After the Celebration: A Meeting

And now, the Snow Ninja Village had clearly gained this same "confidence"!

Don't dismiss something so intangible as unreliable. If the people of a nation or a ninja village lacked confidence, that nation or village would have no future to speak of. All its strength would be as insubstantial as flowers reflected in a mirror or the moon in water. Only when the entire nation stood as one, with powerful leaders and confident people, would it be worthy of claiming a place at the pinnacle of the world. That was where the foundations of a super ninja village began. The little glimpse of Snow Ninja Village's strength they had felt left the "spectators" with solemn, worried expressions.

The minister from the Land of Fire, along with Kakashi and Shikaku, the two leaders of the Konoha Delegation, also looked grave. A Snow Ninja Village like this, and its First Snow Shadow, Namikaze Naruto, were probably very bad news indeed for the Land of Fire and Konoha. The thought that their village would likely have to face Snow Ninja Village in the future made Kakashi and Shikaku's heads ache.

Shikamaru's expression also turned somewhat inscrutable.

Hinata, Sakura, Shino, Kiba, and the others farther back had relatively simple thoughts. They felt moved, troubled, and hollow. Kiba and Lee, whose personalities were more straightforward, even felt a trace of anger—both at Naruto and Neji's attitude, and at their own helplessness.

Yamanaka Fu and Sai, who could be considered a third party within the delegation, exchanged glances and gave each other a slight nod.

Sai remained where he was.

Yamanaka Fu, farther back, chose to quietly slip away. He blended into the crowd below, seeming to evade everyone's notice as he made his way toward another part of the village.

But the Root member who