Once Konoha's war machine started moving toward a goal, its efficiency was astonishing. The decision to hold the Joint Chunin Ninja Exams was like a clear command, instantly activating every department. Documents from the Administrative Department flew like snowflakes to the major nations and the capital of the Land of Fire; the Mission Center began coordinating and adjusting mission quotas to free up personnel for security patrols during the exams; the Ninja Academy entered a frenzy of pre-festival activity, with venue preparations and procedural planning in full swing.
Yet amid this growing clamor, Kyohaku Uchiha seemed to stand in the eye of the storm, temporarily granted a strange stretch of peace. The Security Department's reforms had taken initial shape, and routine patrols and public security operations were already running under the new regulations. The real pressure would not arrive until contestants and spectators from every nation poured in.
He did not return to the residence in the Uchiha Compound that symbolized power and status. Instead, he continued living alone in the old house with a courtyard near Konoha's eastern gate. It was secluded and quiet, and more importantly, deep underground lay a secret laboratory that he could never allow outsiders to discover.
As the sun set, it cast long shadows from the courtyard fence. Kyohaku did not light a lamp. He sat alone beneath the dim eaves, a cup of tea long gone cold at his side. The air carried the faintly intoxicating scent of late-summer vegetation, yet it was tinged with an indescribable loneliness.
His gaze passed over the low fence and settled on the even more dilapidated, lifeless house next door. Obito's home.
No cooking smoke had risen there for a long time. A thin layer of dust covered the porch, and weeds had begun growing unchecked in