Chapter 56: Sasuke: My Brother Could Never Do Something Like This

Sasuke’s small face visibly registered shock.

Then, without warning, a surge of irritation flared up inside him.

He immediately stood up, forcing himself into the classic Uchiha stoic expression—cold, unreadable, eyes locked firmly on the person before him.

Sasuke narrowed his brows and demanded, “What are you even talking about? Are you insulting the Uchiha Clan?!”

He would not allow anyone to speak ill of his elder brother!

As the top prodigy of his year at the Ninja Academy, and the second son of the Uchiha Clan Head, Sasuke’s serious demeanor was enough to make the younger students in front of him uneasy.

One of them spoke up weakly, “It’s just… everyone’s saying it out there. They say—Uchiha Itachi wiped out the entire Uchiha Clan. No one was spared. Not even the old people… not even the children.”

Sasuke: “…???”

Just as he was about to retort, a sudden cry pierced through the classroom door.

Haruno Sakura dashed back in, breathless and frantic.

She reached Sasuke’s side and blurted, “Sasuke-kun! Everyone’s spreading rumors—something’s happened to your clan!”

Another student rushed over—Yamanaka Ino, who shoved Sakura aside and gasped, “Sasuke-kun! They’re saying your parents… they were killed… by your brother, Uchiha Itachi!”

Sasuke froze.

His small face paled slightly.

One absurd rumor after another hammered into his ears, and slowly, a chilling realization dawned on him—something had to have happened at home.

But it was impossible!

To kill the entire clan… to murder his parents…

His brother?

No. It couldn’t be.

He was the gentlest, most kind-hearted Uchiha in Sasuke’s eyes.

It was unthinkable.

Even as disbelief roared through his mind, he couldn’t stop his legs. Without a second glance at the stunned classmates watching him, he bolted from the classroom, out of the academy, and into the streets.

Panic and dread drove him toward the Uchiha district.

“Impossible…”

“Brother… he…”

“Absolutely not!”

He ran until his lungs burned, gasping for air. Along the way, he heard more and more people whispering about the Uchiha Clan’s downfall—rumors growing wilder and more outrageous with every passing moment.

He even caught snippets of someone saying he, Uchiha Sasuke, had been killed by his own brother.

Wait—what?

If he were dead, then who was he?

“Damn lies…”

He no longer cared about defending his brother’s name. All he wanted was to get back to the Uchiha compound—now.

And yet… strangely, he hadn’t seen a single Uchiha Police Force ninja on his way.

That absence gnawed at him.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted two figures in Uchiha Police Force uniforms at the next street corner.

Sasuke’s heart leapt.

Relief washed over him.

At least some of the Uchiha were still alive.

No— he shook his head frantically. Not just some. All of it. It has to be false. Every single word of that rumor must be false!

“Wait! Please—wait!”

He shouted toward the two figures just as they turned to leave.

They paused.

Sasuke sprinted over, hands bracing his knees as he gasped for breath. Sweat glistened on his pale forehead, his body utterly spent.

After catching his breath, he lifted his head and asked, “I heard people in the village spreading rumors about my clan… Is it true… what they’re saying?”

His voice died in his throat.

Because one of the two ninjas—standing beside the other—was unmistakably Uchiha Iizumi.

The very one his mother had warned him to avoid.

Sasuke stiffened.

He remembered asking Itachi once, after he returned, why Mother had forbidden him from interacting with Iizumi.

Itachi had spoken of a past conflict—something that had deeply shaken young Sasuke.

Since then, he’d instinctively seen Iizumi as an enemy.

Someone who wanted to kill his brother.

Who else could he be?

“Hmm? Sasuke-kun?”

A familiar voice came from the side.

Sasuke turned mechanically.

There, standing before him, was Uchiha Izumi.

Since Itachi had so few friends, Sasuke remembered every one of them.

“Sasuke-kun,” Izumi said, squinting playfully, “today’s Thursday. It’s not even time to leave school yet. Are you skipping class?”

She reached out, ruffling his hair with a soft chuckle. “Skipping is a terrible habit, you know. It’s a bad influence. You shouldn’t fall into that kind of behavior.”

Sasuke quickly stepped back, brushing his disheveled hair into place. “I—I just heard those rumors! I had to come home and check! They said… my brother… killed everyone in the Uchiha Clan.”

Izumi nodded slowly, as if it all made perfect sense.

She turned to the man beside her—Uchiha Iizumi—and said, “Even the students at the Ninja Academy are hearing about the future crimes of Uchiha Itachi. But truth gets twisted as it spreads—people add their own fears, their own exaggerations. And soon, the rumors become nothing like the real facts.”

Sasuke blinked. “What facts? What’s really going on? Is it about my brother?”

But neither of them answered.

The man—Uchiha Iizumi—only glanced at him once, then turned his gaze away, locking onto a seemingly ordinary civilian in the distance.

His tone was flat, detached. “Someone’s been deliberately stoking the negative sentiment against Uchiha Itachi. This whole rumor storm? It’s being manipulated.”

Izumi gasped. “Manipulated? Iizumi-senpai… do you have new evidence?”

She followed Iizumi’s gaze, studying the quiet man.

…What was so unusual about him?

But Iizumi didn’t respond.

He simply began walking toward the man, unhurried, calm.

Izumi immediately fell into step beside him.

Left behind, Sasuke stood frozen—eyes wide, mind spinning.

He looked left, then right.

He needed to get home—now. But it would still take ten or fifteen minutes.

But if he just asked… maybe he could get answers in minutes.

“Mother told me not to talk to Uchiha Iizumi… but I’m not talking to him. I’m talking to Uchiha Izumi… it should be fine, right?”

He bit his lip.

Then, with a determined nod, he followed after them.

……

……

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end