Yakushi Nonō was three years older than Uchiha Kurohane, a senpai from the grade above.
Since they weren't in the same class, Uchiha Kurohane didn't know much about her.
He only knew she was introverted and seemed a little socially anxious. She usually kept to herself, which was completely at odds with the Yakushi Nonō who would become a spy and the head of an orphanage in the future.
But there was a saying: girls changed a lot as they grew up.
It was common for a girl's personality to change drastically once she reached adulthood. Besides, she was a beautiful girl.
If she wanted to, she could surely become outgoing.
After saying goodbye to Kushina, Uchiha Kurohane recalled what he knew about Yakushi Nonō as he hurried to meet her.
In the woods on the outskirts of Konoha, Pumpkin Head clutched his waist and staggered along with difficulty.
When he spotted a black figure crouching beneath a distant tree, he stopped and called out excitedly.
"Ryoma, I finally found you! What are you crouching here for?"
The boy named Ryoma wore a black robe, a hood, and dark sunglasses, concealing himself from head to toe and giving off a gloomy, mysterious air.
He slowly stood up and asked in a cold voice,
"I'm looking for mutated Kikaichū. What do you want?"
"You must've heard, right? The Uchiha Clan kid injured me, Watermelon Head, and Winter Melon Head."
"My injuries aren't too bad, so I was able to leave the hospital. They're still lying in their beds."
"But all of us got stabbed in the kidneys. According to the Medical Ninja, we'll have lasting complications for the rest of our lives. Winter Melon Head's especially unlucky—both of his kidneys were stabbed. He's in a terrible state."
Aburame Ryoma turned around and looked at him expressionlessly.
"I heard about it. I thought you'd just made up an excuse to avoid going to the battlefield and lost on purpose. I didn't realize you were so badly hurt."
"That guy was way too vicious. He really is an inherently evil Uchiha brat."
Pumpkin Head was ashamed and embarrassed to have lost to a child. His face burned as he spoke awkwardly.
"Somehow, that kid awakened the Sharingan. He can see the trajectories of Shuriken in flight, which just happens to counter our fighting style. And he has a strange Substitution Technique, too. Even when he got caught in a net of ropes, he escaped with it!"
"We didn't know about that, so he caught us off guard."
Since the crow Uchiha Kurohane had summoned was behind them, they hadn't realized that he had switched places with it.
They thought Uchiha Kurohane had used the Substitution Technique and left the crow behind as a decoy.
Aburame Ryoma curled his lips into a sinister smile.
"Interesting. He does sound strong, but I have tens of thousands of Kikaichū. They'll surround him from every direction."
"Even if he can see every single bug, he won't be able to dodge them—not even with the Substitution Technique."
"Leave it to me. I'll make him pay!"
"Great, buddy! I knew you could handle him!"
Aburame Ryoma lifted his chin and gazed at the sun shining in the sky, speaking with confidence.
"Of course. Everyone knows Konoha has the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan and the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, but our Aburame Clan's Kikaichū are far more powerful than either."
"Our Aburame Clan is the strongest ninja clan in Konoha. People only underestimate us because we keep such a low profile."
"I, Ryoma, am different from the rest of my clan. I'll show the world the power of the Aburame Clan. I'll make our clan Konoha's strongest!"
"And then I'll become Hokage!"
Hearing his grand ambitions, Pumpkin Head felt his own blood begin to stir.
"Great, buddy! I'll support you in becoming Hokage. Just make sure you teach him a good lesson for me!"
"But will you be all right going alone? Why not bring your two teammates along?"
Aburame Ryoma smiled confidently.
"I've got tens of thousands of bugs living inside me. I'm an army all by myself!"
"Do you really think I need anyone else?"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Uchiha Kurohane dashed and leaped across the rooftops, soon reaching an alley on the outskirts of Konoha.
Yakushi Nonō was strolling slowly along the street nearby. Uchiha Kurohane walked out of the alley with his hands in his pockets, pretending to run into her by chance.
But Yakushi Nonō had her head down and wasn't watching where she was going. She didn't see Uchiha Kurohane and walked right past him.
Uchiha Kurohane called after her.
"Good evening, Nonō-senpai. I didn't expect to run into you here."
Yakushi Nonō's slender body visibly trembled. After hesitating for a moment, she turned to look at him.
Her beautiful green eyes blinked in confusion. She clearly didn't understand why Uchiha Kurohane had called out to her.
Yakushi Nonō was only eleven years old. She wasn't wearing glasses and had long blond hair and large green eyes.
Her delicate features and fair skin made her as beautiful as a doll.
She wore a black robe and tight black pants over her long, straight legs. Her outfit was conservative, revealing almost no skin, yet somehow it was sexy.
But her all-black clothes and timid manner made her seem gloomy and withdrawn.
As if trying to dispel the gloom that surrounded her, Uchiha Kurohane gave her a bright smile.
"Don't you recognize me? I'm Uchiha Kurohane, a student in the grade below yours."
Yakushi Nonō gave a slight nod and asked warily,
"What do you want with me?"
Uchiha Kurohane pointed to the medical book she was holding.
"Do you want to become a Medical Ninja? So do I. I just met Tsunade, and she gave me a lot of medical books to study on my own."
"Studying alone is boring. Let's study together."
At the mention of Tsunade, Yakushi Nonō instinctively raised her delicate brows, clearly interested in the subject.
But then she remembered what Danzo had told her.
This was a dark world full of bad people, especially men. They were all bad.
They approached you for only one reason: they coveted your beauty and your body.
You had to be wary of men who came up with excuses to approach you. Don't listen to anything they said.
Ignore them. It was best to leave at once.
Since Danzo had always provided Yakushi Nonō with living expenses, she believed everything he told her.
She hesitated for a moment, then spoke softly.
"Sorry, I prefer being alone."
Yakushi Nonō didn't wait for Uchiha Kurohane to answer. She quickly walked away.
Watching her young, delicate figure, Uchiha Kurohane furrowed his brows.
The Yakushi Nonō in the original story had been kind and gentle, so he'd thought she would be easy to approach.
He hadn't expected her to be so introverted as a child, even more withdrawn than Hinata.
But thinking about it, she was called the Wandering Miko and was a genius spy ninja. She was definitely no ordinary person.
She was probably a clever woman who was very good at acting.
It was difficult to get a woman like that to open her heart...
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