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A week had passed since the end of Volume Eleven.
A week of endless debate throughout Konoha:
Would the blond boy really defeat Hyūga Neji?
Who was the Kazekage hiding behind that veil?
And what would happen during the finals?
But on the evening of the seventh day, every argument came to an abrupt stop.
Because the screens outside the Art Store lit up once again.
…
"Move back a little! The kids in front can't see!"
"I've been here since four! I'm not moving!"
"Why are we even excited? We've known these events for months."
"Shut up. You've been here since three. I saw you."
"…That's not true. I was buying vegetables."
"In the plaza right in front of the screen?"
The streets were as crowded as every Saturday evening. Vendors had set up their stalls since noon, café owners had carried their chairs onto the sidewalks, and the Academy children had claimed the front row the only way they knew how—by sitting there since morning.
At Ichiraku Ramen, every seat was occupied as usual whenever an episode aired.
Minato and Kushina sat in their usual corner, surrounded by familiar faces from their generation.
"We're only on Episode Twenty."
Kushina counted on her fingers.
"And the manga is already at Volume Eleven. That means the anime is four whole volumes behind."
"That's exactly what makes it fun."
Minato replied.
"How? We already know everything that's going to happen!"
"That's precisely why."
The boy placed his manga volume on the table.
"The first time, you read because you want to know what happens."
"But now…"
"You watch to notice what you missed the first time."
Kushina stared at him for a long moment before turning back toward the screen.
"…Sometimes it really annoys me that you're always right."
…
On the balcony of a nearby house, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat quietly as thin smoke rose from his pipe.
Hajime sat to his right.
Asuma sat to his left.
On the rooftop of another building, Jiraiya sat alone with a bottle beside him.
In the third row of the crowd, Hatake Sakumo sat while little Kakashi stood on the bench in front of him so he could see over the adults' heads.
Meanwhile, the Umino couple had arrived early—as they had every week since Episode One—and taken the exact same seats.
…
00:05
00:04
00:03
00:02
00:01
00:00
The music exploded.
The screen burst into motion.
Naruto sprinted across the frame.
Sasuke appeared with his cold gaze.
Sakura.
Kakashi with his little orange book.
And thousands of voices throughout the streets rose together, singing along with the opening.
Then the title appeared.
Episode 020: A New Chapter Begins — The Chūnin Exams!
…
The episode started on a lighthearted note.
Team Seven had returned from the Land of Waves…
Only to return immediately to D-rank missions.
Cleaning trash out of the river.
Pulling weeds.
And chasing an escaped cat named Tora.
The streets erupted with laughter.
"The cat again!"
"Oh my God, Naruto's face after she scratched him!"
"They defeated Momochi Zabuza one episode ago… and now they're chasing a cat!"
"So this is the glorious life of a shinobi!"
"Honey, doesn't that cat look just like the Daimyo's wife's pet?"
A woman asked her husband.
"It is."
"…You mean she'll still be alive twenty years from now?"
"Looks that way."
"What an incredible cat."
Up on the balcony, Hiruzen chuckled quietly as he watched his elderly counterpart assigning D-rank missions to Team Seven with the exhausted face of a lifelong bureaucrat.
Even twenty years later…
I'm still assigning cat missions.
…
Then the tone of the episode changed.
The scene shifted to a meeting room.
The Konoha jōnin stood before the Hokage, each recommending their own team for the Chūnin Exams.
Kakashi.
Kurenai.
Asuma.
Then a voice suddenly rang out from the back of the room.
Iruka.
"They're still children! I taught them at the Academy! I know exactly what level they're at! It's far too early for them to take this exam!"
Without realizing it, the Umino couple tightened their hands.
"He's objecting to the Hokage."
Kohari whispered.
"In front of every jōnin."
"And he's only an Academy teacher."
Ikkaku replied, unable to hide something in his voice.
"Standing inside a room full of jōnin… and telling the Hokage no."
"…Do you know how many people in this village would do that?"
"I know exactly how many."
"That's why I'm watching him."
…
Then came the answer.
On the screen, Kakashi didn't raise his voice.
He didn't get angry.
He spoke with the calm tone of a man reading a report.
"Iruka-sensei, I understand how you feel."
"But they are no longer your students."
"…"
"They're my soldiers now."
Silence fell across the streets.
In the third row, little Kakashi said nothing.
The six-and-a-half-year-old stared silently at his older self on the screen.
He had stopped eating entirely.
Sakumo, meanwhile, wasn't watching the screen.
He was watching his son.
"Father."
"Yes?"
"That answer was correct."
"…"
"From a procedural standpoint, I mean. Once a student graduates from the Academy and is assigned to a jōnin, the former teacher's responsibility officially ends. My counterpart didn't say anything incorrect."
"No."
"He didn't."
Sakumo rested a hand on his son's shoulder.
"But he chose the harshest possible way to say something that was true."
"That was a choice, Kakashi."
"Not a rule."
The child thought quietly.
"…Why would someone choose that?"
"Because the harsh way is faster."
"And sometimes… a man grows too tired to keep explaining."
Because the man who said those words…
…had long since lost everyone who could explain anything to him.
Sakumo kept that final thought to himself.
