Chapter – 742 Sasuke’s Reasons

"Uh-oh… it seems that the fear rooted in Sasuke's heart is acting up… this is not good." Muttered Uchiha Matriarch with a distressed expression.

Being his mother, Mikoto understands Sasuke better than anyone, this is why she is also aware of the fear that lies deep within Sasuke, although Sasuke is generally not affected because of that fear, however, when he faces a life and death-situation where he is completely helpless; the childhood trauma left to him by Yama and Homusubi starts to affect him.

Uchiha Patriarch narrowed his eyes and looked at Sasuke.

He also noticed that Sasuke was afraid. The picture on the monitor is not very clear, therefore, it's somewhat difficult for the general audience to notice the trembling of Sasuke's body, however, that is the case only for the general audience, not for Fugaku who could clearly see the fear in his son's heart.

However, Fugaku didn't think anything was wrong with it. Because even if it was him in place of Sasuke, facing several members of the Akatsuki Organization; he wouldn't have been much different from Sasuke.

What's important is to be able to overcome this fear. If Sasuke can once again overcome the fear in his heart, he will make progress and that's what Fugaku wants to see. He wants to see his Son Sasuke overcome the fear in his heart with courage and face the enemy head-on!

Compared to Mikoto's worries, and Fugaku's expectations, Itachi, had a very calm expression as he observed the battlefield.

…

Originally relaxed five Kages subconsciously leaned forward and turned their full attention on Sasuke, who seemed to be the prime target of 'Akatsuki Organization' members lurking in the forest of Death.

From the beginning of the assessment to this point, considering his young age, Sasuke's performance has been impeccable. Anyone can foresee that as long as Uchiha Sasuke grows up smoothly, he will become as famous as White Fang, Yellow Flash, and Silver Hunter. The potential of Uchiha Sasuke has been recognized by the Five Kage, precisely because they understand Sasuke's limitless future, they are very interested to see how he would deal with this desperate situation.

The three children have already seen that the three Chunin Sensei are powerless against the members of 'Akatsuki', knowing this, what will the three of them do, what will Uchiha Sasuke do… will he back down and run away, or will he stay where he is and face the enemy?

Godaime Kazekage Pakura asked other Kage's opinion, "What do the others think… What do you think Hokage-dono, will he run, or will he fight?"

Hiruzen stroked his beard, and said with a thoughtful expression, "Whichever will it be, one thing is very clear, his response here will determine his future. We will soon get to know whether he really has what it takes to become a real powerhouse."

For Sasuke's response, Sandaime is also very curious, what will the young Uchiha choose, his own life, or the life of his companions?

At the same time, Hiruzen was very angry at Mizuki. The guy didn't even attempt to fight against the Akatsuki members, he just turned around and fled, leaving behind the three students at the mercy of the enemy. Thinking of Mizuki's embarrassing performance, Hiruzen made up his mind, 'He is not a good example for the students, I will transfer him out of the Academy.'

…

Forest of Death

Kiyomi and Lee clutched their sweaty palms and asked Neji in hushed voices, "Neji-san, what should we do?" "Neji-kun, we can't run away, Sasuke-nii-chan is in danger, we have to help them!"

Neji looked at the distant battlefield with a nervous expression. The sudden appearance of Akatsuki startled him, it's quite obvious that children like him and Sasuke don't stand a chance against Akatsuki, that's why he is really afraid of coming out, however, he can't let Sasuke face the enemy alone, 'what should I do, what should I do?'

Equally tangled up are Shion, Hinata, and Mika who are hiding not far away.

'Naruto-kun, Yakumo-san, Sasuke-san.' Muttered Hinata in a worried tone.

Holding the little bell in her hand, Shion stammered to herself, 'Oka-san said that a day will come when I will have to remove the seal of this bell… but… but…'

Mika was also afraid, and thought to herself, 'It's clear that we can't defeat them, I don't know what their purpose is but we have to somehow deliver the message to the village that Akatsuki is here and call for reinforcement!'

On the other side, as Fu saw the members of Akatsuki, her heart shuddered. She quickly hid inside the crown of the tree and secretly observed their every move, 'Are they here for me? Or for Naruto-kun?'

Of course, she hasn't been told about Naruto's status of being a Jinchuriki, however, being a Jinchuriki herself, she can feel the presence of a tailed beast inside Naruto, and because she is aware of the fact that the Akatsuki Organization is targeting tailed beast, so she quickly came to a conclusion that the Akatsuki is here probably for her and Naruto, 'What to do…?'

Floating in the sky, Sai quickly opened his notebook and started drawing something one after another small ink birds started to come out from the notebook.

Curious, Sakura asked, "Sai-kun, what are you doing?"

Shin answered instead of Sai, "Sai is trying to inform the village about the situation in the Forest of Death."

Sakura said, "But aren't there so many cameras in the Forest of Death, I am pretty sure the people in the village would have noticed them by now."

Shin nodded, "Yes, they should have… however, what if the Akatsuki is interfering with the cameras with some Jutsu? We can't ignore this possibility. Just to be on the safe side we have to inform the village. After all, Akatsuki is not something we academy students can deal with, so we must hurry up and inform the higher-ups about them infiltrating the village so that even if something happens to us, Hokage-sama and the others can at least protect the village."

Sakura asked in a confused, "But why would anything happen to us? We are high up in the sky!"

Shim smiled and said, "Sakura-san, you don't think that we are just going to watch, right? Sasuke-san and others are in danger, we have to help them."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock as the ink bird dived down.

…

Facing the indifferent gazes of the five masked men of the Akatsuki Organization, Sasuke's heart thumped.

'Run! If I resist, I will definitely die!' this voice kept resounding inside him, continuously asking him to either back down and run away or surrender and get captured. He has experienced being captured once, and Sasuke is pretty sure that he would probably survive if he surrendered.

'NO...! If I run away Otou-san, Nii-san, Okaa-san, and the entire Uchiha Clan will be disappointed in me! I will be shaming the name of the Uchiha Clan… As an Uchiha, how can I do something so humiliating as running away and tarnish the prestige of my clan!?' he thought, and added, 'Rather than facing the disappointment of my family, I would much rather die while fighting!' With such words, Sasuke motivated himself.

Compared to the fear of death, Sasuke cares more about the reputation of his clan and how disappointed his family would be of him if he did something so un-shinobi-like!

As a result, Sasuke put both of his hands in his shinobi bags, and after taking out a kunai in each of his hands, he jumped forward while shouting at the top of his lungs, "Naruto… Yakumo… run away… leave these people to me!"

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