It was early June, and the heat of summer had begun to set in.
The road leading to Konoha's main gate was bustling with traffic and crowds. Beneath the trees lining the road, vendors had set up all kinds of stalls selling food and drinks.
"Teacher! Teacher Pakura!"
A brown-haired girl with purple paint on her cheeks excitedly tugged at the sleeve of the tall woman beside her and pointed toward an ice cream shop by the road. Her innocent eyes were full of longing.
"Maki, we came to Konoha on business! Sigh, never mind. Let's go buy some!"
Pakura patted her student's hair and led her toward the roadside stall.
As always, she wore a backless outfit, her hands tucked into her pockets. But the symbol on her Forehead Protector was no longer the emblem of Sunagakure. It had been replaced by a flame.
Scorch Village!
After presenting evidence that the Sunagakure leadership had betrayed her and negotiating with them several times, Pakura and Sunagakure had finally parted ways "peacefully."
More than two hundred of Pakura's former subordinates chose to stay with her in the Land of Whirlpools. She, too, had undergone a transformation: from a hero of Sunagakure into the leader of the newly established Scorch Village.
However, the Land of Whirlpools lay in the buffer zone between Konoha and Kirigakure. To establish a foothold there, she needed the approval of both nations.
And so, she had come.
"Two vanilla ice creams, please!"
Maki glanced at the price sign by the stall and handed over a hundred ryo.
"Coming right up! Ladies, please wait over there. Don't block the main road—we'll be fined if anyone sees us!"
"Fined?" Maki asked, confused, but she and Pakura moved beneath the trees.
"That's right!" The dark-skinned vendor deftly prepared the ice cream and nodded toward a notice posted on a nearby tree.
"Konoha Street Vendor Management Regulations. If vendors like us cause a traffic obstruction, the Police Force will fine us between 100 and 500 ryo!"
"Huh? Konoha's really strict about this?" Maki was taken aback. Sunagakure had never had rules like that.
Then again, with Sunagakure's raging sandstorms, no one would set up an outdoor stall anyway.
"Hey, things have gotten a lot better since the new director, Uchiha Chen, took over. At least now they make rules first and then enforce them. Before he took office, you could get thrown in jail just for taking a piss by the roadside!"
The vendor wrapped up two cones piled high with ice cream and handed them to Maki. He wiped the sweat from his brow and said,
"Uchiha are powerful, after all! We ordinary folks are lucky as long as they don't pick on us!"
So it was the Uchiha, the Shinobi World's most powerful clan?
Maki took a lick of her cone, letting the icy cream melt in her mouth. She immediately felt much more refreshed.
Slurp!
"Teacher, here!"
Maki turned around, only to see Pakura crouching beside a bookstall, studying a sign displayed on the counter.
"'Naruto' Volume Two Now on Sale! Namikaze Menma and Uchiha Sasuko Face an Unprecedented Crisis!"
Beneath the eye-catching headline was a beautifully made poster.
A stunning girl, battered and bloodied, stubbornly held up a Kunai to shield her blond-haired companion behind her. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and dripped onto the front of her clothes.
The girl struggled to open her eyes. A tear slid from her crimson Sharingan, and a speech bubble beside her read:
"I've always hated you the most! My body reacted on its own, you blockhead!"
Maki rubbed her eyes, unable to believe that her usually dignified teacher was interested in manga.
"Teacher, um..."
"I was only curious because this manga was using the Uchiha name!"
Pakura awkwardly brushed back a lock of hair and took the ice cream from Maki.
The bookstall owner sat on a bamboo chair, fanning himself as he cooled off. He half-closed his eyes and said,
"You two, this is the hottest manga in Konoha—and even the whole Land of Fire—right now! I've only got one set left. Are you buying it? Three hundred ryo, the lowest price you'll find."
"We'll take it!" Before Pakura could say a word, Maki had already handed over the money. Excitedly, she hugged the two books to her chest. "Teacher, let's read them together!"
Pakura looked fondly at her student and sighed. "This is the last time! Come on, let's go into the village first!"
"Okay!" Maki eagerly opened the manga to the first page and nodded, completely content.
Only after the two beauties, one tall and one short, had walked away did the bookstall owner pull out another set of manga and start calling out again.
"Last set of Naruto! Buy it now or it'll be gone!"
"Obito, the intelligence has been confirmed. The Flame Gunbai is in Uchiha Chen's hands!"
Zetsu, looking like a Venus flytrap, emerged from the crown of a tree more than a hundred meters tall. White Zetsu was the first to ask, puzzled, "How exactly did you lose the Flame Gunbai?"
"It was a little accident!"
Obito sat on a branch at the top of Takigakure's "Sacred Tree," resting his chin on his hands as he propped his elbows on his knees. He gazed distractedly in the direction of Konoha.
In the homeland he never wanted to remember—not anyone or anything there, except Rin—Uchiha Chen had taken charge of the Uchiha and the Police Force at the age of seventeen. For a time, he had been utterly unstoppable.
How had he gotten into the Kamui Dimension and stolen the things Madara had left behind?
Could it have something to do with the being he had split off from himself? But he had clearly burned that lump of red goo to ashes with Fire Style!
Lately, Obito had even been afraid to turn intangible, lest part of his body enter the Kamui Dimension and get destroyed by Uchiha Chen, who could appear out of nowhere.
He'd had enough of living on edge!
"Oh, right, Obito!"
White Zetsu said excitedly, "Kirigakure is preparing to make peace with Konoha. From what I've found out, they're planning to send a group to take part in Konoha's joint Chunin Ninja Exams, then use the opportunity to sign a peace treaty with Konoha."
"The Mizukage is under Uchiha Chen's control. Of course they're willing to negotiate!"
Obito grew even more irritated.
How wonderful it would be if Uchiha Chen didn't exist in this world!
If only he could get rid of him the way he'd gotten rid of the Fourth Hokage. Obito lowered his head and glanced at a sealed box enshrined beneath the Sacred Tree.
The Seven-Tails? No, that wouldn't work.
The Seven-Tails was nowhere near as powerful as the Nine-Tails. Even with Takigakure's help, it wouldn't be enough.
"What's Nagato been doing lately?"
"He's been looking for Hozuki Mangetsu around the Land of Hot Water, planning to bring him into the Akatsuki."
This time, Black Zetsu answered. It didn't need to guess what Obito was thinking, and rebuked him sternly. "Obito, we had an agreement. Nagato and the Akatsuki can't be exposed to the Five Great Shinobi Nations yet!"
"I'm Madara's successor! I'm the one carrying out the plan!"
Obito's single eye fixed on Black Zetsu, brimming with murderous intent. "You're nothing but a thing Madara casually molded. You're here to assist me!"
I am Kaguya's third son! I'm countless times nobler than a descendant of Hagoromo from who knows how many generations later!
Black Zetsu raged silently in the depths of his heart.
But it knew that with Obito's eyes bloodshot like this, he was determined to fight Uchiha Chen to the death. Not even the Nine Tailed Beasts could change his mind.
Still, Nagato's safety and the Rinnegan were its bottom line!
Black Zetsu studied Obito for a long moment, then weighed its words and used Uchiha Madara as a pretext to share something it remembered.
"Grass Ninja Village has a Box of Ultimate Bliss. The demon sealed inside it is powerful—more powerful than the Seven-Tails."
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