Konoha.
Ichiraku Ramen.
The moon hung full in the sky, bathing the village in pale light. Compared to a few days ago, the streets were quieter, the earlier excitement long gone.
The smell of broth filled the ramen stand, soothing and warm, the clink of chopsticks almost drowning out the distant bustle of the streets.
"Sigh….to think all that training would end up being for nothing." muttered Ryota as he scooped up a mouthful of noodles with his chopsticks, chewing with some force.
Kanzaki Ryota, Isagi's squad member and someone who was scheduled to fight Naruto in the final exam, taking Isagi's warning about Naruto seriously, had devoted himself to training for the last ten days.
But the announcement that the chunin exams had been postponed made all that effort seemingly go to waste.
Mei Harumi, sitting to his left, rolled her eyes at his words and, while slurping up her favorite tonkatsu ramen, spoke. "It's not for nothing if you got stronger, improving helps one way or the other."
Ryota just hummed at her words and continued digging in, though gazing at Isagi sitting to his right from the corner of his eye. "Why are you so down? Were you looking forward to fight the Uchiha that much?"
Isagi, unlike the past gatherings, hadn't talked much tonight and was just eating his ramen with a slightly annoyed look on his face.
"It's nothing…I'm fine." Isagi said, shaking his head and picking up the bowl to gulp down the remaining broth.
"Hehehe." Mei giggled, her hands on her stomach, and spoke with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Thank god we know you are a man cause usually only woman have days where nothing new happened but they are feeling down and irritable."
"Hahaha."
Ryota, who was feeling frustrated at not being able to fight, couldn't contain himself at her words, laughing out loud with Mei, while Isagi just gave the duo a speechless look.
"I wish it was this easy and funny to tell I wanted third hokage dead." Isagi hardly felt bad at not being able to fight Sasuke, but the unpredictability his actions had caused was really weighing on his mind, and the biggest worry was the possible survival of Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Oh, thank god there is some space to dine in today."
The trio continued their meal when suddenly a somewhat heavy voice from outside flowed in, three figures pushing away the curtain and entering.
"Well, its expected~ with exams being postponed not many people around anymore to occupy every eating spot in the village." replied Kurenai to Asuma, pushing out the stool a little to take a seat.
"I guess this postponement worked in your favor Kakashi." Asuma, taking a seat, turned to the silver-haired man sitting in the far-right corner with a mask covering his lower face. "You look so down from just a few days of training."
They knew Kakashi had taken Sasuke to train especially for the final exam, and it was supposed to last the whole month, but the cancelling of exams and the hokage's orders halted the training, bringing them back.
"It's not like I can rest and sleep as much as I like back in the village." Kakashi's tone was weary, and it contained a hint of worry as well.
His words brought a serious look to Asuma's and Kurenai's faces.
"Orochimaru huh." muttered both of them, as they knew soon a grand sweep would start in which all or most jonin would have to participate. A sweep planned to find Orochimaru and other dangerous individuals in the village, tough work ahead.
The reminder of what was coming dampened any further conversation. They ordered their favorite ramen and, while waiting, their gazes naturally drifted — eventually settling on the three genin nearby.
But their eyes quickly found the common focus point, the curly-haired boy at the other corner with attractive facial features.
"Your squad is under Hiruma's, right?" The trio, who were enjoying the rich and savory broth, had their attention taken by the sudden question, noticing a man with tanned skin and a heavy beard, donning a jonin jacket, looking at them with interest in his eyes.
The three, especially Mei and Ryota, were taken aback by this sudden question from a jonin, though Ryota quickly composed himself and answered. "Yes Jonin Asuma, we were lucky enough to be under his guidance."
There were quite a few jonin in the village whom most shinobi recognized, and the son of the third hokage was one of them.
Sato Hiruma was a jonin from the same generation as Asuma and the rest and was also their jonin instructor, not as famous as others of that generation but still with some reputation in the village.
"We gotta admit, you guys are the biggest surprise Hiruma has ever produced. I mean not everyday you see an instructor having someone stronger than himself in his squad." As Kurenai said that, her red eyes darted towards Isagi, who was taken aback a little at her direct words.
But Isagi quickly composed himself. "No. There are still a lot of things we need to learn from him."
"I don't doubt that." interjected Kakashi as, gazing straight into Isagi's eyes, he added. "Hiruma still needs to teach about honesty and hiding nothing from one's comrades…especially things which revealed would only protect them better."
His words fell, and the looks on Mei and Ryota's faces changed immediately, turning a little pale as they stole side glances at Isagi, knowing fully well what Kakashi meant.
Mei and Ryota were not fools. They could pin some increase in strength to a month and a half of training, but a drastic increase in strength which Isagi showed was impossible to achieve in such a short span of time, and they had quite a while back reached the conclusion that Isagi had hidden his strength in the past.
They didn't harbor any ill feelings for him due to this, as they had seen multiple times Isagi on a mission presenting himself as bait to protect them. They knew him enough to know something must have prevented him from revealing it.
"Ha!" To the surprise of everyone, Isagi didn't show any anger at these direct strong words and chuckled, his lips widening to show a wide smile, words leaving his mouth. "I remember someone saying "Go left and nothing is right. Go right and nothing is left."
"Some things can't be chosen between. Not until there's a better way."
*Sigh…why did I awaken my memories so late? I wouldn't be needing profound words to use as excuses.*
While everyone was taken aback by his deep words, Isagi knew inwardly that he didn't really mean them. He never hid his strength and had only gotten stronger after his memories awakened, but this was something he could tell no other soul.
He knew the thought of hiding his strength would only get louder as he grew stronger, and this was something he had to live with and carry alone.
BOOM-!
BOOM-!
The silence in the ramen stand was suddenly broken as loud explosion sounds resounded throughout the village, followed by ground shaking and wind rustling, the faces of the jonin, Isagi, Ryota, and Mei changing.