After calming the group of children, Nonou turned around with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, they've never seen so many people come here before. They got too excited and disturbed you."
Seiki chuckled. "Not at all. I'm actually happy to see these kids. It's been a long time since I've seen such pure smiles."
Asuma let out a dramatic sigh. "Looking at them feels like watching my own childhood reappear!"
Kurenai rolled her eyes. "You say that like we're some ancient relics already!"
Mizuki sneered cynically. "Better hope they don't turn out like you. Without your background, stupid people won't survive!"
Asuma snapped, "What the hell?! When was I ever stupid?"
Mizuki calmly replied, "Really? Mr. One-Six-Nine who lost the Class Rep election?"
"Ahhh! Shut up!" Asuma shrieked like a banshee before retorting, "You weren't any better back then either—just another stupid, evil pretentious classmate!"
Mizuki instantly lost his cool, sending a small snake shooting from his sleeve.
[Hidden Shadow Snake Hand!]
[Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!]
Seeing this, Nonou smiled with narrowed eyes. "They really do get along well, don't they?"
Seiki laughed. "Of course they do."
Ignoring the two still fighting, everyone entered the small wooden house.
After serving tea, Nonou said, "Since you're busy now, Seiki, I'll skip the pleasantries and speak directly."
"It started with this temporary orphanage. Ever since the war began, Konoha and Iwagakure have used the small countries between our nations as battlegrounds. Aside from both sides' casualties, these small countries' peaceful lives were also shattered by war."
Everyone grew quiet listening. While Konoha had been forced to fight defensively, from the small countries' perspective, both Iwagakure and Konoha were perpetrators bringing them suffering.
"To atone, over these past two years I've continuously adopted many children who lost their families during the war. At first things went fine, but gradually I found myself overwhelmed. Managing both hospital duties and the orphanage proved extremely difficult."
Shaking her head with a sigh, Nonou continued, "Even without your involvement, Seiki, I probably would've quit the hospital entirely to care for them. However, after resigning as hospital director, Danzo approached me again..."
"Haha, knew it was him!"
Hearing this unexpected sound, everyone turned to see Asuma walking in with two 'sausages' dangling from his lips.
"Pffft, what happened to you, Asuma?"
"Wait—did you seriously lose to Mizuki?"
This did seem somewhat strange to everyone present. In their eyes, Asuma had always been a genius 'second only to Seiki' among their graduating class, so how could he possibly lose to Mizuki?
Glaring angrily, Asuma retorted, "I didn't lose! That bastard Mizuki just poisoned me when he realized he couldn't beat me!"
Calmly walking in behind him, Mizuki said, "If this had been a life-or-death battle, I'd have used my Reverse Summoning Technique to retreat to Ryuchi Cave first, awaken Sage Mode, and then returned to finish the fight."
Disdainfully, Asuma shot back, "You think I'd just stand still if I knew you were entering Sage Mode?"
"I'll stay hidden until your Sage Mode time runs out."
"Then I'll use Reverse Summoning Technique again."
"Then I'll hide again."
"Then I'll..."
Seiki treated both of them before frowning at Nonou. "Did Danzō come looking for trouble again?"
"It was actually before you came back," Nonou said uncomfortably. "It was during the time when you went to Sunagakure."
"No wonder," Seiki shook his head with a smile. "I thought Danz..." Never mind, please continue, Sister Nonou."
Everyone looked at Nonou with strange expressions. You could just finish speaking in one go, and Danzō would've been in trouble again.
Nonou continued, "Back then, Danzō approached me, saying these children weren't really from Konoha, and among them might be spies from other villages. Then he asked me to hand over those older than five, claiming it would relieve my financial burden while also strengthening his [Root]."
Seiki guessed further, "Sister Nonou refused, so Danzō used this as leverage to force you to rejoin 'Root' and carry out espionage missions."
Nonou nodded helplessly. "As a former member of Root, I clearly understand Lord Danzō's methods. If I had refused, chances are some children would soon have been 'discovered' as spies."
Sighing again, she added, "Actually, I should have realized it back then: Danzō wasn't targeting me personally; he wanted to threaten you through me. He didn't expect your counterattack to be so fierce, leaving my contingency plan unused."
Seiki slightly nodded and asked, "Since Danzō has already given up, what brings you to seek me out today, Sister Nonou?"
Asuma rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Could it be that she wants Seiki to have another excuse to beat Danzō up again?"
Everyone twitched their lips, wondering why they couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for Danzō?
"Of course not." Nonou quickly shook her head, looking somewhat amused yet helpless. "Actually, the kids somehow found out about this incident. They believed I was poor and therefore forced to take dangerous missions. Worried that I'd leave again, each of them insisted on becoming ninja, taking missions, and earning money to support the household."
"Truthfully, I never hoped for them to become ninja. But Danzō's words did enlighten me—since they aren't official Konoha citizens, even if they join Konoha, it will be difficult for them to receive equal treatment as other villagers. However, staying outside the system is too dangerous."
Everyone fell silent; the kids themselves were the clearest evidence. Civilians are safer than ninja—but only in strong countries.
"They can only be truly accepted by the village once they become ninja, once they become the kind of strength Konoha needs. Thinking like this, perhaps becoming ninja isn't necessarily a bad thing for them after all."
Seiki suddenly understood. "I see, Sister Nonou. You want me to assign someone to train them?"
Nonou nodded. "They're not official villagers, so naturally they can't enjoy benefits such as attending the Ninja Academy. But training them under Danzō makes us very uneasy. After thinking everything through, I could only turn to you, Seiki."
Unlike the nurturing environment of the Ninja Academy, these trainees are basically left to fend for themselves. What they can learn depends entirely on the instructor's mood, and it's not uncommon for them to die during training.
Nonou also felt a sense of regret. It was a shame that only a few of these kids had what it took to become Medical Ninjas. Otherwise, being a Medical Ninja would naturally be much safer than other types of Ninja.
Seeing those hopeful, eager eyes behind the door—and a little boy wearing the same kind of glasses as Nonou—Seiki smiled and said, "Of course it's okay. Leave them to me."
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