Conflict

He slept until the world turned dark and light again.

When he woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.

Shiraishi Yoshijo rubbed his sleepy eyes, yawned, and got up to wash.

After finishing his meal, he strolled leisurely toward the Takemoto Clan compound.

Today was the day he was to join the Anbu.

However, he still needed to inform Takemoto Shuichi about this before heading to the Anbu headquarters.

Upon meeting Takemoto Shuichi, Shiraishi Yoshijo told him about his entry into the Anbu.

Takemoto Shuichi's expression turned strange.

"Joining the Anbu is fine, but I had hoped you would join the regular forces."

"You should understand your responsibilities; you must train diligently and strive to improve your strength while in the Anbu."

"Once you become powerful, we will support you even if you wish to become the Hokage in the future."

It was this same old spiel again. Shiraishi Yoshijo sighed, shrugged his shoulders, gave a perfunctory reply, and left the Takemoto residence.

Takemoto Masamasa walked out, watching Shiraishi Yoshijo's retreating back as he said, "Father, you saw it yourself—he has absolutely no interest in such things."

"Silly son, you ate from a small bowl when you were a child and a large one when you grew up. Do you know why that is?"

"Of course, it's because I grew up and eat more!"

Takemoto Masamasa laughed: "He is the one using the small bowl right now. If you talk to him about becoming the Hokage, he naturally thinks it's unrealistic."

"Once he starts using the large bowl, it won't be up to him whether he wants to be the Hokage or not; the tides of time will push him forward."

"Human nature is defined by struggle. As long as he isn't destroyed by it, he will break out of his cocoon and transform into a butterfly."

"Even if he were a dog, as long as he dares to fight, he can become a wolf."

On the way to the Anbu, Shiraishi Yoshijo ran into the person he least wanted to see.

Shimura Danzō.

Shiraishi Yoshijo began to lament the tragedy of his fate.

When he was first born, he thought he had been reincarnated into a good life, but only a few days later, his clan was on the verge of collapse.

Even if the clan was gone, Shiraishi Yoshijo felt that as long as he didn't court death, he could still get by.

He never expected to become a thorn in Shimura Danzō's side, watched by him without a single blink.

Danzō was constantly finding ways to control him, and now, seeing him grow older, he was likely already sharpening his blade.

He had dodged and hidden, trying to develop in obscurity.

Yet, he ended up in the sights of that inhuman creature, Mei.

She gave him a pile of benefits, only to prepare to use him as a tool.

Why is it so hard for a person to just live in peace?

Is heaven bestowing a great mission upon him?

Don't joke around; he felt like a jinx, possessed by a god of misfortune, always managing to survive but never able to find peace.

Walking on thin ice, trembling with fear, he lived a life worse than a commoner.

Shaking his head, Shiraishi Yoshijo looked at Shimura Danzō and said irritably: "What is Lord Danzō trying to pull this time? Can't you just let me go?"

Shimura Danzō said with a dark face: "I don't understand what you are talking about, but there is one thing I hope you can tell me: how exactly did you know the identity of Yakushi Nonō?"

Shimura Danzō had been having a terrible time these past two days. After Yakushi Nonō's identity was exposed, he had gotten into an argument with Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Before his anger could even subside, others had surrounded his home, forcing him to hand over this brat.

Shimura Danzō didn't think he was stupid; even if he wanted to kill this brat, he wouldn't do it within the village.

Yet, no one believed him.

By the time he was ready to take action, someone reported that the brat had already returned home.

The people surrounding him retreated quickly, leaving Shimura Danzō standing there in a daze.

He felt as though he had been treated like a fool.

How could the proud Shimura Danzō endure such mockery? That was why this scene was unfolding now.

"If Lord Danzō doesn't understand what I'm saying, then why ask me about Yakushi Nonō? I don't know what Lord Danzō is talking about either."

Shimura Danzō's cold, sharp gaze locked onto Shiraishi Yoshijo. After a moment, he spat out two words.

"Very well."

"I am doing very well, of course, but Lord Danzō seems to be doing quite poorly. Let's not waste each other's time. A good dog doesn't block the road."

Veins bulged on Shimura Danzō's forehead, and Shiraishi Yoshijo's hand began to reach toward his ninja tool pouch.

In the end, Shimura Danzō did not make a move. He understood that if he truly acted, the situation would spiral into something irreparable.

"I will keep watching you from the shadows. I hope you don't do anything out of line; don't blame me for being ruthless when the time comes."

