Chapter 1009

"Is that so? Then I want to go shopping with Rio-nee. Miye, do you want to come?"

Chigong Oniri hugged Haramura Rio's arm tightly. From her reaction, one could tell she had long planned the next part of the itinerary, and this arrangement absolutely did not include Miye.

Jiliang Miye sighed; how could she not know what her own teammates were like?

"I won't go. In the afternoon, I'm planning to accompany Xiaomeng to the Konoha Hospital. Young Yuanzi has ordered us to go receive a scroll containing new medical ninjutsu."

"I don't really have anywhere I want to go, but I don't want to waste time at the inn either. How about you take me along, Riri?" There is always one honest person who pops up at a time like this without reading the room—right now, Zhao Afu eagerly volunteered for that role.

It was still Fujikawa Linnaizi who couldn't stand watching any longer. Before Chigong Oniri could reveal her people-eating gaze, she grabbed Zhao Afu by the scruff of his neck like a dog snatching a stray and yanked him away.

"This afternoon, you're coming with me. There are things I need you to do."

"Hmph, Afu, you who can't read the room—just wait and see how I deal with you later!"

Fujikawa Linnaizi's face remained impassive, but inwardly she was thinking viciously.

"How nice. Since everyone has already made plans, let's do it that way. We'll regroup at the inn in the evening."

Konoha Hospital, a certain hospital room.

"The familiar ceiling." Having lost consciousness due to activating a higher-level Sharingan, Uchiha San finally emerged from her brain's self-protection and woke from her coma. The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was the white ceiling of the Konoha Hospital ward. In a daze, her thoughts drifted back to the day of the clan's massacre—the two situations were startlingly similar.

Only this time, she no longer had any clan members left to lose. She recalled that final fleeting glimpse.

By now, the entire clan compound had probably already turned to ashes. In other words, the only home left to her was gone as well.

"You're awake, San."

"Kakashi-sensei?"

The one who pushed the door open was Hatake Kakashi. In fact, during this period, to ensure Uchiha San's safety, Kakashi had stayed at the ward door acting as a guard. Having heard some movement just now, he knew San had already woken up, which meant the evolution of the Sharingan was complete. From now on, he'd have to be even more careful.

"Naruko, she…."

"Don't worry, the battle is already over, and Naruko only suffered some minor injuries. She and Sakura will come over in a bit, and you can chat then." Although San still didn't seem to have much energy, she had at least woken up. Relieved, Kakashi prepared to immediately report the situation to the Third.

"It's already been so many days. I'll go buy you some light food." Without waiting for San to say anything more, Kakashi left the ward with a Body Flicker Technique.

San quietly leaned back against the hospital bed and turned her head toward the window. What she could see was the Konoha village looking "brand new" in certain places.

"Still, it's a little different after all."

Even Uchiha San herself did not notice that her left eye had unconsciously shifted into an active Sharingan state, and in the blink of an eye, it spun rapidly with a tendency to evolve once more.

Meanwhile, Naruko and Sakura were heading to the hospital to visit San as usual. However, because they had concentrated on completing the last few reconstruction commissions yesterday, it was only now, at high noon with the sun blazing, that the two of them arrived late.

"Can't be helped that we overslept. Sakura, follow me—today I'll take you on a shortcut." Seeing that it was already past the time Kakashi-sensei had set for the shift change of the caretakers, Naruko the little fox began scheming again.

"A shortcut? You mean—?" Upon hearing this unreliable suggestion, Haruno Sakura's face turned a bit awkward.

"That's right, exactly that one—you mean—!" Naruko pointed at a narrow passage sandwiched between two residential areas, some distance from the bustling residential district.

"For ninjas, something like this is practically designed just for us."

"There's no way I can agree with this twisted logic of yours!" Although she was protesting, seeing Naruko walk in first, Haruno Sakura gritted her teeth and followed.

One had to admit that even in Konoha, this kind of small alley that usually didn't have many visitors was rarely trodden and twisted in every direction, with forks and dead ends everywhere. If one wasn't careful, one could easily get lost. Fortunately, both of them were ninjas—when they really couldn't tell the direction, they could climb up to the rooftops to confirm it.

"Um, Sakura, did you hear any strange sounds?" Perhaps because of the Nine-Tails, Naruko's hearing was far sharper than others'. She seemed to have heard some kind of intermittent groaning and a faint heartbeat?

"What are you talking about? How could there be in a place like this!" Sakura, walking alongside, replied without a care. Suddenly she felt as though she had stepped on something soft, and with a leap, she retreated several meters.

"Th-there really is something! I think I just stepped on it."

"Nngh?" Naruko drew close, crouched down, and carefully examined the "thing" Sakura had stepped on. She could confirm that the strange sound she had heard earlier was coming from it.