Within the Land of Fire.
The peaceful village of Konoha had now completely regained its former prosperity.
At the Ninja Academy in Konoha, a group of future ninjas were hard at work studying.
"Ding-ding..." "Ding-ding..." "Ding-ding..."
A crisp bell rang through the classroom. Kimura Ono said warmly,
"All right, that's the end of today's lesson. You can take a break now, everyone."
As soon as he finished speaking, a group of children at their desks suddenly threw their hands in the air and cheered excitedly.
"Woohoo!"
"We've finally made it through another week of classes! That's great!"
"Hehe, where should we go play later?"
"Let's go catch some beautiful Far-Sight Bugs in the village forest. I heard they're really pretty insects."
"Sounds good! Sounds good!"
Hearing them, Kimura Ono's warm smile suddenly stiffened. His forehead was instantly covered in worry lines as he shouted,
"Even though tomorrow's a day off, that doesn't mean you can do whatever you like, understand?"
"Especially those of you talking about catching Far-Sight Bugs. You're not allowed to enter Konoha Forest without an adult. It's very dangerous there."
At his words, the children below waved their hands and answered casually,
"We know, we know, Teacher Kimura. Don't worry, we won't go."
Then a few of the children exchanged glances and said,
"You won't, right?"
The children nodded in unison.
"Right! We won't go, Teacher Kimura. Don't worry!"
But judging by how excited they looked, who could believe that...
Kimura Ono sighed helplessly. There wasn't much he could do about this sort of thing. All he could do was hope the children would know how to restrain themselves.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help recalling the child who had once sat in his classroom, humble and respectful, always so gentle and refined.
A trace of sadness