The Final Declaration

After the border unrest passed, Konoha's streets returned to that slow, languid rhythm that made people forget war had ever existed. The cherry blossoms bloomed and fell, then bloomed again. This year, they came earlier than usual; by mid-March, pink-and-white petals filled the streets, drifting through the air and obscuring the sky's original color.

By the time Bai Ye returned from ANBU, it was already dark. Tie had not assigned him a mission that day. After submitting his report, he walked out of the gray building, where the words White Phoenix gleamed with a cold white light beneath the moon. He stood at the mouth of the alley for several seconds, unsure which direction to take.

The Hatake Clan home had its lights on, but Sakumo was not there, and Kakashi should already have been asleep. The Uchiha Clan Grounds were brightly lit, but he did not want to go back. After his aunt moved away, the house in the clan grounds had become nothing more than an address to him—an address he had no choice but to write on mission registration forms.

"Bai Ye."

The voice came from behind him. Bai Ye turned around and saw Minato standing in the shadows beside the Hokage Building. His blond hair had turned pale gold beneath the moonlight. He wore a ninja uniform, his forehead protector tied around his brow, and that warm smile still rested on his face.

"Why are you here?"

"I just got back from a mission." Minato walked over and stopped beside him. "Fugaku came too. He's waiting for us at the back mountain."

Bai Ye paused. "The back mountain?"

"Yeah. We haven't gotten together in a long time." Minato looked toward Konoha's back mountain. In the darkness, it was only a vague silhouette, with several pine trees standing at its summit like black shadows side by side beneath the moonlight. "Fugaku said the moon was nice tonight. Good for drinking."

The path up the back mountain was narrow and steep. Bai Ye and Minato climbed one after the other. Insects occasionally chirped from the bushes on either side, but farther up, even those sounds vanished, leaving only the wind and the footsteps of the two of them.

Fugaku sat atop the largest boulder at the summit. Three wine flasks and three cups rested by his feet. He wore dark casual clothes. His hair was longer than the last time Bai Ye had seen him, his cheeks thinner, and there was a faint bluish shadow beneath his eyelids. It was obvious he had been handling the clan's endless affairs until late into the night. Bai Ye had always felt that Fugaku's work as the young clan head was more exhausting than training.

The three of them sat on that boulder, shoulder to shoulder, looking down at Konoha below. From this height, the village's outline was as clear as an unfurled painting. The three faces on Hokage Rock glowed grayish white beneath the moonlight. The Ninja Academy's training ground was brightly illuminated by streetlamps, while the lights of the streets spilled from every household window.

Fugaku uncorked a flask and filled all three cups. The liquor gleamed pale amber beneath the moonlight. The two cracks along the rim of Bai Ye's cup darkened into deep brown lines once soaked by the wine. Bai Ye lifted the cup and took a sip. It tasted crisp and not very sweet, but it had a strong aftertaste. He did not drink often, and he knew nothing about wine.

Minato took a sip, frowned, then took another.

The three remained silent for a long time.

Fugaku spoke first. He set his cup on the stone, braced himself with both hands behind him, and looked up at the moon. It was perfectly round.

"I held a clan meeting today. It lasted three shichen, from afternoon until dark. The subject was the clan grounds' postwar development plan within the village. Every elder had something to say, and every one of them believed they were right."

Bai Ye said nothing. Neither did Minato.

"Some said the Uchiha Clan should fight more actively for political standing within the village. They said the postwar period was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The Third Hokage needed stability, and all the major clans were naming their price. If we did not make demands, we would get nothing. Some said the Uchiha Clan should pull back, that the postwar situation was unstable and Danzo had been watching us closely, so standing out too much would make us a target. Others said the Uchiha Clan should draw closer to the Hokage. Bai Ye, Hatake Sakumo's disciple, is in ANBU, so through that connection..."

At that point, Fugaku turned and glanced at Bai Ye. Bai Ye's expression did not change. He simply raised his cup and took a drink, the liquor sliding down his throat and warming him all the way to his stomach.

"And what did you say?"

Fugaku watched the moon. "I said that what the Uchiha Clan needs now is not to fight, but to stand firm. The board within the village has not yet stabilized after the war. Whoever moves first becomes the target. We will not fight—not yet. Once the board settles, we can see where the pieces should fall."

Minato put down his cup and placed both hands on his knees, his back perfectly straight. His posture was always that proper, no matter the occasion.

"Minato, what about you? What have you been busy with lately?" Fugaku turned to look at him.

The corner of Minato's mouth shifted.

"I've been thinking about the Will of Fire."

Fugaku looked at him.

Minato took another drink. The cup was already half empty. A faint blush had appeared on his cheeks, but his eyes remained clear—so clear that Bai Ye sometimes wondered whether this man truly had no impurities in him at all.

