"By the way, Makoto," Obito asked between bites of meat, "now that you've graduated, does that mean we won't get to see you anymore?"
Everyone turned to look at him.
Guy set down his chopsticks too, gazing at Uchiha Makoto with pleading eyes.
"No." Uchiha Makoto shook his head. "I'll still be in Konoha. Whenever I'm not on a mission, we can still see each other often."
"That's a relief!" Obito let out a breath. "I thought we'd hardly ever get to see you anymore."
"I'm only a Genin, so most of my missions won't take that long," Uchiha Makoto said. "Besides, even when I leave, I'll come back."
"Then will you still teach us how to train, Makoto?" Guy asked, his eyes shining.
"Yes." Uchiha Makoto nodded. "As long as you want to learn, you can come find me anytime."
"Awesome!" Obito and Guy exclaimed in unison.
Uchiha Makoto looked at them and smiled inwardly.
My little cash crops, make sure you grow big and strong.
When I come back, I'll keep harvesting.
The dinner continued.
Plate after plate of meat disappeared.
Glass after glass of juice was drained.
Laughter rang out again and again.
Teacher Nakamura's face went from white to green, then from green to purple.
Finally, when the proprietress approached with the bill, Teacher Nakamura's hands shook as though he had Parkinson's.
"Teacher Nakamura, your total comes to twenty-three thousand five hundred ryo," the proprietress said with a bright smile.
Twenty-three thousand five hundred ryo.
Uchiha Makoto watched the light instantly leave Teacher Nakamura's eyes.
Teacher Nakamura probably wouldn't be sleeping tonight!
Early the next morning, Uchiha Makoto arrived on time at the meeting point, the Konoha Gate.
The morning mist had yet to fully disperse, and the gate, built of blue-gray stone, loomed faintly through it.
The two Chunin guarding it leaned against the wall, yawning. When Uchiha Makoto approached, they merely lifted their eyelids lazily.
One of the Chunin sized him up. Seeing the Uchiha Clan's black hair beneath his forehead protector and those all-too-calm eyes, he asked no further questions and waved him through.
Uchiha Makoto sat down on the wooden bench beside the gate and began to wait.
For his new teammates, and for that... Snake Aunt.
He looked up at the sky.
The sun had yet to fully rise. The sky was the pale white of a fish's belly, with a few wisps of cloud tinted light gold.
"I'm early," he muttered to himself.
Actually, he hadn't arrived early by accident. He had done it on purpose.
He wanted to see what his new teammates were like, and whether they were named NPCs from the original story.
As he pondered that, footsteps approached.
Uchiha Makoto looked up and saw a figure walking out of the mist.
Silver hair, a mask, a forehead protector worn at an angle to cover his left eye, and a short sword strapped to his back.
Kakashi Hatake.
Uchiha Makoto raised an eyebrow.
Kakashi stopped in front of him, his dead-fish eyes giving him a lazy glance.
"Lord Hokage's orders." His voice was flat. "I'm here to report for duty."
At those words, Uchiha Makoto's sour mood instantly gave way to wild delight.
Even if Snake Aunt was the boss of Part One, his value was really only on par with Obito's.
Because of his absurd strength, Cheng didn't quite dare manifest any overly outrageous lies through him.
But Kakashi was different.
As a member of the main cast, his manifestation value should be about the same as Sakura's, the female lead's-only a shade below Naruto and Sasuke, the two main protagonists.
Although Kakashi looked difficult to get along with right now, he was still the same age as Makoto, only seven. Besides, Cheng remembered that Konoha's White Fang apparently hadn't killed himself until Year 44. Kakashi wasn't that withdrawn yet!
He'll be much easier to manipulate than Snake Aunt.
Uchiha Makoto, who had been worrying about how much use he could get out of the Lie-Into-Reality System, suddenly smiled.
A new cash crop has appeared!
As he was mulling that over, another set of footsteps approached.
This time, they were soft-so soft they were almost inaudible.
