Location: Ren's Apartment → Konoha Library
Point of View: Ren Uzumaki
The room was quiet.
Not the peaceful kind—just the kind where every creak, every shifting shadow, made the silence louder. Ren sat by the window, one leg bent, chin resting on his knee as he looked out toward the street below. The sky was cloudy, the breeze gentle.
But the house felt… still.
Too still.
He looked over at the second cup of tea he'd made without thinking—still warm, untouched, sitting on the edge of the table.
"Tch…" He chuckled softly to himself. "I made two again…"
It had been six months since Naruto left.
Six months of coming home to silence. No shouting. No ramen bowls left on the counter. No boots kicked off at the wrong spot. No dumb questions about chakra or sparring or what's for dinner.
It felt strange. Hollow.
It wasn't like he needed anyone. He could handle missions. He could train on his own. He'd been doing that. Missions back to back—some solo, some leading genin squads, sometimes alongside Arata-sensei, Kenji, and Aika again.
He'd taken on assassination contracts. Cleared rogue ninja camps near the borders. Helped escort Daimyō envoys through dangerous roads.
He hadn't slowed down. Not even once.
And maybe that was the problem.
"Why am I doing so much again?" he muttered, voice low.
He tilted his head against the wall behind him.
"…Because I miss that idiot."
He almost laughed at himself for admitting it out loud.
There was a rhythm they'd always had. Since they were little. Before they even knew what chakra was—before academy days, before missions. Just two boys with the same face, same hair, same dreams. One loud and foolish, the other quiet and sharp. Balanced.
And now?
It felt off. One half of a sound missing.
Ren stood slowly, stretching his arms.
"I should probably go to the library," he said to no one. "Maybe there's more about wind chakra techniques I haven't seen."
He grabbed his flak jacket off the chair and slid it over his shoulders. It was quieter in the library anyway—no cheering, no crowds, just scrolls and silence. Something he could lose himself in.
Outside, the sky remained gray.
But the wind was steady.
And Ren walked into it, alone—but not aimless.
End of Chapter 180
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