The next day, Sasuke completed his lessons without receiving a reply from the Hyuga.
"It doesn’t matter how many days the Hyuga thinks about it. He doesn’t have any other option, I am his only solution," Sasuke thought with confidence.
Sasuke and Tenten went to their usual meeting spot next to the academy, waiting for Ino and Sakura, and as expected, the Nara boy was with them.
After the usual greetings, Sasuke said, "Shikamaru, this is my new classmate Tenten, and Tenten, this is my old classmate Shikamaru Nara."
Both Shikamaru and Tenten greeted each other, and Shikamaru looked at Sasuke with even more interest.
After reaching the Uchiha training ground, the girls started their training, and Shikamaru was really impressed with their levels.
“How did you do that?” Shikamaru asked Sasuke while looking at Ino and Sakura.
“I thought that you are cleverer than that, Nara. Don’t you know about the power of love?” Sasuke said and smiled lightly.
“You are really troublesome,” Shikamaru said.
“And you are really lazy for me to believe that you suddenly want to train. I know about Naras and your curiosity, so just tell me what you want, and I will answer,” Sasuke said.
“You know, you really ruin all the suspense. If there is no mystery, it is not worth it,” Shikamaru said.
“Ok, let’s do that in a questioning format to move your interest a little,” Sasuke said, smiling, and continued, “You want to learn the reason for my sudden change. What made me change?”
“The death of your clan,” Shikamaru said.
Sasuke nodded and said, “Continue.”
“You accepted the girls’ feelings, and you even found an extra girl…” said Shikamaru while thinking. “Yes, of course, you need the girls to restore the clan. You need 5 members to do that. 4 kunoichi… so troublesome,” he said.
Sasuke clapped. “Very good, continue.”
“Your behavior changed towards all the classmates. This is not a prerequisite to restore your clan…. You show kindness, support, and superior talent. You promote yourself as a leader…. You plan to be Hokage!” Shikamaru said happy with his deduction.
Sasuke nodded and said “Nara I want to test my genjutsu, and the girls aren’t ready yet. Can you help?”
‘He thinks that we are being watched, and he doesn’t want my deductions to be known.’ Nara thought and said, “There is no need to ask, we are here for practice, after all.”
Sasuke activated his Sharingan and created a layer completely identical to the real location.
“I can last 8 minutes. We can have a safe discussion here, so please continue,” Sasuke said.
‘I am already in a genjutsu! Sasuke is much stronger than I thought,’ Shikamaru thought, but his brain immediately focused on solving the mystery.
“You want to be Hokage because you are disappointed towards the village and you want to change things. I expected you to put all the blame on your brother, but you didn’t … Your brother, no matter how strong he is, it’s impossible to kill a whole clan on his own, especially considering your father’s reputation …. Your whole clan died together, and nobody was on a mission or missing. This is not a coincidence! You suspect that this was an inside job!” Shikamaru said with a troubled expression.
“You have proven that you are a Nara. Now you have to prove that you are the next successor of your clan. Continue.” Sasuke said
Shikamaru took his time. “Why would the village target your clan, and why are you being watched? Hmmm… Why is your clan dangerous? The Sharingan … The 9-tail fox! You were suspected! Your clan is too far outside of the village! They moved you here because you were a security risk! That’s it. The Uchihas were planning a coup!”
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“You are really the most impressive person of our generation, excluding myself,” Sasuke said with a big smile.
“There is more,” Shikamaru said. “Why are you still alive? Itachi… Itachi did the killing and asked for your safety in return… But I heard that he sent you to the hospital… Yes, he didn’t want you to go around asking questions, and he set himself as your target to keep you safe… Shit, that’s a true shinobi,” Shikamaru said, impressed, and continued.
“But there is still the matter of your watcher. Is the Hokage afraid that you will turn traitor to kill your brother? Or is he afraid that you will find the truth and turn traitor?” Shikamaru asked.
Sasuke nodded with a smile and said “Both are valid and true, and this is as far as you can go with the available information. Now what if I tell you that I had a conversation with the Hokage, and we talked about something that I can’t talk about?”
