The autumn rain fell steadily, and the wind was chilly.
Beneath the silent night sky, Sarutobi Hiruzen's solemn instructions in the Hokage Office made Namikaze Minato's expression grave.
"After fighting the great nations time and again, Konoha no longer has the strength to prolong this war. The key to victory against Iwagakure rests on you two, Minato and Hanazuki."
Namikaze Minato nodded slightly. Uchiha Hanazuki fell silent for a moment, then turned and left.
"Hanazuki, you..."
"Don't worry about him. When the time comes, Uchiha Hanazuki will be notified by Orochimaru. The master and student are cut from the same cloth. At least this time he didn't publicly do anything immoral. Is that progress?"
Clearly, Sarutobi Hiruzen was quite pleased that Hanazuki hadn't spat on the ground this time.
"Minato, you'll probably have your hands full from here on..."
His voice gradually faded beneath the sound of the rain. As Hanazuki strolled through the autumn downpour and returned to the long-missed sight of home, a figure hurried toward him through the rain.
"Hanazuki, I've been looking everywhere for you! Have you really not been home at all these past few days?"
"Obito-senpai? Sorry, Orochimaru-sensei caught me and took me somewhere to train these past few days, so I haven't been back. Come in."
After drying off the rain, Hanazuki casually set his cloak aside and sprawled on the sofa, smiling as he looked at Obito's troubled face.
"What's wrong? Why come all the way here in the rain, Obito-senpai?"
"Actually, I want to confess my feelings to Rin, but I haven't been able to work up the courage. I don't know what to do. Ebisu said you had plenty of experience with romance, Hanazuki, so..."
Hanazuki's smile froze. What in the world had that lecher Ebisu been saying? Why was he slandering his good name out of nowhere?
After thinking for a moment, Hanazuki narrowed his eyes and offered his advice.
"What's there to hesitate about? This is wartime. The village could send us to the battlefield tomorrow, and we don't even know where we'll die."
"You're a man. What's there to hesitate about? If you die without ever telling the person you love how much you care about them, won't you regret it even after you're dead?"
Obito's expression shifted—from hesitant to conflicted, from uncertain to resolute...
In just a few moments, a look of determination appeared on Uchiha Obito's face.
"You're right. I'm scared of dying, and I'm a dead last. I can't catch up to Kakashi yet, but if I don't tell her, I might be sent to the battlefield tomorrow. If I die, I'll never get the chance..."
"Thank you so much, Hanazuki. I'm off!"
Obito dashed into the rain. His figure gradually disappeared from view, his departing silhouette full of resolve.
"What'll happen next? The front side means a merciless rejection, the back means a gentle, tactful rejection, and if it lands on its edge, that means an encouraging rejection..."
Smiling without a word, Hanazuki flipped a coin into the air. It landed and spun on the ground.
Nohara Rin was gentle, strong, kind, and lively, but that didn't mean she couldn't admire someone powerful. Especially when she spent every day with someone regarded as a genius by their peers—someone more than capable of making a young girl's heart flutter.
By contrast, a friend's care and concern could easily give a similarly lovestruck young boy the wrong idea.
That wasn't a bad thing, but unless she rejected him plainly, the boy who harbored feelings for her would probably carry his regrets to the grave.
Besides, it was wartime. Being a ninja was a job where you never knew if you'd see tomorrow, leaving no time to hesitate—especially in an era when no one knew whether tomorrow or an accident would come first.
The rain pattered on. The pages of the book in Hanazuki's hand fluttered in the wind. He quietly opened his eyes from his feigned nap and looked at Obito's goggles, already filled with tears. He had a pretty good idea what had happened.
"Just as I thought. An encouraging rejection?"
Caught up in his heartbreak, Uchiha Obito sprawled on the sofa like a dead fish, completely oblivious to Hanazuki's stiff smile. That sofa had taken him ages to clean!
"Damn it! Why does everyone like that guy Kakashi? One after another—even Rin! Is it just because he's a genius?"
"Come to think of it, you're a genius too, Hanazuki. Ebisu said three girls have a crush on you. Do girls like geniuses?"
Obito looked utterly dejected as he shook the raindrops from himself, even getting Hanazuki's book wet.
"You're a genius too! And a lucky one at that. Your eyes—the Uchiha eyes—hold the potential to become a jonin, or even surpass the Hokage."
"Once you awaken the Sharingan, you can use it as a foundation to awaken an even higher level of ocular jutsu. Then you'll gain power that puts you above the vast majority of the entire shinobi world."
Hanazuki clasped his hands together and casually set the book on the coffee table. Obito turned toward him without thinking, meeting his strange, almost magical gaze and sensing the sincerity and hope in it.
After a long silence, Obito burst into laughter, then spoke with heartfelt sincerity.
"Hanazuki, if you were a girl, you'd be even more popular than Rin—and you'd break even more hearts. I'm heading out. We've got another mission in a few days."
"One day, I'll surpass that guy Kakashi and make Rin change her mind. I've got to awaken my Sharingan as soon as possible. Yeah!"
He was still just a boy, and he quickly emerged from the shadow of his heartbreak. Though Hanazuki felt that "refusing to give up" was a more fitting description.
Looking at the mess and rainwater all over the floor, Hanazuki's smile turned helpless. The night rain continued, as if the ancient darkness had never once let up.
Iwagakure ninjas had breached the border of the Land of Grass. War was about to break out again. Would this endless cycle of conflict finally reach its end soon?
In the lonely night rain, the breeze blew in, and scattered raindrops brushed against him, easing his solitude.
"Lonely? Those eyes, hidden beneath all that talent, longing for care and love... You must be very lonely, aren't you?"
"Then let me ease that loneliness. Tell me all your troubles. Let me fill that emptiness in your heart..."
His body inexplicably went numb. The woman standing before him had long hair draped over her shoulders, red lips and white teeth, and lively eyes that seemed to see through anyone's weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
After a long silence, Hanazuki's black-and-white eyes held nothing but speechless disgust as he watched the alluring figure perform alone.
At length, their eyes met. While Hanazuki remained calm, the alluring figure froze in place, unable to move.
"I never expected to be restrained by an Immobilization Genjutsu. Your growth is truly gratifying. What astonishing progress..."
"You're so damn long-winded. Don't just climb on top of people without permission, and don't dress up like a woman, Orochimaru-sensei."