Chapter 223: Bodyguard of the Ninja World's White Moonlight
Beside him, Ibiki crossed his arms, his sharp eyes narrowing as he analyzed her features. "It really is A-Mu," he stated, his voice carrying an absolute certainty.
Stelle mentally applauded him. Decent insight. As expected of the future Interrogation Department Captain, his analytical reflexes were already razor-sharp. She offered them a faint, polite smile and gave a small nod. "Yes. I am A-Mu."
"What? You're A-Mu?!"
Ebisu practically bolted out of his chair. He leaned over the desk, his dark glasses slipping down his nose as his face stopped mere inches from hers. He had been drowning in guilt over the previous accident, half-expecting her to be permanently disfigured. Seeing his classmate sitting there without a single blemish on her fair skin caused the heavy knot of discomfort in his chest to vanish without a trace.
"You're too close." A pale hand suddenly clamped onto Ebisu's face, shoving him backward without an ounce of hesitation. Kakashi didn't even look up as he pushed the boy away.
The little brat only then realized how inappropriately close he had been. His face flushed a brilliant tomato red, and he spun on his heel, sprinting back to his own seat in embarrassment.
Everyone in the vicinity was showering her with praise, except for Asuma. Although the Sarutobi heir took a few extra glances and nodded along with the nearby classmates that she was indeed cute, he immediately pivoted toward Kurenai. Leaning in with a confident smirk, he declared, "But in my heart, Kurenai is still the most beautiful."
He really knows how to play the game, Stelle mused dryly.
Kurenai merely rolled her eyes, shooting him a thoroughly unimpressed glare.
During the morning session, Obito achieved a rare miracle: he wasn't late. He bounded into the classroom early, and the second his pants hit the chair, he opened his chatterbox. He enthusiastically bombarded Stelle with every minor, interesting experience he had gone through over the past few days. Once he started, there was no stopping him; the boy looked like he wanted to share his entire soul with her. He only finally snapped his mouth shut when the instructor walked in.
Gradually, Stelle's new life began to stabilize into a comfortable rhythm.
Every morning, she walked to the academy with Kakashi. At noon, she shared lunch with Kakashi and Obito. After the meal, the two boys would huddle over a ninjutsu scroll together; whenever Kakashi hit a roadblock in comprehension, Stelle would casually lean over and explain the theory to him.
In the evening, she accompanied Kakashi to Sakumo's ramen shop for dinner. Afterward, Kakashi would head home to focus on his grueling cultivation routine, while Stelle stayed behind to help manage the bustling shop.
Whenever Obito wasn't busy training, he would also show up at the ramen shop to find her, enthusiastically tying on an apron to serve steaming bowls of noodles and furiously wipe down tables.
The ramen shop's business was exceptionally good. In fact, calling it 'good' was an understatement—it was downright explosive.
The only catch was that the customers slurping down noodles were all Stelle's old acquaintances.
Case in point: currently occupying the prime seats were Dan, Tsunade, Shinku, and Kiyokazu.
Don't be fooled by Dan and Tsunade's casual, continuous chatter; their sharp eyes flicked toward her from time to time. How terrifying was a veteran ninja's observation skill? They could process a target's entire physical state, breathing rhythm, and micro-expressions in a fraction of a second. These constant, sweeping glances were no different from military searchlights scanning a perimeter.
Shinku was slightly better. With Sakumo, the legendary former Anbu Captain, actively working the kitchen, he didn't dare act too brazenly. He simply stole two quick peeks before lowering his head, eating his noodles with rigid, focused discipline.
Stelle happily let the three of them stare as much as they pleased. To avoid being directly linked to her past life as the 'Fourth Hokage' while still relying on her identical face to harvest a massive wave of mood values, her current innocent persona was already locked in. It was absolutely foolproof.
The only problem was Kiyokazu. The Uchiha was a bit reckless, staring at her with a completely dazed, heartbroken expression. Who knew what tragic memories were playing in his head, but his dark eyes were already rimmed with red.
When Stelle approached to set a fresh bowl of noodles in front of him, Kiyokazu seemed to snap out of a hallucination. His hand jerked violently, knocking the heavy ceramic bowl over.
A wave of scalding, oil-slicked broth flipped directly toward the back of Stelle's hand.
Kiyokazu's expression shattered. Moving with the blinding speed of an elite Uchiha, his hand shot out to intercept the spill. He successfully shielded her, but the boiling soup splashed heavily across his own skin, instantly burning his hand a bright, angry red.
Stelle blinked....Our relationship isn't that close yet, why are you reacting so strongly? You're not my Senior Brother.
Speaking of which, where did that guy hide? He was supposed to be a background character, yet he's not even putting in the bare minimum effort. Hurry up and come out so I can earn some pocket change.
