This wasn't just a war. It was also an important political matter.
A matter of power.
"Minato, you're the person I trust most... This mission must be carried out by you, and only you!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke with great solemnity.
Namikaze Minato, unaware of Sarutobi Hiruzen's true purpose, was deeply moved.
After all, earning the Hokage's trust was an honor to someone like him, who had been steeped in the Will of Fire since childhood.
But—
The pressure was immense.
Minato gave a wry smile.
He could only grit his teeth and accept the mission.
Only after Minato had left did Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a heavy sigh.
"There are fewer and fewer people in the village who can be of use..."
They had to speed up the training of the next generation.
In this generation,
there were two who could be given special attention.
Itachi Uchiha and Uchiha Chiba.
But they were Uchiha, after all.
He had to be careful in how he dealt with them.
Itachi Uchiha was one thing.
Uchiha Fugaku had been a major force in the Third Shinobi World War.
It wouldn't be right to make a move on his son at a time like this.
So... there was only one choice.
That unseen Uchiha.
"Come out!"
At Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice, a shadow appeared before him.
He knelt on one knee. When he raised his head, a pair of blood-red eyes shone beneath his cat mask.
The Sharingan, Three-Tomoe.
"Uchiha Shisui!"
"Your clan has produced a very promising genius!"
"I'm thinking of training him!"
"If you get the chance, you can help me test his strength!"
"His true strength!"
Uchiha Shisui.
A Uchiha genius whom Sarutobi Hiruzen had won over.
"Who do you mean?"
"Uchiha Chiba!"
Shisui froze, a little surprised.
"That clan member who can't see?"
Chapter 28
The night was quiet.
Uzuki Yugao was an ordinary girl.
She hadn't been born into a noble clan like the Hyuga or Uchiha.
Nor did her family have a unique secret technique like the Nara or Akimichi Clan.
She came from an ordinary civilian family.
She was one of the most ordinary among the countless shinobi living in Konoha Ninja Village.
Though her birth was unremarkable, her ambitions were not.
She didn't know who had first created Konoha-Style Swordsmanship.
All Uzuki Yugao knew was that her family had passed it down from generation to generation.
It wasn't a secret technique, but her family had nonetheless become one of Konoha's mainstays. They had played an important role in both the Second Shinobi World War and the Third Shinobi World War.
But in her generation, it seemed her family was on the verge of fading from history.
The reason was simple: Uzuki Yugao was a girl.
Whether people admitted it or not, women were generally weaker than men in taijutsu and swordsmanship.
Someone like Tsunade was, after all, a rare exception.
But Uzuki Yugao's ambitions didn't end there.
So what if she was a woman?
In her eyes, even as a woman, she could make Konoha-Style Swordsmanship shine once more.
That was why she kept challenging herself and striving to surpass her limits.
In a way, she was lucky.
Her strong-willed nature meant that setbacks were unlikely to leave her with lasting emotional scars.
She had been standing there all day.
What Chiba had shown her earlier had been too overwhelming.
Just as Chiba had said at the start, she might even lose the ability to hold a sword.
Even long after Chiba had left,
her trembling hands still couldn't draw her sword.
Was it fear?
No. It was excitement.
She was thrilled to have seen the path her swordsmanship could take in the future.
Uchiha Chiba's skill with the sword would become the goal she pursued without end.
Then—
After steadying her trembling right hand, Uzuki Yugao slowly drew her sword.
Her hand was still shaking.
But she had managed to grip the sword.
After overcoming the barrier within her heart, Uzuki Yugao would face a new trial.
"I... have reached a new level."
"Uchiha Chiba, next time, I absolutely won't be unable to draw my sword in front of you!"
"I'll surpass you!"
What Chiba didn't know was that the purple-haired girl had already decided he was the one she had to catch up to.
As night fell,
Uzuki Yugao sheathed her sword and went home.
Konoha's nights weren't as peaceful as one might imagine.
The number of people going missing had risen again lately.
Kurenai Yuhi wasn't one of them, which made Uzuki Yugao very happy.
The purple-haired girl's home was just past the next intersection.
She would draw up a new training plan for herself, then... challenge her goal once more.
But someone stood outside her door, out of place.
His pale face and frail frame suggested that he wasn't in the best of health.
He seemed to have been sickly since childhood.
Gekko Hayate, a swordsman from her class.
Until recently, he and Uzuki Yugao had practiced swordsmanship together.
But when Uzuki Yugao realized that he had other feelings for her, she stopped asking him to train with her.
Because—
Right now, the girl had eyes only for getting stronger and surpassing her limits.
Perhaps she would consider it after she became stronger, but certainly not now.
In the original story, they had been lovers. Though their relationship ended in tragedy, the two of them would eventually come together.
But—
Because of Chiba's butterfly effect, Uzuki Yugao's attention had been drawn entirely elsewhere.
"Gekko Hayate, from now on... you shouldn't come looking for me anymore."
The girl's words were final.
There seemed to be no room for argument.
For Gekko Hayate, who had waited for her for so long, it was cruel.
"Why?"
He had a thousand things he wanted to say, but all that came out was those three helpless words.
"First, I'm not going to spend my time on something like that right now. I'm going to keep getting stronger!"
"Second, I'm not interested in you!"
Everyone had their own goals and had to keep moving forward.
When the girl walked away without even looking back,
Gekko Hayate knew that he probably had no chance.
Why?
He asked himself again.
She hadn't been this cold before.
Why had she become so resolute tonight?
He couldn't understand. He couldn't make sense of it.
The brief peace maintained by the front lines was cheap.
Because no one cherished how precious it was.
As time passed.