But Uchiha Makoto heard them anyway. He turned toward the other side of the mist. A figure appeared without a sound.
Short black hair, an expressionless face, and eyes as still as stagnant water.
He looked eleven or twelve and wore ordinary shinobi clothes, but his presence... was as cold as ice.
Someone from Root! The moment Uchiha Makoto saw that deathly pale face and those lifeless eyes, he reached his conclusion.
Kazuya's face was simply too distinctive. One look was enough to tell that he had been trained by that old dog Danzo.
Uchiha Makoto was speechless. The most important thing for a shinobi was to look ordinary, yet every shinobi in Danzo's Root practically advertised what they did.
They would have a hard time avoiding attention on missions.
All he could say was that the old dog Danzo had no talent for raising shinobi.
Most Root shinobi owed their strength to the foundations laid by their clans and to their own innate talent.
Perhaps those prodigies would have reached even greater heights if they hadn't joined Root and had been allowed to grow up normally.
The newcomer walked up to the two of them and stopped.
"I'm Kazuya." His voice was flat and emotionless. "Starting today, I'm a member of this squad."
Uchiha Makoto studied him.
Kazuya.
It was a very ordinary name.
But Uchiha Makoto knew that Root members had no names, only code names. "Kazuya" was most likely an alias.
The three of them stood in front of the Konoha Gate and waited.
The atmosphere was a little awkward. In any case, no one spoke.
"It seems everyone is here."
A raspy voice drifted out of the mist.
Orochimaru.
He still wore that Jonin vest, his pale, long hair draped over his shoulders, his golden slit pupils gleaming coldly in the morning mist.
He walked up to the three of them and swept his gaze over them.
It lingered on Kakashi for a moment, then on Kazuya for a moment, before finally settling on Uchiha Makoto.
There, it lingered longest.
Uchiha Makoto could feel that gaze dissecting him.
From skin to muscle, from bone to organs, it seemed to see through him piece by piece.
"I'm Orochimaru, your Jonin instructor," Orochimaru said, his voice carrying that distinctive, snakelike rasp. "Starting today, you are members of my squad."
He paused, the corners of his mouth curling into something that wasn't quite a smile.
"I hope you... can satisfy me."
Uchiha Makoto lowered his head. "Yes, Teacher Orochimaru."
Kakashi said, "Yes."
Kazuya said, "Yes."
Three answers, in three different tones.
Uchiha Makoto's respect carried a hint of wariness.
Kakashi's perfunctory response carried a hint of distance.
Kazuya's mechanical response carried a hint of indifference.
Orochimaru seemed quite pleased with their reactions.
"Now, introduce yourselves," he said. "Name, age, specialties."
Kakashi spoke first. "Kakashi Hatake, seven years old. I specialize in swordsmanship and Lightning Release."
(In the original, Kakashi was a year younger than Obito. Here, they're the same age. Guy is also set at seven, making all three the same age.)
(Then there's Kurenai Yuhi, who was actually three years older than Kakashi. That means she should be nine right now, two years older than the protagonist.)
(Because this wasn't part of the main plot, AB put everyone in the same grade, even though some of them were several years apart in age.)
Kazuya said, "Kazuya, eleven years old. I specialize in Super Beast Imitating Drawing."
Uchiha Makoto's pupils contracted slightly.
Super Beast Imitating Drawing.
Just as I thought.
In the original story, this was the signature Ninjutsu of Sai, who later joined Team 7.
Then this "Kazuya" could very well be Sai's senior, or his teacher?
Uchiha Makoto stared at Kazuya's expressionless face, trying to find some familiar trace.
But he failed.
Everyone in Root underwent strict brainwashing and training. Controlling their expressions was a basic skill.
Next came Uchiha Makoto's introduction, but the moment he had seen Kakashi, he had thought of a different way to introduce himself.
"Uchiha Makoto, seven years old. I specialize in Taijutsu and... Yin-Yang Release."
Before you continue