Ebisu, You Wouldn't Want Anyone to Find Out About Your Business, Would You...?

"Ice Release: Ice Pillars."

Kazashiro extended his slender fingers and began forming hand seals with the Chakra inside him.

As the final seal formed, several not-too-thick pillars of ice erupted from the ground.

"I see. If I use Ice Release somewhere without water, it consumes much more Chakra than it would in a watery environment."

Feeling the rapid depletion of the Chakra within him, Kazashiro finally understood how Ice Release worked.

"On the other hand, if there's water around... Water Release: Water Bullet! Ice Release: Ice Pillars!"

He spat a puddle of water onto the ground as if spitting phlegm, then used Ice Release once more...

Wait, wasn't I taking off my pants just to fart?

Looking at the ice pillars he had created this time through the combination of Water Release and Ice Release, Kazashiro sensed the remaining Chakra in his body and suddenly realized something.

No, I shouldn't think of it that way. If I could use a ninjutsu like Kisame's that turned waterless land into a lake, then using Ice Release would...

Wait, if I had that much Chakra in the first place, would I even need to worry about the Chakra consumed by Ice Release?

For the first time, Kazashiro worried about his own intelligence.

Seriously, I'd actually wasted so much time on something so meaningless.

Meanwhile, Yakushi Nonō watched Kazashiro diligently train in the courtyard right after finishing his meal. She nodded in satisfaction, then took out a small notebook and wrote something down.

Elsewhere, a cloud of smoke suddenly appeared before Danzo as he assigned tasks inside the Root base.

"Is that a message from Yakushi Nonō?" Once the smoke dispersed, Aburame Ryoma immediately recognized the summoned beast before him.

"That's right." Danzo reached out, took the letter from the summoned creature, and opened it.

After reading its contents, Danzo's expression did not change in the slightest. With a slight flex of his fingers, sharp Wind Release Chakra instantly shredded the letter into powder that drifted to the floor.

"Things have been a little unsettled lately."

Inside the dango shop, Asuma, seated to Kazashiro's left, watched a pair of Konoha ninja pass by on the street and suddenly remarked without apparent reason.

"Hm? I think everything looks the same as before." Hearing that, Anko, who sat on Kazashiro's right and had been quietly stuffing herself with dango, raised her head with a baffled look.

"Just eat your dango." Kazashiro placed his own dango onto Anko's plate, then poked her forehead to signal that she should just focus on eating.

Seeing the new dango appear on her plate, Anko's eyes narrowed happily. She hurriedly finished the dango in her hand so she could grab the newly added skewer.

"You know those two ninja from earlier?" Kazashiro, who was not particularly fond of sweets, had naturally noticed the white flowers in their hands. They appeared to be heading toward the Memorial Stone.

"More or less. They're fairly well-known Chunin in Konoha." Asuma nodded, confirming Kazashiro's guess, then shared his observation. "There haven't been any large memorial services, but another line of names has appeared on the Memorial Stone recently."

"Is that so..." Kazashiro turned his gaze toward the street and sighed as he watched the sparse pedestrians.

It seemed the countdown to the Third Shinobi World War had begun.

He just did not know whether, with a transmigrator like him appearing, the war that should have started several years later would arrive ahead of schedule.

Actually, it would not be bad if it started now. At the very least, no matter how difficult things became, Konoha's higher-ups could not possibly send children like them, seven or eight years old, to the battlefield as cannon fodder. At most, they would choose the older students who were eleven or twelve.

Yeah, now that he thought about it, having the war start sooner did not sound too bad.

"Hmph, I need to hurry and become stronger. When the time comes, I'll show that old man that I've completely grown up!" Asuma was full of determination. He wanted to show himself off properly before the Third Hokage so the man would stop treating him like a child.

"Yeah, that's right. Work hard and get stronger. Strive to do three things for the Land of Fire in three minutes." Kazashiro perfunctorily chimed in from the side.

"W-What does that mean?" Asuma did not understand him.

"Uh, it means you'll be really strong." Realizing what he had said, Kazashiro hurriedly patched things up. "When you fight someone, just sing, 'Wu Fa Seventh Generation~.' I guarantee no one will dare get close to you."

"Wu Fa Seventh Generation?" Asuma, already confused, became even more confused after Kazashiro's explanation.

Shiranui Genma, seated at the neighboring table with a toothpick in his mouth, leaned lazily against the edge of the table and reminded Asuma, "Enough, Asuma. Don't think too much about it. Doesn't Kazashiro always say weird things? You actually took him seriously?"

"Rather than worrying about what Kazashiro said, you should think about next week's group combat exercise. The people from the class next door aren't easy to deal with." Ebisu adjusted his tiny dark sunglasses and echoed Shiranui Genma.

"I asked around. The class leader of Team Three, that black-haired girl, is called Shizune. She seems to be from the Kato Clan. Her uncle, Dan Katō, was somewhat famous back then. He was an outstanding Konoha Jonin before he died in the Second Shinobi World War."

Thinking of Shizune's adorable face, Ebisu's face turned faintly red beyond his control.

"You freeze up whenever you see a pretty girl. You're definitely going to become a quiet little pervert someday." Kazashiro, who had fallen silent after teasing Asuma, suddenly stood up. Under everyone's puzzled gazes, he walked to Ebisu's side, patted his shoulder, and said this.

Thinking Kazashiro had come over to tell him something important, Ebisu listened to his words and immediately jumped up with a shriek as though someone had stepped on his tail. "Y-You, you, you, you, you! Kazashiro, how can you slander my innocence out of nowhere?! That's not freezing up, it's appreciation! Appreciation, understand?!"

"Tsk, tsk. Other people might not know, but I know perfectly well that last Saturday, you had just sneaked out from the bookstore owner's place when—mmph—" Before Kazashiro could finish, Ebisu covered his mouth with a hand and dragged him aside.

"Pah, pah, pah! Did you even wash your hands, bastard?" Kazashiro forcefully pulled Ebisu's hand away, spat several times, and questioned him.

Ebisu clearly had no time to explain such trivial matters. Right now, all he wanted was to shut Kazashiro up by any means possible. "Y-You bastard, what exactly do you want?!"

Kazashiro blinked at Ebisu's question. Heaven knew he had never intended to blackmail anyone using the sort of tactic common in NTR novels.

Still, he really did want to say this line: "Ahem, well, Ebisu, you wouldn't want anyone to find out that you read dirty comics, would you?"

"Kazashiro, I'll do anything, please don't tell anyone. Wait, why does that line sound so familiar?" Ebisu answered instinctively, then realized that something was off.