By the time Mu Yue arrived at the training ground, Yamato was already standing there waiting.
It was exactly six thirty. The sky had been dyed a faint orange-red by the evening glow, and the sun was slowly sinking beyond the horizon, leaving behind a streak of golden afterglow.
A breeze swept through the woods around the training ground, making the layered leaves sway gently and rustle in the wind, as though nature itself were whispering.
Yamato stood blankly alone at the edge of the training ground, his shadow stretched long and slanted across the dirt carpeted with fallen leaves.
"When did you get here?" Mu Yue walked over with a gentle smile.
"Six ten," Yamato answered honestly.
"Wasn't our appointment for six forty? Why did you come so early?"
"There was nothing to do in that house. I thought I shouldn't make Lord Mu Yue wait, so I came early," Yamato explained.
Though he and Mu Yue had met only once, Yamato genuinely had a favorable impression of him.
On one hand, Mu Yue was the perfect ninja Shimura Danzō spoke of, someone Yamato could strive to become. On the other, Mu Yue's very presence made him feel comfortable.
"Let's properly introduce ourselves. I'm Hanyu Muyue. You don't need to call me Lord Mu Yue. You can call me Mu Yue-sensei, or simply Sensei." Mu Yue smiled warmly.
"I am Kinoe." Yamato looked quietly at Mu Yue.
That warm, dazzling feeling gave Yamato the illusion that the blazing sun which had sunk beyond the horizon had risen once more.
"Kinoe is only your codename in Root. It isn't your name," Mu Yue said, shaking his head.
Yamato's expression turned blank. "But that's the only codename Lord Danzō gave me."
He was someone without a past. To him, everything Shimura