Sakumo quickly strode out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel before gently pulling her aside.
"It's okay, A-Mu. Don't worry about this, go back and rest first. Uncle will handle things here," Sakumo said, his voice a calming rumble.
"But... his hand..." Stelle pointed at the Uchiha.
"I'll handle it. Be good." Sakumo patted the top of her head affectionately, ushering the young girl out the door.
The moment she was gone, the warmth in Sakumo's eyes vanished. He frowned, his gaze turning sharp as he looked at the Uchiha. "Kiyokazu, if you keep losing control like this, don't come back. My shop doesn't welcome this kind of disruption."
"Sorry. I lost my composure. I'll control myself." Kiyokazu rubbed his brow, letting out a heavy, ragged sigh. No one knew exactly what ghosts he was fighting in his mind.
Beside him, Tsunade crossed her arms, her tone carrying a sharp warning.
"Senior Kiyokazu, that's enough. No one likes being treated as a replacement for someone else. Even if you have thoughts, restrain yourself. She's a delicate civilian girl with a completely different personality from the Fourth Hokage; you're going to terrify her."
Kiyokazu didn't offer a rebuttal. He simply stood up, his posture stiff, and walked silently out of the ramen shop.
Kaito, who had been waiting by the door, hurriedly slapped some ryo on the counter to pay the bill and chased after him. "Elder Kiyokazu, where are you going?"
"The cemetery. Go buy some offerings for me."
Meanwhile, Stelle strolled alone through the darkening streets toward the Hatake compound. As she walked, her senses picked up on the surrounding environment. Good grief, how many people are hidden on the eaves on both sides of the street? Aren't they afraid of collapsing the civilian roofs?
Hizashi, you literally have the Byakugan. Can't you just stand comfortably in your own room and use it openly? You had to squeeze onto a roof too? Is roof-squatting really that fun?
News traveled terrifyingly fast in this village. It had only been three days, and it felt like the entirety of Konoha had caught wind of her existence.
It seemed her past persona as the Fourth Hokage had really managed things perfectly. It wasn't in vain that she had poured her blood, sweat, and tears into making Konoha stronger and bigger; this current wave of harvesting emotional points felt absolutely fantastic.
Just as she turned a quiet corner, a vibrant green shadow rushed toward her like a fired cannonball. This was the terrifying speed of a Jonin running at full tilt. In the blink of an eye, the figure was right in front of her, carrying enough momentum to send her flying into the next district.
With a screech of rubber sandals against dirt, the green shadow slammed on the brakes, stopping perfectly just inches away. Who else could it be but Might Duy?
After getting a clear look at her face, Duy let out a strangled cry, his knees buckling as he flopped dramatically onto the ground.
"Father, what's wrong? You're too slack today, letting me catch up to you!"
A smaller green shadow chased from behind, skidding to a halt while panting heavily. Upon seeing Stelle, the boy instantly gave her a vigorous thumbs up, flashing a set of blindingly bright white teeth.
"Yo, it's A-Mu! Want to join us for a session of youthful cultivation? Let's run a hundred laps around Konoha!"
"No... no thank you."
Stelle shielded her eyes from the glare of those teeth, waving her hand awkwardly as she quickly slipped past them.
In the distance, the sound of Duy sitting in the dirt and wailing loudly echoed down the street.
"Father, youth allows no slack! Even if you lose a race, you shouldn't cry!" Guy shouted passionately.
"A-da!" A green shadow was suddenly kicked flying, sailing through the evening sky like a shooting star.
On the remainder of her walk back to Kakashi's house, she was openly observed by several more waves of people.
Everyone naturally assumed that a young girl who wasn't even a Genin wouldn't possess any sensory abilities, so they watched her without bothering to hide their presence. There were even a few bold Anbu operatives pretending to be casual passersby while still wearing their porcelain animal masks. It was a truly terrible disguise.
When Stelle finally reached the Hatake courtyard, she paused. Standing proudly on top of Might Duy's head—who had somehow beaten her there—was the Nine-Tails. The small, chibi-sized fox currently wore a look of absolute, unadulterated shock.
"It really looks like her. I almost thought I saw that bastard Stelle who came to capture me back then," the fox muttered.
Duy had thick, anime-style tears streaming down his face like waterfalls. "It must be the reincarnation of the Fourth Hokage. The Fourth Hokage has returned to us!"
"Idiot, I told you it's not. The chakra attributes are completely different," the Nine-Tails scolded, smacking Duy's forehead with a tiny paw.
"No, it is! It must be! They look so much alike, how can it not be?!" Duy wailed, practically dying of grief right there in the dirt.
