The person who had come to see Kazemori Masaki was Lisa. He was curious about what had brought her to him. Given the important task she was responsible for, he wondered whether it concerned Uchiha Ken.
During the battle in the Capital, Uchiha Ken had carelessly allowed his opponent to steal one of his Mangekyō Sharingan. Worse, that opponent was Katsuya Uchiha, a former follower of Uchiha Setsuna. For Ken, whose father had been murdered through Setsuna's schemes, it must have been a devastating blow.
After they returned to the village, Kazemori Masaki had sent Uchiha Ken to see Lisa out of concern for his mental state. They could not afford to be careless with young Uchiha. Under the influence of their kekkei genkai, they were still easily shaken and had yet to become fully mature and secure in themselves.
Lisa's subsequent reports had indicated no problems, allowing Kazemori Masaki to breathe a sigh of relief. He had not expected her to suddenly come calling. Frankly, he hoped she wanted to discuss something else. If it concerned Uchiha Ken, there might be trouble.
"Lord Hokage." Lisa stood before Kazemori Masaki and bowed slightly. "I'm very sorry to disturb you when you're so busy."
"We're old friends. There's no need for that in private." Kazemori Masaki smiled and invited Lisa to sit across the desk. "You must have something important to tell me."
"Yes. It's about Ken," Lisa said.
Kazemori Masaki's heart sank a little. If it were an ordinary problem, Lisa would not have needed to make a special visit; mentioning it in her routine report would have sufficed. Coming in person meant it was something she had to report face-to-face.
"Has something happened?" Kazemori Masaki asked.
"Actually, something has been weighing on Ken ever since he returned from the