“That’s the brat? Kakashi’s useless student?”
The moon hung hazily in the night sky.
Outside an izakaya in Konoha, Uchiha Obito’s figure emerged from within the trunk of a large tree.
His black cloak blended seamlessly into the darkness.
The spiral-patterned mask was eerie, while his single exposed crimson eye stared intently at the window of the izakaya.
Through the window, he could see that Kakashi still looked somewhat worn out, but there was a smile on his face.
Guy had an arm around Kakashi’s shoulders and seemed to be saying something to him, while Jiraiya was behaving completely shamelessly as he flirted with one of the pretty waitresses.
Sitting across from them, a handsome black-haired boy was eating enthusiastically with a blond-haired kid.
Obito recognized the boy almost immediately.
He couldn’t help scrutinizing the kid carefully.
After a while, he shook his head.
“Hmph. He looks pretty ordinary to me.”
“Oh my, oh my. I never thought I’d see the day you’d misjudge someone, Obito.”
At that moment, a pitcher plant suddenly emerged beside him.
The white half of its face wore a strange grin.
“That kid has a tremendous amount of chakra. And when you were his age, you weren’t nearly as impressive as he is. At the very least, you never managed to dodge Kakashi’s curse…”
“Shut up!”
For a moment, Uchiha Obito genuinely wanted to strangle White Zetsu.
Fortunately, he managed to restrain himself.
Part of the reason he’d come here this time was because White Zetsu’s words had struck a nerve.
He wanted to see exactly what was so special about this kid!
Why had he failed to dodge it back then?
More importantly, why hadn’t Rin escaped it either?
Yet somehow, this brat had?
Although Obito didn’t blame Kakashi, having convinced himself that everything was the fault of this twisted world, that didn’t mean he could accept it.
“This kid was simply lucky. Maybe he has some talent, but that’s all.”
“He doesn’t seem like someone we should underestimate.”
Black Zetsu, who had remained silent until now, interrupted them.
He frowned as he stared at Gen Hoshino in the distance.
“His presence feels… strange. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but we should definitely be careful.”
Black Zetsu had been created by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki herself, so his perception naturally surpassed that of ordinary people.
However, he wasn’t a true Ōtsutsuki.
With Gen’s bloodline development still extremely low, Black Zetsu couldn’t perceive the whole picture.
Even so, the strange sensation was enough to catch his attention.
“Oh?”
Obito raised an eyebrow.
His interest seemed to grow.
“Looks like I’ll have to find an opportunity to test this kid.”
“Wait, don’t you have more important things to deal with?”
White Zetsu tilted his head, half his face looking puzzled.
“Didn’t you say you were going to check on that Uchiha Sasuke kid and warn Uchiha Itachi? Why change targets all of a sudden?”
“It won’t interfere with anything. It’s just something I can do along the way.”
Obito snorted, his gaze becoming somewhat deeper.
“Uchiha Itachi agreed to serve the Akatsuki in exchange for me leaving Konoha and Uchiha Sasuke alone.
“But this time, he broke the agreement first. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
“As a warning, I won’t go too far.
I only need some simple, reliable information about Uchiha Sasuke.
“As for this kid, consider it an additional warning to Uchiha Itachi. And while I’m at it, I might as well see what he’s really made of.”
“Oh, so it’s a warning to Uchiha Itachi?”
White Zetsu blinked before grinning.
“Sounds to me like you still can’t accept reality…”
“If you don’t stop talking, I’ll kill you right now!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! How scary, Obito. Don’t do anything rash…”
“Shut up!”
Seeing White Zetsu and Obito start bickering again, Black Zetsu didn’t bother stopping them.
His gaze remained fixed on Gen Hoshino.
Just what is going on with this kid?
Why does he feel so familiar…
yet so unfamiliar?
…
Time flew by.
With the full moon hanging overhead, Gen Hoshino and the others finally finished their celebration.
“Seriously… We spent that much money?!”
Jiraiya stared at the bill with an expression of genuine pain.
He turned and glared fiercely at Gen.
