Every Year Brings New Will of Fire to Learn

Konoha Year 10, January 1.

Sweeping the courtyard.

As in previous years, Toji picked up a broom and cleared the snow from the Zenin grounds.

At eight in the morning, Uchiha Chiri came to visit with Ayano.

The two strolled through the central courtyard until they reached the bamboo grove.

Uchiha Chiri stroked a bamboo stalk and could not help sighing. "These bamboo plants are incredible. They're still growing in winter."

Toji casually agreed. "Let's hope they grow steadily into century-old bamboo."

It was only natural for a ten-year-old bamboo grove to be flourishing.

After all, nearly a hundred ninja corpses were buried beneath the soil.

Toji considered transplanting another batch of cherry trees into the courtyard after some time. That would create more of an atmosphere.

Once the cleaning was finished.

Toji went with the two of them to Naka Shrine for New Year's greetings.

It was as lively as ever, with several more unfamiliar children than last year.

Since the end of the Warring States Period, the Uchiha Clan had enjoyed a full decade of peace and recovery. They had now reached their most prosperous era for the next fifty years. Yet Toji knew this vibrant scene would not last.

Once Hashirama died and Tobirama took power, the First Shinobi World War would be ready to erupt. Such bustling scenes would never be seen again.

There would only be fewer and fewer people.

Toji swept his gaze over the crowd and spotted several familiar faces.

This year, Kagami Uchiha was thirteen, while Kenji Uchiha and Sōsuke Uchiha were twelve. All of them were at the age of high spirits and ambition.

He and Chiri walked over and sat on a set of steps slightly removed from the crowd.

Uchiha Chiri began introducing them. "Kagami awakened his Three-Tomoe Sharingan