Celebration

Hidden Leaf Village, evening. In a lively barbecue restaurant, the smoky bustle mixed with the sizzle of grilling meat and the clamor of voices, filling the place with energy. Today, Uchiha Narong was footing the bill to celebrate his and Might Guy's successful promotion to chunin.

In a modest private room, a group of young ninja sat gathered around the table, the atmosphere lively. Besides the stars of the day, Narong and Guy, the guests included their former teammate from Team Six, the quiet medical ninja Amamiya Ren; Guy's lifelong rival, Hatake Kakashi, who had long since become a chunin and already had a name for himself; Kakashi's teammates, the noisy Uchiha Obito and the gentle, kind Nohara Rin. Narong had also casually invited Hyuga Toya, whom he had just fought in the exam arena. He had tried inviting Orochimaru-sensei as well, but as expected, he was politely turned down. Orochimaru only sent back one sentence: "You young people enjoy your celebration."

"Hey, hey, hey! You guys didn't see it! On that C-rank mission last time, if not for the great Uchiha Obito reacting fast and using the Great Fireball Technique to force back those wandering ninja, the mission would've been in real trouble!" Obito was absolutely the most animated one at the table. With grilled meat stuffed in his mouth, he still did not forget to wave his arms around and brag about his "great achievements," making Rin cover her mouth and laugh softly beside him, occasionally reminding him in a low voice to eat more slowly.

"Hmph, dead-last, that time you clearly almost fell into a trap. Kakashi was the one who saved you." Hyuga Toya took a sip of juice and mercilessly exposed him. He was not exactly close with Kakashi, Obito, and the others, but they were all clan children and had met on various occasions, so he did not hold back when he spoke.

"Aaaah! Hyuga Toya! Quit talking nonsense! I was using myself as bait! Tactics! Do you understand tactics?!" Obito immediately bristled.

"Youth must burn with passion! Obito! Well said! Let us use meat in place of wine and toast to youth!" Guy's enthusiasm was always at full charge. He raised his cup filled with juice—ninja were forbidden to drink alcohol while carrying out missions—clinked it hard with Obito's, then ate meat in big mouthfuls, bursting with energy.

Kakashi still wore his mask, and the dead-fish eye that was all he showed looked utterly listless. He quietly grilled the meat, occasionally cutting in with a venomous, "Idiot." No one knew whether he was talking about Obito or Guy, or both. Still, he had not left early, which already counted as giving them plenty of face.

Nohara Rin was like a gentle older sister, carefully helping everyone turn the slices of meat and handing them out, especially when she saw Obito and Guy fighting over meat. She would smile and place the cooked meat into their bowls. "Everyone, eat slowly. There's still plenty."

Amamiya Ren was relatively quiet. She sat beside Narong, eating the meat in small bites. Most of the time, she only smiled as she listened to everyone bicker, occasionally exchanging a few quiet words with Rin beside her about their experiences with medical ninjutsu.

As the host, Narong looked after the grill while smiling at everyone's horseplay, chiming in from time to time to smooth out the mood. "Obito, I read the mission report from last time. The timing on that final Fire Release of yours really was pretty good." Or, "Guy, eat slower. No one's fighting you for it."

Although Hyuga Toya was not familiar with Kakashi's squad, he had known Narong and Guy for many years. On top of that, his personality was fairly straightforward, though a little tsundere. With meat to eat and juice to drink, he was happy enough to join in, mainly chatting with Narong and Guy about interesting moments from the exam earlier and the current state of their respective training.

For a time, the private room was filled with the laughter of boys and girls, as if all the pressure from missions and hardship from training had been melted away in that moment by delicious grilled meat and the relaxed atmosphere.

However, once everyone had eaten their fill, their bellies round and their pace slowing, someone, no one knew who, suddenly said, "Missions seem like they've been getting harder and harder lately."

Just like that, the topic quietly slid in a heavy direction.

