TitoVillar
patreon
JST Chapter 364: It’s Not a Phase, Hiruzen
🕑 Added 2025-07-01 15:03:10 +0000 UTCWhile Naruto and the Nine-Tails were busy training with Kazuki…
Things in Konohagakure were far from calm.
Inside the Hokage Tower, the Third Hokage—Sarutobi Hiruzen—listened to the Academy instructor’s report, his expression shifting between gloom and unease.
The Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, Naruto—
Could it be that he’s begun to show a talent reminiscent of Namikaze Minato?
What made it even more troubling was that Naruto seemed to be harboring a growing resentment toward the village.
He no longer interacted with classmates and villagers the way he used to.
There was a shadow of hostility taking shape in his demeanor.
“Hiruzen, I’ve heard the news—something’s wrong with the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki, isn’t there?!”
Shimura Danzō burst through the door, voice raised.
“Hand him over to me! I’ll mold Uzumaki Naruto into a proper weapon. Don’t let his identity make you soft again!”
“For the good of Konoha, such a sacrifice is worth it. I believe Namikaze Minato would’ve agreed—if he were still alive.”
Hiruzen lifted his pipe and waved dismissively.
“Leave, Danzō. The Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki isn’t under your authority. Don’t bring this up to me again.”
Danzō’s face twitched, muscle memory kicking in as he snapped, “You’ll regret this, Hiruzen!”
“I’m the Hokage, Danzō.”
Hiruzen took a slow drag from the freshly lit tobacco.
“Go. The Uchiha have been stirring lately—focus your efforts there instead.”
“And close the door behind you.”
Danzō gave a heavy grunt.
“The Uchiha… Should’ve been dealt with long ago.”
...
While two of Konoha’s top officials discussed the Uchiha…
Within the Uchiha clan compound, beneath the fan-shaped crest—
Uchiha Itachi watched his younger brother, who sat listless and hollow-eyed.
“What’s wrong, Sasuke?” he asked gently.
Seeing his younger brother looking so downcast, Uchiha Itachi suppressed the irritation and anxiety in his heart and gently asked again, “Did something happen at the academy that made you upset?”
“Your big brother can help you.”
At this point in time, the relationship between the Uchiha clan and the higher-ups of Konoha had already become extremely tense...
Especially after the death of Shisui. Many within the Uchiha clan even suspected that Itachi had something to do with it. The more hot-tempered ones had even come to his door to interrogate him.
It weighed heavily on Itachi's heart...
To him, Shisui was like an older brother. Witnessing Shisui’s eye being stolen by Shimura Danzō, followed by his leap off a cliff to his death, had filled Itachi with explosive waves of negative emotions—and awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Was his reputation really that bad?
That his own clansmen suspected he had killed Shisui?
How dare they!
Branded as the culprit behind Shisui’s death, Itachi began to harbor resentment toward the very people who had wrongly accused him...
And yet, even though his mind churned like a volcanic eruption, when he saw Sasuke’s furrowed brow and troubled face, Itachi forced himself to calm down. He managed a stiff smile and asked gently what was wrong.
“Brother… I think maybe I’m not a genius after all…”
Sasuke, caught in a slump, didn’t notice how different his brother’s smile looked today. He lowered his head and muttered gloomily: “I always thought that dead-last… but he actually mastered the B-rank jutsu, Shadow Clone Technique. And he’s already using it fluently!”
“Even his throwing skills… they’re stronger than mine, and I was trained by you, nii-san. I think he’s also learned some advanced chakra control techniques. He can throw a piece of chalk and pierce straight through the blackboard.”
“I’ve let down the Uchiha name…”
Clenching the fringe of his hair with anxiety, Sasuke’s small face was filled with a weariness and tension unbefitting his age.
If he couldn’t rank first in the upcoming final exams at the Academy...
He didn’t even want to imagine the kind of scolding he’d get from his father, Fugaku, who had always held him to such high expectations.
As a traditionally raised Uchiha, Sasuke was also a devoted brother worshipper…
He had always harbored a small dream—to earn his brother’s approval. To one day surpass Uchiha Itachi.
Only then, he thought, could he share his brother’s burdens as he grew older.
Sasuke also longed to hear words of praise from his father.
“As expected of my son…”—
A sentence he had only ever heard Uchiha Fugaku say about Uchiha Itachi.
And yet, all he ever received was a slight nod and the same dry comment: “Adequate results. But you still need to work harder.”
Although disappointed, Sasuke could still understand it in his heart.
After all, with such a brilliant gem before him—his older brother, whose talent far outshone his own—his father had already known the pride of raising a true prodigy...
That meant Sasuke would have to surpass Itachi in every way to ever earn his father’s praise!
When Sasuke first entered the Ninja Academy, he had genuinely believed he could do it—that he could surpass Itachi…
But after witnessing Naruto’s performance at the Academy, that confidence began to crack.
If he couldn’t even beat someone his own age, how was he supposed to surpass his older brother—Konoha’s number one genius?
There’s no way!
