Hyūga Tokuma stared at his own teammate with his pale eyes. "You bastard—I was the one who issued the challenge in the first place. Why did you have to butt in, huh!"
Aburame Muta couldn't be bothered to respond. He silently put away his insects, then glanced at Inuzuka Meko. The girl instantly rolled her eyes at him, and then turned her head away to the other side.
Neither of you is a match—what, you're expecting a dog handler like me to carry this alone?
Now only one husky remained. Rocky noticed Makoto looking at him; his eyes immediately took on a wiser look. Shaking his head and wagging his tail, he said, "We're all comrades of Konoha. Fighting each other like this—does that look good? No, it doesn't. Konoha shinobi should value harmony and avoid infighting. The three of you should conduct yourselves properly."
After putting on an act and scolding Tokuma and the other two for a few lines, Rocky wagged his tail and slipped away.
Meko watched her own stupid dog with killing intent in her eyes. That bastard! She decided that from now on she would switch both his dog food and grooming shampoo to the cheapest brands available.
The frontline battles had already ended, so most of the rookies who had graduated in recent years were idle.
Everyone's camp residences were close together, and Tokuma's challenge drew quite a few onlookers.
Then everyone personally witnessed that the peer-age hero rumored over the past couple of days truly lived up to the name—without moving an inch, he took head-on the attack of a renowned Hyūga shinobi.
Terrifying indeed. The air at the scene suddenly seemed to be sucked thin by a sharp intake of breath.
Even if some people were itching to give it a try, once they thought about their own three-legged-cat level of fighting ability, they shriveled up on the spot.
But there were still people who refused to admit defeat—like a certain Third Hokage's son.
When they were encircling and suppressing the Kiri ninjas' elite before, he'd been pulled to the back; during the counterattack, he also didn't get an assignment to push up front and break through. The jōnin leading their main family had been watching him the whole time.
Damn it—he was the one who should have been shining brightly!
If he could achieve what Makoto had achieved now, then he would definitely be able to prove his talent to the old man at home.
It was time to have a decisive match with this upstart newcomer.
Luckily, his teammates Yūhi Kurenai and Yamashiro Aoba held back the Hokage's second son.
Kurenai advised, "Asuma, Makoto is just our underclassman. He's four classes below us—so even if you win, it won't prove anything."
Those words were already very face-saving. What she and Aoba actually wanted to say was: even if you go up there, you'll only get beaten up—this is obviously someone even more ruthless than Kakashi, the genius from our own year.
Asuma suddenly came to his senses. Right—he was four years older than him. If he won, it wouldn't look impressive; if he lost, that would be even more humiliating. He could already imagine the disappointed look his father would give him.
The effect was like a bucket of ice water dumped over his head; his hot blood suddenly cooled.
Forget it, forget it—no need to compete!
Look—this is the small trouble that comes with being famous. There are always little buddies with an age gap not too big who try to challenge him to prove themselves.
Luckily, Guy had eyes only for Kakashi.
As for Makoto, he generally refused. Only when it was familiar classmates like Hyūga Tokuma would he agree to fight.
...
The sky was growing dark. Makoto came out of the camp's medical department, with Yūgao following behind him, a food box in her hands.
"You really didn't need to bring it over. The medical department has places to eat."
"Yes, yes—besides, the food that Utatane Mai-san brought was even more fragrant."
Makoto's emotional intelligence immediately came online. "No, the food you brought is more fragrant. I just think it's too hard on you to run back and forth."
The little girl immediately became smug, though she still pouted. "Hmph. If I hadn't come, Utatane Mai-san would practically have hung herself on you. You're Konoha's little hero now."
"All right. It's not very busy here anyway, so I won't need to come over after this!"
Having obtained that assurance, Yūgao's steps became noticeably lighter. She hopped along like a sparrow, pulling Makoto's hand and sticking close to him, not letting anyone else hang on—wasn't that just to save the spot so she herself could hang on?
The children of the ninja world were indeed somewhat precocious, especially the girls. At such a young age, they were already starting to guard their food and had begun staking out and monopolizing their ecological niches early.
What a sin. I'm only ten years old—my bullets aren't even chambered yet.
Halfway along the road, he ran into Uchiha Shisui, who was waiting off to the side.
The big-eyed youth spoke gently, "Sorry about this, Yūgao. I have a few things I want to talk to Makoto about."
"Huh? I can't listen too?"
"Of course you can. Then let's do it together."
