No one would come to wake him up, nor would anyone prepare breakfast for him—because Sasuke knew very well: he was now an orphan.
The Uchiha clan had been reduced to a single survivor within Konoha—Uchiha Sasuke. Though the clan's property and residential district still legally belonged to him, to Sasuke, this vast expanse of land was nothing more than a silent, empty prison.
The memories of once living with his parents were like the clan crest peeling off the walls—fragmented and fading under the erosion of time, leaving only the faintest of traces behind.
Moving like a puppet, Sasuke got out of bed. He knew exactly what came next: head to the Uchiha clan's pond to practice shuriken techniques and Fire Release jutsu. Then, go to the street to buy a few wooden fish rice balls for the day's meals.
He wouldn't run into anyone. Nothing new would happen.
Just like every other day in recent years.
As he slowly walked out the door, Sasuke didn't even bother locking it. There was nothing left inside—nothing that held any meaning or was worth protecting.
Watching a few sparrows fly across the sky, Sasuke gave a self-deprecating shake of the head. Yeah, aside from birds and stray cats, no other living creatures would step into the Uchiha compound. After all, this was once a place drenched in blood—a cursed land. No one besides the last remnant of the clan would care what became of it.
Taking a deep breath, Sasuke forced himself to shake off his melancholy. The pond wasn't far from here. Better to finish today's training as planned.
With that in mind, Sasuke continued on his usual route. However, just as he turned onto a street littered with fallen leaves, a sudden high-pitched female voice pierced the quiet and startled him.
"Nico Nico Nii~~!"
The voice was naturally flirtatious and sweet, carrying an inexplicable mix of shyness and timidity—it was oddly pleasant to the ear.
Without question, the voice made Sasuke's mind go blank for a moment. A stranger's voice… coming from the home that had been silent for years?
A spark of anger flared to life in his chest. He knew immediately—the voice was coming from near the Uchiha clan's ancestral shrine. The place where the memorial tablets of all his ancestors were enshrined.
Someone was there?!
An indescribable surge of emotion gripped Sasuke's body. Before he realized it, he had already drawn a kunai and rushed toward the source of the voice. As he turned the corner—
The sight before him made him freeze.
"Nico Nico Nii~~ Let your mood Nico Nico Nii~~!"
A blonde girl in a red-and-white shrine maiden outfit was posing with a peculiar gesture, sweetly reciting those bizarrely catchy lines. Her looks were flawless: healthy tan skin, a well-proportioned figure, and an irresistibly eye-catching presence.
"Make your voice sweeter, you dumb fox woman!"
A sharp, impatient voice snapped. In front of the shrine maiden stood another figure, coldly clicking the shutter of a camera—click click. The repeated sound made it clear what she was doing.
Standing in front of the shrine gate—with Sasuke behind her—this person was utterly absorbed in photographing the scene.
For a proud member of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke knew full well what to do with strangers who trespassed on sacred family grounds without permission.
Without hesitation, a barrage of shuriken and a grand fireball would be the minimum punishment. Even if he lost control and killed them, it wouldn't be a crime. For daring to mess around in someone else's family shrine, a hundred deaths wouldn't be enough. And if this went to the Hokage? Sasuke wouldn't be the one in the wrong.
But now—this scene was far from what Sasuke had imagined…
There were no disgusting couples desecrating the ancestors' spirits. Instead, there was… something he didn't even know how to describe.
"Hmm, still missing something."
The figure standing in front of the blonde shrine maiden muttered to herself, then walked up and waved at the blonde.
"Hey hey, raise your arms a bit higher. What, didn't eat breakfast or something?"
"I didn't, okay?! I really didn't eat breakfast! And now it's almost lunchtime!"
The blonde shrine maiden finally snapped. She placed her hands on her hips and yelled at the girl in front of her. But that pose—hands on hips—hit Sasuke like a bolt of lightning. A rush of heat surged down his body, making him instinctively take a step back. Crack! A sharp sound broke the air—it was an old, rotten branch that had snapped beneath his foot.
"Hmm?!"
