Decision

"Hah!"

With his hands tucked into his sleeves and a thick coat draped over him, Chiba slowly sat upright and exhaled a puff of white breath. His face, lit by the candlelight, shifted uncertainly between light and shadow.

Rare indeed. Chiba was actually showing such a troubled expression.

Hirohiko, seated across from him, slightly raised his head. He looked at Chiba, then at the several scrolls spread across Chiba's table.

Those again?

Could they be documents or intelligence reports?

Seeing those scrolls, Hirohiko could not help frowning. Chiba had written them around two months ago. While writing them, he had muttered things like "plot," "experiences," "differences," "logic," "timeline," and "storytelling." Hirohiko had found it strange even then. Terms like timeline and storytelling left him rather baffled.

Still, he knew Chiba must have been studying something complicated, so he had not disturbed or questioned him. Over the past two months, he had become even more certain that Chiba was researching a difficult problem that even Hirohiko found thorny.

Every night, after tinkering with improvements to the medicine, Chiba would promptly sit before those scrolls and think. Occasionally, he would add one or two more scrolls, but most of them would be discarded. It seemed he had made no progress at all.

Could it be...

By now, Hirohiko could barely hold himself back. This was the first time he had seen Chiba look so troubled. He could not imagine what could possibly stump Chiba. Wars involving nations and villages were nothing in front of him. It was only because this guy devoted himself wholly to training that otherwise, this Third Great Ninja War...

At that thought, Hirohiko shuddered and did not dare think any further.

"What's wrong?"

At that moment, Chiba seemed to notice Hirohiko's shudder and spoke up.

"Ah?"

Clearly not