…
At Ichiraku, Minato had stopped eating as well.
Months ago… when this man first appeared in the manga…
I couldn't understand why he seemed so cold.
I thought he was simply arrogant.
But every time he appears…
…it's almost as though he's deliberately trying to use as few words as possible.
The boy looked toward the masked face on the screen.
"They're my soldiers now."
…And now I'm hearing that line in the anime for the first time.
Strangely enough…
…it doesn't sound the same as it did when I read it in the manga.
…
Then came the final scene.
Konohamaru and his two friends ran through Konoha's streets…
The little boy crashed into something.
The camera slowly tilted upward.
A boy dressed entirely in black.
Purple paint across his face.
A large object wrapped in cloth strapped to his back.
Behind him stood a blonde girl with four ponytails and an enormous fan.
Both wore the Sand symbol on their forehead protectors.
…
At that exact moment…
Something strange happened throughout Konoha.
The crowd that had been laughing only moments ago…
fell silent.
It wasn't the silence of suspense.
It was the silence of people who had just seen familiar faces…
in a familiar place…
and knew exactly why they had come.
"…It's them."
"The three of them."
"They're the ones from Volume Eleven. The ones that jōnin mentioned… the ones who advanced to the finals according to plan."
"And now they're walking into our village…"
"…right before our eyes."
"…While the children in the street are laughing with them."
On the balcony, Hiruzen Sarutobi said nothing.
He watched three children walking through the illustrated streets of his village…
while the people of his own village watched them in complete silence.
The first time we read this scene…
…we wrote in our reports: A delegation from the Sand has arrived for the exams.
Today we're watching it again…
…but it isn't the same scene anymore.
The same shot.
The same children.
The same street.
Only what we know… has changed.
…
On the screen, the boy in black lifted Konohamaru by the collar.
A child's voice suddenly shouted from the front row.
"Leave him alone!!"
Several adults turned toward him.
Some smiled gently.
One placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
No one told him…
that everything happening on the screen had already ended months ago.
…
The image faded.
Words appeared.
Next Episode: Identify Yourself! Powerful New Rivals!
Airs in seven days.
…
People poured back into the streets.
The conversations immediately returned.
"The cat chase was the best scene. Don't argue."
"You're only saying that because you didn't understand the meeting scene."
"I understood it! They nominated the kids for the exams and Iruka objected. What else is there to understand?"
"Nothing."
"Absolutely nothing."
"Hey! Why did you say it like that?"
"See you all next week!"
…
In Sunagakure…
things were different.
An entire hall sat watching three of its own children—
children who had not even been born yet—
quietly walking through Konoha's gates.
"They're walking through Konoha's streets."
A jōnin in the back rows said.
"They're shopping in its stores."
"They're arguing with its children."
"And they're planning to invade it."
"…"
"One more month."
A third man finally spoke.
"One more month… and we'll learn what happens in that arena."
From his seat, Rasa remained silent.
He watched the girl with four ponytails pull her brother by the arm…
and once again felt that strange emotion…
one he still couldn't name.
…
Far away…
within the darkness…
a screen materialized in front of an old man.
Black Zetsu had crushed the eye and projected the recording, just as he did every week.
Madara watched the entire episode without saying a word.
Then…
during the meeting scene…
he stopped the recording.
"Replay it."
The image returned.
A masked man telling an Academy teacher that the students had become soldiers.
"…"
"Madara-sama?"
"This…"
the old man finally said in his rough voice,
"…is the logic upon which this village was built."
"Hashirama created a place that gathered children…"
"Then invented a method to turn them into tools…"
"And called it the Will of Fire."
"And that masked man says it aloud…"
"…in front of everyone."
"And no one objects."
Madara fell silent again.
The frozen image remained suspended before him.
And yet…
…one person did object.
An Academy teacher.
No famous clan.
No great name.
He stood inside a room full of jōnin…
…and said no.
And they didn't kill him.
The old man closed his eye.
"Continue the recording."
…
Back at the Art Store…
After the screen went dark and the plaza emptied, Rob sat behind the counter and opened the system interface.
[ Broadcast Report: Episode 020 ]
[ Registered viewers across the Five Great Villages: Highest number since broadcasting began ]
[ Note: Major spike in audience engagement at 19:40 ]
19:40.
The Sand delegation's entrance.
Rob smiled as he closed the interface.
You really are excellent readers.
He pulled the accounting ledger toward himself and began counting.
The drinks had sold out before the episode reached its halfway point.
The sweets had disappeared even earlier.
The vending machines had been emptied three separate times…
yet people had still been lining up until the very end.
The episode is shown for free.
The drinks aren't.
Ladies and gentlemen…
…this is the greatest business idea in the history of this world.
Rob looked at the final number written at the bottom of the page…
and felt the same warm satisfaction a dragon must feel while counting its treasure.
He switched off the lamp…
and stood up.
Twenty-nine days until Volume Twelve.
Seven days until the next episode.
And with each one…
…that day draws one step closer.
____________
Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
____________
Chapter 222: Volume Twelve Arrives!
Chapter 223: Stop Underestimating Me!
Chapter 224: Absolute Defense
Chapter 225: Hard Work… Is Just an Illusion!
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