Following Kakashi into a room on the barbecue restaurant's second floor, Shisui was surprised to find Kurenai and Guy there too.
Both had casually tossed their forehead protectors onto the table.
Kurenai looked at Shisui and smiled. "So this is the kid Xiao Xian asked you to look after, Kakashi?"
"Yeah."
Kakashi nodded, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
"Have a seat, Shisui. Just think of this as an ordinary celebration. You did complete your first C-rank mission, after all."
"Please don't tease me, Kakashi."
Shisui gave a wry chuckle, then untied his forehead protector and tossed it aside.
"How does it feel to have seen what real ninja are like?"
Kurenai asked with a smile, though her tone was somewhat detached.
"Yuzuru was right."
Shisui did not know what to say now. No words could express his disappointment in the ninja profession.
However much he had once admired and looked forward to it, he now loathed and despised it just as much.
"Looks like Yuzuru was right about you. He specifically asked me to wait for you after you finished your first mission of this kind."
"Yuzuru did? He really did see this coming."
"Not exactly. In his words, any normal person with normal values would instinctively loathe ninja after encountering something like this, and even loathe this rotten shinobi world."
Kakashi spoke as he ate the grilled meat.
"This is only a small part of it, too. The battlefield is even more sickening."
"It really is."
Shisui looked at the grilled meat, but had little appetite.
"Kurenai, Guy, why do you still carry out these missions?"
Shisui looked at the two of them as he asked.
"Well, we still have to keep up appearances."
Kurenai picked up a skewer of grilled meat and began eating too.
"My youth won't burn for something this meaningless."
Guy gave him a thumbs-up as he spoke.
Though he seemed carefree, Guy was not actually stupid. On the contrary, he was very observant and had his own views on certain matters. Otherwise, he would never become a Jonin in the future.
Looking at the three before him, Shisui suddenly felt warmth in his heart. He understood now. There were already several seniors walking this path.
"The shinobi world is rotten at its roots. It can no longer be changed. Yuzuru said he would tear all of this down and start over. We'll work toward that too. Even if it's only us right now, we all believe in him."
Kakashi looked at Shisui as he spoke.
"I understand. I'll move forward with you, in the name of the Uchiha."
The confusion in Shisui's heart had faded, replaced by an unshakable conviction. Then his eyes began to change, revealing two tomoe.
The sight startled all three of them, and they understood why Yuzuru took such good care of this junior.
"Then, we look forward to working with you, Shisui."
"Yes!"
After finishing their meal, everyone went home. The forehead protector Shisui had worn on his head was now casually fastened at his waist.
At that moment, he was filled with more drive than ever before.
Changing this rotten shinobi world required not mercy, but absolute strength!
Several months later, war had quietly begun to break out.
The Cloud Ninja were the first to strike at Konoha. At the same time, Kirigakure also began its offensive.
Only the Sand Ninja and Iwagakure, who had been hurt badly enough, were still watching and waiting.
Although Yuzuru was no longer in the shinobi world, he had learned of all this, but he did not care.
To him, none of it had any meaning.
So-called wars were nothing more than a means for the daimyo to redistribute their interests. How many people died, how many ninja died, meant nothing to them. They cared only about their own interests. Human lives were mere numbers.
Yuzuru continued following the natural energy. Occasionally, he could sense a faint direction to its flow, only for it to disappear again.
It was a peculiar feeling, one Yuzuru could not quite describe.
Although he had not deliberately practiced ninjutsu during these two and a half years, quietly sensing natural energy had brought his perception and control to an entirely new level.
Now, he barely needed hand seals to perform ninjutsu. The chakra within him was incredibly obedient, like water, changing shape at will and flowing wherever he directed it.
Hand seals helped ninja control their chakra better. In a sense, they forced their attention back onto the flow of chakra.
But Yuzuru no longer needed to deliberately control it. After settling over these past two years and more, his chakra had become exceptionally obedient, responding to his every command.
It was a special state, in which chakra was as easy to command as his own limbs. Lower-level ninjutsu no longer required hand seals at all, while powerful ninjutsu only needed a little concentration and, at most, one or two seals to make adjustments.
Though he could sense natural energy flowing around him at every moment, powerful and brimming with vitality, he still chose not to absorb it rashly.
He was waiting, searching. And the answer he wanted was already very close.
For the first time in a long while, he had sensed a flow of natural energy. Its intensity already rivaled what he had encountered when he stumbled upon the entrance to Ryūchi Cave.
At that moment, he was on an enormous island where no one had ever set foot.
It was an overseas island belonging to neither the Five Great Nations nor the smaller nations. He had reached it step by step, freezing the sea into ice along the way as he followed a current of natural energy. As for how far he had traveled, Yuzuru had lost count.
His rough guess was that this was probably the other side of the planet.
Compared with the shinobi world, this landmass was more fragmented and more desolate.
Most importantly, Yuzuru had been here for a month without finding any trace of human habitation.
Just as he finished roasting a wild rabbit he had caught and was about to take a bite, a blue goshawk suddenly descended from the sky and landed opposite Yuzuru, its piercing eyes fixed on him.
"A human? How did you get here?"
This was the first animal capable of human speech that Yuzuru had seen in years, and he was immensely excited.
"You might not believe me, but natural energy guided me here."
Yuzuru picked up the roasted rabbit and took a bite as he spoke.
"Natural energy? To think humans can sense natural energy now too."
The Blue Eagle looked at Yuzuru and asked another question. "What is that other energy in your body?"
Hearing this, Yuzuru held out a hand and gathered chakra, displaying it before the Blue Eagle.
"Do you mean this?"
"Yes."
"This is chakra. A woman named Otsutsuki Kaguya brought it here several thousand years ago."
Suddenly, a hawk's cry rang out from the distant mountain peak that towered into the clouds. Strangely, only he and the Blue Eagle seemed able to hear it. The small animals around them showed no reaction at all.
The Blue Eagle closed its eyes and listened carefully, then looked back at Yuzuru. "Human, come with me."
With that, the Blue Eagle seized Yuzuru and beat its wings, instantly rising into the air and flying toward the mountain at an astonishing speed.
Yuzuru looked at the huge talons around his waist without worrying, and simply took another bite of his roasted rabbit.
Yuzuru sensed extremely dense natural energy within the Blue Eagle, almost substantial enough to take physical form. It was even more formidable than the full form of Katsuyu he had seen.