Chapter 31 - Trolley Dilemma

"What does this mean, Orochimaru-sama?" Yusuke asked in a cold voice, looking at Orochimaru with eyes full of murderous intent. Although Yuusuke did not believe that Orochimaru would continue the fight, but if he did, he was ready.

As expected, Orochimaru stopped attacking and returned the sword back inside his body by simply swallowing it.

"Yusuke-kun, inside this Yin seal is half of the Nine-Tails, right? Orochimaru asked looking at the seal on Yusuke's chest. "I visited Minato's son, and found that he only had the Yang half of the Nine-Tails. I wonder how you were able to obtain the Yin part of the Nine-Tails?"

Orochimaru asked Yuusuke with interest as he looked at the clear outline of the seal of the two opposites. As one of the people who came up with this seal, Orochimaru knew exactly what it meant.

Realizing that his secret is out, Yuusuke: "I just got lucky, so what are you going to do, inform the Third Hokage? Or will you try to take it away from me?" Orochimaru just chuckled in response.

"Orochimaru-sama, please be quiet, your experiments have become notorious lately, I don't want the people from the village to know that we're so close," Yuusuke said with a slight smile.

Orochimaru's eerie laughter abruptly stopped as he looked at Yuusuke again, "Yusuke-kun, this is no place for people like us! How many talented people were bound by the so-called Will of Fire and the so-called family ties? Come with me, we will leave the village, now I have the right bases, I believe that together, we can create more forbidden techniques and break the shackles of mortals! Orochimaru spoke in an excited voice with his arms spread wide, as if he had already seen that beautiful future. "Don't worry, with your strength and talent, we will be on absolutely equal terms!" - Orochimaru's words were sincere, he really wanted a partner like Yuusuke.

"I'm afraid I have to disappoint you Orochimaru-sama, I have no thoughts of leaving the village." Yusuke rejected Orochimaru's offer without hesitation.

Yuusuke did not expect that this time Orochimaru would approach him with an offer to leave the village with him. Although Orochimaru's invitation was very sincere and reciprocated, Yusuke had too many people left in the village that he couldn't leave.

Hearing Yusuke's reply, Orochimaru was very disappointed, "Yusuke-kun, are you also bound by the chains of this world? Alright, I'll be in Konoha for a while, so if you change your mind, come see me!" - Orochimaru's body gradually turned into a phantom and slowly dispersed in the wind.

Yusuke shook his head, looking at the place where Orochimaru had disappeared, and turned around and went home.

"If I didn't have any connections, maybe I would actually agree to work with him?" Yusuke thought on the way back.

***

Three months flew by in a flash, Yuusuke's fame, which had steadily grown day by day, after the fight with Shisui, reached its peak. After all, the shinobi world is a world where strength speaks for itself, and many members of the clan, who were initially unhappy with Yuusuke, have come to respect him over time. Of course, Yusuke's fame was not limited to the Uchiha clan, there were many villagers and representatives of small and large clans in the stadium that day, Yusuke's performance shocked them that day, so there were very few people in the village who did not know the Uchiha Fire Swordsman Yuusuke.

As for Shisui, whom Yusuke defeated, his fame has been rising rather than waning. Even though he was defeated by Yuusuke, no one considered him a weakling or a failure. And how could anyone afford it, after all, although Yusuke and Shisui competed, both were from the Uchiha clan, the clan would not allow anyone to oppress one of their own.

Thanks to all this, the Uchiha clan was able to regain some of its former glory, which in recent years has fallen into disrepair. Of course, this could not go unnoticed by the big clans and the highest echelons of power in Konoha, now they were all on their guard.

During this period, nothing serious happened in Konoha, and the inhabitants were busy restoring the village, the shinobi completed tasks, life flowed peacefully.

The only big news was Jiraiya's return to the village, which reassured the villagers who had just survived the Nine-Tails' attack.

***

Konoha Hospital.

Jiraiya looked at Minato with eyes full of remorse, he blamed himself for not being there that day and not being able to save his student and his family from this terrible fate. Remembering Kushina, Jiraiya's heart sank in pain.

"If only I were around, maybe Minato wouldn't be in this state right now, and Kushina would still be alive," Jiraiya said with a sad sigh.

"Jiraiya-sama, it's not your fault, no one expected the Nine-Tails to suddenly attack the village," said Kakashi, standing next to him.

"Let's hope we can find Tsunade-sama soon, with her, we'll have a better chance of healing him. When Minato wakes up, we can find out what really happened that night."

Jiraiya's words startled Kakashi, he frowned and asked, "Jiraiya-sama are you saying something else happened that night?"

Jiraiya nodded affirmatively, "Given the strength of Minato and Kushina, it's impossible that they couldn't handle a single Nine-Tails. Everything is not as simple as it might seem at first glance!

Jiraiya and Kakashi talked a little more about Minato before Kakashi switched to the new one, "Jiraiya-sama, you want to see Minato and Kushina's son, his name is Naruto the sunshine boy!"

"Naruto?! Hahaha, so Minato was serious! Of course, let's go and see how this kid is doing," pleasant memories flashed before Jiraiya's eyes, slightly improving his mood.

"Of course! Hm? Jiraiya-sama, this book, is it?" As he was about to leave, Kakashi noticed a pink-covered book sitting on a cabinet next to Minato's hospital bed.