"Yeah." Hyuga Toya put down his cup and wiped his mouth, a trace of gravity appearing in his pale eyes. "Especially border patrol and reconnaissance missions. They've become a lot more frequent. Last month, our squad ran into a Hidden Mist reconnaissance team on the border of the Land of Hot Water. We didn't fight, but the atmosphere was really tense."

Kakashi's originally lazy gaze also sharpened somewhat as he replied calmly, "The Land of Rain isn't peaceful either. Hidden Stone has been moving around a lot. On last week's A-rank mission, we nearly exchanged fire with a Hidden Stone demolition team."

Even the most lively Obito put away his smile and scratched his head. "Mm... Last time we went to the Land of Grass to deliver a letter, the way the people there looked at us felt weird too. Everyone was on edge."

Nohara Rin sighed softly. "The number of ninja the hospital has received with mission-related injuries has also gone up compared to before, and a lot of those wounds... don't look like they came from ordinary missions."

Amamiya Ren also echoed quietly, "Mm, Konoha Hospital has been pretty busy lately too."

Narong silently turned over the last few pieces of meat on the grill and did not speak. He did not take missions the most frequently every week, but he could clearly feel that something was wrong with the atmosphere. Even when submitting mission reports, the mood in the mission hall had become much heavier than before.

The private room, which had just been bustling with noise, instantly fell quiet. Only the faint "sizzle" of grease on the grill remained.

The shadow of war was like an invisible hand, quietly gripping everyone's throat. Everyone present was a ninja, and most of them were geniuses or standouts from their respective clans. Their sensitivity to the situation was far beyond that of ordinary people. The constant small-scale conflicts at the borders, the quiet rise in mission difficulty, the subtle fluctuations in supply prices, the vague but palpable tension among the higher-ups... all of these signs pointed to a fact no one wanted to face yet could not avoid—peaceful days probably would not last much longer.

"It's been less than ten years since the Second Ninja World War ended, right?" Hyuga Toya suddenly said in a low voice, his tone somewhat complicated. "Quite a few uncles and elders in my clan died in that war."

Those words made the atmosphere even heavier. The brutality of the Second Ninja World War was common knowledge even to children like them, who had still been young at the time. The glory and tragedy of Konoha's White Fang, the fame of the Sannin, and the heavy price paid by countless great clans like the Uchiha and Hyuga... Ten years was nowhere near enough to smooth over all the scars, much less enough to let the new generation forget the terror of war.

Uchiha Obito was rarely silent. He clenched his fists, no one knew what he was thinking. Perhaps he had remembered the empty seats in his clan, or perhaps he was imagining how he would protect Rin if he went to the battlefield.

The eye Hatake Kakashi had exposed drifted toward Konoha's night scenery outside the window, deep and unreadable. To him, war carried more direct, more brutal memories.

Might Guy also put away his signature brilliant smile. He clenched his fists tightly, his body trembling slightly from emotion, but this time it was not because of youth. It was an instinctive reaction to facing immense pressure. "If... if war really comes... I will use my youth and hot blood to protect Konoha! To protect everyone!"

Nohara Rin and Amamiya Ren exchanged a glance, both seeing worry in each other's eyes. As medical ninja, they understood the cruelty of war better than anyone—that meant an endless stream of wounded and dead.

Uchiha Narong divided the cooked meat among everyone, breaking the silence. His voice was calm, but carried a certain strength. "All right, there's no use thinking too much about it now. What matters is making use of the time to become stronger. Only strength is the foundation for surviving on the battlefield and protecting what you want to protect."

His words pulled everyone somewhat back from their heavy thoughts to reality.

"Exactly!" Guy was the first to respond, regaining his energy. "We have to train twice as hard! Use even more youthful sweat to meet the challenge!"

"Hmph, that's right." Hyuga Toya also straightened his back again.

Kakashi gave a slight nod.

Obito also jumped up. "Right, right, right! I'm going to become stronger! Stronger than Kakashi! I'll protect Rin! I'll protect everyone!"

Although the atmosphere was no longer as carefree as it had been at the start, a determination to share the same boat and face the future together quietly took root in the young ninja's hearts. They knew that this warm barbecue meal before them might be the last calm before the storm.