Sasuke

July 23rd.

Konoha Hospital.

Surprisingly, Itachi was not training. He was sitting with his father, Fugaku Uchiha, in the hospital corridor.

His father, who was usually a composed man, could not even sit sill now. He kept walking back and forth.

Today is the day his mother, Mikoto Uchiha, gave birth.

A long time ago, during the early winter, Uchiha Mikoto told him that he would soon have a younger brother or sister.

Itachi said that it should be a younger brother.

Uchiha Mikoto asked Itachi back then, "don't you want a younger sister? Younger sisters are cute, you know."

But Itachi shook his head. It was not that he did not like a younger sister, but he had a feeling that it would be a younger brother.

It was a feeling that Itachi could not describe. For some reason, he just felt that it should be a younger brother.

Just as Itachi was thinking about why he felt that way, suddenly, Fugaku called him and hurried into the ward.

Itachi stood up and quickly followed Fugaku inside.

As he pushed open the door, Itachi saw that Uchiha Mikoto was dressed in loose clothes, holding a baby in her arms.

Seeing Itachi walk in, a smile appeared on Mikoto's pale face. "It's a boy, Itachi! You have a younger brother!"

Itachi walked up to Mikoto and looked at the baby.

The newborn baby had a big head, short legs and hands, and wrinkled skin, which looked weird.

"Life..., a new life..." As Itachi saw the baby in Mikoto's arms, he recalled his previous thoughts about life.

"Life? What life? Itachi, what are you talking about?" Mikoto was just about to ask Fugaku what they should name their son when she heard Itachi mutter.

"Nothing." Itachi shook his head and poked the baby's fat cheek with his finger.

His finger sank as it touched the soft cheek.

'So soft, so frail.' Itachi said in his heart.

He could sense that this baby was very frail. He could kill him with a single punch.

'Your brother will protect you from now on.' He poked the baby's soft cheek and said in his heart.

Newborn life was too fragile and needed protection.

Itachi seemed to enjoy poking the baby's cheek, but the baby was upset. 

"Waaaa, waaa, waaaa!"

The baby immediately displayed his innate skill and cried.

Mikoto stopped Itachi's finger and smacked his little head lightly. As she calmed down the baby, she said to Itachi,

"Itachi, your brother is very frail, it will hurt him."

"I know already," Itachi said as he put his hand away.

After she calmed down the baby, she handed him for Fugaku to hold and asked with a smile, "Have you thought of his name?"

Fugaku nodded and looked at the newborn baby with a doting gaze.

"Sasuke, let's call him Sasuke, Sasuke Uchiha."

"Sasuke Uchiha? Sounds good, but isn't that the name of the Third's father?" Uchiha Mikoto said worriedly.

Although she didn't pay too much attention to the political issue in the village, she knew that the Uchiha Clan and the village were not on good terms.

With the rift between Uchiha Clan and the village, people might misunderstand if they named their son like the name of the Third Hokage's father.

Those who didn't know their intention might take it as Fugaku Uchiha's way to discredit the Third Hokage.

It was not worth it if a name were to cause a conflict between Uchiha Clan and the village.

"Haha, it's fine." Fugaku was in a good mood as his second son was safely born.

"Don't worry about this, I already told the Third in advance that I'd name our child Sasuke if it's a boy, and Third didn't mind," Fugaku added

"That's a relief." Mikoto was relieved upon hearing Fugaku's words.

"Sasuke, be a man that lives up to your name!" Fugaku lifted Sasuke and said with a smile.

This scene could not help but remind Itachi of the scene when he was just born. At that time, Fugaku also lifted him like that and then called his name with a smile...

"Itachi, as an older brother, you have to take good care of Sasuke from now on." Mikoto smiled as she stroked Itachi's black hair.

Itachi nodded obediently. "I will definitely protect Sasuke."

...

Sasuke's birth had no effect on Nagasawa. Hadn't Fugaku sent someone to notify him, he would not have known that Sasuke was born.

In order to raise Konoha's Prosperity to 2000 as soon as possible and unlock the new template, Nagasawa also put in a lot of effort.

He conjured a few shadow clones to teach the training team.

His hellish training's purpose was to strengthen the raining team and increase Prosperity.

Then he went to the medical division to solve the development problem of the medical division for Tsunade.

He also raised the intensity of the training for Might Guy and the others. Originally, they could only defeat him once every two days, but now they could beat him twice a day.

Lastly, regarding the Special Combat Division.

Hayate Gekkō and Yūgao Uzuki were still in Academy. At most, they would graduate in a few months, and he could not just graduate them for no reason.

Moreover, the two of them were too young. Even if he taught them Breathing Styles, at most, it would only lay a good foundation for the future. They wouldn't get that much stronger.

But he could always ask for some Uchiha Clansmen from Fugaku, so there was naturally no problem.

At present, what posed more challenges was recruiting Kosuke. Kosuke had even refused the promotion from the Second and the Third Hokage. Nagasawa did not think that his position as a Hokage assistant would be able to persuade Kosuke, so he had to persuade him with some speech.

When Nagasawa found Kosuke, Kosuke wore a mesh armor shirt under a short, brown, sleeveless kimono with a pair of grey pants. He was farming in the fields like a plain old farmer.

However, appearance could be deceiving. In Nagasawa's perception, Kosuke's aura was not weak. In fact, it was much stronger than Kakashi at the current stage.

Of course, if it were a life-and-death battle, Kosuke might not be able to beat the current Kakashi. After all, his leg had been injured, and Kakashi was best at speed.

With Nagasawa's training, Kakashi was much stronger than he was in the manga at this current time.

"Maruboshi-senpai!" Nagasawa said politely.

After all, Kosuke had been a Shinobi since the Second Hokage's era. It was normal for Nagasawa to call him senpai.

"Ah…?" Kosuke looked at Nagasawa in confusion.

"I am Fujiwara Nagasawa." Nagasawa introduced himself.

"Fujiwara Nagasawa..., ah, the new Hokage assistant! What can I do for you, Fujiwara-sama?" Gu Jie asked.

"I would like to ask you to become the Vice Squad Leader of Konoha's Special Combat Division." Nagasawa stated his purpose.