Chapter 278: Naruto and Sasuke

Chapter 278: Chapter 278: Naruto and Sasuke

The children turned their heads and looked at Naruto as he charged over.

"Who are you?" one of them asked.

Naruto shouted, "I’m Uzumaki Naruto—the future Hokage!"

"The future Hokage?"

"Hahaha!"

"Are you an idiot?"

The children immediately burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs.

Naruto’s face darkened. "Prepare yourselves!"

With that, Naruto lunged forward and grabbed one of the children by the collar.

Bang!

At that moment, another child swung a heavy punch at him.

The fist struck Naruto squarely in the cheek, sending him flying backward before he crashed into the snow.

"Tch! And you call yourself the future Hokage? You can’t even block one punch!"

"That guy’s just an idiot!"

"My mom told me he’s an unlucky fox demon. We’d better stay away from him!"

The children’s mockery and ridicule left Naruto, sprawled in the snow, at a complete loss. The words "fox demon" in particular made him bury his head deep in the snow.

Up in the tree, Shisui’s brows knitted tightly together as he prepared to jump down.

Hyuga Kagami stopped him.

"Don’t rush."

"But, Senpai..."

Kagami smiled. "Just keep watching."

At that moment, the timid Hinata somehow mustered up the courage to run over to Naruto.

She crouched beside him and gently brushed the snow from his clothes before cautiously asking, "A-Are you okay?"

Naruto, still lying face-down on the ground, said nothing. He merely shook his head.

The children shouted, "A Byakugan freak and a fox demon—and you still want to play with us? Dream on!"

Suddenly, another small figure walked over.

"Hey. Is bullying girls and idiots all you guys know how to do?"

The children turned toward him.

Standing there was a boy with both hands tucked into his pockets, the Uchiha clan’s fan crest emblazoned on his clothes, and an unbearably cocky look on his face.

The children asked, "And who are you?"

"Uchiha Sasuke!"

After coolly giving his name, Sasuke glanced at Naruto, who still had his face buried in the snow, and then at Hinata crouching beside him. His gaze lingered briefly on Hinata’s Byakugan.

Then he turned toward the other children.

"I’m different from those two. I’m an Uchiha!"

"So what if you’re an Uchiha? There are three of us, and only one of you!"

Having grown up during a time of peace, these children clearly had little understanding of what the names of the village’s great ninja clans truly represented.

Sasuke gave a light snort.

He stepped forward and grabbed one child by the collar, hooked out a leg to trip another beside him, then caught the third child’s incoming fist with one hand.

"Remember this. I’m different from all of you!"

The children were immediately frightened by Sasuke’s display and scrambled away in a panic.

Watching Sasuke chase the children off, Shisui smiled from his perch in the tree.

Having a child like Sasuke step in and resolve the situation was obviously far better than Shisui, an ANBU, personally intervening. After all, Team 11’s mission was to secretly protect Naruto.

If they made the protection detail known to everyone, then even an idiot would be able to guess that Naruto’s identity was anything but ordinary if ANBU had been assigned to protect him.

At that moment, Sasuke slipped both hands back into his pockets and cockily asked Hinata, "You’re from the Hyuga clan?"

Hinata timidly nodded. "Mm. Thank you for helping us just now!"

Naruto sat up and quietly said to Sasuke, "Thanks..."

"No need to thank me." Sasuke curled his lips before continuing, "You couldn’t even handle a few guys like them? You’re seriously pathetic. Your clan is supposed to be one of the great clans on par with the Uchiha, isn’t it? Is that really all you’ve got?"

Hinata clearly hadn’t expected Sasuke to say something like that. She froze for a moment before lowering her head.

"I-I’m sorry..."

Sasuke shook his head. "Looks like the Hyuga clan really has declined. Unlike us Uchiha, who have stood at the very pinnacle of the shinobi world from beginning to end!"

With that, Sasuke turned around and walked away without so much as giving Naruto on the ground a proper glance from beginning to end.

Up in the tree, Shisui awkwardly said to Hyuga Kagami, "Senpai, about Sasuke..."

Kagami waved a hand and smiled. "He’s just a kid. Why would I stoop to arguing with him?"

Shisui sighed. "There really has been a bad atmosphere in the clan lately. Everyone’s... sigh..."

Kagami had also heard a little about the Uchiha clan’s recent situation.

The upper ranks of the Uchiha clan, such as Clan Head Fugaku and Shisui, were well aware that the problems currently facing the Uchiha were extremely serious. One wrong move could bring about the destruction of the entire clan.

But the ordinary and lower-ranking members of the Uchiha clan had no idea about the many troubles their clan was facing.

All they heard were stories about the exploits of Uchiha Shinichi, who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, and the feats of Kamigami’s "Homura," who also possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan.

In their minds, the Uchiha clan stood unrivaled throughout the shinobi world. Even those Uchiha who had defected from the village were, without exception, fearsome figures whose names shook the entire shinobi world.

This atmosphere made some members of the Uchiha clan increasingly arrogant and overbearing. They even took pride in the deeds of the rogue ninja Shinichi and "Homura," as though the accomplishments of these missing-nin were proof that the bloodline of the Uchiha clan placed them above everyone else!

In Hyuga Kagami’s eyes, this was a textbook example of putting the clan above the village.

One of the major reasons the Uchiha clan had never truly been able to integrate into the village was that inexplicable arrogance of theirs. After all, no one wanted to associate with people who looked down on them.

Kagami asked, "Have your recent clan meetings still been discussing rebellion?"

Shisui immediately shook his head. "Between Shinichi and ’Homura,’ the Clan Head already has his hands full. Add Ryota and Hideki’s disappearance, as well as Hiiragi’s recent disappearance, and the clan doesn’t have the time to worry about rebellion for now."

Kagami said, "With the threats posed by the Kamigami and Akatsuki being this great, I doubt the village will dare make a move against the Uchiha anytime soon either. As long as we can maintain the current situation, we’ll eventually find a way to resolve things. Besides, something big might happen in the village soon!"

Kagami had a vague feeling that Hiruko, having completed his Kekkei Genkai fusion ritual, would never be able to sit quietly for long. He was bound to stir up some major news.

In the original timeline, Hiruko had brazenly declared war on the Five Great Shinobi Villages before he had even fully completed his Kekkei Genkai fusion ritual.

That alone showed just how unwilling he was to be ignored.

Now that his strength was on an entirely different level than before, Kagami wouldn’t believe it if Hiruko didn’t cause trouble.

Moreover, given Hiruko’s personality, Kagami judged that the first target of his revenge would, nine times out of ten, be Konoha—the village that had forced him to become a rogue ninja.

That was why Kagami had said what he did.

Shisui wasn’t slow either and immediately caught on.

"Senpai, are you talking about Hiruko?"