After the gathering ended, everyone walked along the streets of Konohagakure.
Uzuki Yūgao patted her slightly overstuffed belly.
"Ahh, I'm so full. If there were no war, it would be great to be able to happily eat meat like this every day."
"Hey, Makoto-nii, what would it take to make war disappear? If it were you, there would definitely be a way, right?"
Over these past few years together, Higashino Makoto was usually the one who spoke the least. Yet whenever anyone had a question, they always liked to ask him.
Because he was always able to give answers that people could accept, he naturally became the core of the four-person group.
In truth, being the leader of a few little kids was something Higashino Makoto found rather embarrassing. Fortunately, none of them were childish fools, and he genuinely needed friends his own age by his side, if only to put his parents at ease.
He could be precocious, intelligent, and self-disciplined—but he could not be abnormal or withdrawn, turning into a problem child.
Usually, Gekkō Hayate and Uchiha Shisui were fine; at least the questions they asked were fairly ordinary. Only Uzuki Yūgao, that little girl, was always asking strange questions.
However, since they were currently in a time of war, this question happened to strike directly at everyone's point of curiosity. It drew the attention of the other two as well, even including Hayate's classmate, Tsubaki.
No one liked war, yet ironically, everyone in the shinobi world believed that ninja were born for war.
Higashino Makoto smiled slightly and looked at Uzuki Yūgao as he asked in return, "In this world, where there is day, there is night; where there are men, there are women—just as where there is war, there will be peace."
"So tell me, what do you think would happen if the world only had daytime, or if it only had men?"
Shisui and the other two fell into thought. Uzuki Yūgao, having an 'external brain,' was unwilling to waste her own brainpower and immediately pressed on, "What would happen?"
"If there were only daytime, the world would be continuously heated by the sun until it melted, and all life would be wiped out."
"If there were only men, things would be a bit better—humanity simply wouldn't be able to reproduce and would go extinct, but other living creatures could still survive just fine. Do you understand now?"
"Even though I don't really understand, it feels like you're saying war will never disappear. Hey—am I right, Makoto-nii?"
"More or less. That's not something you should be thinking about right now. Just go back and train properly."
"Oh, I got it!"
"Good. Come on—let's go to school."
Higashino Makoto cut off the topic. The three of them—Gekkō Hayate included—didn't think too much of it. But Uchiha Shisui was different; in his captivating, large eyes, it seemed there were even more questions he didn't understand.
There were no afternoon classes, but there was a graduation-class celebration ceremony, and Higashino Makoto and the others could go as well—treating it as getting familiar with the atmosphere in advance.
…
The ceremony hadn't started yet, but quite a few people were already seated in the multipurpose classroom.
Uchiha Shisui was still stuck on the earlier conversation, trying to think it through more deeply, but in the end he couldn't make sense of it.
"Makoto, can we find a quiet place to talk?"
Higashino Makoto looked at this guy who was clearly getting hung up on it again and didn't refuse. "Sure."
For ninja, whether the school rooftop was locked was meaningless, because they could run up walls and across eaves.
On the roof, it was very quiet—almost as if it were a different world from the noisy classroom below.
Uchiha Shisui thought for a moment before raising his question. "Makoto, I know your strength is greater than mine. Why did you refuse to graduate early?"
Higashino Makoto first sensed the surroundings and, after confirming no one was eavesdropping, replied, "There's no particular reason. I just want to train for a while longer. And don't forget—we're only eight years old."
"But it's wartime. Every day, comrades die on the battlefield. The number of ninja in the village is dropping badly. Isn't this exactly when we're needed to join?"
"And then what? What's the point of letting seven- or eight-year-old kids graduate early? They'd still need to train for quite a while anyway. Or what—send them straight to the front lines? How is that any different from killing them outright?"
Shisui frowned deeply. "But what you're saying doesn't fit the Will of Fire. Is this really how you understand the Will of Fire?"
"Then let me ask you—what is the core of the Will of Fire?"
Shisui blurted it out, "Where the leaves dance, the fire will live on. The firelight will continue to illuminate the village, and it will let the new leaves sprout."
"You've memorized it very well, Shisui-kun. That's right—the core of the Will of Fire is protection and sacrifice. But let me ask you again: are you the withered leaf that falls, turns into soil, and becomes nourishment for the great tree, or are you a newly sprouted tender leaf?"
