"Where did that thing go?!"
"Oh no, when did it disappear?"
The next morning, when everyone woke up, they discovered that the thing under Sasuke was gone.
The night before, Sai and Shigaraki Tanuki had clearly been pressing down on Sasuke from left and right.
Sasuke should not even have been able to turn over.
So how had the thing vanished?
"Hm? Where is this?"
At that moment, Sasuke pretended to be woken by the commotion.
Rubbing his eyes, he sat up with a confused look.
In truth, he had already woken up once before dawn.
The expired soldier pill had given him diarrhea, but part of it had not completely gone bad, so it had still restored a little of his strength and chakra.
After waking, Sasuke had calmly observed the surroundings and then made a decision.
He had to secretly let the thing under him go.
He could not let the Second Hokage develop even more stereotypes about the Uchiha.
Especially after that whole Turtle Island and Naruto incident, Sasuke had finally realized that he somewhat resembled Madara's younger brother Izuna—the same Izuna who, according to legend, his dick had been cut down by the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God Slash.
He absolutely had to study hard and strive upward, and make a clean distinction between himself and Izuna.
Otherwise, if one day the Second Hokage ended up becoming nearsighted like Kakashi and mistook him for the wrong person, that would be a disaster.
A space-time ninjutsu like Flying Thunder God was not something even the Rinnegan could reliably guard against.
So Sasuke had quietly arched his body and released the thing pinned beneath him.
Sai and Shigaraki Tanuki had only been able to guard against Sasuke's unconscious movements.
They could not guard against Sasuke deliberately letting it go.
"Sasuke, you're awake? Great. Then answer this—what exactly did you do yesterday? That Edo Tensei body part under you is gone. Whose was it?"
Kiba immediately ran over.
Sasuke was clean now, though there was still a faint strange odor clinging to him.
He indeed had an upset stomach after eating that nasty expired soldier pill, but thanks to Akamaru—who sneaked off for a midnight snack and conveniently cleaned Sasuke up—there wasn't a trace of evidence left.
"Oh, that? After getting my new power, I casually had Orochimaru use Edo Tensei to summon someone as a sparring partner.
Yesterday, I accidentally overexhausted myself while testing a technique, so I passed out. Thanks for helping me."
Covering one eye, Sasuke gave the explanation with perfect calm.
"I see. Then that settles it. Mission complete."
Sai opened his scroll and jotted something down.
Sasuke quietly let out a sigh of relief.
"Sasuke-kun."
Shino suddenly appeared behind him and called out in that gloomy tone of his.
It made Sasuke jolt.
"And you are?"
"...Aburame Shino."
"What do you want?"
"Sasuke-kun, that answer just now was too perfect. It doesn't sound like the sort of thing you would normally say. It sounded more like one of those excuses Naruto comes up with when he's done something wrong…"
Shino adjusted his glasses and began analyzing the situation.
"..."
A bead of cold sweat slid down Sasuke's forehead.
This was where the difference between Shikamaru and Shino showed up again.
Shikamaru was smart, yes—but he was also low-key and lazy.
Shino was different.
Because his presence was always so weak, he desperately wanted to do more things and prove he was there.
"Yeah, Shino's got a point."
Kiba chimed in like a proper supporting act, then looked at Sasuke suspiciously.
"..."
As Sasuke sensed everyone's gazes gradually changing, he knew this was getting dangerous.
Every single one of these classmates had a huge mouth.
If they found out the truth, then all of Konoha—and sooner or later the whole ninja world—would know.
Thankfully, he had let the thing go in advance.
Otherwise, if Kiba had caught the scent, he probably would have followed it all the way to the Second Hokage.
'So that's how they wanna play it?'
'If they're gonna push me like this, they can't blame me for pushing back.'
Sasuke's expression gradually turned cold.
The eye he had been covering—whose tomoe Rinnegan had temporarily reverted to an ordinary eye because of chakra exhaustion—shifted back once more into its tomoe Rinnegan form.
After his previous experiment, Sasuke had already learned how to swap object with object.
As for those ultra-precise cutting-type swaps, Sasuke decided it was better not to use them for now.
They consumed far too much chakra.
Unless he encountered some absurdly durable opponent, it was still better to just stick to Chidori.
"Shino. Kiba. What's that behind you?"
Sasuke suddenly changed expressions and pointed behind the two of them with an innocent, curious look.
"Huh? What? What is it?"
Kiba turned around in confusion.
To his surprise, he found that something had appeared in the back pocket of his pants, with one corner sticking out.
Looking again at Shino, he saw Shino had the same problem.
Kiba, being simple and direct, did not suspect anything.
He merely pulled the object out of his pocket right there in front of everyone.
It was a pair of shorts.
"Whose is this? Why is it stuffed in my pocket?"
He sniffed it and made a disgusted face.
"...So now you admit that's your pocket?"
Sasuke stared at him coolly.
"...What are you even saying? These are my pants, so of course it's my pocket! This—"
Kiba still had no idea what was happening.
That was until two of the male sealing-nin finally admitted, in embarrassment, that they had suddenly realized the shorts they had been wearing underneath were gone.
One of them even pointed at the shorts in Kiba's hand and said those were his.
"Kiba… this is unforgivable. I can't believe you were into this too…"
Hinata lowered her head, poked her fingers together, and spoke in a tiny voice.
What did she mean, too?
"I can't believe the two of you are such perverts too!"
Ino's face was full of outrage.
Again—what did she mean, too?
Sasuke stayed expressionless.
"No, that's not—"
"Ah!"
Just as Shino was about to explain, another male sealing-nin suddenly yelped and pulled a bug out of his pants.
The insect had apparently bitten him in his dick.
"Shino, that's one of your bugs, isn't it? Caught red-handed. You and Kiba not only stole people's shorts last night, you even left evidence behind…"
Sakura, too, stepped back a few paces with a look of disgust.
At that moment, the corner of Sasuke's mouth lifted slightly.
Unexpectedly, doing the kind of thing Naruto would do was actually kind of fun.
Hmph.
Who told them to try exposing him?
Now the focus had shifted, hadn't it?
"Ahem. Since everything seems fine now, I need to head to Amegakure. Goodbye everyone."
Sasuke stood up and announced he was leaving.
"All right, Sasuke, go ahead. Leave these two perverts to us! We'll definitely report this to Lady Hokage!"
Sakura clenched her fists as she said it.
"We really didn't do anything! We're innocent! This is a wrongful accusation! A complete miscarriage of justice!"
After Sasuke left, Kiba cried out miserably, beating his chest and stomping his feet.
"No, wait! Right! Akamaru, come over here and smell it! If there's anyone's scent on it besides mine and that sealing-nin's, then we'll know exactly who framed me!"
Only after reaching the peak of his grievance did Kiba finally think of a solution and call Akamaru over.
"Woof woof."
Akamaru sniffed the shorts, then shook his head.
Kiba's face instantly turned pale.
No one could understand Akamaru's words, but everyone understood a head shake.
Akamaru had not cleared Kiba's name at all.
If anything, he had only made Kiba look guiltier!
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