"The moon shone bright overhead, Itachi smiled at me, Red-Face said, night had fallen, quietly vanish from the ninja world..."
After parting ways with Asuma and the others, Kazashiro walked alone down Konoha's streets beneath the night sky, humming a little tune he had rewritten himself.
Kazashiro had been living quite comfortably lately.
Ever since the old man had taken Ryoma and the others off somewhere to keep busy, Kazashiro had finally escaped his previous life as a slur, no longer needing to experience the "joy" of logging in and receiving a hundred consecutive pulls.
Every day after school, bragging and fooling around with his friends had become part of Kazashiro's routine.
When he got home, he could even enjoy Yakushi Nonō's cooking, which far surpassed Danzo's. Now this was the life he had always dreamed of.
His eyes crinkling happily into slits, Kazashiro cheerfully pushed open the front door. Just as he was about to greet Nonō, he saw an unfamiliar young man standing before him.
"Big Sis Nonō—holy shit."
Startled by the young man's sudden appearance, Kazashiro cursed.
Nonō poked her head out from the kitchen after hearing the commotion and explained, "Kazashiro, you're back. That young man was sent by your father. His name is Shimura Ikko, and from now on, you'll train under him."
Shimura... Ikko?
What, were you going to ward-hop and Q me?
Looking at the handsome young man before him, whose left cheek bore a scar, Kazashiro figured he was only about ten years older than himself.
It had to be said, the Shimura Clan's genes were excellent. Pick any young man at random, and he would be handsome enough to put on overalls and play basketball.
Only a tiny bit worse than himself, of course.
"Uh, hello, Brother Ikko."
Rubbing his little