The night stretched long over the forest, shadows weaving between steel flashes and hurried breaths.Sasuke and Sakura had been fighting their way through a bandit camp for hours — not to wipe them out, but to survive.
They weren't hunting glory; they were protecting themselves. Every so often, one unlucky thug crossed their path and paid the price. Even so, by the time the chaos settled, nearly thirty bandits lay dead, and both of them were nursing scrapes and bruises.
Nothing fatal — just torn clothes, shallow cuts, and the stinging reminder that experience comes with pain.
Sasuke fared better. His shirt was shredded, but his skin was untouched. He'd already reached Chunin rank, and even if his promotion came through raw talent, a Chunin was no easy prey. The bandits' numbers meant nothing against his precision. In fact, the longer he fought, the more he learned. Every swing, every dodge — training in disguise.
Without saying it aloud, he and Sakura had been fighting in perfect sync, maintaining distance yet always within reach. Whenever Sakura stumbled or faltered, Sasuke was already moving — silent, watchful, a shadow that refused to let her fall.
"Damn it! What are you idiots doing?" a guttural voice barked from deeper in the camp. The bandit leader's fury cracked like thunder. "Two brats — and you still can't handle them? Move aside! I'll do it myself!"
His men backed off instantly, trembling as if his words alone could cut them down. Fear had already rooted deep in their bones — the kind born from long obedience under cruelty.
Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a glance. No words needed. They turned toward the approaching figure, eyes wary.
The man who emerged was a brute — his frame wide, his grin like a scar. His killing intent rolled out like a suffocating mist, and even from a distance, Sasuke could feel his pulse quicken.
So this is what Naruto meant by "murderous intent."
It wasn't power. It was presence — a weight that clawed at your nerves and whispered that you would die.
Sasuke's jaw tightened. Pathetic. Just a bandit, and I'm shaking?He grit his teeth, forcing down the tremor. If I can't stand against this... how will I ever face him?
"Brats," the leader growled, raising a heavy tiger-headed cleaver. "You wandered into my territory. You don't get to leave."
His killing intent surged. Sasuke and Sakura flinched.
"Afraid?" the man sneered. "You should be. Kids like you should know their place — buried under my blade!"
He lunged forward, cleaver howling through the air.
"Die!"
Sakura screamed. "Sasuke!"
But Sasuke didn't move to run. He met the attack head-on. "Don't underestimate me!"
Steel clashed with a piercing clang — Kunai against cleaver. The shock rattled the trees.
"What—?" The bandit leader blinked in disbelief. His blade was stopped cold by a single Kunai.
Then he saw Sasuke's eyes.
The scarlet glow. The spinning tomoe.
"Those eyes...!" His voice cracked into terror. "The Sharingan... but the Uchiha were supposed to be gone!"
Panic flooded his face. Long ago, during Konoha's border purges, he had crossed blades with one of those eyes. The memory still haunted him — the crimson gaze that tore his mind apart and left him trapped in endless nightmares. He'd survived by sheer luck, crawling away broken.
And now that same cursed gaze stared back at him.
Sasuke's lips curved into a faint smirk. "You guessed right."
His Sharingan flared — twin tomoe spinning in each eye like blood-dyed stars. The air shimmered with raw pressure.
Power surged through him, tangible as lightning beneath his skin. His chakra sharpened, every nerve alive, every sense amplified. His thoughts moved faster than his heartbeat.
This is it... this is the power of the Uchiha.
"Now," Sasuke said coldly, "you'll taste it."
He moved — a blur, a streak of motion almost invisible to the naked eye. Kunai met steel again, sparks scattering like fireflies.
The bandit leader snarled, fear twisting into greed. "Even with those eyes... you're still just a brat. Once I kill you, they'll be mine!"
His swing came in low, then high — a wild, desperate rhythm.
Sasuke read every motion, every twitch. The Sharingan saw it all.
"Then try it," he said, his voice steady. "If you have the strength to take them."
Another clash — steel met steel — and Sasuke turned the force against him, using the rebound to slip backward, light on his feet. His gaze never left the man. The fear was gone. Only clarity remained.