In the blink of an eye, another month had passed.
A ninja named Mitsuki had appeared in Konoha and joined the star-studded team of Uzumaki Naruto and Second Pillar. As a transfer student, he had integrated into the circle of the Konoha Fifteen.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Shinichi, the Uchiha clan's Mangekyo Sharingan wielder, suddenly applied to the village for a private training ground within the Forest of Death. Under the pretext of developing ninjutsu, he moved from the Uchiha Compound into the Forest of Death.
Other than that, nothing else of note happened in Konoha that month.
Yet beneath that seemingly peaceful month, Hyuga Kagami secretly completed every preparation, taking care of all the matters and arrangements that needed to be handled before the ritual.
Rin pouted. "Kagami, why are you spacing out again?"
"What are you talking about? I'm listening carefully!"
Hyuga Kagami smiled sheepishly.
He had deliberately set aside today to spend with Rin, because he had already decided to carry out that inevitably fatal ritual tomorrow. But as he listened to Rin talk about everyday trivialities, he could not help drifting off and thinking about tomorrow's ritual.
Rin said softly, "If you have things to deal with, then go take care of them. You don't need to make a special trip just to keep me company."
After being together for so long, Rin could more or less sense what Hyuga Kagami was thinking and what he intended to do. She could even rely on a woman's intuition to tell whether the Hyuga Kagami before her was the real one, a Shadow Clone, or someone else in disguise.
She simply never exposed him, because she knew he must have had his reasons.
Hyuga Kagami pulled Rin before him and quietly embraced her.
Rin was rather surprised by his embrace,