"The monument outside the Ninja Academy bears the First Hokage's words. The four words 'Will of Fire' have been carved into our minds since the first day we entered school. The teachers said the Will of Fire meant protecting the village, protecting comrades, protecting those who could not protect themselves. Back then, I thought it was just a beautiful phrase. But after spending several years in the Land of Rain, I came to feel that it was not merely beautiful. It was something that needed lives to fill it."

"When Jiraiya-sensei stayed behind in the Land of Rain to care for those children, I asked him why he would not return to Konoha. Jiraiya-sensei looked at the rain and said, 'Because there are seeds of the Will of Fire here too.'"

Minato placed a hand over his chest.

"The Land of Rain is not our country, and those children are not people of Konoha. But Jiraiya-sensei believed they deserved protection. The Will of Fire is not something others teach you how to follow. It is what you yourself believe should be done."

Minato's voice was not loud, but every word was steady. "I think the Will of Fire can make Konoha better, because it gives everyone a direction: protect those who should be protected, do what should be done. That direction is different for every person. My direction is to make it broader—broad enough for the Uchiha Clan to walk beneath it, broad enough for the Hyuga to walk beneath it, broad enough for every ninja in Konoha to find shelter from the rain beneath it."

Fugaku fell silent.

He remained silent for so long that Bai Ye thought he did not intend to answer, so long that the moon moved from the pine branches to the crown of the trees, and the shadows stretched into a long gray-black band across the slope.

"The Will of Fire is beautiful." Fugaku finally spoke, his voice lower than before, as if he were speaking of something he had considered for a long time and had finally decided to say aloud. "But beautiful things often have a dark side. The Uchiha Clan has been pushed to the edge of the village, outside the reach of the Will of Fire's light."

"When the First Hokage founded Konoha, the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan stood on the same starting line. After the Second Hokage took office, the Uchiha Clan was placed in charge of the Military Police Force. Officially, it was trust. In reality, it stripped the Uchiha Clan of authority over the village's core affairs. The Military Police Force dealt with villagers every day, handling trivial disputes, brawls, and petty theft. Over time, the villagers' impression of the Uchiha Clan became that group of stern-faced people always meddling in everyone's business. After the war, the advisory council cut the Military Police Force's authority twice, citing budget deficits. Every time the clan appealed to the council, the answer was always the same three words—'Under discussion.'"

Fugaku raised his cup and drained it in one gulp.

Bai Ye finally spoke.

"Minato's Will of Fire is real. He can make it part of himself, not merely something he says. The dark side Fugaku mentioned is real too. The Uchiha Clan's situation stands openly on that street for everyone to see. I won't say which side is right and which is wrong." Bai Ye untied the sword at his waist and laid it across his knees. Moonlight fell across the scabbard.

"The Third Hokage is using my master to maintain the village's balance. My master's existence itself is a variable. Whichever side he stands with gains more weight in the balance. That is why the Hokage needs him to stand in the middle. After the war, the major clans are dividing their spheres of influence again. They treat my master as a value in their own ledgers, calculate with him, then decide whether to draw him in or avoid him."

"I have thought about this for a long time. The Will of Fire is a banner, but everyone standing beneath it has their own ledger. Some believe in the words written on it. Some only stand beneath it because it provides shelter from the rain. Others stare at the flagpole, calculating how much longer it can remain standing. All those people together are Konoha."

"Bai Ye."

Fugaku stood and walked to the cliff's edge. With the moon behind him, he looked down at Konoha below. The village lights shone in his eyes, dense and warm.

"No matter what Konoha becomes." Fugaku's voice was quiet, but everyone heard it clearly. "We are friends."

Minato extended his hand and held it between the two of them.

Bai Ye looked at that hand. Minato's knuckles were well-defined, his nails neatly trimmed. Several scars left by battle crossed his fingers and the back of his hand. Yet that hand was held out straight, a single line from shoulder to fingertips.

Bai Ye placed his hand over it. Fugaku placed his hand over theirs. Three hands overlapped beneath the moonlight.

Bai Ye raised his head and looked at the moon, asking himself: At a time like this, what should I protect?

The moon slipped from the pine canopy to the far side of the ridgeline, and the wind at the summit turned colder.

Fugaku stood up, brushed the dust from his clothes, and picked up the wine flasks to shake them. Only one empty flask and two empty cups remained. Bai Ye hung his sword back at his waist and rose. Minato finished the wine in the last cup, tipping it upside down without leaving a single drop.

The three walked down the mountain along the same path they had taken up. Moonlight stretched their shadows long and longer, dragging them from the summit all the way to the mountainside.

Minato left first, heading toward the eastern side of the village. Fugaku left as well, heading toward the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

Bai Ye stopped at the entrance to the Hatake Clan home and looked back toward the back mountain. The boulder at the summit glowed cold white beneath the moonlight. The wine flasks and cups had been taken away, leaving only three dark patches of stone soaked in liquor. The wind would dry them, and the sun would warm them, but what had been imprinted upon those three patches of stone tonight would remain there for a long time.

Bai Ye pushed open the Hatake Clan's door. Moonlight flowed in after him, illuminating the entryway brightly.