Class ended much earlier than usual that day. Normally, lessons lasted from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon, but this time they stopped at noon. After only two hours, Haruto dismissed everyone and the students quietly began returning home, each carrying a weight that had not been there when they arrived. They were still children, but in the shinobi world they were already old enough to understand what death meant. Many of them had seen it with their own eyes during the Nine-Tails' attack, and some had come terrifyingly close to experiencing it themselves.
Kiseki walked home slowly, watching Konoha being rebuilt piece by piece around him. Workers moved between damaged buildings, shinobi transported materials, and families tried to recover whatever they could from the destruction. Before the attack, seeing homeless people sleeping on Konoha's streets had been extremely unusual, but now there were people everywhere who had lost their homes, possessions, and sometimes their entire families.
Kiseki looked at several of them and his expression darkened.
"With Konoha's leadership... or more specifically, with Danzō around, I wouldn't be surprised if some of these people eventually disappeared."
It was a cruel thought, but knowing what Root was capable of, Kiseki found it difficult not to think that way. Some of these people had lost absolutely everything during the Nine-Tails' attack. If one of them suddenly disappeared, who would even notice? And if they had no family left, who would demand answers?
He shook his head and continued walking until something nearby caught his attention.
A large stone monument.
Kiseki stopped.
He immediately recognized what it was: the memorial where the names of Konoha's fallen shinobi were recorded.
Curious, he approached and began reading through the names engraved upon it. Some were familiar, most were not, but after searching for a while, Kiseki noticed something that made him narrow his eyes.
Sakumo Hatake's name was not there.
A bitter laugh escaped him.
"Ha... just as I thought."
The more he stared at the monument, the more disgusted he became.
"Konoha's leadership really is hypocritical. They can abandon their responsibilities, become advisors, elders, even Hokage... but if someone outside their circle abandons a mission for a reason they don't approve of, they condemn him until he destroys himself. And after everything Sakumo did for this village, he doesn't even get his name here."
Kiseki looked at the monument in silence before another thought crossed his mind.
"I wonder what the First Hokage would think if he saw what this village became. Even the Second might regret sacrificing himself for those students of his."
Kiseki had already possessed a natural distrust of Konoha's leadership because of everything he remembered from Naruto, but living here only strengthened it. What worried him most was no longer simply what those people might do to him personally.
It was his family.
His father.
His mother.
And now his little sister.
Ever since discovering the truth about the Haruno family, that concern had only grown stronger. At first, learning that his family had once been a shinobi clan with its own bloodline limit had filled him with excitement, but the more he thought about it, the more cautious he became.
If Konoha's higher-ups discovered what the Haruno bloodline could really do, what would happen?
Would they simply allow his family to live peacefully?
Kiseki seriously doubted it.
Their ancestors had already been exploited once, and he had no intention of allowing the same thing to happen again.
His thoughts naturally shifted toward his little sister.
"Now that I think about it... maybe that's why that big-foreheaded little sister of mine eventually became Tsunade's student."
Sakura had never awakened their bloodline limit, at least not in the original story, but Kiseki was beginning to suspect that she had still inherited part of what made the Haruno special.
Their crystals were not merely weapons used for attacks and ninjutsu. The energy contained within them could nourish living beings, absorb energy, and strengthen the body. For something like that to work properly, Kiseki believed their bloodline required an unusually strong natural connection to Yang chakra.
"So maybe Sakura never awakened the actual bloodline, but she still inherited a large amount of high-quality Yang chakra."
That would fit surprisingly well with the person she became.
Medical ninjutsu depended heavily on precise chakra control and the ability to manipulate the body's condition. If Sakura naturally possessed excellent Yang chakra because of her Haruno ancestry, then perhaps her talent for medical ninjutsu had never been as random as it appeared.
The more Kiseki considered it, the more reasonable it sounded to him.
After all, Tsunade was not just some ordinary shinobi. She was one of the legendary Sannin and a descendant of the Senju. Shizune had trained under her for years and was connected to a capable shinobi family, yet even she had not inherited or mastered everything Tsunade could do.
But Sakura, supposedly a completely ordinary civilian-born girl and the first shinobi of her family, had eventually managed to inherit nearly everything from Tsunade.
"That's way too convenient."
Kiseki smiled slightly.
"Maybe Sakura didn't awaken the Haruno bloodline, but she probably inherited enough of its foundation to give her an enormous advantage."
That possibility actually made him feel a little better. His annoying little sister might have inherited something useful even if she never awakened the crystals themselves.
After spending a little longer in front of the memorial, Kiseki finally turned away and resumed his walk home.
He had only taken a few steps when something made him stop.
Someone was standing nearby.
Kiseki glanced back and immediately recognized the boy.
Black hair.
Black eyes.
Two noticeable lines beneath his eyes.
The name appeared in Kiseki's mind almost instantly.
"Itachi Uchiha."
Kiseki's expression became strange.
"The number one filial son of the shinobi world..."
He nearly laughed at his own thought.
"A filial son capable of killing his entire clan, friends, family, and even the girl who loved him, all for Konoha's supposed peace."
Kiseki had never understood the almost worshipful way some people viewed Itachi. A tragic hero? A savior?
What kind of savior murdered nearly his entire family?
To Kiseki, the most irritating part was the idea that everything could simply be blamed on the Uchiha for being arrogant, emotional, or unwilling to cooperate.
"Sure, some of the Uchiha were probably arrogant idiots... but what did they expect?"
If members of a clan repeatedly disappeared during missions, if the entire clan was placed under suspicion, watched constantly, isolated, and rumors were deliberately spread about them, then of course resentment would grow.
Anyone would eventually become bitter under those circumstances.
Yet Itachi had apparently decided that Hiruzen's intentions were correct, that the elders possessed wisdom the Uchiha simply could not understand, and that his own family was the greater problem.
Kiseki felt genuine disgust just thinking about it.
"Shisui was stupid too, but at least he never reached the point of deciding that murdering his own family was the solution."
He looked at Itachi one last time.
"Better stay away from this guy. I don't want his insanity rubbing off on me."
Without making his attention obvious, Kiseki quickly continued walking.
He had never truly believed in that grand idea called the Will of Fire.
Maybe other people could dedicate themselves completely to the village, sacrifice their lives for strangers, and believe that every person in Konoha was part of one enormous family.
Kiseki couldn't.
His family was much simpler than that.
His father.
His mother.
And now his little sister.
For them, Kiseki knew he could give his life without hesitation.
But for Konoha?
No.
Not now.
And perhaps never.