Jiraiya smiled smugly, "I wrote this book myself, and just finished the first volume! I am sure that you, like a real man, will like it!"

Kakashi thanked him, picked up the book and looked at it. The words "Come, come heaven" printed on the cover caught Kakashi's attention, "It's like a book full of warmth!" - mentally said Kakashi, putting the book in his chest pocket.

"By the way, Jiraiya-sama, there's one more thing I'd like to ask your advice about, it's related to my sharingan."

"Okay, let's talk about it on the way."

***

Shortly after Jiraiya's return to the village, it was time for the new ninja school to begin, and Izumi and Itachi had reached the required age to enter the school.

Although Kabuto was two years older, Yuusuke also made him enter the school and wait some time to apply for early graduation, which was considered the official process in the village to go through to become a shinobi.

On the opening day, many people gathered at the entrance to the school, there were not only new students, but also their parents.

Since Izumi and Itachi were enrolled at the same time, Yusuke, Yusuke's mother and Itachi's parents stood together. Standing next to his mother, Yusuke couldn't help but sigh, "Izumi is growing up so fast."

Hazuki Uchiha laughed when she heard her son say, "Haha, look at you, looking at Izumi like an old father looking at his daughter!"

In response, Yuusuke only smiled wryly, although his body was only fifteen years old, in fact, he was even older than his current mother. Thinking is not so easy to change, for this it is necessary to make great efforts, no less than in the development of the body. And why would Yusuke change his mentality to the mentality of a fifteen-year-old, everything suited him now.

Yusuke suddenly smiled as he remembered something, and in the form of a joke said: "As they say, older brother is like a father, what's strange about that?"

At the opening ceremony, the Third Hokage duly delivered a speech in which he spoke about the history of Hidden Leaf Village and the glorious deeds of previous generations of Hokage, focusing on the Will of Fire. By the time he finished his speech, the ceremony was over.

Newly enrolled students have officially started classes.

Izumi, Itachi, and Kabuto applied for early graduation after six months of schooling. Since they had trained with Yusuke for quite some time, they all completed the requirements for early graduation.

Izumi and Kabuto stayed with Yusuke to continue their training as Yusuke didn't feel comfortable when Izumi went on missions and Kabuto was his best assistant in developing ninjutsu and although he was still young, he could already be of great help.

As for Itachi, he joined the standard four-man shinobi squad as he wanted to hone his skills. The leader of the group that Itachi joined was Minazuki Yuuki, and the team consisted of Inari Shinko, a cute girl with two ponytails, and Izumo Tenma, a proud boy older than Itachi.

Although Itachi did not fit in at first with the group, as the missions progressed and their difficulty increased, he and his three other teammates grew closer and closer to each other until they finally became good friends.

However, this did not last long, and during one of their escort missions, a mysterious man attacked their group and killed the leader of the group, Minazuki Yuuki and their friend Izumo Tenma, and severely wounded Inari Shinko before disappearing.

It seemed that the mysterious masked man had no intention of hurting Itachi, so the latter was only slightly injured. The death of a friend and team captain was a great boost for Itachi, allowing him to awaken his Sharingan.

It seemed that the mysterious masked man had no intention of hurting Itachi, so the latter was only slightly injured. The death of a friend and team captain was a great boost for Itachi, allowing him to awaken his Sharingan.

Standing in front of the graves of his captain and teammates, Itachi once again mentally thought about the meaning of life. When he returned to his clan after failing a mission, his father didn't worry about the death of his teammates, but only praised him for opening his eyes at such a young age. At that moment, Itachi only felt a deep depression in his heart.

"Itachi, I never thought you'd have to see your comrade die at such a young age." A voice came from behind Itachi, hearing the familiar voice Itachi turned around.

"Sensei, what are you doing here?"

Yuusuke took a step forward, patted Itachi's head and smiled, "You're a good boy in everything, but you're too sentimental and think too much about things you can't influence."

"Sensei, were your comrades dying right before your eyes?"

"Of course," Yuusuke said. "There were too many such cases during the war," Yusuke cast a thoughtful glance at the memorial plaque.

Then Yusuke's eyes fell on Itachi again and seeing the dejected look of his student, Yusuke said: "Itachi, I do not regret anything - if only because it is pointless. There are so many things to think about. Why fill your head with what you can't return - you need to think about what else can be changed. You should not try to get rid of memories, you must learn to live with them. Treasure the people who are next to you now, and try to become strong so that you can change your destiny.

Itachi thought for a while, and then suddenly asked, "Sensei, what do you think is more important, the village or the clan?"

Yusuke smiled and found a stone step next to him to sit down. Waving to Itachi, he gestured for him to sit next to him, "So, Itachi, which one do you think is more important?"

After a moment's hesitation, Itachi replied, "In my opinion, the village should be more important."

Yusuke was not surprised by Itachi's answer. In the original, Itachi decided to destroy his own clan for the sake of the village: "If one day there were extremely serious and irreconcilable differences between the village and the clan, would you sacrifice the entire clan for the sake of the village?"

Hearing Yusuke's question, Itachi froze, not sure what choice to make.

After patting his student on the shoulder, Yuusuke smiled and asked, "Have you ever heard of the Cart Dilemma?"

"Trolley Dilemma?!"