The next morning, sunlight spilled across South Street's bluestone pavement.
The aroma of freshly steamed meat buns drifted through the streets.
Merchants from all over and diplomatic missions from other villages rose early, gathering around the central plaza well ahead of time.
At 8:59 a.m.
Chikage strolled leisurely up to the entrance of the Special Zone Office.
The instant his pocket watch ticked over to nine, a familiar mechanical voice sounded in his head.
[Ding! Morning clock-in successful. Received 100 daily points.]
Chikage tucked his pocket watch back into his pocket, feeling refreshed.
The curtain over the lobby doorway was suddenly flung aside.
Inabi and Tekka rushed in with dark circles beneath their eyes.
"Vice-captain!"
"That test NPC last night was seriously good!"
Inabi shouted at the top of his lungs, excitement covering his face.
Chikage poured himself a cup of warm tea and looked the two of them over.
"What NPC?"
Tekka leaned closer and lowered his voice.
"The masked weirdo you sent to the underground training ground last night."
"He called himself our ancestor Madara. Slippery bastard."
"Inabi and I both activated Susanoo, but we couldn't land a single hit."
Inabi nodded emphatically.
"Too bad he got away. Otherwise, we'd have caught him and cashed him in for triple overtime pay."
Chikage's lips twitched slightly as he held his teacup.
He had left work early yesterday and never expected Obito to sneak into the Konoha Military Police Force in the middle of the night to probe their strength.
Still less had he expected these two goofballs, who had only just awakened their eyes, to mistake the mastermind himself for a sparring partner spawned by the system.
After being chased and hammered at by two Susanoo for so long, Obito probably wasn't feeling too great right now.