The Uchiha Clan Compound beneath the moonlight wasn't as brightly lit as the commercial district. Though it was located in the "inner ring," its atmosphere was quite different from the rest of the village.
As he was about to leave the area, Shu Furukawa kept his hands in his pockets and called out a warning toward the shadows:
"You've been following me for ages. Don't make me invite you out."
"..."
There was no reply. Hidden in a corner, the Root ninja held his breath and formed Hand Seals, trying to target Shu with the Mind Transfer Jutsu.
The pupils behind the mask suddenly contracted. The Root ninja, who had been crouching on one knee, realized Shu had vanished. Body Flicker Technique!
"Urgh..."
Shu grabbed the Root ninja by the throat and lifted him into the air. The boy made an unconscious sound as he struggled to breathe, his young face contorting behind the mask.
"What a despicable tactic. Sending a child to spy on me—a pointless test."
Shu muttered his assessment and tossed the Root boy to the ground. He had surely already been branded with the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, so Talk no Jutsu wouldn't work.
A Root ninja from the Aburame Clan had left a deep impression on Shu during an earlier mission. If Shu's Chidori Current hadn't caught him off guard, the fight wouldn't have ended so quickly.
The Yamanaka Clan child before him probably had some special talent, too. Root was always able to recruit misfits from the great ninja clans.
"Captain Yamanaka looked after me. Send an adult next time."
"Just report back honestly."
Shu left with only his back in view. The Root boy lay on the ground, gasping for breath, and struggled to prop himself up. He didn't feel relieved. Instead, disappointment welled up inside him.
"I've let Lord Danzo down..."
At five in the morning, Shu finished refining Senjutsu Chakra at home. Through the Spirit Transformation Technique, he sensed that the Senjutsu Chakra stored in the Strength of a Hundred Seal had grown denser.
His body was slowly absorbing this power. As he grew older, the most obvious change was that he had become stronger, and he could extract more and more chakra.
Katsuyu on his shoulder began swaying her feelers happily again. Her awareness grew stronger by the day.
"Will Lady Tsunade become Hokage?"
Shu was surprised to hear Katsuyu's soft voice and asked curiously:
"Does Katsuyu care about things like that? Being Hokage doesn't mean much to you, does it?"
"I'm only guessing based on how Lady Tsunade has changed. When she was little, she told me that was her dream."
Katsuyu's tone grew cheerful. Seeing her summoner's dream come true would be an interesting experience for her, too.
Shu hadn't expected the sage to have a hobby like that. Thinking of how much more diligent Tsunade had become, he said softly:
"Lady Tsunade has a good chance, but in the end, it'll depend on the village's decision."
"I only want to give my teacher a push. The outcome doesn't matter that much to me. I haven't been expecting much, after all."
"Most people don't like sharing power. Disrupting the balance could cause turmoil, and the 'darkness' of Root will keep spreading."
Katsuyu swayed her feelers. She couldn't be bothered to think it through and merely sighed:
"Humans are so complicated!"
The Third Kazekage's disappearance had heightened tensions across the Shinobi World. Konoha had begun increasing patrols along the border and speeding up its stockpiling of supplies.
At Konoha Hospital, the number of wounded had started to rise again. C-rank missions were becoming dangerous, and even Genin were inevitably getting hurt.
In the lobby, Rin Nohara was making initial treatments with the Healing Technique, her expression serious. She had been busy from morning until afternoon, and her body had reached its limit. When she stood up, she swayed unsteadily.
"Rin, don't push yourself too hard! I'll take care of the patients waiting."
Shizune steadied her. Rin smiled brightly and replied softly:
"It's okay. A few minutes' rest is all I need."
At dusk, when Obito Uchiha came to the Medical Corps to visit Rin, he saw how pale she looked and immediately expressed his concern:
"How did you get so exhausted, Rin? Don't push yourself so hard!"
Perhaps the sight of the two being so close upset the ninja who had lost their comrades. A Genin with his right arm in a sling sneered:
"Does staying at the hospital and enjoying the benefits count as working yourself to the bone?"
"It's naïve brats like you who make the enemy more and more brazen. Cowards like you only argue for passive defense..."
Obito could tolerate other people's taunts, but the moment they targeted Rin, he rushed over, grabbed the man by the collar, and shouted furiously:
"Apologize to Rin right now! Or I'll make you regret it!"
"Do Uchiha only pick on ordinary ninja like us?"
"Get out of here, Uchiha!"
"..."
The Uchiha emblem had set off the wounded in the lobby. Obito didn't realize that, as the local conflict intensified, war was drawing near and many people were consumed by anger and fear.
As the crowd gradually surrounded him, Obito tried to argue loudly, but ninja weren't known for their good tempers. Before long, they were shoving one another.
Just as a fight seemed about to break out, a sharp crackling sound rang out.
Blue, sparking chakra senbon struck the legs of several people with pinpoint accuracy. The men who had been grappling all fell to the ground.
Obito fell, too. But when he looked at his legs, he couldn't see anything. He was about to get up and continue arguing when a familiar voice reached his ears:
"Fighting is forbidden here."
Shu appeared in the lobby wearing a medical ninja's protective uniform. The Chidori Senbon had just brought everyone to their senses, and they lowered their heads and apologized in unison:
"Sorry, Lord Shu..."
Only then did the few Chunin responsible for keeping order at the hospital finally "step forward." They had wanted to see the Uchiha get put in their place, so they'd been watching the show.
Obito, thick-headed as ever, hadn't noticed the details. He only had eyes for Rin, and immediately went to her side to ask with concern:
"Are you all right, Rin? Those guys are awful. I'll protect you."
Rin had keenly sensed the recent changes at the hospital. She had thought of war, but seeing how concerned Obito was, she smiled as she replied:
"Thanks to you, Obito! Don't mind how everyone's acting. A lot of people have lost their comrades."
Obito grinned at her praise. A while later, he finally remembered the tense atmosphere in the village and muttered:
"War?"
In mid-February, news that the Third Kazekage had disappeared and Sunagakure might be in turmoil spread widely through the village.
When Sunagakure chose to send more ninja forces to the border, the Hardline Faction in Konoha once again called for war.
At some point, a rumor had begun circulating in the village: if the war was won, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind would give his commissions to Konoha.
A moment's thought made it clear that this could never happen, but many ninja still chose to believe it. For a time, the Hardline Faction grew increasingly vocal.
Tsunade had been buried in paperwork in her office since early morning, and she was in a foul mood. War always brought back unpleasant memories, and the calls for war in the village made her even more disgusted.
"Lady Tsunade needs to balance work and rest, too. Frowning will give you wrinkles."
Shu handed her a cup of hot tea. Tsunade shot him an annoyed glance, then sat up straight and muttered:
"What's the village trying to do? They're spreading rumors like these, and the Old Man hasn't stopped them."
"Teacher, commissions aren't enough to keep things going. It seems like war could solve that problem."
There were too many "tools," so they had to be used up. It would also bring them more benefits. Tsunade understood all that, but Shu's words still made her uncomfortable.
"That's not something a little brat like you should be thinking about! Go pour me another cup of tea."
Shu put on a helpless expression. Tsunade finally smiled. Watching her student's back, she sighed inwardly:
"Exceptional talent really can be troublesome..."
"..."