Sasuke was very interested and impressed with this kid so far. ‘I was planning to approach him and his father as possible allies against the unknown force, but now I really want to use this kid. He is definitely one of the most intelligent people that I have met in both of my lives. He must either become my ally or become a corpse. If his father is as clever as him, there is no way that he doesn’t already know about all these considering his position as the Jonin commander.’
Shikamaru was thoughtful of the new information. “If you can’t talk about it, then it’s a secret mission. You are extremely clever, and you must have already found out everything about the massacre at that point. Did you tell the Hokage that you want to succeed him? Did he give you a mission to become the next successor?”
Sasuke started laughing with excitement. “I am so glad that I have met you, Shikamaru Nara. Finally, a person that can reach my thoughts.”
“Very troublesome,” said Shikamaru and continued.
“The Hokage doesn’t want anyone to know that he plans to make you a successor. It’ s ok to play it safe to avoid danger from the other villages but this is too much. That means that there is an unknown force which considers you a risk and wants you dead. And this force is powerful and outside the Hokage’s control. This is extremely serious and problematic.”
Sasuke nodded and replied “I even suspect that this force gave the command to Itachi. The Hokage returned from his retirement, and he does not seem decisive enough to try doing something like this without trying for more peaceful solutions first.”
“If your theory is true, that group is even more dangerous.” Shikamaru said.
“You still missed something. If the group was involved in the killing, they definitely received extra rewards from the corpses of my clanmates.” Sasuke said.
“Fuck. An unknown group with Sharingans. I need to talk to my father about this. I am sure that he has a theory already, but a confirmation would be nice. But you already expected that. You want an alliance with us!” Shikamaru said, having found out about Sasuke's true intentions.
“You have completed our game. Your score is 10/10. Also, I am reaching my limit. I expect your reply in our future training sessions. Additionally, if your father decides to include the Yamanaka’s, please inform Inoichi that before each of our sessions, I may have used genjutsu to alter my memories,” Sasuke said
Of course, Sasuke had already checked if it is possible to alter his memories with genjutsu. He concluded that it was much easier for people to accept that he is a genjutsu prodigy than accepting that he can freely organize his own memories and create a memory palace. The second would give birth to questions that he wants to avoid.
“Troublesome.” was the final word inside the genjutsu.
---
The next day, Sasuke received a positive reply from the Hyuga and invited him to the training. Sasuke introduced Neji to Sakura and Ino, and the group, as usual, went to the training ground. Sasuke immediately focused on Neji and started explaining to him the training routine.
“Why should I focus on chakra control? This is a waste of time. The Hyuga don’t use ninjitsu,” Neji said.
Sasuke’s reaction was something that rarely happens. He became furious.
“Hyuga, I thought that you would be useful to me, but what you have said just now is the most idiotic and ungrateful thing I have ever heard.
Tell me, Hyuga, why the fuck you want to respect the stupid tradition of your clan that turned you into a slave?
Did your clan ever produce an S-rank ninja?
You have such a fucking advantage with your Byakugan, and you want to handicap yourself for what?
You can view chakra points, you can study how chakra reacts with them and help the ninja world evolve and develop. And you want to throw all this potential just for a taijutsu style which, while it is definitely strong, it’s not unbeatable, as I have proved to you with my victory.
Now tell me, does that even make a little sense?”
Neji was taken aback watching Sasuke losing his cool for the first time, and he knew that he was right.
“It’s not that,” Neji said.
Sasuke was thoughtful for a second and said, “I see. You want to beat them in their own game to prove your point.”
Neji nodded.
“You are still an idiot. Who the fuck said that chakra control does not help taijutsu? You will be able to strengthen your body and improve your senses.
Moreover, what the fuck are you planning to do if somebody fights you with long-range jutsu? If you die from a simple fireball, would you care then about your pride?
You can focus on your taijutsu in your free time before the academy, but here you will train as we train,” Sasuke demanded.
Neji couldn’t help but agree.