Morning came in quietly, the kind that didn't announce itself. Roen had already eaten and stepped out on the same path he used every day, same pace, same direction. The village was only just waking up, doors opening, voices starting low before building into something steady as he neared the gate.
He stopped.
A shift in chakra, small but controlled.
The shadow clone formed beside him, clean, no instability, no delay. It stood there, steady. He'd learned it from his father two weeks ago. Now it held without effort.
The clone glanced at him once, understood, then turned and headed toward the academy, falling into the usual pattern without needing anything said.
Roen watched it go, then let it.
His chakra moved again, this time staying close to the surface. It didn't flare or spread. It pressed in, controlled, reshaping instead of expanding. His frame adjusted by small degrees height, posture, the way his shoulders sat, the set of his jaw. Nothing dramatic. The kind of face that didn't stay in memory.
The change finished without a break in his breathing.
He stepped forward.
Not toward the academy.
Toward the market.
The village was still waking when he reached the market.
Stalls were only halfway open, cloth being pulled loose and tied up overhead, wood frames dragged into place with dull scraping sounds. A man yawned as he set out baskets of vegetables, wiping his hands on his shirt before starting again. Steam rose from a pot at the corner stand, thin at first, then thicker as the fire caught properly. Someone argued quietly over prices that hadn't even settled yet. A woman adjusted a stack of folded fabric, pausing to stretch her back before calling out to the first passersby of the morning.
The air wasn't loud yet.
Just building.
Roen moved through it, matching the pace without drawing anything toward him.
Conversations hadn't fully formed. They came in pieces, low voices, half-finished lines passing between people who were still more focused on opening than talking.
"…heard about it yesterday"
"Which one?"
"The Hyūga kid"
A scoff. "Dropped. Right there."
"Middle of the street."
"Yeah."
A pause as something heavy was set down.
"…Uchiha were there."
Another voice, quieter. "That Shinra kid. Academy one."
"Same one who beat Kazuma?"
"Mm."
Fabric snapped overhead as someone pulled it tight.
"Figures."
A longer pause.
Then, lower,
"Uchiha stepped in."
Different voices.
Same line.
"…something about the Nine-Tails"
"What?"
"said the Uchiha had something to do with it"
A short pause.
"That talk's been around."
Quieter,
"Still."
Roen angled off slightly, letting another group pass.
"…Hyūga kid wouldn't say it for no reason."
"Yeah, why would he make that up?"
"So it's true then?"
A short pause.
"…sounds like it."
He kept moving.
Another pair, voices low, still setting up a stall.
"Uchiha were there, I heard"
"of course they were"
"means they were part of it"
"Everyone's saying the same thing."
Nothing shifted.
The words stayed the same, just carried by different mouths.
"Going round quick."
Roen slipped through a tighter stretch, shoulders brushing past people before the space opened up again.
Two men stood by a half-set stall, one tying cloth overhead, the other sorting through a crate.
"…that thing yesterday"
"Yeah."
The man with the crate shook his head. "Right there in the open."
"Too many people around for that."
A pause while he adjusted the cloth, pulling it tighter.
"…word got out quick."
"Mm."
He kept walking, letting the crowd fall away behind him as he turned off the main street. The noise lingered for a few steps, then dropped off, replaced by open space and cooler air. By the time the training ground came into view, the village felt distant again, like the whole thing had happened somewhere else.
It was empty.
Same as always at this hour.
Roen stepped onto the dirt and slowed, the shape of the conversation still sitting in his head, turning over in pieces.
It hadn't just spread.
It had already changed.