The moment Mirai arrived at the Academy, he spotted someone familiar.
“Oi, Naori!
What are you doing standing by the gate?”
In front of him stood an enlarged version of the black-haired girl he’d known three years earlier.
Mirai had no idea what Naori had been eating, but she had grown to an absurd 1.65 meters tall.
She was a full head taller than he was.
Mirai found this deeply unfair.
Three years ago, they had been almost the same height.
Why was he suddenly the short one now?
And if the excuse was that girls developed earlier, then why wasn’t Kushina this tall?
If Kushina could hear his thoughts, she would probably thank him very sarcastically.
Naori had no idea how many thoughts had flashed through Mirai’s head in the span of a glance.
She thrust a bento box toward him, her voice cool but pleasant.
“My sister told me to bring you this grilled salted salmon bento.
Take it.”
“Still as cold as ever, Naori.”
Mirai accepted the box.
“Shut up!
I’m challenging you in practical class later!”
Naori’s fingers tightened slightly.
A faint blush touched the tips of her ears despite her icy tone.
After delivering her challenge, she turned and walked away before staying near Mirai made her lose control of her expression.
“Mirai…”
Mirai felt the grip on his arm growing tighter and turned his head.
Kushina was pouting at him with an aggrieved look.
“I’m your girlfriend.
Don’t eat Naori’s bento, okay?”
Ever since Mirai had kissed her three years earlier, Kushina had initially been embarrassed.
Eventually, however, she decided she liked it.
From then on, she openly called herself Mirai’s girlfriend and chased away more young girls than anyone could count.
Naori was the exception.
Naori never openly revealed anything.
She acted as if Mirai were simply a rival she wanted to surpass, leaving Kushina with no obvious reason to drive her away.
Still, seeing Naori deliver food to Mirai made Kushina feel wronged.
“Didn’t Grandma Mito pack us eel rice already?”
Mirai smiled.
“Big Sis Mikoto went through the trouble of making this.
It’ll be fine.
I have a good appetite.
I can eat two lunches.”
“Hmph!
I’m not talking to you anymore, stupid Mirai!”
Kushina pinched his arm and ran ahead.
She was obviously worried about Naori’s older sister, Mikoto Uchiha.
That woman clearly had suspicious intentions!
Yet Mirai didn’t appreciate Kushina’s concern at all and insisted on eating the bento.
A good appetite?
This wasn’t about food!
Mirai exaggerated a pained grimace.
Kushina hadn’t actually pinched him very hard, but pretending it hurt would make it easier to coax her later.
He glanced down at the bento.
After graduating, Big Sis Mikoto had followed the path of most Uchiha and joined the Konoha Military Police Force instead of taking outside missions.
That was probably for the best.
The Police Force had its own internal struggles, but at least it was comparatively safe.
…
At the same time, inside the main residence of the Senju compound, the atmosphere was completely different from its usual quiet calm.
Nearly everyone gathered there was influential enough to shake Konoha on their own.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat to one side of the main seat, his large pipe glowing faintly as smoke drifted across his deeply furrowed brow.
Danzo Shimura, the Hokage’s advisor, stood by the window with his cane, his single visible eye half-closed.
Senior advisors Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado sat beside one another, both wearing unusually grave expressions.
The current Ino-Shika-Cho trio stood farther back.
Alongside them were Yamamoto Uchiha, the current Uchiha clan head, the head of the Hyuga clan, and leaders of several other major families.
Among the younger generation, Tsunade leaned against the wall with her arms folded.
Her lips were pressed so tightly together that they had lost their color.
For once, Jiraiya wasn’t peeking at a women’s bath.
He stood quietly beside Tsunade, with none of his usual carefree expression.
Orochimaru rested against the doorframe, his face calm.
His snake-like eyes occasionally shifted toward the main seat.
Mito Uzumaki sat there.
She had become much thinner over the past three years.
Her once-full cheeks were now hollow.
Yet her eyes remained clear and gentle, as though an entire autumn rested inside them.
Mito slowly looked around the room before speaking.
“I called everyone here today for one reason.”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but the entire room fell silent.
“This old woman’s time is almost up.
You’ve all seen the Medical Division’s diagnosis.
“At most, I can last until the end of this month.
Before then, the Nine-Tails must be transferred to its next jinchuriki.”
Tsunade’s fist clenched so tightly that her nails nearly dug into her palm.
Jiraiya’s face turned solemn, sorrow faintly visible beneath the surface.
In the end, even the strongest leaves eventually returned to their roots.
“Lady Mito…” Hiruzen opened his mouth, but whatever he wanted to say became a sigh.
Choza Akimichi’s predecessor, Torifu Akimichi, stood in a corner with red-rimmed eyes.
He was several years younger than Hiruzen and Danzo.
Back when he trained under the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, Mito had looked after him often.
Hearing her words now made him feel as though he had returned to his youth, his chest painfully tight.
“Don’t all look so miserable,” Mito said with a smile, the same gentle smile she wore while drinking tea on the veranda.
“Birth, aging, illness, and death are part of life.
Hashirama has been gone for so many years.
For this old woman to have lived until now, I’ve already gotten more than my share.”
She paused and looked toward Hiruzen.
“What matters now is choosing the next jinchuriki.
“We can’t wait until I’m taking my last breath and then panic.
If something goes wrong, the whole village could pay for it.”
The Nine-Tails was simply too important.
Konoha was no longer the village it had been while Hashirama was alive.
If the Nine-Tails broke loose now, the losses would be catastrophic.
Hiruzen nodded and rotated his pipe between his fingers.
“Lady Mito is right.
Then…
we’ll vote now.
“The two candidates are Mirai Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki.”
The room went quiet for a moment.
Hiruzen didn’t add anything else.
He picked up a pen, wrote a name on a slip of paper, folded it, and handed it to Inoichi Yamanaka.
Inoichi opened it, glanced at the writing, and read aloud without changing expression.
“Lord Hokage votes for—Mirai Uzumaki.”
No one was surprised.
The Third Hokage had always favored Mirai.
Over the past three years, an entire cabinet had filled with observation reports about the boy, nearly all of them positive.
The few criticisms were things like not paying attention in class.
When it came to unity, kindness toward comrades, and embodying the Will of Fire, Mirai had left Hiruzen extremely satisfied.
In Hiruzen’s eyes, this was exactly what a worthy inheritor of the Will of Fire should look like.
And as the vessel for the Nine-Tails, Mirai seemed almost ideal.