Yosuke was wandering through the streets, replaying the details of his meeting with Danzō.
From beginning to end, their conversation had been like a riddle—each side constantly probing and testing until their thoughts finally aligned. Yet even then, nothing was stated outright.
But Danzō's final word—"Beast"—left Yosuke utterly confused.
Yosuke couldn't tell whether "beast" referred to the child soon to be born, or something else entirely. What he could be sure of was that a child was about to be born in Konoha, and Danzō placed great importance on this child.
Between the lines, Danzō had hinted that he intended to use this unborn child as the centerpiece of a grand scheme—and that Yosuke was already caught in it.
Yosuke let out a cold smile. Danzō believed everything was in his grasp?
In the end, they would see who was the hunter and who was the prey.
While lost in thought, Yosuke suddenly felt his leg bump into something.
He looked down and saw a young boy sitting on the ground, having fallen when Yosuke collided with him. The boy had short black hair, dark eyes, long lashes at both corners of his eyes, and faint tear troughs beside them.
"Sorry, sorry—I was thinking about something and didn't notice you. Did you hurt yourself?" Yosuke helped the boy up.
But the boy said nothing and immediately turned and ran off.
Yosuke scratched his head awkwardly.
Do kids really dislike me that much?
"Hey, Yosuke!"
Asuma's voice came from not far away.
He walked up and draped an arm familiarly over Yosuke's shoulder.
"What were you looking at?"
"Nothing," Yosuke replied. "I just bumped into a kid."
Asuma followed Yosuke's line of sight and frowned.
"Yosuke… did you bump into a child from the Uchiha clan?"
"Uchiha?"
"Yeah. The Uchiha. They have the fan crest on their clothes."
Yosuke recalled the image.
"…I think the kid had a fan symbol on his back—red on top, white on the bottom."
Asuma warned gravely, "Then that was an Uchiha. Yosuke, you'd better keep your distance from them."
Yosuke caught the distaste in Asuma's tone and asked, puzzled, "Why?"
Asuma explained, "The Uchiha are extremely extreme in personality. In their hearts, the Uchiha clan comes first; Konoha comes second. They're selfish and radical. And now that they're running the Konoha Police Force, getting their attention would be a hassle."
He muttered under his breath, "I still don't get what the old man was thinking, giving the Police Force—something that important—to the Uchiha."
Yosuke didn't take it too seriously and smiled. "Thanks for the warning. I'll be careful."
In the following days, Asuma left the village for a mission, while Yosuke continued gathering information throughout Konoha.
One day, while passing by a few women, Yosuke's sharp hearing caught fragments of their conversation.
"The Fourth Hokage really is handsome."
"Right? I still can't understand why Lord Fourth would choose that monster as his wife."
"Maybe he wanted to keep close watch on her. After all, she's the Nine-T—"
"Nari! Enough!"
The woman called Nari realized she'd said something she shouldn't have and clamped her hand over her mouth.
Yosuke approached them. "Excuse me, what is this Nine-Tails you mentioned?"
The women's expressions turned panicked.
"You misheard! We didn't say anything!"
And they hurried away.
With no answers, Yosuke had no choice but to drop the matter for now.
This seemingly peaceful Konoha was full of hidden darkness—Danzō, the Nine-Tails, and… the Uchiha.
And these were probably only the tip of the iceberg.
As usual, Yosuke headed into the forest, where Moonlight Hayate was already waiting.
After days of training, Hayate had grasped the breathing rhythm technique. Under Yosuke's instruction, his swordsmanship had improved dramatically.
Seeing Yosuke, Hayate ran up excitedly.
"Yosuke-sensei, I did it! I did it!"
He kept repeating the words, tears streaming down his face.
Seeing him cry, Yosuke was bewildered.
"Hold on, hold on—don't cry yet. Tell me what you succeeded in doing?"
Wiping his tears, Hayate choked out, "Yosuke-sensei… I became a jōnin. Just a special jōnin, but… I fulfilled my promise."
Yosuke suddenly understood. The first time they had met, Hayate had told him he was striving relentlessly for the sake of a promise.
Yosuke smiled warmly. "Congratulations, Hayate."
Hayate proceeded to tell him about the promise.
He had a lover named Uzuki Yugao.
Both of them inherited the Konoha-ryū sword style. But Yugao's talent far surpassed Hayate's—she had been selected by the ANBU early on and became a special jōnin.
Hayate possessed the Kekkei Genkai Transparency and had mastered Konoha-ryū swordsmanship, but his chronic illness had kept him at chūnin rank for years.
Long ago, he and Yugao swore, 'We will always protect each other.'
But once Yugao became a jōnin, he could no longer stand beside her as an equal.
Now, with his promotion, he had finally fulfilled that oath—thus his tears of joy.
Yosuke was genuinely happy for him.
That day, Hayate trained with even greater intensity, meeting every demand Yosuke set, no matter how harsh.
During training, Yosuke suddenly felt a gaze watching him.
He disappeared in an instant and reappeared behind the watcher.
To his surprise, it was the same child he had bumped into in the street.
The boy froze, unsure what to do.
Yosuke softened his expression. "What's your name?"
A young voice replied, "Uchiha Itachi."
"Interested in swordsmanship?" Yosuke asked.
Itachi nodded his small head.
For some reason, Yosuke felt unusually good-natured toward him.
"If you're interested, you can watch our training from over there."
Itachi's eyes lit up, and he ran to the edge of the training ground.
Yosuke chuckled and patted the boy's head. He didn't take Asuma's comments about the Uchiha to heart. Maybe some of them were extreme—but you couldn't judge a clan by a few people.
"Alright," Yosuke said to Hayate, "time for live combat training. Hayate, are you ready?"
Hayate nodded firmly. "I'm ready!"
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