CH 439

Although Sasuke suffered at the hands of the leader of Amatsukami and was almost kidnapped by Orochimaru disguised as Oto Yumei a low-level member of the Akatsuki Organization, Sasuke is undoubtedly one of the best among his peers.

Among the peers of the same age group, almost no one has been Sasuke’s opponent and will be defeated within one to three moves.

Had it not been for his elder brother Itachi to be very talented, so talented that anyone would fade away from the limelight of his brother, Sasuke would have already been shrouded with the aura of a ‘Genius’ long ago and would have gotten famous all over Konoha just like Hyuga Neji.

Therefore, Sasuke was a little jealous of Neji; for being regarded as an unremarkable genius. It wasn’t anything offensive or anything, just a child’s desire to attract his father’s attention.

“Humph, I can defeat him within ten moves.” Sasuke deliberately snorted all while looking at his ‘father’ from the corner of his eye.

But Fugaku was too busy in his thoughts to be able to pay attention to Sasuke as he glanced at the other faces of the people on the square.

Sasuke was a little disappointed at his failure and pouted.

Uchiha Mikoto giggled at her younger son’s antics and while ruffling his hair, she said, “Sasuke-kun, rather than defeating him, why don’t try to be a friend with the child of the Hyuga Clan? Maybe then you will have a friend and rival who is just as talented and strong as you?”

Sasuke pondered over his mother’s words with a tough-thinking expression; like he was seriously considering whether to give it a try or not.

Mikoto shook her head with a smile while Sasuke pondered over her words, then she too looked at the square.

Aside from Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan, almost all the other major Clans have appeared here for the Alliance Ceremony, which isn’t strange considering that it was Hokage’s personal order.

With just a casual glance, Fugaku noticed the Current Patriarch of various clans; and all these Current Patriarchs without any exception also had had their next-generation accompanying them; probably to start their training as the next Patriarchs.

So Sasuke too noticed several children of his age group, including potato chips-loving Akimichi Choji, flower-loving Yamanaka Ino, and a tired and forcibly dragged out Nara Shikamaru, these three children were accompanying Akimichi Choza, as both the Yamanaka Patriarch and Nara Patriarch couldn’t accompany them because of their respective duties.

Then there was a quiet Aburame Shino with his father, a short-tempered and impulsive Inuzuka Kiba with his mother and sister.

And there were a few other civilian children too, but before Sasuke could pay them any attention, he was attracted by his father’s voice, who said, “Sasuke, you see these children, they are probably going to be enrolled in the academy at the same time as you.”

Sasuke immediately said with a confident smile, “Otou-sama, you just wait and see, I will surpass each and every one of them, and just like nii-san, I too will hold the top position in the academy and graduate at the top of the class I enroll in. I will not allow the reputation of the Uchiha Clan to be trampled upon by any of them.”

Fugaku just smiled slightly but did not say ‘That’s my boy,’ the sentence he often uses to praise Itachi.

Sasuke then asked, “By the way, Otou-sama, why did nii-san not come to participate in the alliance ceremony today?”

Putting away his smile, Fugaku returned to his serious expression and stated, “Itachi is taking care of Shisui.”

Fugaku noticed the sudden illness and weakness of Shisui and was reminded of how Shisui’s father too became ill after having lost one of his legs in the previous great shinobi war and died soon after.

Therefore, Fugaku is a little worried about Shisui, but because of Shisui’s continued insistence that he will soon be alright, Fugaku decided to believe him and allowed his son Itachi to take care of Shisui who volunteered to do so, to make sure that no accidents happen.

Frankly speaking, Fugaku is very satisfied with Shisui and Itachi’s brother-like bond.

If nothing strange happens, Itachi, his eldest son will become the next Patriarch of the Uchiha Clan, Itachi is certainly capable of the task, therefore, Fugaku is also quite happy about the close friendship of Shisui and Itachi.

Because Shisui’s support for Itachi will maintain the stability of the Clan at the same time also stabilize Itachi’s position as the next Patriarch.

At this moment, Sasuke pointed at the Otogakure-nin and his party walking towards the square, and asked, “Otou-sama, which shinobi village are those shinobi from? Their forehead protector has a symbol I have never seen or heard before even in the various scroll, are they some secret shinobi village?”

Fugaku looked over in the direction of Otogakure-nin, then said, “They are shinobi from a newly established shinobi village called Otogakure, a small shinobi village in the nation adjacent to the Land of Fire and Land of Hot Water.”

Sasuke responded with an ‘Oh’ and looked in the direction of Otogakure shinobi who were being led by Mitarashi Anko.

As if feeling the gaze of Sasuke on him, Kimimaro slightly raised his head and looked over.

And immediately his sight landed on the eye-catching red and white Uchiwa fan printed on Sasuke’s high-neck black t-shirt.

After recognizing that fan, Kimimaro raised his eyebrow and his face showed an eager expression.

Kimimaro is very well aware of Orochimaru-sama’s obsession with the Sharingan and body of the Uchiha Clan shinobi, but Orochimaru has never been able to get his hands on them, therefore, Kimimaro especially hated Uchiha Clan and their Sharingan.

Moreover, Kimimaro also wants to understand what is it that the Uchiha Clan has that Orochimaru-sama is so obsessed with them?

In Kimimaro’s opinion, the Uchiha Clan should just offer themselves to Orochimaru-sama, what greater honor will there be for the Uchiha Clan than to become the vessel of Orochimaru-sama?

When the Otogakure team crossed the square under the leadership of Anko and approached the area where the patriarch of the Uchiha Clan stood, Kimimaro suddenly stopped.

Under the frowned gaze of all the spectators, he went up to Uchiha Sasuke; and after a bit of silence, he asked, “Are you an Uchiha?”