Like a true Uchiha, Sasuke completely ignored one crucial question: With the way Naruto was performing… wasn’t it possible that he might have even surpassed Itachi at the same age?
To Sasuke, that was absolutely impossible.
No one could ever be more formidable than his brother!
“Dead-last… mastered the Shadow Clone Technique and chakra control?”
Hearing that, Uchiha Itachi widened his eyes slightly, furrowing his brows in deep thought. “What’s his name, Sasuke?”
At Sasuke’s current age…
Itachi had also graduated as top of his class, but even then, he hadn’t mastered the Shadow Clone Technique—let alone used it fluently. As for embedding a piece of chalk into a blackboard or a wall? That was already edging into the realm of the Senju Clan’s monstrous strength techniques.
Which of Sasuke’s classmates could possibly possess such raw talent?
“That guy’s name is Uzumaki Naruto… You’ve probably never heard of him before, nii-san. Honestly, I never paid attention to him either. I never thought he’d suddenly become so strong…”
Sasuke’s voice was low and dispirited as he glanced sideways at Itachi, quietly hoping his brother could help him make sense of this unexpected dilemma.
But what Sasuke didn’t expect…
Was that the moment Uchiha Itachi heard that name, the calm and composed look on his face changed in an instant. His brow tightened.
Uzumaki Naruto…
How could he not know that name?
As a squad leader in the Anbu and the son of the Uchiha clan leader, Uchiha Itachi had access to intelligence far deeper than most shinobi in the village.
That boy was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki—the orphan left behind by the Fourth Hokage.
Back when he had just joined the Anbu, Itachi had once been assigned to monitor the jinchūriki. He had watched Naruto in silence, eyes cold and sharp with the Sharingan, hidden deep in the shadows of the night.
And yet—
Even he hadn’t expected Naruto’s growth to be this explosive.
Not long ago, Naruto had just been a mischievous brat—one who, according to reports, struggled even with the basics of chakra refinement. A child who had shown not a shred of ninja potential.
How had he suddenly become so powerful?
“Sasuke, tell me everything about Uzumaki Naruto’s performance. This might be important for the village,” Uchiha Itachi said, his mind instantly leaping through countless possibilities.
Though a bit confused by his brother’s sudden interest, Sasuke still recounted everything honestly.
“…Sensei woke up Uzumaki Naruto, who had been sleeping. After scolding him a couple of times, the guy used the Shadow Clone Technique to prove he didn’t need to hear the explanation about the Clone Technique…”
“…Then he threw the chalk that the teacher had tossed at him—threw it back so fast that it pierced straight through the blackboard and embedded into the wall behind it. I checked it out myself—it even went into the wall.”
“After that, Uzumaki Naruto looked around at everyone, said something like ‘this is boring,’ and just walked away.”
Sasuke took a deep breath and added, “Nii-san, his chakra felt terrifying at that moment… like some ominous force.”
Itachi fell silent, eyes narrowing as a cryptic light flashed within them.
A sudden surge in a jinchūriki’s power… that was a deeply complicated matter.
As a jinchūriki, Naruto was under constant surveillance by the Anbu. His struggles with chakra refinement had already been well-documented—diagnosed as a result of interference from the Nine-Tails.
That was normal.
After all, how could a child that young possibly suppress the Nine-Tails?
It would make sense for him to be influenced by it.
That was the very force that nearly tore Konoha apart.
And what Sasuke had just described—the 'ominous' chakra—was clearly the Nine-Tails’ chakra.
In other words… Naruto had already begun to tap into the Nine-Tails’ power.
When did that happen?
But even more alarming was the fact that this Naruto, who now wielded the Nine-Tails’ chakra, no longer acted like the cheerful, energetic boy he had once observed—smiling his way through the village’s prejudice and misunderstanding.
Instead, he responded with aggression.
Was he being controlled by the Nine-Tails?
In that flash of realization—despite the chaos erupting within the Uchiha clan, despite the betrayal that led to his best friend’s death and Danzō stealing Shisui’s eye—
Itachi, whose heart still burned with the Will of Fire, thought like the most vigilant Hokage would.
Just as Sarutobi Hiruzen, the strongest Hokage and a five-star general in his own right, had once said of him: “He thinks like a Hokage.”
Could this change in Naruto end up affecting the village’s future?
And not only that—Itachi’s thoughts turned to the increasingly radical voices among the Uchiha…
He remembered the illusion his father, Uchiha Fugaku, had once shown him in order to convince him to become a double agent between clan and village.
In that illusion… there was a scene involving the Nine-Tails.
Extremists from the clan had kidnapped Naruto, the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki, and brought him before Fugaku—hoping to use his power to overthrow the Hokage’s rule by force.
Within the illusion, Konoha was being torn apart by wave after wave of pitch-black Tailed Beast Bombs. Both the Uchiha and the village suffered devastating casualties.
No one emerged as the victor.
That was why Uchiha Fugaku had wanted Itachi to act as a mole—someone who, when the time came, could seize control while the village leadership was off guard, and realize what he called a 'bloodless revolution'.
