Return to Konoha!

Two days later.

Ye's gates.

The sunlight was somewhat glaring.

Kotetsu Hagane leaned lazily against the guard post and let out a huge yawn.

As one of Konoha's gatekeepers, the job was truly dull.

Other than occasionally checking the entry permits of passing merchant caravans,

they spent most of their time spacing out.

Beside him, Hagane Kotetsu had his head lowered as he organized the registry.

"Hey, Kotetsu."

Kotetsu Hagane nudged his companion with an elbow.

"Want to grab a drink tonight? The usual place."

Hagane Kotetsu did not even look up.

"No."

"I just lost money yesterday. Where would I find the mood for it?"

Just as the two were bickering as usual,

a highly rhythmic set of footsteps came from the main road beyond the gates.

The sound was not loud.

Yet every step seemed to land directly on the beat of their hearts.

Kotetsu Hagane instinctively looked up, his gaze passing over the long fence.

At the end of the road, a young man was approaching.

He wore a plain robe without any markings, his black hair fluttering slightly in the wind.

Though he was merely walking alone, he gave off an exceedingly strange impression.

It was as though he had blended into the surrounding wind, sunlight, and even the dust upon the ground.

There was nothing abrupt about him.

He seemed so natural that it sent chills down one's spine.

"Hey..."

Kotetsu Hagane's voice caught in his throat.

He instinctively straightened up, his hand quietly reaching toward the ninja tool pouch on his thigh.

The aura around the approaching man was too distinctive.

That abyssal, ocean-deep tranquility was definitely not something an ordinary person could possess.

Sensing something strange about his companion, Hagane Kotetsu abruptly looked up as well.

The young man did not stop walking and soon arrived before the checkpoint.

"Show your identification."

Kotetsu Hagane forced himself to remain calm and held out his hand according to procedure.

The young man's expression remained calm as he took a slightly worn booklet from his clothes and handed it over.

Kotetsu Hagane accepted the booklet.

He opened the first page, his gaze sweeping over the photograph and name.

Then,

his eyes widened wider and wider, nearly bulging from their sockets.

"Ch... Chi Ye?"

Kotetsu Hagane's voice instantly rose several octaves.

Upon hearing that name, Hagane Kotetsu's body jolted.

He snatched the ninja ID from Izumo's hand and stared fixedly at the information on it.

Name: Chi Ye.

Rank: Chunin.

Number: 012604.

That was right.

It was that Chiba!

But...

How was that possible?

Hagane Kotetsu abruptly raised his head.

His gaze shifted repeatedly between the young man before him and the photograph on the ID.

The person in the photograph had the restraint and timidity of a civilian ninja in his brows and eyes.

But the person standing before him...

Although the outlines of his features still bore traces of the past,

the composure and indifference that radiated from his bones made him seem like an entirely different soul!

What terrified Hagane Kotetsu most was not the change in his aura.

It was a memory from over a year ago.

At the time, while organizing the village entry and exit records, he had discovered a Chunin named Chiba.

Chi Ye had accepted a C-Rank escort mission and left the village, only to remain absent for an entire month.

Ordinarily,

such an overdue return usually meant desertion or death.

At the time, Hagane Kotetsu had rushed to the Hokage Office to report it.

And what happened?

The Third Hokage had merely brushed him off with a casual remark.

He said Chiba had gone to carry out another secret mission and told him not to worry about it.

And now,

the guy who was supposedly carrying out a "secret mission" had simply returned!

"Is there a problem?"

Chi Ye looked at the two people standing there dumbfoundedly and spoke indifferently.

His voice was soft, yet it carried an unquestionable pressure.

Hagane Kotetsu felt his scalp go numb, as though some terrifying prehistoric beast had fixed its gaze upon him.

"N-No problem!"

Hagane Kotetsu handed the ninja ID back, his movements stiff as a puppet's.

Chi Ye accepted the ID and casually tucked it into his clothes.

Without sparing the two another glance, he walked straight through Konoha's gates.

"Kotetsu, don't you think..."

"The way he looked at us just now was like he was looking at two ants?"

Watching Chiba's retreating back,

Kotetsu Hagane swallowed hard, his voice trembling.

Hagane Kotetsu did not answer.

He suddenly turned around and sprinted frantically toward the Hokage Building.

He had to report this immediately!

There was definitely something wrong with this Chiba!

Ye's streets were as bustling as ever.

The cries of vendors and children's laughter intertwined.

Chi Ye moved through the crowd, his pace neither hurried nor slow.

With the Perfect Sage Body enhancing him,

nothing within a hundred meters, not even the slightest disturbance, could escape his senses.

That was the confidence power brought.

More than a year ago,

he had been nothing more than a cannon fodder-like, worthless Chunin.

Even walking down the street, he had needed to tread carefully, afraid of offending some member of a great clan.

But now,

he looked down upon this village.

Everyone here, every conspiracy, every scheme,

seemed so laughable before his overwhelming power.

Soon,

he stopped at an intersection.

To the left was a broad road leading toward Konoha's bustling central district.

To the right was a desolate area at the edge of the village, concealed beneath dense woods.

Chi Ye did not hesitate for even a second.

He turned directly and walked down the weed-covered path on the right.

That was where the Senju Clan's compound had once stood.

The Hokage Office.

The pungent smell of tobacco filled the room.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat behind a broad desk, deeply drawing on his pipe.

Amid the swirling smoke,

his age-spotted face looked dark and unreadable.

Before him, an Anbu wearing a fox mask knelt on one knee.

"Are you certain it was him?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen exhaled a ring of smoke, his voice low.

"Yes, Lord Hokage."

"The guards at the gate have already verified his identification."

"The person was indeed Chiba, the Chunin who left the village nearly two years ago."

The Anbu reported with his head lowered.

Sarutobi Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, a complicated glint flashing through his cloudy old eyes.

Ye.

Of course, he had not forgotten that name.

That Chunin brat Tsunade had valued and taken away from her side.

At the time, Sarutobi Hiruzen had reviewed all of Chiba's records but found nothing remarkable about him.

He had merely assumed Tsunade had lost money gambling somewhere, or gotten drunk and made a ridiculous decision on a whim.

He was just an insignificant Chunin, after all.

If Tsunade wanted to take him away, then she could.

As long as it did not cause any major trouble.

But then,

he had been gone for nearly two years.

Now, that brat had suddenly returned to the village.

Where was Tsunade?

Why had Tsunade not returned with him?

What irritated Sarutobi Hiruzen even more was this:

since the brat had returned to the village, why had he not reported to the Hokage Office immediately?

According to Konoha's rules,

a ninja returning after a prolonged absence from the village had to immediately report to the Hokage!

Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at the clock on the wall.

A full half hour had already passed since the Anbu reported Chiba entering the gates.

What was that brat dawdling over?

Could it be that after spending so long with Tsunade, he had picked up her bad habit of disregarding the rules?

Did he dare disregard the Hokage merely because he was a Sannin's disciple?

A trace of displeasure flashed through Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes.

He was Tsunade's teacher, which naturally made him the brat's grandmaster.

What exactly had Tsunade taught this brat over the past two years?!

"Go."

Sarutobi Hiruzen tapped his pipe, his tone leaving no room for doubt.

"Bring him here."

"Tell him this is the Hokage's order."

"..."