The food at Happy Hot Springs was, as always, excellent.
Mid-meal, Drake received Meiko's familiar signal.
However, before he could even finish eating, Mikoto Uchiha rushed in.
"Mikoto?"
Seeing how hurried she was, Kushina Uzumaki immediately sensed something was wrong.
"Drake, I need to talk to you. Alone."
Mikoto didn't waste a second after sitting down.
"Alone?" Drake raised an eyebrow. "Is there something that can't be said here?"
That's asking for Meiko to misunderstand…
"That's right, Mikoto. We're sisters—whatever it is, we'll keep it secret," Kushina added.
"My mouth is sealed," Meiko smiled gently.
"I won't tell anyone either," Suzune Hyūga said softly.
Mikoto hesitated, glanced at everyone, then gritted her teeth and revealed the shameful truth.
"Fugaku… is broken."
"…Huh???"
The three women froze.
Drake, on the other hand, immediately understood—and nearly sprayed his food.
"Wait, Mikoto-san! Fugaku being 'broken'—what does that have to do with me?"
He straightened up, righteous and firm. This pot is not mine.
After all, Fugaku Uchiha's injury was caused by Danzō Shimura using Wind Release.
If anyone's to blame, go find Danzō.
"Drake… what do you mean by 'broken'?" Kushina asked carefully.
"People can break?" Suzune looked confused.
Only Meiko seemed to get it, covering her mouth in shock.
Pressed by the others, Mikoto's face burned as she forced out the explanation:
"Fugaku's… thing was cut off."
Kushina: ⊙﹏⊙
Suzune: ⊙?
Meiko: "…I knew it."
Silence.
Kushina didn't know how to comfort her friend.
What she didn't understand was—why Mikoto was here looking for Drake.
"Drake," Mikoto said at last, "you helped fix Obito's shoulder, didn't you?"
"Oh—so that's what this is about." Drake finally understood.
So she wanted him to… install a replacement?
You really dare to dream big.
"Mikoto-san," Drake said seriously, "I didn't reconnect Obito's shoulder. I only stabilized the rejection. Do you understand the difference?"
"So… it really won't work?" Mikoto's hope collapsed.
"Obito's shoulder wasn't reattached by Drake," Kushina backed him up.
"I heard from Minato—it was Madara who did it."
"There is one way," Drake said after a moment, stroking his chin.
Mikoto's eyes lit up. "Tell me!"
"Find one of the Legendary Three—Tsunade—and have her reattach Fugaku's… uh… piece."
The room fell even quieter.
Mikoto looked even more defeated.
Kushina shook her head helplessly.
"Leaving aside whether we could even find Lady Tsunade," Mikoto said bitterly,
"even if we did—this would never happen."
"Yeah… asking Lady Tsunade to reattach a man's that—Drake, only you could think of that," Kushina muttered, rubbing her forehead.
"Then I've got nothing," Drake shrugged.
Mikoto stood, eyes lingering on Drake.
"Drake… could you walk with me for a bit?"
"Sorry—can't." Drake refused outright.
He already had a reservation with Meiko. No time for side quests.
Watching Mikoto leave, Drake felt nothing in particular.
"Mikoto's future won't be easy," Meiko sighed.
"I don't see how it's any different," Suzune said honestly.
Meiko chuckled.
"You seem to understand more than you think."
The Next Morning
Drake woke up inside Meiko's embrace.
The moment he opened his eyes, he shot up and bolted out the door.
"Huh?!"
Anko Mitarashi stared in shock as Drake ran out.
"What are you—?!"
"Anko, looking for me?" Drake yawned.
"Minato-sensei wants you. I figured you'd be here," she said, craning her neck toward the room.
"I see."
Drake slung an arm around Anko's neck and walked outside.
"Why are you holding me like this?!" Anko's face turned bright red.
"Didn't you hold me like this before?" Drake asked innocently.
"That's different!"
Outside the Village
Drake spotted Minato Namikaze waiting by the road.
"Drake, there's a mission."
"ANBU?" Drake paused.
"No. I'll explain on the way."
Minato tossed him breakfast, and they set off immediately.
"Sensei, what mission is it?" Drake asked once they were on the road.
"The Third sent me to the Land of Grass to negotiate with Iwagakure," Minato replied.
"I named you as my escort."
"So that's it." Drake nodded.
Danzō failed—now it was Minato's turn.
"There's something strange," Minato continued.
"After breaching the border, the Iwa forces suddenly withdrew."
Drake already knew and wasn't surprised.
"Even stranger," Minato added, "the Cloud forces withdrew as well."
"Oh?" Drake stroked his chin. "That is odd."
Iwa pulling back could be a feint—but Cloud doing the same?
That changed things.
"So our first step is to find out why they withdrew," Minato said.
"Then we negotiate."
"And what exactly are we negotiating?" Drake asked.
"An alliance with Iwagakure," Minato said gravely.
Drake glanced at his status panel:
Name: Drake
Age: 12
Strength: 7328 [Sage-level]
Constitution: 9216 [Sage-level]
Agility: 742 (×) [Super]
Spirit: 10240 [Sage-level Immunity]
Chakra: 27526
Techniques: None
Ninjutsu:Chibaku Tensei (S+ Rank) [Quality Evolution]
Abilities:
Divine Wood Release Mastery (Trait: Loyalty)
Ultimate Perception (100,000 m)
Overall Evaluation:Genin
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 60 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/SwipeSage