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Rong Lin smiled faintly. "I'll be waiting for you. I hope that day doesn't take too long. I'm afraid once you fall behind, you won't be able to catch up."
"Click!!" The sound of the closing door was his only reply.
Did I perhaps provoke him too much?
Maybe. Who knows? A little provocation isn't necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps it can stimulate Kakashi's² potential.
"Hey!! Uchiha Rong Lin³, we all came to see you!"
Suddenly, the ward door opened again. Rong Lin looked at the group of people standing at the doorway and was instantly stunned: "You guys, why are you all here?"
"Because sensei⁴ told us you were injured and needed to rest for a while, so everyone came," Kurenai Yuhi⁵, acting as the representative at the door, said with a smile, her cute red eyes squinting. She held some fruit in her arms, and behind her stood quite a few others: Guy⁶, Obito⁷, Rin⁸, and even some classmates he had exchanged a few words with at school had come.
"How about it, quite a surprise, right?" Kurenai smiled, putting down the fruit, and asked happily, "By the way, what did you say to Kakashi? That guy ran out with red eyes. I thought you two had fought."
"It certainly is a big surprise." Rong Lin smiled wryly and nodded. He had never thought anyone would come visit him when he was injured. Imprinting each face in the ward into his mind, Rong Lin smiled and explained:
"It's nothing, just told him my strength accidentally surpassed his, so he's very unwilling to accept it and wants to catch up, I suppose."
"No way, you got stronger again?!!"
Guy, who had originally planned to issue a challenge once Rong Lin recovered, instantly burst into tears. He was already a monster before getting stronger! After getting stronger, how am I supposed to live? Why does this goal feel increasingly distant?
"En." Rong Lin smiled and nodded, drawing laughter from the others.
The group of kids quickly gathered together curiously and started chatting. Rong Lin breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at Obito, and said with a smile, "Obito, what's wrong? Just say what's on your mind. The old you wasn't this hesitant, like a girl⁹."
"Cough cough!!" Rong Lin's words nearly choked Obito to death. His face flushed red, and he roared, "I'm not a girl!"
"Yes, yes, you're not. Then just say it."
"I heard you awakened the Sharingan¹⁰?"
"Who did you hear that from?" Rong Lin felt slightly surprised, looking at Obito in astonishment.
"Shh!!!" Obito quickly made a hushing gesture, using his body to block the view from others, and asked in a low voice, "Is it true?"
Seeing Obito's nervous appearance, Rong Lin understood. With Obito's abilities, it was fundamentally impossible for him to know this. But Obito still knew, so it was possible that...
The Uchiha. Don't underestimate the capabilities of these major clans, especially before Konoha started overtly targeting the Uchiha.
"Hehe~~~~" Letting out a mysterious laugh, Rong Lin closed his eyes, then abruptly opened them. Three tomoe hung inverted in his eyes¹¹, causing Obito to almost bite off his own tongue. Forcibly suppressing the pain, he glanced around. Seeing no one else had noticed, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"The Clan Head¹² told me, if you are willing, you can come visit the clan. The decisions made by the older generation, the new generation won't care too much about."
As expected. Hearing this, Rong Lin smiled happily. Sure enough, certain people received the news.
However, that being said, are some things so easily forgotten?
The old generation's Clan Head stepped down, the new Clan Head took office—Uchiha Fugaku¹³—and he thinks a few words are enough to make me go back?
There's no such cheap deal in the world.
"Convey my regards to the Uchiha Clan Head. Tell him I will consider it," Rong Lin replied with a smile that didn't reach his eyes¹⁴.
"Okay, I will relay the message."
Rong Lin referred to him as 'Uchiha Clan Head,' not 'Clan Head.' This indicated Rong Lin didn't consider himself an Uchiha. Obito felt slightly regretful but could only nod and promise to relay the message. It was just that Rong Lin's three tomoe had nearly shocked him into biting off his own tongue earlier. Now, Obito could only hide this shock deep within his heart.
"Obito, Rong Lin, what secrets are you two whispering about? Come chat together!!"
"Coming, Rin! I'll be right there!!"
At Rin's call, Obito instantly changed his expression. Rong Lin smiled and shook his head, watching them play around. Fortunately, everyone knew this was a hospital and didn't make too much noise.
Tsunade works quite fast. Soon, everyone left. Rong Lin fell asleep with a satisfied smile.
"Brat! Don't waste my painstaking efforts! I practically went door-to-door visiting! If you disappoint me, I'll beat you to death, you hear me!!!"
Thinking that she, the dignified Princess of Konoha¹⁵, actually had to visit the Uchiha and Hyuga for the sake of a brat who wasn't quite her disciple, Tsunade felt a headache coming on.
This made Tsunade unable to resist coming over to complain. Only then did Tsunade find it strange – why was she complaining to this brat?
"Tsunade!!"
Shaking her head, Tsunade quickly saw someone she really didn't want to see at this moment – Kato Dan!¹⁶
It had to be said, Rong Lin's previous words had directly caused their relationship to enter a stiff period. If the White Fang incident hadn't overshadowed it, who knows how long the rumors would have circulated.
Tsunade didn't understand how Kato Dan could say those things!!
And irritatingly, afterwards, when someone asked him, he actually admitted it! Admitted it! Admitted it! Although he only admitted it was drunken rambling.
However, that was enough to firmly nail him to the cross¹⁷.
"I don't want to see you right now. Let's both calm down. Can we not be childish like kids?"
Tsunade didn't want to face the tangled mess of emotions right now. For an older single woman¹⁸ like her, the biggest fear was a relationship breaking down. Tsunade didn't want to ruin the relationship she had finally found with her own hands.
Before this, the two had already argued several times. Of course, a few of those times were because of Rong Lin.
Kato Dan felt Tsunade cared too much about Rong Lin. Tsunade, however, thought it was normal because Rong Lin was her disciple. Back and forth, it naturally became a pretext for quarrels.