Chapter 838: Sasuke's Choice
In his house, Sasuke sat alone in complete silence, his mind occupied by what he had just learnt. He couldn't believe what the young Uchiha kids said and even confirmed the same with one of the Anbu ninjas watching over the compound. His shock increased even further.
After a few minutes, Sasuke finally gathered himself and thought, 'Orochimaru offered me the power to take revenge on Itachi. However, if he ran away without daring to face Fujin, can I trust his words?'
The answer was clear. Even though Orochimaru had failed to kill Hiruzen, his performance was still very impressive considering he was in the enemy territory. Though the impression he left on Sasuke was lesser than in the original story, it was still very high. The curse seal also subtly influenced him.
However, that impression had now shattered. Orochimaru had failed to protect his village. There was no excuse that Sasuke could accept this time. Fujin had led an army and expelled Orochimaru from the Land of Rice. The fact that Orochimaru didn't even dare to face him made Sasuke lose all respect for his strength.
He muttered, "How could someone who ran away from Fujin make me strong enough to kill Itachi? I doubt he can even kill Itachi himself, let alone give me the power to do so. That said, is Fujin stronger than Itachi?"
Sasuke immediately recalled that Naruto was guided by Fujin. His wind jutsus had come from Fujin. While he would never say it openly, Sasuke knew that Naruto's Wind jutsus were formidable. Even though they didn't compare to his summoning jutsu, the supercharged Wind jutsus were extremely problematic for normal ninjas. Sasuke knew he wouldn't fare any better than Gaara against hundreds of Shadow Clones spamming supercharged Infinite Breakthrough jutsu.
Unlike the original story, where Naruto was considerably weaker than Sasuke until Jiraiya taught him how to harness Kurama's chakra and the Summoning jutsu, the two were more evenly matched due to Fujin's interference.
Sasuke had seen how Naruto's strength had grown steadily since the last year in their academy. His strength grew even faster once they graduated as Fujin taught Naruto stronger Wind jutsus and the Body Flicker jutsu. That was also when Sasuke learnt of Fujin's existence, though he hadn't paid any attention to him until Fujin forced Orochimaru to retreat in the Forest of Death.
Sasuke couldn't help but wonder, 'The reason why Naruto, who was at the bottom of the class, suddenly improved should be due to Fujin. However, why did Fujin suddenly take an interest in Naruto and begin training him? Would he also be open to training me?'