Chapter 832 : Sasuke's Choice!

In his house, Sasuke sat alone in complete silence, his mind occupied by what he had just learnt. He couldn't believe what the young Uchiha kids said and even confirmed the same with one of the Anbu ninjas watching over the compound. His shock increased even further.

After a few minutes, Sasuke finally gathered himself and thought, ‘Orochimaru offered me the power to take revenge on Itachi. However, if he ran away without daring to face Fujin, can I trust his words?’

The answer was clear. Even though Orochimaru had failed to kill Hiruzen, his performance was still very impressive considering he was in the enemy territory. Though the impression he left on Sasuke was lesser than in the original story, it was still very high. The curse seal also subtly influenced him.

However, that impression had now shattered. Orochimaru had failed to protect his village. There was no excuse that Sasuke could accept this time. Fujin had led an army and expelled Orochimaru from the Land of Rice. The fact that Orochimaru didn't even dare to face him made Sasuke lose all respect for his strength.

He muttered, “How could someone who ran away from Fujin make me strong enough to kill Itachi? I doubt he can even kill Itachi himself, let alone give me the power to do so. That said, is Fujin stronger than Itachi?”

Sasuke immediately recalled that Naruto was guided by Fujin. His wind jutsus had come from Fujin. While he would never say it openly, Sasuke knew that Naruto's Wind jutsus were formidable. Even though they didn't compare to his summoning jutsu, the supercharged Wind jutsus were extremely problematic for normal ninjas. Sasuke knew he wouldn't fare any better than Gaara against hundreds of Shadow Clones spamming supercharged Infinite Breakthrough jutsu.

Unlike the original story, where Naruto was considerably weaker than Sasuke until Jiraiya taught him how to harness Kurama's chakra and the Summoning jutsu, the two were more evenly matched due to Fujin's interference.

Sasuke had seen how Naruto's strength had grown steadily since the last year in their academy. His strength grew even faster once they graduated as Fujin taught Naruto stronger Wind jutsus and the Body Flicker jutsu. That was also when Sasuke learnt of Fujin's existence, though he hadn't paid any attention to him until Fujin forced Orochimaru to retreat in the Forest of Death.

Sasuke couldn't help but wonder, ‘The reason why Naruto, who was at the bottom of the class, suddenly improved should be due to Fujin. However, why did Fujin suddenly take an interest in Naruto and begin training him? Would he also be open to training me?’

Unknowingly, Sasuke had been completely influenced by Itachi. Unlike his other two students, Kakashi hadn't done a bad job with Sasuke. Other than Naruto, who also received guidance from Fujin and Jiraiya, Sasuke was the one who improved the most among his classmates. The rest couldn't even compare.

Yet, after meeting and losing that badly to Itachi, Kakashi's image had taken a heavy fall in Sasuke's eyes. At the very least, he didn't trust Kakashi's capabilities to make him strong enough to get revenge. Not to mention, Kakashi had lost to Itachi as well just like he was. Since Orochimaru was no longer reliable, Sasuke subconsciously thought of the next option.

He thought, ‘Naruto lives in the same compound as him. I may be able to meet him there.’

Since he had nothing else to do, he quickly left towards Fujin's compound. He was about to reach when he suddenly saw Naruto and hid. He observed, ‘He's hanging with those kids again. If I recall correctly, he had said that they are Fujin's official students.’

Naruto had returned to continue his training after talking with Sakura for a bit. Monkey, who oversaw their training in Fujin's absence, turned his head and noticed, ‘Hmm, Uchiha Sasuke? Why is he here? Also, why is he hiding?’

Sasuke observed the 5 Kiri orphans and thought, ‘Weird, why are they of different ages? And, why haven't they been enrolled in the academy and instead get trained directly by Fujin?’

He thought for a bit but couldn't understand. However, it didn't matter to him. Instead, he wondered how strong they were. Sasuke thought, ‘This is a good chance to see how strong his students are. I can decide whether to approach him or not based o… Huh???’

Sasuke's eyes popped open as he saw one of the most absurd things! Sasuke immediately activated his Sharingan, but the shock didn't subside. He wondered in shock, ‘What in the hell? How did they disappear out of thin air? It isn't Genjutsu unless someone like Itachi casts it. No, even then I could sense that it was a Genjutsu. What the hell happened?’