He didn't listen to a single logical word the fox said. Angered by the human's sheer density, the Nine-Tails stomped hard on Duy's head a few times before leaping gracefully onto the eaves and vanishing into the shadows.
It had promised itself never to make friends with humans again, and it intended to keep that promise. It was much better to just go back to its comfortable fox den.
Stelle only managed to help at the ramen shop for a single week before she had to quit.
The problem was the constant influx of ninja customers. They would walk in, catch sight of her face, and immediately freeze in shock. Then, they would stand up, their backs ramrod straight, wearing expressions of absolute reverence—as if they were standing before the Fourth Hokage herself.
The Anbu were the worst offenders. With their posture so rigidly perfect, they didn't look like tired patrons waiting for a bowl of pork ramen; they looked like operatives ready to drop to one knee and deliver an S-rank intelligence report.
Sakumo grew concerned that the village's bizarre behavior might give the young girl a complex, so he simply ordered her to go straight home with Kakashi after school and banned her from working the floor.
Stelle had no choice but to reluctantly agree. Using her face to farm mood values in that shop had been incredibly easy—it was literally free points falling from the sky.
But wandering the streets normally produced roughly the same effect, so she decided to just endure the minor inconvenience.
In the days that followed, Stelle discovered a particularly entertaining phenomenon.
Kakashi possessed a surprisingly poisonous tongue. From time to time, he would casually blurt out a deadpan sentence or two that would instantly make Obito lose his mind with rage. Naturally, the two boys would immediately start throwing hands.
Their auras were naturally incompatible; they were the very definition of arch-rivals.
Every time Stelle sat back and watched them at each other's throats, she found it highly amusing. Hot-blooded shonen worlds always produced these intense rivalries, but watching it live felt a bit like watching an old bickering married couple.
The only thing that caused Stelle genuine, agonizing pain was lunchtime. Because every single day, a steaming jar of pitch-black medicinal sludge would be placed right next to her hand.
Senju Tetsuya had actually prescribed her a full two months' worth of this vile concoction. It was going to be the death of her.
Every morning, the very first thing Sakumo did upon waking was brew this medicine, terrified she might miss a single dose. After brewing it to a thick consistency, he would seal it away in a scroll. At noon, Kakashi would unseal the scroll, producing the still-steaming bowl. She was strictly ordered to finish every drop before she was allowed to touch her lunch.
And so, sitting under the shade of a tree, Stelle stared down at the black liquid in her cup, genuinely wishing she could just vanish on the spot.
She glanced to her left. Kakashi was staring at her, seriously supervising her intake. His instincts were just as sharp as his father's, and he had already sensed her deep desire to chuck the bowl into the bushes.
She glanced to her right. Obito was happily munching on a rice ball, aggressively urging her to chug the medicine so he could reward her with a juicy chicken leg from his bento.
With four intense eyes locked onto her, she couldn't even secretly dump the liquid into her system space.
Stelle sighed internally....I've brought this suffering upon myself.
"A-Mu, be good, drink the medicine," Kakashi urged, his tone softening slightly as he noticed her hesitation.
Wait, is it really appropriate for you to steal the exact words your dad uses to coax me? Are you treating me like a toddler?
Resigned to her bitter fate, she pinched her nose and gulped down the jar of sludge in one agonizing go. The moment the cup left her lips, she snatched a piece of candy right out of Kakashi's open palm, aggressively stuffing it into her mouth to neutralize the horrific, earthy bitterness.
After surviving the medicine, she felt entirely drained of her will to live. Not wanting to deal with the two bickering boys for the rest of the hour, Stelle abandoned them, running over to where Kurenai and Rin were eating to huddle with the girls and absorb the local academy gossip.
There was a girl in their class named An from the Senju clan who was an absolute master of gathering intel. The rumors she shared were always top-tier entertainment.
For instance, a senior from the Nara clan had developed a crush on a civilian girl but was too cowardly to confess. His brilliant plan? He used the Shadow Possession Jutsu to forcefully control a couple of thugs into staging a fake robbery so he could swoop in and play the hero. In the end, a random Uchiha passing by took the situation seriously, beat up the thugs, exposed the Nara boy's jutsu, and ended up dating the girl himself.
Then there was a girl from the Yamanaka clan who used the Mind Transfer Jutsu to possess her own best friend, forcing the friend to confess to a boy from the Sarutobi clan. It turned out the two actually had mutual crushes on each other but were too shy to say it. Now, the entire class hailed the Yamanaka girl as the ultimate matchmaker.
Stelle rested her chin on her hands, listening with sparkling eyes. The drama was so rich she was half-tempted to permanently change her seat to sit next to An just to hear this premium gossip every single day.
Of course, the moment she voiced this thought out loud, her original seatmate's face darkened considerably...
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