“You little brat! How can you eat that much?”
“I don’t know. I was just hungry…”
Gen shrugged innocently.
He was beginning to understand why Hinata could eat so much.
Hinata was famous for having an enormous appetite, and she was, in a very literal sense, the “Byakugan Princess.”
Perhaps her bloodline was also unusually close to its ancient roots.
If even she could eat that much, it wasn’t particularly strange for Gen—who had his own ridiculous bloodline—to have an equally monstrous appetite.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll take Naruto home.”
“Go, go. You two little gluttons. Stop disturbing this Sage’s nightlife!”
Jiraiya waved them away with an expression of disgust.
Gen immediately grabbed Naruto, whose stomach was so full that he could barely walk, and gave Jiraiya a slight bow before leaving.
Although Jiraiya still wore an exasperated expression, once the two boys disappeared from sight, his gaze gradually softened.
A smile eventually appeared on his face.
“That kid really is interesting.”
Only after he could no longer see Gen and Naruto did Jiraiya turn toward Kakashi.
“You really found yourself a good student, Kakashi.”
“Gen’s ideas can be pretty outrageous sometimes, but he’s genuinely kind-hearted.”
With Guy supporting him, the visible eye above Kakashi’s mask curved into a crescent.
“And his talent is exceptional. I’m afraid it won’t be long before I can’t teach him much anymore.”
“That’s true. Gen learns everything remarkably quickly.”
Guy nodded.
Thinking back to the time he’d spent with Gen, he couldn’t help smiling as well.
“You’re really lucky. I even wanted to apply to teach him myself, but you beat me to it. Damn it! Why didn’t you just send him back to the Academy back then?”
“All right, you two, enough.”
“Seriously. Kakashi looks like this and you still dragged him out here.”
He stroked his chin before continuing.
“But this really is interesting. I never expected that we’d end up meeting Naruto in a way like this.”
“Yeah.”
Kakashi nodded.
Even when he had been in ANBU, he’d spent plenty of time keeping an eye on Naruto.
But actually interacting with him like this was a first.
With this as the beginning, the changes in the future would only become greater…
“I’m… so full…”
Meanwhile, on the streets of Konoha, Naruto walked beside Gen toward his home, rubbing his stomach.
“Strange. You ate that much and you’re still fine?”
“You think I’m like you?”
Gen raised an eyebrow and chuckled.
“Anyway, how did you feel about tonight? I told you. They might not be very reliable, but they definitely wouldn’t hate you.”
“Yeah. They’re all really nice.”
Thinking back on everything that had happened during dinner, Naruto couldn’t help smiling.
But then he remembered something and immediately complained,
“That white-haired old pervert is something else. He’s such a pervert!”
“Wrong.”
Gen shook his head with a solemn expression.
“He’s a super pervert. Don’t get the terminology wrong.”
“…”
Naruto opened his mouth, completely at a loss for words.
Gen tilted his head and continued,
“But he’s also an incredibly powerful shinobi.
If he ever got the chance to teach you, you’d improve by leaps and bounds.
“You should develop a technique.”
“Huh?”
Naruto pointed at himself in disbelief.
“Me?”
“Yeah. You’ve already learned the Transformation Technique, right? Use it to transform into a beautiful woman and trick the pervert. It would be incredibly effective!”
Gen knew that Naruto had an absolutely ridiculous talent in this particular area.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Ebisu had both fallen victim to it.
And when Naruto eventually developed the Reverse Harem Technique, even the legendary Goddess of Rabbits herself had been completely caught off guard by it.
It would be a terrible waste not to make use of such talent!
“Hey! You’re such a pervert!”
Naruto muttered unhappily.
But his eyes began to shift from side to side.
Clearly, he was tempted.
Before he could think it through, however, he suddenly noticed that Gen had stopped walking.
“What is it?”
Naruto looked at Gen in confusion.
Following Gen’s gaze, he saw a lone figure walking silently into the distance beneath the moonlight.
“Wait… isn’t that… Sasuke?”