"Better not. You two talk—I'll head back."
When it came to male friends looking for Makoto, Yūgao showed not the slightest hostility.
It could only be said that the little girl was too young and hadn't suffered the poison of society yet. Sometimes, the one who steals your man isn't necessarily a woman—it could also be a man.
Luckily, Makoto was straight—always had been. The opposite sex was the proper path; everything else was heresy.
...
Outside the camp, by a quiet stream, two figures sat on the grass, admiring the moonlight in the sky.
Although the moon of the ninja world was artificial, it was likewise tidally locked to the Earth, so there was no difference from the lunar phases of his previous life.
Makoto smiled and said, "Shisui, you're not here to challenge me too, are you?"
Shisui shook his head, his expression serious. "No. Although some within the clan hinted that I should do that, I refused. I don't know what meaning there would be in doing so."
"Meaning?" Makoto said. "Of course it would be implicit competition. If you won, you could let the Uchiha clan maximize its gains in this war's victory."
"Then why don't they go up themselves?"
"In your eyes, are people from their own clan all villains? Although the Uchiha clan's ninjas are rather proud, they would absolutely not do something as discourteous as striking at a child from the same village."
Shisui's eyes lit up. "Makoto, you always manage to explain things I can't quite figure out in a simple and clear way."
"So, what did you come to talk to me about today?"
"Do you remember the question Yūgao asked you when I graduated?"
"Yūgao has asked plenty of questions before. Which one are you referring to?"
"War—about war. I want to know whether your answer is still the same as before: that you believe war will never disappear."
Sure enough, the precocious little Uchiha liked to think about these grand questions, especially after witnessing the cruelty of war.
Makoto didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked, "Shisui, do you have any strong desires?"
"Strong desires? Which aspect do you mean?"
"Fine food, the opposite sex, wealth, strength, power—any longing in your heart for something is called desire. For example, wanting the world to be forever at peace—that, too, is a kind of desire."
"I see." Shisui thought for a moment, then affirmed, "Then I do have desires. I want the world to be at peace!
"Do you know, Makoto? I arrived at the eastern front earlier than you. Here, I saw far too many deaths—of village companions, of clan members, and… of peers the same age as you and me. Some of them were even our classmates.
"If there were no war, I think they would all be living just fine."
"But if someone insists on starting a war, what would you do?"
Shisui's Sharingan lit up, and he answered without hesitation, "Then defeat them and stop the war!"
"Very good—full of spirit! But isn't the act of defeating them itself the opening of another war?"
"Ah? Th-this…" Shisui's mind started to smoke. It felt like his CPU was seriously overclocking, and the two tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly.
Makoto prayed inwardly: Don't do this, Shisui-sensei—don't do this. If you actually pop a three-tomoe, the Uchiha clan won't let me off. They'll definitely tie me up and drag me back to serve as their top lecturer.
Perhaps Makoto's answer wasn't quite subversive enough to overturn Shisui's understanding after all, and it ultimately failed to stimulate the emergence of a third tomoe.
Shisui murmured, "Is there really no way to eliminate war?"
"As long as there are people, there will be desire. Humans form families, clans, ninja villages, and nations; countless desires intertwine, and that becomes human society as a whole."
"From the individual to the nation, every group has its own interests. When those interests can't be satisfied through peaceful means, war breaks out. How do you eliminate that?"
The little Shisui held it in for a long while before blurting out, "Then eliminate everyone's desires!"
Makoto was stunned. How is that any different from hanging everyone on the God Tree? Are people from the Uchiha clan all this extreme?
"Shisui, war won't destroy humanity—but eliminating desire would mean humanity goes extinct."
When your Ōtsutsuki grandma hung people on trees, she at least knew to leave some behind to reproduce! You unfilial descendants just want to hang everyone.
"Other than that, do you have a better solution?"
"Shisui, you have to understand one thing: solutions aren't something we children should be coming up with. That's the business of the various Kage or daimyō."
"Even if we found a solution, do you have the power to carry it out? So my advice to you is the same as before—train and study, strengthen your body and your mind, stand to the side and observe, and draw lessons from others' failures."
"Understand this: even if you find a method now, it has no meaning. If it can't satisfy the interests of stronger people, your method is nothing more than a mirage."
Shisui sighed. "All right, Makoto. You're right—I was overthinking it."
Overthinking things— isn't that the common affliction of prodigy boys from the Uchiha clan?
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