The Gaze in the Arena

In the apartment.

After Shinji returned, he stood there quietly for a long while before taking off his disguise and cloak.

This time, the invasion had taken little time to repel. The clock on the wall showed that the whole thing had lasted only about forty minutes, but he felt exhausted.

This burden was more than he could bear!

Looking out the window at the quiet village of Konoha late at night, he felt an inexplicable loneliness welling up inside him. Right now, no one but him knew that a crisis was looming, and he couldn't shout about it.

It seemed that everything could only be silently borne by him, the Uchiha remnant.

"Why me?"

He began to doubt himself, wondering whether he was really capable of preventing the Shinobi World from being destroyed.

But he didn't let this pessimism keep spreading. Instead, he quickly gathered his thoughts and began considering what to do.

The burden was already on his shoulders. He would just have to do his best!

As a Junior Lantern Bearer, he currently had the authority to recruit two attendants.

That meant he could choose two helpers in the Shinobi World—two people he could tell the truth to without worrying that they would be contaminated by another world.

"Who should I choose?"

The first person who came to mind was none other than Itachi Uchiha, who had killed him once before.

That was because Itachi was the only ninja in the Shinobi World besides him who possessed the Mangekyo technique Amaterasu.

It naturally countered demons, and with his Kage Level strength, he could handle almost any demonic invasion.

But recruiting an attendant could only shield someone from contamination; it couldn't guarantee their loyalty.

Setting aside the fact that he couldn't even get in touch with Itachi right now, even if they met, it would be hard to build mutual trust. He was a survivor of the Night of the Massacre, while Itachi was the one who had carried it out.

If Itachi mistook him for a madman or a schemer plotting to overthrow Konoha and immediately hit him with the Totsuka Blade, it would be a disaster.

"With my current strength, I'd better not provoke someone that dangerous."

He shook his head.

He felt that he should wait until he was strong enough to speak with Itachi as an equal before considering recruiting a ninja of his caliber.

Then he thought of Sasuke, but quickly dismissed the idea.

Even under the most optimistic estimate, it would take six or seven years for Sasuke to awaken the Mangekyo and gain Amaterasu. He could wait that long, but the Shinobi World might not be able to.

Next, he considered other people.

The helper couldn't be too weak, or they wouldn't be useful. But they couldn't be too strong, either. Strong people usually belonged to a ninja village or organization, so they were unlikely to obey an Uchiha remnant like him. It would also be hard to ensure they wouldn't leak information about other worlds and cause a second wave of contamination.

The helper also needed a way to deal with demons.

Even if they couldn't kill a demon quickly, they at least needed to be able to hold it until he arrived or until sunrise killed it.

Unfortunately.

After going through his options, he couldn't think of a single person around him who was trustworthy and had the necessary abilities.

He sighed, then remembered the "Lower Rank Six" in Rui's eyes.

He clearly remembered Rui as Lower Rank Five among the Twelve Kizuki, yet now Rui had become Lower Rank Six. He hadn't paid much attention at first, but now that he thought about it, something seemed wrong.

The invasion had been orchestrated from behind the scenes by another Lantern Bearer like him.

The Demon Slayer world might already have undergone massive changes. If he kept relying on his old impressions to make assumptions, he could end up in serious trouble.

And then there was Shion.

She had seen the Hand Demon during the first invasion. Although Shinji's genjutsu had sealed her memories and temporarily stopped the contamination, that didn't mean she was safe.

"Should I give Shion one of the slots and shield her from the contamination? A Miko's Sealing Technique might work wonders against demons!" After thinking it over, he hesitated again. "But she's still just a child..."

Demons really did prey on humans and eat them. Shion was only seven and was still at the age where she just went shopping for things.

Just then, he felt discomfort in his eyes, a reminder that he had overused his Dojutsu that day.

A powerful wave of fatigue washed over him, and he soon fell into a deep sleep.

Early the next morning.

Knock, knock.

The sound of knocking jolted Shinji awake. Still groggy, he stared blankly for a moment before coming to his senses.

When he opened the door, he found Haku standing outside with a box of bento in hand. "Haku? Didn't you—"

Haku smiled. "The misunderstanding between the village and Kirigakure has been cleared up."

Shinji's gaze fell on the bento in Haku's hands.

Haku immediately held it out to him. "I saw you still hadn't gotten up, even though it was so late, so I went downstairs and bought you some breakfast."

Shinji glanced back at the clock in his room and realized it was already ten in the morning.

After inviting Haku into the apartment, Shinji ate breakfast while listening to Haku explain how the village had negotiated with Kirigakure.

As it turned out, after the Nine-Tails rampage that night, Kirigakure had felt they were the most suspect. They had immediately approached the Third and stated that they had nothing to do with the incident. To show their sincerity, they had even voluntarily given up their demand that Konoha hand Haku over.

That was why Haku was free again today.

"I see."

Shinji pondered this, and an idea began to take shape in his mind.

Haku asked, "I heard the village has shortened this year's Chunin Ninja Exams. The written test ended this morning, and the final matches will be held in the arena this afternoon. Shinji, would you like to go watch?"

Shinji wanted to take a little time to relax, so he nodded.

Before long, the two of them arrived at the arena together.

Perhaps because the Nine-Tails rampage had been resolved so quickly, the villagers hadn't been affected. If anything, they were more encouraged than ever.

After all, in the eyes of ordinary villagers, being able to subdue the rampaging Nine-Tails so quickly meant that the village was stronger than before.

So when Shinji bought a ticket and entered, he found the arena already packed with people.

After finding their seats, Shinji and Haku chatted while waiting for the matches to begin.

Just then, everyone around them suddenly turned to look in the same direction and began whispering among themselves.

Shinji followed their gaze and spotted Sasuke entering the arena through the opposite entrance, his hands in his pockets and his expression cool as everyone watched him.

Haku looked intently at Sasuke across the arena. "Shinji, that's your fellow Uchiha, Sasuke, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

Haku couldn't help praising him. "I heard he was the one who subdued the rampaging Nine-Tails all by himself that night and saved the village! He's even younger than us. It's unbelievable!"

Shinji noticed that the people around them were praising Sasuke in much the same way.

He instinctively glanced over at the rest areas for the other villages and saw that the visiting ninja who had come for the Chunin Ninja Exams were also watching Sasuke, some more openly than others.

Feeling the attention coming from every direction, Sasuke kept his face cold, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

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