Shiraishi Yoshijo raised an eyebrow: "There is one thing I hope you understand, Danzo-sama: even a rabbit will bite when cornered."

Danzo let out a cold snort and turned to leave.

Only when Danzo's figure was no longer in sight did Shiraishi Yoshijo finally relax.

He understood that verbal sparring was inconsequential, but he had been suppressing a fire in his heart for the past few days.

Or rather, this fire had been burning ever since Shiraishi Eizawa died.

After what happened in Butterfly Habitat Valley, the fire in his heart burned even brighter.

For Danzo to push his luck at a time like this was simply asking for trouble.

He was certain Danzo wouldn't make a move within the village; his defensive stance earlier was only because the pressure Danzo exerted was too immense.

The current Danzo was definitely at his peak, completely different from the version he would later become, who relied on bizarre techniques like Izanagi.

He could sense that Danzo had already gathered a massive amount of Chakra within his body just moments ago.

The oppressive aura alone forced Shiraishi Yoshijo to prepare for a fight.

It was fortunate that Danzo didn't strike, otherwise, he would have had no choice but to call for backup.

"Come out, Captain."

Hatake Sakumo stepped out from behind a tree not far away.

"Danzo-sama is, after all, a high-ranking official in the village. Is it really okay for you to act like this?"

Shiraishi Yoshijo shrugged his shoulders: "Someone surrounded him yesterday; the facade is already torn, so why bother with such trivial matters?"

Trivial matters—Hatake Sakumo offered a wry smile.

He knew a bit about the village's affairs; it was all just a game of chess between the great ninja clans.

Someone like him had no other path but to follow the Hokage.

Fortunately, his blade was fast.

After taking Shiraishi Yoshijo to complete his onboarding procedures, Hatake Sakumo led him toward the Hokage's office.

"The atmosphere in the village has been very tense because of you these past two days. You should probably explain yourself to the Hokage."

In truth, there wasn't much to explain. Shiraishi Yoshijo simply claimed he had run into an accident while traveling to his summoning site, and Hiruzen Sarutobi let him go.

Of course, he was still made to give his word that he would try his best to avoid such incidents in the future.

Hatake Sakumo then led him to the training grounds reserved for the Anbu.

After leaving the Hokage's office, Shiraishi Yoshijo began to ponder the matter of Mei.

Regarding Mei, he now had a rough hypothesis.

Mei was very likely the first ninja in the clan to begin using the secret arts.

Recalling the evolution that the other version of himself had mentioned, Shiraishi Yoshijo was certain that Mei had become something akin to an immortal.

The Shide Clan used their bodies to nurture butterflies, which consumed their life force; part of this life force was used to sustain the Butterfly Seed, and part was used to sustain Mei.

To obtain more life force, Mei had even concocted lies to deceive the Shide Clan, spinning ghost stories about how the Ninja Butterflies were their own kin.

Such things should only be known to the clan leader, and the clan leader would never speak of them.

Because living in a chaotic world meant that without power, even being alive was worse than death.

To pay only a bit of life force in exchange for powerful strength—no matter how one calculated it, it was a bargain.

Mei was also shrewd, or perhaps she had already developed human-like thinking, with ideas closer to those of a human.

Life force was the one thing she constantly craved.

She could suppress the desires in her heart, instead extracting the life force of her clansmen bit by bit, effectively treating the entire Shide Clan as her personal ATM.

Their clan, to put it bluntly, was food raised by Mei, much like pigs in a pen.

When out of money, a person might kill a pig, but they wouldn't kill the sow, because the sow could breed piglets.

Pigs beget pigs, money begets money, people beget people; a constant stream of life force flowed into Mei in this way.

And now, with him being the only Shide left, his life force certainly couldn't sustain Mei, so she had new ideas.

To cultivate a new Shide Clan that could provide her with a constant supply of life force—perhaps Mei had done this before; after all, their Shide surname was Shiraishi.

Other clans used their surnames as identifiers, yet their clan used butterflies as their codename.

Could it be because there were other Shide clans in the past?

He couldn't rule out that possibility, and Shiraishi Yoshijo felt a secret sense of dread at the thought.

Mei wanted him to spread the Butterfly Seed; if he actually did it, he would likely be kicked to the curb the moment he was no longer useful.

If he didn't do it, Mei would kill him and go off to find a new Shide clan.

So, what was he supposed to do?

"I think you're overthinking it. Mei-sama wouldn't do that."

Shiraishi Yoshijo froze for a moment, then entered the Consciousness Space.

The other version of himself was standing in the Consciousness Space, waiting for him.