As Naruto and the rest walked into the training ground, they completely vanished from Sasuke's sight. He had never seen anything like that. He calmed himself and quickly analyzed, ‘They disappeared right when they stepped into the training ground. Something is fishy about it…’

After contemplating for a bit, Sasuke walked towards the training ground to figure out what was happening. Before he could set foot in it, he suddenly heard, “Looking for something, Uchiha Sasuke?”

Startled, Sasuke immediately raised his guard and turned around. To his relief, it was just an Anbu ninja wearing a monkey mask. Sasuke replied, “I saw Naruto and a few others disappearing while going inside the training ground.”

Monkey replied, “Hmm, this is the personal training ground of Suzuki Fujin. He doesn't like to be spied upon while training. No one can see what is happening in the training ground from outside.”

Sasuke thought in surprise, ‘This is his work too?’
He quickly asked, “How?”
Monkey answered, “Seals. I'm sure you've studied about Fuinjutsu in the academy.”
Sasuke thought, ‘Seals? Yeah, we studied about Fuinjutsu. But I never heard about seals being able to do something like this.’
Seeing Sasuke silent, Monkey asked, “Are you here to meet Naruto?”
Sasuke answered, “No, I want to meet Fujin.”
Monkey replied, “He isn't at home currently.”
Sasuke immediately asked, “When will he be back?”
Monkey thought for a moment and answered, “I can't say for sure. He returned quite late yesterday. If you want to meet him, you should come early in the morning. If you're lucky, you may run into him.”

Sasuke thanked him and left. As he walked back, he thought, 'Do all strong ninjas have a veil of mystery around them? With Orochimaru, it was his weird body, the snakes and this curse seal. Fujin's Fuinjutsu is unlike I have ever seen before. And, there's that bloodbath.'

The sight of blood raining down on the arena was still fresh in Sasuke's mind. It was horrifying, disgusting and nauseating. He thought, 'I never guessed someone like him could cut down ninjas like grass. Perhaps he could help me get revenge...'

Naruto continued training, unaware that Sasuke tried to meet Fujin. As for Fujin, he spent the entire day again with Tsunade, observing her healing process and receiving her guidance. While he made no progress in learning how to heal souls, his knowledge of the Yin and Yang chakra deepened.

——

Fujin yawned lazily as he woke up. Stretching his body, he thought, ‘Things will be boring for some time… Tsunade's experiments will run for 8-10 days more before she starts treating Hiruzen. Nothing else interesting is about to happen…’

Fujin sighed. For the last couple of months, he had been involved in a lot of interesting events, starting from his battle against Orochimaru in the Forest of Death and ending with the peace talks with Sunagakure. It had been quite a change in pace from his usual training routine. Returning to the monotony of training felt like stepping into a shadow after basking in the sunlight.

Fujin sighed again before starting to freshen up. He thought, ‘Oh well, my continuous training sessions are the reason I could go undefeated during this chaotic period. I can't let my guard down so quickly. There are still enemies who are far stronger than what I faced. And, I can't even think of the Otsutsuki clan yet. I'll have to endure several more years of such training.

Besides, there should be some smaller incidents. The payment from Sunagakure should arrive soon. I can have some fun with it. Also, Orochimaru is supposed to take Sasuke, though I wonder how he'll do it. Most of his capable subordinates are dead. Surprisingly, Kimimaro also died against Darui and others.

That said, I won't be surprised if he still has a few capable subordinates left. I only eliminated his bases in the Land of Grass. He should still have a few bases in other countries. However, even if the Sound Four were alive and healthy, he wouldn't dare to send them here.

The Anbu in the Uchiha compound would have killed them. Even if they somehow captured Sasuke outside the Uchiha compound, there is no way they could escape the Land of Fire. Then again, this shouldn't be enough to deter Orochimaru. I wonder what he'll do now…’

While Fujin freshened up, Naruto saw Sasuke waiting outside the compound. He immediately recalled their battle the previous day and asked, “Sasuke? Why are you here?”
Sasuke plainly replied, “I have some work.”
Naruto was surprised. He asked, “What work?”
Sasuke replied, “None of your business.”
Annoyed, Naruto snorted, “Hmph, you must be here to see Fujin. Konohamaru, follow me! We'll meet him first.”

A tick mark appeared on Sasuke's forehead due to Naruto needlessly competing with him here. Konohamaru and his friends followed Naruto while shouting, “Wait up, boss!”

The four of them rushed towards Fujin's house and rang the bell continuously. Fujin, who had just grabbed a bite to eat, gazed towards the door and wondered, ‘This boy… Why's he so impatient at this hour?’

[A/N: Next Chapter: Konoha's Premium Transportation System!]