"Naruto, has your chakra nature been tested yet?"
"It couldn't be Fire, could it?"
"No, no, it might be Rock…"
Someone in class asked the same thing every day. Naruto had tried arguing back plenty of times, but it always ended with teachers or older shinobi tossing him lines like, "It'll be tested soon," "I'll tell you tomorrow," or "Definitely next week." The answer never changed—only the laughter that followed.
Today, he wasn't in the mood.
He walked straight past the group without a word and headed down to the river, dropping onto the bank with a thud. He didn't even notice the person already sitting under a nearby tree.
That person stayed silent as well, gaze turned upward, watching sunlight spill through the gaps in the leaves, as if trying to drink that patch of blue and white sky into his eyes.
Time slipped by with the steady murmur of the river.
Suddenly, Naruto threw his head back and howled, "Aaah—!" He dug both hands into his hair, messing it up even more, then snatched up a stone and hurled it into the water with a splash.
"Everyone treats me like an idiot and laughs at me."
"One day I'll—"
"It's good to get through your period," a voice under the tree cut in, "but at least think about the people who might be nearby."
Naruto jumped, nearly falling over. When he spun around and saw the familiar face, he let out a long breath, shoulders dropping.
"You scared me to death! Roshi-nii, don't just pop up out of nowhere! And you were eavesdropping on me!"
"There are two mistakes in what you just said. First, I didn't 'pop up.' Second, I wasn't eavesdropping."
"You're the one who suddenly showed up and suddenly started yelling, Naruto."
Naruto scratched the back of his head and let out an awkward chuckle. Then he tilted his head.
"What does 'period' mean?"
Roshi answered casually, "A period is a state everyone goes through from time to time, when everything feels annoying and you don't have the energy to do anything."
Naruto squinted, mulling it over. A few seconds later, his eyes lit up and he smacked his fist into his palm.
"Then Sasuke must be on his period all the time!"
With that declaration, he suddenly leaned in close, blue eyes shining.
"Right, right! Roshi-nii, I have an important question."
"Is it better for me to become Hokage, or the champion of the Combat Competition?"
Roshi regarded him for a moment. "Why not win the championship first, and then become Hokage?"
"Oh… that's right!" Realization dawned across the blond boy's face. He punched the air with all his might.
"Once I've won all the championships and become Hokage, no one will ever look down on me again!"
He spun around in excitement. When his gaze landed on Roshi again, his energy dipped a little, replaced by a faint confusion.
Today, Roshi-nii… felt a little different.
He still had the same expression, the same tone of voice. But his whole presence felt… looser somehow. Whenever Naruto had seen him before—at the Academy, at Ichiraku Ramen, anywhere at all—there had always been an invisible, straight-backed sense of uprightness holding him up, even when he smiled.
Naruto leaned in, lowering his voice. "Roshi-nii, are you on your period too?"
A fingertip snapped against his forehead in reply.
It wasn't even that hard, but Naruto still yelped, "Ow!" He grabbed his forehead and shrank back.
"Even though the teachers respect you so much and everyone does whatever you say…" he muttered, rubbing the sore spot. "And Sasuke too, always surrounded by girls and being number one, then suddenly looking pissed off for no reason."
"Because it's heavy," Roshi said.
Naruto looked up.
"And also because of greed."
"When you've done one thing, you want to do two, until you've done everything."
"When you've gained one thing, you want to gain two, until you possess everything."
Naruto's jaw went slack. His head felt stuffed full, throbbing with those words.
"…I don't get it," he admitted.
"In another eight or nine years, you'll be saying weird things like this too." Roshi stood, brushing grass off his clothes. "I have to go back and finish my work. Goodbye, Naruto."
"Ah… Oh! Goodbye, Roshi-nii!"
Naruto waved until Roshi's back disappeared around the bend of the river. Then he lowered his hands, looked at his palms, and glanced down at his own wavering reflection in the water.
"Champion… Hokage…"
He drew in a deep breath and shouted at the river's surface:
"I'll get them both—!"
His voice exploded across the riverbank, startling a flock of birds into flight. Watching them scatter into the sky, Naruto broke into a grin and took off running toward home.
—
The window of the meeting room in the Venue District stood open, letting in a faint breeze. When Roshi pushed the door open, Baki was already there, standing by the table, shoulders held rigid.
"Roshi-san."
Just from his expression, Roshi could more or less guess.
"Sunagakure's internal investigation results aren't ideal?"
"...", Baki stayed silent.
The results might be called "not ideal," but the investigation itself had gone smoothly enough. Combined with the mission report from Kumogakure's team, the trail had simply circled back to him.
