Konoha Year 51, September 10.
There was exactly one month left until the bloody night that would completely change the balance of the Ninja World.
In the deepest laboratory beneath Rōran, Yue Uchiha was conducting a final inventory of his supplies.
Besides the usual Explosive Tags, soldier pills, and ordinary ninja tools prepared to disguise his intentions, three exceptionally unusual scrolls and another scroll containing the power of the Dragon Vein lay on his desk.
The three special scrolls were "Tailed Beast Chakra Capture Containers," created specifically for that night by combining the Ming Seal technique he had developed with Rōran's Dragon Vein container technology.
The scroll containing the Dragon Vein's power was a sort of space-shifting device. It was the result of his research combining the theories behind the Spring of Returning Light: by sealing part of the Dragon Vein's power inside a scroll, he could open it to resonate with the main Dragon Vein and create a Space-Time Passage.
"Although I can't drain a Tailed Beast dry like the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, the chaos when the seal breaks and the Nine-Tails runs wild will give me a chance to tear off a few chunks of its high-purity chakra. These three scrolls will be enough."
Yue carefully tucked the scrolls into a hidden pocket inside his clothes, then looked to the side.
Uchiha Hikari sat on a tall stool, swinging her legs. She held a glass of chilled pomegranate juice that Sara had just brought her and waited obediently.
Today, she was wearing casual clothes in red and white, designed by Yue according to modern tastes. The sleeves were tapered for ease of movement, but the small Gunbai clan crest was still embroidered on her back.
"Is the Ming Seal on your forehead full?" Yue walked over and brushed aside the loose hair hanging over her brow.
The purple diamond-shaped mark was glowing faintly, like a full, lustrous gemstone.
"It's full."
Hikari set down her glass and tilted her head up, her eyes shining.
"I've listened to you all month. I've done nothing but eat and sleep, and I haven't even killed a single desert scorpion. Now, with my original eye power on top of that...I feel like I could burn a hole right through the sky."
"Good. Keep it up. That's what'll let us walk all over Konoha."
Yue nodded with satisfaction, then took her hand.
"Come on. It's time we saw this so-called 'number one ninja village' for ourselves."
Their departure from Rōran went smoothly.
Sara was reluctant to see them go, but as a political leader, she knew Rōran had to come first.
The two disguised themselves as wealthy siblings from the Land of Wind and joined a large merchant caravan heading to the Land of Fire.
After several days on the road, the iconic green gates of Konoha Hidden Village finally came into view.
Compared to Rōran's cyberpunk style, built atop the ruins of a desert city and filled with metal pipes, roaring steam, and purple neon, Konoha's first impression was of a place that was primitive yet bursting with life.
There were no towering steel spires that scraped the clouds, only wooden buildings arranged in no particular order. There were no automated assembly lines, only bustling markets and vendors calling out over one another.
At the gate checkpoint, Yue easily fooled the two Chunin guards, who were still yawning, thanks to his superb acting and forged travel documents.
"So this is...Konoha?"
As she walked along Konoha's bustling main street, Hikari frowned slightly. Her eyes, accustomed to surveying battlefields, warily scanned their surroundings.
"What's wrong? Don't like it?" Yue held two skewers of Three-Color Dango he had just bought and offered one to Hikari.
Hikari took the dango and bit into it. She glanced disdainfully at the dusty street beneath her feet, then pointed at the lanterns by the roadside, which still had to be lit with flint.
"It's too backward."
The girl's judgment was brutally frank.
"The roads aren't paved with metal plates; they're all dirt. There's no electric lighting, so it must be pitch-black at night. And the people around us...they're too careless. If this were Rōran's guard force, they'd have already spotted the three blind spots on this street that are perfect for an ambush."
After seeing the modern Rōran Yue had built with his own hands, Hikari found it hard to adjust to a ninja village still stuck in the age of agriculture and handicrafts.
"And there's no chilled juice prepared by Sister Sara's royal chef...These dumplings are missing something."
As she chewed, Hikari summed up her thoughts with great seriousness. "Yue, I don't like this place at all. It's nowhere near as good as Rōran. Let's hurry back as soon as we've finished what we came to do."
Watching the little girl act like a sheltered, haughty princess, Yue couldn't help laughing.
He suddenly stopped, turned to face her, and bent down slightly. His deep black eyes met hers, amusement in their depths.
"What if I lived in Konoha? Would Konoha still be worse than Rōran?"
Hikari's chewing stopped instantly.
Her eyes widened as though she had heard something unbelievable.
"Yue...you're going to live here? You're not going back to Rōran?"
"No, I'm just asking!"
"Then...then Rōran is better than Konoha."
Her voice was so soft that you could barely hear it unless you listened closely.
"Pfft..."
Yue finally cracked. He reached out and ruffled her black hair, laughing so hard his chest shook.
"You silly girl. I was teasing you."
"You...!"
Hikari glared up at him, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and pretended to bite his finger. But Yue slipped a freshly bought red bean cake into her mouth instead.
"Mmph! It's so sweet..."
The sugary taste melted across Hikari's tongue, and half her anger vanished at once. She could only glare at Yue sulkily before swallowing the cake.
Well...Konoha might be a little shabby, but its sweets were definitely just a tiny bit tastier than Rōran's.
As the two of them bickered, a sudden commotion erupted in the crowd ahead.
"Make way, make way! Youth waits for no one! Kakashi, let's settle this right here today!!"
With a booming roar, a green whirlwind swept down the street.
"What's that...?"
Yue narrowed his eyes and led Hikari beneath the eaves of a roadside building.
A man with a bowl cut, a tight green jumpsuit, and eyebrows as thick as two caterpillars was racing down the street in an extremely bizarre pose—walking on his hands with his feet clamped around a huge rock.
Might Guy.
Konoha's proud Blue Beast.
Beside him walked a boy with unruly silver-white hair, a mask over his face, and a Forehead Protector covering his left eye. His hands were in his pockets, and he wore the dejected expression of someone who wanted to die.
Kakashi Hatake.
At this point, Kakashi was at the darkest low of his life.
His father, White Fang, had died by suicide a few years earlier. Obito had been killed in battle a year ago, and a few months ago, Rin had died by his own hand.
His eyes were as hollow as a dried-up well, and his whole body radiated a chill that warned others to stay away. Even under the sunlight, he seemed weighed down by an unshakable gloom.
"Kakashi! What's with that expression?! When your rival challenges you, shouldn't you let your passion burn?!"
Guy flipped down onto the ground and struck an outrageously dramatic fighting pose. His thumb glinted as he pointed at himself. "Today's contest is...whoever can run fifty laps around Konoha first wins! The loser has to circle the village on their hands!"
"Guy...I'm busy. I don't have time to play with you."
Kakashi's voice was lifeless. He couldn't even be bothered to raise his eyelids. He walked around Guy and continued on his way. "I have to go to the Memorial Stone."
"No way! This is a trial of youth! Take this!"
Guy clearly had no intention of letting his close friend go. He knew that if he let Kakashi keep sinking into despair, the man would be ruined for good.
"Leaf Whirlwind!!"
Guy launched a fierce spinning kick straight at Kakashi's face.
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