The unexpected noise immediately startled the girl in front of the shrine maiden. Just as Sasuke instinctively tried to dodge, she sharply turned her head and locked eyes with him, seeing him clearly—kunai in hand.
Their eyes met, and for a moment, both of them froze.
Sasuke forced down the strange heat still lingering in his chest, replacing it with wariness and rising anger.
Hyūga Hinata—that was the name of the girl standing there.
She was undoubtedly someone with a unique status in the Leaf Village. As the eldest daughter of the prestigious Hyūga clan—one of the village's noble families—she was a prominent figure. Back when the Uchiha clan was still in its prime, the Hyūga were the only family that could rival them. Now that the Uchiha had been reduced to just Sasuke, the Hyūga were clearly the most powerful clan left in the village.
While the two clans weren't exactly enemies, for the Hyūga heiress to be doing this… this filth in the Uchiha clan's shrine—this was nothing less than a direct insult to Sasuke!
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Gripping his kunai tightly, Sasuke's voice trembled with rage. If not for a sliver of reason left in him, he might have attacked on the spot.
In response, Hinata merely furrowed her brows slightly. She tilted her head up, and because of the lighting, her pale, pupil-less eyes shimmered with an eerie bluish-white in the shadows.
Her appearance was still as harmless and quiet as it had been in the ninja academy, but in this moment, she radiated a subtle and instinctive danger—like a demon wearing human skin, ready to reveal its fangs.
"Sorry…"
Just as Sasuke instinctively raised his guard, Hinata spoke softly. Her expression seemed to relax.
"It's just that the atmosphere and setting here are perfect for a photoshoot. That's why we came. Oh, and I'm sorry—we really should've asked you first, Sasuke-kun."
She smiled and reached into her jacket pocket.
"As you can see, I'm working with Naruto-kun on a little side gig doing photography. After all, we can't just live off the grown-ups forever, right?"
She slowly walked toward Sasuke, her voice turning even gentler. She pulled out a wad of cash from her pocket and offered it to him.
"So, since we used your family's property as a location, please accept this location fee. It's fifty thousand ryo—not much, but it's something, right?"
"What?!"
Sasuke's expression changed dramatically. That's when he noticed the shrine maiden's eyes—those clear blue eyes that were all too familiar. Which meant—
That shrine maiden… was that idiot Naruto in disguise using the Transformation Jutsu?! And he—had reacted to that transformation with…
A wave of genuine shame washed over Sasuke, turning his face a deep shade of red. He gritted his teeth hard, then glared at Hinata with seething fury in his voice.
"You! What the hell do you think this shrine is?! Get the hell out, now!"
The sharpness in his words was unmistakable. The sheer fury in his tone made even the transformed Naruto flinch—but not out of fear. He knew all too well what kind of consequences might follow that kind of reaction.
The smile on Hinata's face slowly disappeared, replaced by a twisted, cold sneer. She tucked the money back into her pocket, and with a chilling tone, she muttered:
"Seriously now…"
"You really wanna refuse a drink when it's offered?"
Even the dullest person could feel the thick disdain and mockery in Hinata's words. For someone as naturally sensitive as Sasuke, it made him clench his teeth almost instantly. Clearly, whatever had gotten into Hinata today, she had no intention of leaving obediently like she'd just claimed.
"Sasuke-kun, if I remember correctly, you were ranked top of the entire class back at the ninja academy, weren't you? Heh~!"
She stepped lightly to the left as she spoke. Though her words sounded like praise on the surface, the sneer at the end—heh—completely flipped the tone.
Utter contempt. Biting sarcasm. All laid bare in that one little sound.
A molten wave of fury surged from Sasuke's gut to his chest like flowing lava. He didn't respond with words—his actions delivered the answer.
Three shuriken tore through the air like ravenous hawks, forming a perfect triangle as they shrieked toward Hinata's eyes and throat. This kind of sharp, precise technique wasn't something ordinary chunin could pull off. But Sasuke, heir of the Uchiha clan and a master of shurikenjutsu even at his age, had already perfected it.