Chapter 411: Uchiha Sasuke
The Divine Temple guard exam could be considered a grand event in Konoha Divine City these past years. Every time it was held, crowds swarmed like mountains and seas.
Besides ninja coming from various places to take the exam, many merchant houses also came to recruit people.
Even if you couldn't pass the Divine Temple guard exam, being hired by a merchant house was still a good path forward.
To avoid the trials being too tedious and boring, with scenes of weaklings pecking at each other, all applicants had to undergo screening before the formal competition.
However, with Haku's recommendation, Arato skipped this procedure directly and obtained the retest admission ticket.
But Arato showed no happy expression at all. He stayed gloomily in the inn all day, no longer wandering around to sightsee and play.
"Sigh, if I'd known you'd be like this, I wouldn't have told you the truth that day."
Zabuza sighed and came to console him again:
"These things are all my wild guesses. There's no evidence at all."
"We're just small people in the shinobi world. Those highest-level secret intelligence simply couldn't possibly be known to us."
"If you truly want to save this world, then you should work hard to improve yourself. When you stand high enough, many seemingly impossible problems might be easily resolved."
Seeing Arato still wearing a silent expression, Zabuza could only press down on his shoulders, staring seriously into his eyes and sighing:
"If you truly cannot accept working under that person, then there's no need to force it. We'll leave here right now and won't participate in that exam either."
"Remember, Arato, no matter what choice you make, I will definitely stand firmly on your side."
"Big uncle..." Arato's face was full of emotion. "But you already gave away your Sharingan."
"That kind of external object, if it's gone, it's gone. It's not that big a deal."
Zabuza got up and began packing things, preparing to leave, but Arato started hesitating again.
He naturally knew how much big uncle had sacrificed for him this time. He really couldn't bear to let big uncle's efforts go to waste.
But having him work under an extremely likely villain big boss who was continuously extracting the planet's life force, there was always a hurdle in his heart he couldn't get past.
Zabuza also understood his personality. He worried that if Arato really couldn't hold back and ran before Uchiha Yasushi to ask about the truth face-to-face, he'd only harm himself instead.
Uchiha Yasushi was now the world's only god. At that time, no matter who his teacher was, they couldn't protect him.
Ninja originally didn't carry too many trivial things, so very quickly, Zabuza had everything packed up and headed out of the inn first.
Arato didn't know what to do for a moment. He could only follow glumly behind Zabuza heading outside.
Just as they left the inn, they saw a commotion of chickens flying and dogs jumping in the distance. Several genin-looking children were chasing a cat, running this way.
This was definitely some freshly graduated genin doing missions again. Zabuza didn't pay it any mind, walking straight toward the city gate. Arato followed behind with his head down.
That cat, though quite agile, wasn't a ninja cat.
After the several children chased and blocked it for quite a while, even though they couldn't use ninjutsu in the city, they still gradually surrounded the cat. It looked like they were about to succeed.
But the cat, choosing no path in its panic, charged straight toward Zabuza's direction.
Zabuza didn't want to interfere with those children's cat-catching mission, so his form flashed and he dodged far away.
But Arato behind him was currently lost in thought, not noticing what was happening ahead at all.
When the cat rushed over, it jumped on his head, trying to use the momentum to escape.
Arato reflexively reached out a hand, grabbed the cat's scruff, and snatched it down.
"Ah, excellent, the cat's been caught!"
The several children cheered and rushed over.
"Thank you so much, big brother."
"It's nothing." Arato casually answered, just about to hand the cat to them, but his gaze suddenly focused as he saw the clan emblem on the leading child's body.
It was a red and white fan shape.
Uchiha!
That person's clansmen!
Arato's heart trembled. He couldn't help but become somewhat distracted. His hand also slipped, and that constantly struggling cat immediately escaped from his hand again.
The several people who'd given up the chase upon seeing the cat caught lost their guard. The cat seized the opening, dove into a nearby shop, and disappeared from view.
"Ah!" The several children cried out in alarm simultaneously, hurriedly diving into the shop, but the cat's shadow had already vanished.
The several children charged angrily out of the shop, blocking Arato who was about to leave, accusing furiously:
"You, you did that on purpose!"
"Too hateful!"
"If you didn't want to help, no one would say anything, but how could you do this?"
"Is toying with us very fun?"
"You must apologize!"
Arato's personality had always been quite gentle, his manner warm and cheerful. If it were any other day encountering this situation, he definitely would have apologized with a smile long ago.
But somehow, when he saw that Uchiha clan child, his emotions became somewhat difficult to control, as if something was secretly influencing his mood.
Almost like an instinct, he blurted out mockingly:
"Can't even catch a cat, you might as well not be ninja."
"The shinobi world is such a dangerous place. It really isn't suitable for you children playing house here."
"What?" The several children immediately became furious. "If ninjutsu weren't forbidden in the city, we would have caught that cat long ago!"
"Hehe..." Arato said nothing, just laughed coldly once and gave them a contemptuous look.
"Damn it!" The several children immediately became somewhat frantic.
But fighting wasn't permitted in the city. Though they were annoyed, they had no social experience and simply didn't know how to get revenge.
Only that leading Uchiha child's eyes turned red.
Ever since his revival, he'd been discriminated against within the family due to his father and brother.
Everyone else had their entire families revived. Only his family was an exception.
His parents and older brother hadn't been revived. Only he alone was revived.
After becoming an orphan, not only did his original status as the clan head's young master vanish, but normally he also had to endure cold mockery and hot ridicule from those victims, suffering all kinds of cold treatment.
Although the Uchiha clan held a transcendent position in the Divine Nation, receiving respect from all clans, he alone was an exception.
After the great divine lord defeated the resurrected ancient evil god and saved the world, the god's birth clan became the priestly group revered by all, hereditary and irreplaceable.
All other Uchiha became priests. Even those ordinary clansmen who hadn't awakened their eyes all had positions in the Divine Temple.
He alone was a ninja!
Because of this matter, those ninja clans who fawned on the powerful and despised the weak had always kept their distance from him respectfully.
In the entire vast ninja academy, he, the great Uchiha Sasuke, couldn't even make a single friend.