Chapter 49: Want to Learn? I'll Teach You!
Sasuke's face shifted between green and white, his expression twisting in anger. It looked as if he might lash out with his fists at any moment to defend his dignity.
Akiyama Makoto watched him calmly. If Sasuke attacked him again, he wouldn't mind making him understand what true pain felt like.
In the end, however, Sasuke held back. He had sworn not to attack again.
He collapsed onto the ground, dejected, as if all the fight had been knocked out of him.
"Why did you tell me all this? Just to humiliate me?"
Makoto felt the time was right to officially clean up the mess. He hadn't forgotten his purpose for coming here: to acquire the land he needed for his future development. It was just that Sasuke's prejudice against him was so deep, and his wariness of everything around him so high, that they hadn't been able to communicate.
Now they could. And Makoto was going to get what he wanted. Preferably for free. After all, what the current Sasuke wanted most was to grow stronger. The land under the Uchiha clan's name would eventually be confiscated by the likes of Danzō on some "legitimate" grounds after Sasuke defected anyway. What a waste it would be for all that good land to be taken by those old geezers.
"Sasuke, what I'm about to say is the last time I will speak to you calmly and rationally."
"If you still maintain this attitude, then let's just pretend we never met today."
If this had been the Sasuke from before, he would have definitely blown his top by now. But the current Sasuke had been mentally shattered by Makoto, and he also felt a sense of guilt towards his classmates. He managed a rare feat: he looked up at Makoto, intending to listen seriously to what he had to say.
Though he still had the eyes of a dead fish.
"You're an orphan, but that doesn't mean no one understands you."
"I've spent over a month listening to stories about the Uchiha clan. Among the storytellers, some witnessed your parents grow from infants to adults, some saw your brother laughing on a date with a girl, and some even held you and changed your diapers."
Sasuke was stunned, not expecting Makoto to suddenly say something like this. The part about someone changing his diapers, especially, brought a long-forgotten sense of shame. He wanted to stop him, but Makoto's next words captivated him even more.
"Right now, in all of Konoha, I am probably the person who understands you best."
"I understand your loneliness and helplessness. I know why you keep everyone at arm's length. But unfortunately, the you of today has absolutely no chance of getting revenge."
"I also understand Uchiha Itachi."
Sasuke's pupils constricted. Hearing Itachi's name, he felt as if a string in his head was about to snap, but the chakra he sensed from Makoto's hand made him calm down again.
"The current Uchiha Itachi is so strong that even the Third Hokage is not necessarily his match."
"And you? You're still pushing people away and haven't even mastered the most basic chakra control methods. Your brother, at your age, had already passed the Chūnin Exams and was a member of the Hokage's personal Anbu."
Sasuke's shoulders began to tremble. He had always known there was a huge gap between him and his brother. But he had always lacked a frame of reference and couldn't comprehend just how vast that gap was. Now, Makoto had laid the cruel truth bare before him, causing a stabbing pain in his head. Even his eyes began to ache.
He didn't understand what was happening, but Makoto saw a single tomoe flash in Sasuke's eyes.
Makoto clicked his tongue in wonder. So this is the power of talk-no-jutsu? Though, Sasuke had already awakened his Sharingan on the night of the massacre. He was just giving him a little push. When it came to talk-no-jutsu, Makoto was confident he was far inferior to the protagonist.
"I know... I know all of that!"
"But what can I do?!"
Sasuke clutched his head and complained in a low voice. A trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth; the blisters on his lips had burst.
"It's simple."
Seeing the time was right, Makoto snapped his fingers.
"I'll teach you."
Sasuke looked at him again, his face full of doubt, as if to ask: You?
"It's true, I'm not even a ninja. But right now, I can beat you, and that's enough."
"I'm the winner, which means you still have things to learn from me. When the day comes that you can beat me, I can recommend an even better teacher to you."
Sasuke's eyes lit up slightly, as if he had found a path forward. If nothing else, Makoto's method of chakra control was something he had never learned.
"But why... Why would you help me? Is it out of pity?"
"Of course not."
Makoto rubbed his hands together. "I told you, I understand you. I know you only want revenge, which means all this land is useless to you, right?"
"My terms are simple. Every time you learn something from me, you will pay me with the land of one courtyard. At the same time, you can no longer forbid me from writing books related to the Uchiha clan."
"Of course, if you ever beat me, you can take back everything you've lost to me."
"How about it? An interesting wager, isn't it?"
At this point, Makoto needed to find a training partner for himself and to prepare a plausible source for some of the ninjutsu he would "learn." Obviously, Sasuke and Naruto were training partners who would never need an "update." And the Uchiha clan's collection could easily explain where he learned his jutsu. Even if Sasuke himself didn't know these techniques, as long as he claimed the Uchiha had the scrolls, no one could question it.
And most importantly, in the future, he would need to establish a connection with the immortal scientist of the ninja world, Orochimaru, through Sasuke.
Hearing this, Sasuke lowered his head and began to ponder. But seeing his slightly trembling fingers, Makoto knew he was very excited and was just pretending to be reserved.
Sure enough, after half a minute, he looked up. "I accept."
"The land you came to buy today, I'll give it to you. Teach me how to control my chakra like you."
"I can. But before that, you have to do one thing first."
Sasuke stood up angrily, thinking he was going back on his word. But Makoto glanced at Sakura, who was starting to stir, gestured for him to be quiet, and then shut the door, leaving Sasuke outside.
Now, it was time for him to face the awakened Sakura.
Makoto hadn't even started the simulation yet, but he was already preparing for the future simulation with her. And everything that had just happened was the most important step in ensuring its success.
Sakura's eyelashes fluttered, and she opened her eyes.
The next second, she sat up in a hurry, her hands flying to her back and face. She was relieved to find her skin was still smooth and delicate, even better than after a fresh bath.
But then her face flushed red, because the large movement had caused the kimono wrapped around her to slide off, revealing her entire back to him.
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