"Get familiar with you? Understand your traits?"
Sasuke looked Liu Huo up and down.
Liu Huo, who had just picked up another skewer of meatballs, noticed Sasuke's gaze lingering.
"What are you staring at? Keep looking and I'll smash your face in," Liu Huo said, eyebrows twitching.
"Isn't your trait just... eating a lot?"
Sasuke muttered, but before the words even left his lips fully, a clenched fist came flying toward his face.
"Also gentle, kind, beautiful, elegant, and strong!!!" Sasuke immediately added in one breath. Liu Huo's fiery punch stopped centimeters from his face, and cold sweat trickled down Sasuke's neck. He had to admit—it was dangerously close.
Sasuke internally screamed: That fist stopped only one centimeter from my handsome face!
"Say something like that again and I'll beat your face into a pig's head!" Liu Huo threatened as she retracted her fist and returned to eating.
Sasuke slumped with a sigh. "Everyone says unlocking Bankai is hard... At this rate I won't get mine until the year of the rabbit."
Now, his Zanpakutō—Kamishini no Yari and Senbonzakura—could already be visualized in the real world.
The conditions Kamishini no Yari gave him were simple in theory: defeat it in the Forest of Swords. But since it controlled the entire forest, even finding it was an ordeal—defeating it was nearly impossible.
Senbonzakura, on the other hand, challenged him to remove its mask while being enveloped by hundreds of millions of microscopic blades. Unless Sasuke broke through its defense, he couldn't even touch it.
Liu Huo's Bankai challenge was even worse: he had to defeat her in a 1000-degree Celsius environment. While the heat didn't kill him, the pain was real. Just lifting his Zanpakutō under those conditions was a torment.
Bankai training had to be done in the real world, and the materialization of his Zanpakutō would distort the surrounding environment—an illusion to everyone else, but fully visible to him. Because of that, he had to train inside the inner world of his Zanpakutō.
Sasuke didn't believe Liu Huo's claim anymore that it would be "easy." That was just a con to fool him!
Liu Huo finally devoured the last of the delicacies Sasuke had bought, patting her stomach contentedly.
"This time it was alright. That tonkotsu ramen hit the spot, but the grilled squid was a bit cold. Next time you find anything tasty, buy it for me again. I'm heading back first."
She slapped Sasuke on the shoulder and vanished instantly.
Sasuke let out another sigh. In the one week since Liu Huo had manifested, all his savings had been drained. At this point, he was even poorer than Naruto during the early episodes.
"Looks like I'll have to borrow from Nii-san or take on missions to make money..."
The food packaging had already been incinerated by Liu Huo's flames, leaving no mess. Sasuke walked straight home.
For once, Fugaku wasn't at work—he sat sipping tea silently. When Sasuke entered, Fugaku glanced at him before returning to his drink.
Sasuke felt that ever since he turned eight, Fugaku had grown colder, often sighing after looking at him.
He figured it was because he still hadn't awakened his Sharingan. After all, Itachi had awakened his at age eight—and it was already two tomoe! Meanwhile, Sasuke hadn't even activated a single tomoe.
"I'm back," Sasuke called, removing his shoes and walking toward his room.
"I didn't expect you to take six years to finish the Academy," Fugaku said suddenly as Sasuke passed him.
Sasuke froze, then responded with confusion, "Didn't you say, when chatting with Uncle Hiashi, that staying longer to absorb the Academy's teachings was valuable? That there was still a lot to learn?"
Fugaku's hand holding the teacup trembled. He did say that—but it was for show. It was like a rich CEO saying he wanted to experience living on minimum wage. Just a performance.
He never imagined his youngest son would take it seriously.
"Ahem. Did you bring back your forehead protector?" Fugaku coughed, changing the subject.
"Uh... I'm wearing it now…" Sasuke responded cautiously, sensing his father's odd behavior.
Fugaku went silent for a moment.
"Your allowance will be halved next month."
With that, the old man got up and slammed his door shut with a bang.
Sasuke stood there, dumbfounded. Halved allowance? Then how would he feed that glutton Liu Huo?
Even as a genin, he could only take D-rank missions—finding cats and picking weeds. The rewards were minuscule, and Liu Huo ate as if every meal was her last.
Mikoto giggled softly, clearing the tea set. She wiped her hands and pulled out a bulging coin purse shaped like a puppy. It looked like it came from the same store as Naruto's frog wallet.
"Here. Your graduation gift."
Sasuke's eyes lit up. He quickly took it—he didn't care much for the cutesy style, but he loved what was inside.
"Thanks, Mom!" Sasuke grinned, but didn't open the wallet yet.
"Oh, by the way," he asked, "did Nii-san come home yesterday? Is he on a mission again?"
Since Shisui hadn't died in this timeline, Itachi still had his Mangekyō Sharingan and his strength was near Kage level. On a recent mission, he'd obtained two ethereal weapons.
That's right: the Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror.
According to Itachi, they had chosen him. They weren't tangible weapons—they existed as spiritual extensions of his chakra and will.
Sasuke was incredibly jealous. He hadn't even picked up a stray ryo on the street.
"Itachi received a transfer order from the Hokage," Mikoto smiled. "He's going to lead a jonin squad. They're deciding today which genin team he'll lead."
Due to the previous defection of Uchiha Setsuna and his group, Itachi's promotion to jonin squad leader had been delayed. Only this year did he finally receive the Hokage's approval.
"I hope I get assigned to Nii-san's team..."