"Then we'll leave it at that." Roshi opened the file, eyes skimming quickly over the text. "Write a report. The Bureau will handle the rest."
Some of the tension eased from Baki's shoulders.
"Yes." He bowed his head. "I've caused you trouble."
After sitting down, Roshi said, "You're already aware that Kumogakure has exchange students stationed in Konoha, right?"
"…Yes." Baki hesitated. "What are you getting at?"
"Sunagakure should send a few people over as well," Roshi said. "Have them attend classes, train, stay here for a while. Don't worry about living expenses—Konoha isn't so poor it can't afford to feed a few more mouths.
"Just treat it as a gesture of closeness between allies."
The Sunagakure jonin wavered. "This… will require Lady Kazekage's decision."
"Mhm." Roshi didn't say anything more. He simply picked up a pen and signed his name at the bottom of the document.
Baki bowed. "I will report the situation to the village immediately."
He turned toward the door, and just as his hand touched the handle, it was pushed open from the other side.
Kakashi stepped in, giving Baki a brief nod as they passed each other. The Sunagakure jōnin's footsteps faded down the hallway. Kakashi closed the door behind him and took the seat across from Roshi.
"The representatives the various villages sent to the bureau are almost all here," Roshi said, sliding the signed document across the table. "We'll nominate the candidate next month. The first task is already prepared. I'll have to trouble you then, Kakashi-senpai."
"Didn't I tell you not to call me that…? Forget it, there's something else." Kakashi took the document. "After we talked about the Land of Snow last time, I couldn't quite let it go."
"So I did a little investigating."
"Lately, it seems someone is looking for Koyuki Kazahana."
"Snow-nin?"
"No. We still don't have any results on who it is exactly."
The pen twirled between Roshi's fingers.
Doto can't sit still already?
"Since Kakashi-senpai is concerned," Roshi said, setting the pen down, "I'll trouble you to follow up on this as well."
"Hey, hey," Kakashi said helplessly, "there's no official request yet, and I'm about to head to the Bureau."
"From the perspective of VIP protection," Roshi replied, "Sosetsu Kazahana is dead, and the Land of Snow has changed hands."
"So, fundamentally, that mission was a failure for the Village. And even though the Land of Snow is remote, it can still contribute a small mission quota."
"Furthermore—"
"Stop." Kakashi raised a hand, cutting him off. "I get it. I'll arrange the people."
"I hope you can be a bit more self-aware. After all, this is helping you make up for a regret. Don't make me spell everything out."
Kakashi lifted his other hand in mock surrender. "I'm so ungrateful, I'm really sorry, Lord Roshi."
"Then please work hard so you can become Hokage sooner."
The silver-haired jōnin's expression flattened into dead-fish eyes. "The way you're talking, it really sounds like you're just looking for a scapegoat, Roshi. The Hokage is the goal Konoha shinobi aspire to."
"Then please work hard for the goal you aspire to, Kakashi-senpai."
"Aspire, huh…" Kakashi stood and walked toward the door. "That's about as far from reality as it gets. So, I'll pass."
For Roshi, most of what happened during the rest of Konoha's fifty-eighth year unfolded exactly as he had anticipated.
For instance, Kumogakure did not reject the report submitted by Sunagakure and readily accepted the conclusion reached by the Bureau's investigation team: that a rogue shinobi organization had attacked Kumogakure.
Another example was Sunagakure's reply that this year's courses had already begun, and that any matter concerning exchange students would have to wait until next year.
The only real surprise was what Kakashi had mentioned earlier about Koyuki Kazahana:
The people investigating her were from Kumogakure.
——
As its name implied, the Land of Snow was buried under ice and snowfall all year round—a quiet, isolated country that few outsiders ever set foot in.
Its greatest period of turmoil had begun years ago, when Doto Kazahana, in league with the Snow Ninja, murdered his elder brother and seized the throne. Yet even after taking power, Doto found only a crown and a frozen wasteland waiting for him, and his dissatisfaction grew.
Hadn't his brother neglected the Snow Ninja all because of some ancestral treasure passed down through their family?
Unable to let it go, Doto devoted himself to the study of Chakra Armor technology while poring over the records left behind by his clan, searching for any mention of the treasure.
After years of effort, he finally found it—only to discover that he lacked the key needed to unlock it.
The Snow Ninja knew that fighting outside their own frozen homeland would bring them little profit. Doto could only bide his time and wait for another opportunity—until a strange, plant-like man appeared before him.
With that, his kingdom gained a group of mercenaries even stronger than the Snow Ninja themselves. There was no longer any need to endure.
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