Yota

During the Chunin Exams, things had indeed been far from peaceful. In the days after the exams, masked ninja could still often be seen flying back and forth above the village. If it was not an emergency and they were merely "flying" over rooftops to save time, even civilians could file complaints at the Hokage Building.

Clearly, too many outsiders had come in, and more than one or two simple incidents could arise.

Even so, the next Joint Chunin Exams would still be held as planned, to display the strength of a major village.

In any case, it was not something Sasuke needed to worry about. Spies from outside could not possibly have come all this way to steal his family's smoked bacon, chili bean paste, and dried vegetables...

Then again, they might not be worth much, but if they got stolen, he would be heartbroken!

To avoid being overwhelmed by an entire day's worth of information when he dispelled his Shadow Clone, Sasuke returned to the academy every noon during lunch break to dispel it and eat.

When Ino realized Sasuke had seen what she was doing, she sheepishly moved closer.

"Sasuke-kun, can I have one of your rice balls? If you do not mind."

The bag in her hand already held quite a bit of food. But unlike the food Sasuke was offering her so obediently, she had not begged for those. She had taken them from other students' lunch boxes while they were not paying attention: fruit, meatballs, stewed radish, rice balls, fried chicken, octopus sausages...

She had made quite a haul. Behind her, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji could still be seen weaving through the other students, continuing to fleece them.

Sasuke held out his lunch box, indicating that Ino could pick whatever she wanted. "What are you doing? Some new kind of prank? It does not really seem like one."

Ino did not hesitate at all. "There is still a long time before lunch break ends. Do you want to come take a look with us?"

It was not as if they had gathered together to train. Sasuke did not particularly care. "You are all being so mysterious. If it is inconvenient, forget it."

"What could possibly be inconvenient about Sasuke-kun?" With that, Ino grabbed Sasuke's hand and pulled him along.

When the other three, who had finished gathering food, saw Ino bring Sasuke over, they were used to it and had no objections.

The group arrived at the forest north of Konoha. From a distance, they could see an ugly treehouse someone had put together. If not for the crude ladder attached to it, it would have been hard to spot. It looked like the sort of secret base children liked.

The four of them called out "Yota" for a while. That was presumably the name of the person living there.

"Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Naruto, blue clothes!"

A child wearing a headscarf came over to greet them. Though he was about the same height as everyone else, his head was large and his body small, making him look malnourished. However, he wore a dirty little cape that somewhat concealed his frail appearance.

Though Sasuke had already guessed that this was probably Yota, Ino introduced him again anyway. "This is Yota. We found him in the forest."

The boy in the headscarf happily repeated his own name. "I'm Yota, Yota..."

"Sasuke."

After learning Sasuke's name, Yota continued looking curiously behind the group and loudly pointed someone out.

"Wide forehead!"

Everyone turned around. The pink-haired girl was only vaguely familiar to Shikamaru and Choji. Naruto grinned when he saw Sakura, while Ino was the only one who called out her name.

Sasuke had naturally noticed from the beginning that someone was following them, but he could not be bothered to stir up trouble, so he pretended not to know. He sighed inwardly. It looked like their little group was going to gain another member. He searched his memories, but had no impression of any plot involving Sakura suddenly appearing like this.

"I saw Ino take Sasuke away, so I followed. I did not expect Ino and Sasuke to be so close already."

With Sakura present, Ino deliberately pressed herself closer to Sasuke, as if declaring her claim. Sasuke tried to push her away but failed. To avoid touching anything he should not, he gave up resisting. He was used to it by now anyway.

Yota kept circling Sakura and muttering "wide forehead," occasionally rubbing against her.

"Yota seems to really like Sakura's wide forehead too~"

Ino's reply was truly cutting. Sakura pushed away Yota when he tried to rub against her again.

"Honestly, stop calling people nicknames all the time! Ino already called me by my name."

"Sakura, wide forehead, Sakura..."

Yota repeated the words forward and backward over and over. He was not stuttering; he seemed somewhat intellectually disabled. Combined with his malnourished body, it somehow felt only natural.

"Snow, snow, snow. It's snowing..."

Yota changed his words on his own, and snow truly began to fall from the sky. It was even localized snowfall, limited to the area around the treehouse.

"Is this his ninjutsu?"

It was obviously not a normal change in the weather. Sasuke stated it as a fact.

Activating his Sharingan, he saw Chakra rise from Yota's body into the sky as the boy continued muttering.

Shikamaru explained, "Small-scale weather changes with Yota's mood. If Yota cries, it rains too. When he is happy, the weather turns sunny. It seems like he can actively control this ability as well."

"A Kekkei Genkai? Or a secret technique?"

"A Kekkei Genkai? Is Yota really that strong?"

Choji asked in confusion, "What is a Kekkei Genkai?"

"My Sharingan and Neji's Byakugan are Kekkei Genkai. The special techniques of your Ino-Shika-Cho are secret techniques. Whether something is a bloodline limit does not have much to do with whether it is strong or weak."

The snow gradually piled up. They were all still children, and having a chance to play in snow during the height of summer, even in such a small area, delighted them beyond measure. Sasuke, meanwhile, was rather interested in Yota's ability.

Wait, Yota's sclera were black!

Sasuke recalled that the dead brought back through Impure World Reincarnation seemed to all have black sclera!

Speaking of Impure World Reincarnation naturally made him think of Orochimaru... Had he come to Konoha?

The others in front of him were still playing around, and Sasuke could not bring himself to interrupt them. He merely raised his guard in secret. Whether it was Orochimaru or not, at least one thing was certain: none of the group had died during this period.

Sasuke's serious expression did not make the others think much of it. They only assumed he was studying the ninjutsu.

Though lunch break lasted more than two hours, once they started playing around, it passed in the blink of an eye.

The group temporarily said goodbye to Yota, planning to see him again after school.

Ino hesitated before asking, "Sasuke, Yota does not even have a proper bed here. There are many empty houses near your home. Could we possibly settle him in one?"

"Ino, he is not from the village, is he?"

"Sorry for putting you in a difficult position. Pretend I never mentioned it. But could you please keep it secret? If the village ninja learn there is a child of unknown origin, Yota will definitely be taken away."

Sasuke shook his head.

"Do not take him anywhere near the Uchiha Clan Grounds. He will definitely be discovered immediately, and perhaps even..."

The others were all somewhat confused. What was Sasuke trying to say?

Sasuke looked at Shikamaru. "You should understand what I mean, right?"

Shikamaru tilted his head slightly. "What a pain. Just pretend Ino never said that. No one ask any more questions either, got it?"