The soft moonlight fell on the street. Although the prosperity of this area was vaguely visible, the deserted scene and the dark houses made the atmosphere here seem particularly deserted.

Sasuke, who was lying on the bed, suddenly sat up from the bed board, his hair on the temples was slightly wet with cold sweat, his face was pale, pain and panic appeared in his eyes, and the terrifying picture in his mind could not be dissipated for a long time.

"Damn, I have another nightmare..."

It had been a long time since I had had a nightmare, but for some reason, after returning to Konoha from the Land of Waves, the nightmare that I had often dreamed about in the past started happening in the middle of the night before the next day.

That night was full of blood.

Familiar clan members' faces died under the knife.

There was blood everywhere in the house, as well as the parents lying in a pool of blood...

For Sasuke, that was undoubtedly the childhood nightmare that he least wanted to recall.

So much so that before being taught by Kakashi, he was tortured by this nightmare every night, and everything about that night was firmly engraved in his mind, and he did not dare to forget it for a moment.

He even regards it as his reason for living.

revenge.

Sasuke got off the bed and turned on the switch at the bedside. The room was immediately illuminated by fluorescent lamps. In the dark night, the light from the fluorescent lamps was pale in color.

Wearing thin pajamas and slippers, Sasuke walked to the desk, picked up the cup and poured a glass of water from the teapot.

There are pen holders, books, and some blank scrolls on the writing table, on which I write my understanding and insights of ninjutsu, so that I can easily remember them, comprehensively block my own situation, and check for any gaps.

Sasuke has been a top student since his ninja school days.

Although he was always beaten by his current teammate Sakura in the written examination, his written examination scores were among the best in his grade, and there was no so-called shortcoming. Taking notes was also a habit of Sasuke.

As Sasuke drank hot water, the expression on his face gradually returned to calm, and his breathing began to become even.

After drinking the water, Sasuke looked at the clock on the desk. The hour hand on it pointed between 12 and 1. It was just past 0 o'clock in the morning, and there were still several hours before dawn.

But now, because of the nightmare, Sasuke couldn't feel sleepy at all.

Moreover, after returning from the Country of Waves, at six o'clock in the afternoon, just after nightfall, he was so tired that he fell into bed at home and fell asleep.

"tolerance……"

Sasuke chewed on these two words that had troubled him for a long time.

These were also the two words Uchiha Itachi kept saying to himself when he left.

Just because of this boring reason, I killed my parents, my lover, my tribe...

The mood that had calmed down was once again filled with unwillingness and anger.

But Sasuke knew that anger and unwillingness would not help.

There is still a big gap between him and Itachi. If he goes to look for each other now, he will only be killed.

and--

"The Kingdom of Oni...the Uchiha family emblem is the only one I can never mistake."

Sasuke's tone was quite certain.

Although there may be misunderstandings, the pride of the Uchiha clan has long been engraved in his bones.

The family emblem is also one of the souls of the Uchiha clan. Only ninjas of the Uchiha clan are qualified to use that kind of mark.

In other words, the certain ninja who was seen following the girl from the Kingdom of Demons at the port of Wave Country that day was undoubtedly a member of the Uchiha clan.

However, it doesn't make sense logically.

Since the Warring States Period, the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan have founded the Konoha Ninja Village and are one of the founders of Konoha.

This also means that the Uchiha clan and Konoha have been completely bound together.

Based on this premise, how could there be any clan members joining other countries?

But that family crest clearly designated the person as a ninja from the Uchiha clan.

The emblem of the Ninja clan cannot be used casually, otherwise it will cause all kinds of trouble.

Sasuke felt that his mind was confused.

Are they the tribesmen who were left outside a long time ago?

But why has he never heard anyone talk about this matter?

etc--

An idea flashed in Sasuke's mind, and in the midst of confusion, he seemed to recall something.

