Uchiha Shingen gripped Kotetsu's hilt, suppressing the blade's agitation, but a fire seemed to ignite in his heart.
Images of his death match against Yugito of the Two-Tails during the Joint Chunin Ninja Exams resurfaced before his eyes.
The clean precision of the Hazy Moon Secret Sword slicing into flesh, the brutality of the Remnant Flame Sword tearing through the Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak, and the exhilaration of battling a powerful enemy on the razor's edge between life and death-
He had just quelled Kotetsu's agitation, yet the fire within Uchiha Shingen gradually burned hotter.
He turned to look out the window.
Wind and snow swept across Three Wolves Peak.
Three enormous, wave-shaped peaks clustered together, their savage jaws gaping toward the world beyond, as though poised to swallow the entire blizzard!
"I'm going out for a while."
Uchiha Shingen spoke abruptly.
"Where are you going?!"
Minato's brow furrowed slightly.
He sensed something unusual about Uchiha Shingen-a frenzied, bloodthirsty air, like a caged
beast gradually slipping out of control.
As early as the second round of the Chunin Ninja Exams, he had noticed Uchiha Shingen's extraordinary appetite for battle.
Even Uchiha Shingen himself had not realized it.
Or perhaps his seemingly lazy disposition, his single-minded desire to coast along in the Police Force, was the perfect disguise for that hunger.
It was also the shackle restraining the beast within.
But now, with each successive battle, Minato could sense some kind of change taking place in Uchiha Shingen.
Perhaps it was a change in mindset, or a breakthrough in strength. The fighting instinct in his blood, which Uchiha Shingen had unconsciously suppressed, was awakening!
"We've only just entered the Land of Iron. Don't do anything unnecessary."
"I won't."
Uchiha Shingen shook his head and explained, "During the Chunin Ninja Exams, if