Seeing the eyes of everyone on him, Sasuke straightened up his waist immediately, and said proudly, “Yes, I am an Uchiha, Uchiha Sasuke, who are you, and what do you want from the Uchiha?”

Kimimaro said indifferently, “Who I am is irrelevant, what I desire is to challenge the Uchiha, since you are an Uchiha, then accept my challenge!”

Sasuke was stunned by the words of the other party, he did not expect the strange grey-haired red spot on forehead guy from the small shinobi village Otogakure to suddenly come and challenge him, not to mention the other party does not even have the basic manner of speaking his name as an introduction.

However, Sasuke soon recovered from his stunned expression, because he found that this is a very good opportunity to showcase his strength and impress his father.

But Sasuke also knows that he must maintain the majesty of the Uchiha Clan, so calming down his excitement, he quirked his eyebrow, and said coldly, “Why should I accept the challenge of some no-name individual from an unknown shinobi village?”

Kimimaro was unperturbed by Sasuke’s cold attitude, and said, “Because I want to challenge you.”

“Huh?” Sasuke frowned then replied with a snort, “Just because you want to challenge me does not mean that I have to accept it, but you are in luck because I am a generous one. Since you have such a strong desire to taste defeat and see the power of the Uchiha Clan, then I will let you experience it first hand.”

Anko who was in charge of escorting the Otogakure team to the Hokage Building frowned at the two kids, “You two, no one’s challenging anyone, we don’t have time for such farce, the Alliance Ceremony will soon begin!”

Kimimaro did not even bother to pay any attention to Anko, and just said lightly, “Don’t worry, it won’t take very long.”

Sasuke also did not care about Anko, and said while matching the gaze of Kimimaro, “Yes, I will let him have a taste of defeat within one minute.”

Anko was speechless at the attitude of the two children, “Don’t give me a headache you two, no one is fighting anyone.”

But seeing that her words were not getting through the two children who were itching to go at each other, and have sparks between their eyes, Anko looked at the parent and guardians of the two.

The disguised Orochimaru said with a gentle smile, “It would be wonderful to let the two children compete, I too have heard of the mighty reputation of the Uchiha Clan throughout the Shinobi World, it would be an honor for me to be able to witness their power.”

“Wait what?” Anko did not expect the leader of Otogakure to be so unreliable, then looked at Uchiha Patriarch, hoping that Uchiha Patriarch will at least deny the request, but unfortunately, she had to be disappointed.

Fugaku with his hands crossed over his chest stated, “Since the allies of Otogakure are so interested in seeing the skills of the Uchiha Clan, then obviously we can’t disappoint them.”

“Huh?” Anko was again speechless that Uchiha Patriarch agreed. But before she could speak anything further, Anko suddenly received a telepathic communication from Kuroto, [Anko-chan, let Uchiha Sasuke and the boy of Otogakure have a duel.]

Anko asked, [But will that be alright?]

Kuroto nodded, [Yes, Hokage-sama has given the approval, it will serve as a form of entertainment for Daimyo-sama who wishes to see the battle. Moreover, it will also give us a better understanding of the strength of Otogakure.]

[Alright.] Anko agreed, since the Hokage-sama has personally given the approval, so she has no authority to raise an objection to this duel anymore, and nodded, “Alright both of you, you are in luck, Hokage-sama has given his approval.”

The crowd immediately cheered, “Great!”

Even the faces of many young children were very excited.

Soon the crowd consciously dispersed and gave space for the two children to battle each other.

Uchiha Mikoto asked Fugaku with a slightly worried expression, “Anata, is this really a good idea? From the appearance of that boy, he seemed to be a remnant of the Kaguya Clan… and they were known for their savage character.”

Fugaku nodded, “Hmm, but looking at him, his character seems to be slightly different. Besides, Sasuke has already faced worse, whether Yama of Amatsukami or Oto Yumei of Akatsuki, both were undoubtedly more savage people… so Sasuke should have enough mental fortitude to face the child of the Kaguya Clan. And this will also be a good experience for Sasuke.”

After thinking over the words of her husband, Mikoto nodded and said to Sasuke, “Sasuke-kun, don’t let your guard down, okay?”

Sasuke hurriedly nodded, “Don’t worry Okaa-san.”

Uchiha Fugaku also said, “Sasuke let the other party experience the skills of an Uchiha, first hand.”

Sasuke nodded, “Yes, Otou-sama!”

On the other side, the disguised Orochimaru said to Kimimaro, “Kimimaro dear, don’t be too hard on him, will you?”

“Yes, I just want to see what Uchiha Clan is capable of, I am not going to kill him.” Kimimaro nodded.

After some pep-talk with their parents and guardians, both Sasuke and Kimimaro stood at the center of the ring, and the entire crowd’s eyes gathered on the two.

Anko had to temporarily act as the referee, so standing in the middle of the field, she said the basic instructions, “We will follow the rules of traditional Shinobi Sparring. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu are allowed… throwing tools are also allowed, but no exploding tags, we don’t want explosions in the middle of the village. The duel will end when one party is knocked unconscious or admits defeat, additionally, I have the authority to call off the duel should I find it necessary, understand?”

Although most of the things are allowed, however, Anko didn’t really believe that these two children will use any ninjutsu or Genjutsu, at most, it will be a battle of Taijutsu, coupled with a bit of Shurikenjutsu, along with three basic skills if they can use it.

“Got it.” Sasuke’s lips curled, as he raised his left hand forming the hand seal of confrontation.

“Hmm.” Kimimaro also nodded, as he too raised his right hand forming the hand seal of confrontation.

Receiving the two nods, Anko waved her hand, “Alright, begin!” signaling to begin the match.

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