If he remembered correctly, when he went to the library of the Ministry of Intelligence to search for information on the Uchiha clan, some people's information had been deliberately torn up. The whereabouts of those clan members were unknown, and they had no idea whether they were alive or dead.

I have never heard of those tribesmen, and I have never seen them in my family.

Could it be that these tribesmen whose whereabouts are unknown went to the Kingdom of Ghosts?

Sasuke frowned. For some reason, the thoughts in his mind were getting more and more confusing.

"Let's find an opportunity to ask Kakashi. As the ANBU minister, he will definitely know something. The most important thing right now is to become stronger as soon as possible."

To become stronger, you need strong power.

Only after you gain strength can you seek revenge from Itachi.

This is Sasuke's current survival goal. Even if he wants to revitalize his clan, that is the next thing he should do after killing Itachi.

If you can't even deal with a traitor, how can you start revitalizing the clan?

With all his sleepiness gone, Sasuke put down the cup he was drinking from, walked to the clothes rack, and changed into the clothes he had worn out. Then he picked up the ninja tools for training, walked out of the house, passed through the dark streets, and headed towards the territory belonging to the Uchiha clan.

Go to the forest.

◎

The meeting time is after lunch, outside the Ichiraku Ramen shop.

When Sasuke came here, he found that Naruto was communicating with a boy of the same age who had pineapple hair.

Nara Shikamaru.

The boy's name suddenly appeared in Sasuke's mind.

Like Naruto, he was his classmate in the ninja school.

Born in the Nara clan, his father is the clan leader of the Nara clan. According to Kakashi, Shikamaru's father is not only the clan leader of the Nara clan, but also the jonin squad leader of Konoha. He manages all the jounin in Konoha and is a powerful figure in Konoha.

.

Just like the Uchiha clan, before the clan was exterminated, they had always controlled Konoha's security forces, and their power was comparable to that of ANBU.

The Nara clan also has a tradition from ancient times.

All the jounin squad leaders of Konoha have been held by ninjas from the Nara clan, which shows that the abilities and character of the ninjas from this clan have won the trust of the Hokage.

As the son of such a big shot, Sasuke didn't dare to look down on him even if he was extremely lazy in school and even took exams carelessly.

When he was in the graduation class, Sasuke also imagined that it would be great if he could be in the same team as him.

It seems now that the idea at that time was still somewhat naive.

"Hey, Sasuke, good afternoon."

After escaping from the chattering Naruto, Shikamaru saw Sasuke, as if he had seen a savior, and quickly said hello to Sasuke who was walking towards him.

"good afternoon."

Sasuke nodded to him as a greeting.

Naruto was a little dissatisfied with Sasuke's sudden intervention. He snorted angrily and turned his face to the other side.

"What are you talking about?"

Sasuke ignored Naruto's awkward behavior because he was used to it.

No matter how stupid Naruto does, he will never be surprised or shocked.

"Naruto gave me some specialties brought back from the Land of Waves. By the way, I'd like to tell you about your glorious deeds in this C-level mission. It seems that the three of you teamed up to defeat the Jonin or something."

Shikaku raised the package in his hand. It was a specialty that Naruto brought back from the Land of Waves. It was wrapped in kraft paper. It is not difficult to guess that it should be a specialty snack with a long shelf life.

After all, something too expensive can't be purchased even with a low ninja's starting capital.

"You have a very good relationship."

Sasuke was quite surprised.

Shikamaru sighed and said, "Taking care of this idiot is very troublesome. As for Choji, I'm really looking forward to the specialty snacks from abroad."

Thinking of this, Shikamaru was glad that he didn't tell Ino when he came over.

Otherwise, after seeing Sasuke, we would have to chat here endlessly.

"How's your group doing lately?"

Sasuke leaned against a telephone pole and asked with interest.

"What else can you do? You are not as good as your seventh class. You have completed more than thirty D-level tasks in one month, and now you have completed a C-level task... It is as if you are treating the tasks as assembly line products in a factory and producing them.
To be continued...