toward the direction of the sound. When he saw the figure approaching, he was slightly surprised.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
Franklin didn't bother to hide his presence. He simply stood there openly, waiting for Sasuke to discover him. Watching Sasuke form a hand seal with one hand, kunai in the other, eyes full of caution, Franklin responded with a smile.
If possible, it wouldn't be a bad idea to try recruiting the Second Pillar now. After all, he was destined to become a rogue ninja sooner or later — having him lie low in Konoha a couple of years earlier would already cause a significant disruption to the world line.
"Uchiha Sasuke, younger brother of Uchiha Itachi…"
Before he could finish his sentence, Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he immediately launched a ninjutsu attack.
"Are you sure you want to do that? Without your clan's protection, using ninjutsu in a sealed-off place like this — how will you explain it when Konoha's people come?"
The words cooled Sasuke's head a little, and Franklin seized the chance to press his advantage.
"I know where Uchiha Itachi is. I also know why he did what he did. If you want to know, calm down and sit. If this conversation goes south, you'll be the one in trouble — and I'll be leaving here unscathed."
Even after Franklin laid out the pros and cons, Sasuke didn't take the bait. Instead, he charged straight at him with a kunai in hand.
"If I catch you, I can just force the answers out of you."
Watching the reckless Second Pillar rush forward, Franklin finally understood why the internet called him that. The idiot — with Franklin's power of at least 425 points, as long as he didn't take a high-level jutsu head-on, anyone below jōnin level was trash. With the Guardian Sword, he could even kill jōnin, and might even be able to trade blows with a Kage-level opponent.
Controlling his strength, Franklin delivered a lightning-fast slap that sent the charging Second Pillar Sasuke sprawling unconscious on the ground. Looking at the boy's handsome face, now visibly swollen, Franklin shook his head helplessly. "Why bother?"
He tore Sasuke's jacket into strips, tied him up tightly, and gagged him. Then, with another slap, he struck the other side of his face to make it symmetrical.
When Sasuke woke up and began struggling fiercely, Franklin was utterly speechless.
"Calm down. I'm not going to kill you. On the contrary, I'm going to tell you some secrets. Whether you believe them or not is up to you. If you believe me, calm down. If not, I'll just keep slapping you."
The moment Franklin raised his hand high again, Sasuke's eyes suddenly became much clearer.
"…I'm calm."
Though unwilling, Sasuke slowly nodded.
"Good. Since you're calm, I have a question that's been bothering me for a long time. If you can answer it, I'll tell you the true reason your brother Uchiha Itachi did what he did."
When Sasuke grew excited, then forced himself to calm down again and nodded, Franklin asked directly, "I'm curious — your brother Itachi slaughtered your entire clan, even your parents. How did you watch all of that and only awaken a single tomoe Sharingan?"
The words twisted Sasuke's expression in an instant. He struggled wildly, and if Franklin weren't holding him down with overwhelming strength, he might have actually broken free.
"Just kidding. No need to get so worked up. Calm down, calm down…"
Franklin laughed heartily, completely unfazed by Sasuke's murderous glare. "If you don't calm down, I'm not telling you anything."
Watching Sasuke forcibly suppress his rage again under the sting of Franklin's words, Franklin stopped laughing and cleared his throat, his expression turning slightly more serious.
"I was just joking earlier — don't get worked up. Actually, Itachi had two reasons for slaughtering the Uchiha clan. One was for the future of the Hidden Leaf… As for the second…"
Seeing Sasuke's eyes filled with curiosity, Franklin spoke quickly: "The second was to help you grow. Who could have guessed that you'd be such a disappointment? The entire clan wiped out, and you barely reacted. You even awakened just a single tomoe. I bet Itachi felt utterly hopeless. He must have thought his idiot little brother was useless. And I feel the same — how can you be so indifferent to your parents' deaths?"
Franklin's mockery stabbed straight into Sasuke's heart. His emotions exploded again, and this time, the surge of rage triggered the awakening of his two-tomoe Sharingan.
But under Franklin's overwhelming power, he was still nothing but trash. After knocking him out with a single punch, Franklin successfully found a hidden passage within the old compound — one that led to a shrine at the other end.
At the moment, Franklin had no interest in exploring the Uchiha clan's secrets. In fact, there wasn't much point in doing so. What concerned him more was Sasuke.
By now, Sasuke's anger and curiosity had been completely ignited. His Sharingan had even evolved to two tomoe — all of which would severely disrupt the world line.
The next step was to wait for Sasuke to wake up and continue manipulating him, completely altering his future. After all, he was one of the main protagonists — the damage to the world line would be all the greater.
Casually tossing Sasuke aside, Franklin returned once again to the old Uchiha compound to restore his depleted spiritual energy.
The night passed without incident. By morning, Sasuke returned once more. This time, he was much calmer — at least calm enough not to charge at Franklin with a blade immediately.
"Were those things you said last night meant to push me to evolve, or were they true?"
With both sides of his face swollen and bruised, paired with that aloof "cool guy" expression, Franklin nearly burst out laughing. Thankfully, he managed to suppress it at the last second and put on a serious face.
"Ahem. Tell me — how much self-control do you think you have? Or rather, how good are you at hiding your emotions… hiding secrets?"
Franklin's serious and earnest expression affected Sasuke as well. The boy lowered his head, thinking deeply for a long time before finally nodding solemnly.
"Good. You believe in yourself, and I believe in you. But I hope that once I finish speaking, you'll stay strong."
Sasuke frowned slightly, his tone growing impatient. "Just say it. My whole clan was wiped out — I can handle that. How could anything you say be worse than that?"
Franklin couldn't help but shake his head helplessly at that fearless attitude. Kids were still too young, after all.
"All of this started long before Konoha was even founded. Those events are too far back, so I won't go into them.
"Let's just talk about now. Because the Konoha leadership deeply distrusted your clan — and because there was an unstoppable trend of your clan's rise — they suspected that once you grew too strong, you might seize control of the village. They could not accept that. On top of that, they believed that once someone awakened the Sharingan, they all went insane.
"These factors brought the conflict to the surface. Your brother Itachi — well, he was influenced by Uchiha Shisui too — for the sake of the village's stability and to prevent that future from happening, he reached an agreement with the Konoha leadership. He slaughtered the Uchiha clan, even your parents, and took on the name of a traitor. In exchange, the condition was your safety.
"That's the truth behind your family's massacre. There's one thing I really have to point out — I actually agree that your clan goes insane after awakening the Sharingan. Otherwise, your brother wouldn't have been stupid enough to slaughter his whole family and then hand his dear little brother — his greatest weakness — straight into Konoha's hands."
When Franklin finished his explanation, Sasuke looked utterly stunned.
"Impossible…"
"This is impossible!"
"How could that be!!! You're lying, aren't you?!"
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