"What a coincidence. Didn't expect to run into you here."
"Yeah, small world."
When Yuhara saw Kotoha and Shikamaru, he walked over with a casual smile. Kotoha just gave a slight shrug—neither warm nor cold.
Yuhara was already used to that attitude. What really had his attention now was Shikamaru.
Aside from big-name protagonists like Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi, the original story had loads of side characters who were easy to like.
Nara Shikamaru was definitely one of Yuhara's favorites. In some ways, he reminded him of Jiraiya.
Both looked totally unreliable on the surface—but when it mattered most, they were the ones you could truly depend on.
That kind of contradiction gave them serious charisma. And Shikamaru's future achievements? Seriously impressive.
The guy ended up marrying the Kazekage's sister and even became the head of the Administrative Department—basically inheriting his father's job.
But that was all stuff for the future. Yuhara didn't know how things would play out now. What mattered was the present.
Yuhara clearly remembered—Shikamaru was one of the first people to truly acknowledge Naruto. They were close.
And Yuhara? He was pretty interested in Naruto right now—or more accurately, the Nine-Tails sealed inside him.
"What's with that look in your eyes?" Kotoha raised an eyebrow at Yuhara's stare. "You're gonna scare my little brother if you keep staring at him like that."
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something." Yuhara quickly snapped out of it and smiled. "Something kind of interesting."
"You're so weird." Kotoha rolled her eyes, then gave Shikamaru a light smack on the head. "Go run off and play. Seriously, your dad is such a slacker—he made me babysit you."
"Oh." Shikamaru rubbed his head but clearly wasn't happy about it.
Still, no matter how annoyed he was, he didn't dare talk back. He didn't even grumble—just turned and walked away.
Yuhara found the whole thing pretty amusing. Maybe this was why Shikamaru always said women were such a pain—Kotoha probably bullied him into it.
Yuhara gave Kotoha a quick glance and wisely decided not to comment.
He'd always wanted to bop Shikamaru's little pineapple head, but never had the chance. Watching Kotoha do it? Weirdly satisfying.
Interestingly, Kotoha herself didn't have the classic Nara pineapple hair. Now that Yuhara thought about it, neither did Shikamaru's mom.
Maybe that iconic hairstyle was a male-only thing in the Nara clan?
"What are you zoning out about now?" Kotoha noticed Yuhara staring at Shikamaru's back. "You're acting super weird today."
"Weird?" Yuhara blinked and shrugged. "I don't think I'm being that weird."
"Oh, really?" Kotoha shook her head, then suddenly lowered her voice and muttered, "You've got guts, I'll give you that—killing people inside the village. Are you out of your mind?"
"Come on, they attacked me first," Yuhara whispered back, his eyes scanning the crowd.
There were plenty of people around, but none were close enough to overhear. That put him at ease, but he still kept his voice low. He didn't want anyone listening in.
"I warned you this village wasn't stable. Do you know who it was?" Kotoha asked as she walked ahead, glancing around cautiously.
"Yeah. Even though the Third blamed outsiders, those guys came after me because I interacted with Naruto."
Yuhara let out a light chuckle and dropped a line that made Kotoha freeze for a second.
"But I think their real goal was to provoke the Uchiha. I know who they were—probably Danzo's people."
"So you knew. Then why didn't you listen to me?" Kotoha frowned.
She knew Yuhara was sharp, so she wasn't surprised by his answer. But she was clearly frustrated.
"Wait... if you knew, and you stayed... you're not planning something insane, are you?"
Her voice dropped even lower, and her expression turned deadly serious.
She stopped walking and stared at him. Then, with her head lowered and hair covering her face, she added quietly:
"If that's what you're planning, maybe we should keep our distance. I don't want to get dragged into anything crazy.
And you should think twice. Your clan being where it is now already proves how far they've fallen. Just take my advice."
With that, Kotoha fell silent. Yuhara gave her a helpless smile.
Of course he knew how badly the Uchiha had been mismanaged. He did force Fugaku to step down, after all.
But there was no way he'd say any of that. Not until everything had been settled.
As he watched Kotoha walk away, he didn't follow. Uchiha affairs were sensitive. He understood why she didn't want to get involved.
But then she suddenly stopped again, making Yuhara curious. He walked up and asked, "What is it? Something else?"
"Not really. Just remembered someone asked me to pass on a message."
Kotoha glanced around discreetly, checking for eavesdroppers—or even bugs—before finally speaking.
She kept her head low and barely moved her lips, speaking just loud enough for Yuhara to hear.
"Someone said the atmosphere in the village is getting strange. Some unit movements are happening very quietly. And it seems something's going on inside your clan too.
So they wanted to warn you—your situation isn't good. Everyone's still part of Konoha. If things escalate, it won't end well for anyone. Some things need to be thought through carefully."
Then, Kotoha looked up and smiled brightly.
She smacked Yuhara hard on the shoulder and said loudly, "Ugh, you're so hard to talk to! I don't even know what you're saying. Is this about that dinner thing? Whatever, we'll talk later—I've got stuff to do!"
Without waiting for a reply, she turned and walked away—for real this time, without stopping again.
Yuhara stood where he was, quietly falling into deep thought.
(End of Chapter)