About half an hour later, in front of the inner room of the Uzumaki Clan's old residence.
"I think... I shouldn't have run."
Looking at the inner room, which had been repaired somewhat but was still far from restored, Kakashi's exposed face was solemn as he seemed to speak to the person beside him.
"Mm, I also think it was wrong of me to have Hirohiko make a move."
Beside him, Chiba stood with his arms folded, looking at the inner room as he nodded and cooperatively added.
Hirohiko, standing off to the side, looked at the two of them, rolled his eyes, and said nothing.
"So, we've reached an agreement. All right, now we're back to being friends."
At this point, Chiba took a slight breath and spoke.
"That's right. We've made up."
Kakashi nodded and echoed him with equal cooperation.
Their exchange once again drew Hirohiko's attention. After glancing at them, he rolled his eyes and turned away, looking toward the inner room, whose roof alone had been fixed while its four walls remained shabby and its floor was rotten in countless places. The mismatched old and new made it look utterly strange.
Two idiots!
With that thought, he could not help touching the red bump on top of his head. It seemed to have stopped smoking. A faint look of agreement crossed his usual poker face. Out of the corner of his eye, Hirohiko also noticed the two red, no-longer-smoking bumps on Kakashi and Chiba's heads, stacked one after another like an acrobat tower.
His mind returned to that moment half an hour ago.
Back then, as they had chased after Kakashi and started fighting, at the very instant of his final coordination with Chiba, Chiba had transformed from a Kunai back into his real body. Just