"I… I… Makoto, are you saying that my understanding of the Will of Fire is wrong? And even that… Konoha, which lets us graduate early, is wrong? That the Hokage-sama is wrong as well?"
Uchiha Shisui was utterly shocked. His heart churned like a stormy sea. He had never imagined that his friend's interpretation of the Will of Fire could be so different from the norm.
Yet it also seemed not entirely wrong. It was just that he had never looked at it from this angle before. The Will of Fire he had always believed in was sacrifice and devotion, but he had never considered his own age.
Thinking about it now, he was merely a tender leaf that had just sprouted on a great tree—far from the time when he should be burned.
After all, Konoha had not been invaded, nor had it reached a moment of life and death.
For a time, this new interpretation clashed violently with the beliefs he had accepted for so many years, making his head buzz incessantly.
Higashino Makoto looked toward the Hokage Rock in the distance and said slowly, "I didn't say that. Don't put labels on me. The Will of Fire isn't anyone's personal will—it's the will of all the people of Konoha. Everyone has the right to interpret it. There's no distinction between right and wrong."
"That's impossible. There has to be right and wrong—there has to be. Isn't that so, Makoto?"
"If you insist on putting it that way, then fine—there is, brother, there is. The strongest person is the one who's right. So, Shisui, if your strength isn't sufficient, then just focus on training and don't think about these things. You'll end up walking into a dead end."
"That's not right. We can't use strength as the standard for right and wrong. That's a heretical path."
"Then let me ask you this: even if your will is correct, even if it's acknowledged by the world—if a stronger person kills you, does your will still have any meaning at that point?"
Shisui said urgently, "How could it not? More people would come to recognize it, wouldn't they?"
"Yes. As long as an idea is correct, someone will naturally recognize it. But their voices are too weak—they need a megaphone. And great strength is precisely that megaphone."
"But Makoto, doesn't that just turn into a world where whoever is strongest rules everything? Then what do we even need the Will of Fire for?"
Higashino Makoto let out a sigh. "In essence, your understanding isn't wrong, because this is the ninja world. But strength without correct ideals to guide it is chaos. Correct ideals without the support of strength are empty talk."
"Correct ideals are the principles of our ninja way, and great strength is the guarantee that these principles will not be distorted at will."
"So that's how it is? Is that what you meant? It actually makes a lot of sense."
Seeing that Shisui had finally understood a bit, Higashino Makoto was about to call him to go downstairs together, when he suddenly sensed a cold, yin chakra gathering toward Shisui's eyes.
His perception was extraordinarily sharp—there was no way he could be wrong. But this was still a bit absurd.
Higashino Makoto stared fixedly at Shisui's eyes. He saw Shisui's originally brown-black pupils rapidly turn red, slowly spinning, and then two black tomoe appeared within them.
He actually awakened the Sharingan on the spot—and went straight to two tomoe.
Good news: Shisui graduating early meant it was unlikely he would be teamed up with him, which also meant Makoto wouldn't have to become his "awakening material."
Bad news: this eye really was awakened with Makoto's help—through nothing more than talking.
He could only hope he wouldn't become the Uchiha clan's designated psychological counselor in the future, a professional eye-awakener.
Shisui also sensed that something was wrong. He raised his head and saw Higashino Makoto staring at him with a look of curiosity, and asked in some confusion, "What's wrong, Makoto? Is there something wrong with me?"
"There's a big problem. Congratulations—you've gained some impressive power. Truly an enviable clan."
After saying that, Higashino Makoto raised his hand and released chakra, condensing a smooth curtain of water, like a mirror. For him, this kind of technique was very simple—merely the combined result of entering the second stage of chakra control training, plus water-nature transformation practice.
Shisui looked at himself in the mirror and found it hard to believe. "Is that me? Did I awaken the Sharingan? But the elders of the clan said you have to lose—"
"Don't you get it yet, Shisui? Do the words of people you consider authorities necessarily have to be correct? This world is complicated. We need to come to understand it gradually as we grow, to comprehend it step by step. Don't rush to get answers while you're still young, because they're often incomplete—or even wrong—or traps others have dug on purpose, waiting for you to jump in."
Shisui nodded and smiled, clearly relieved. "I understand now. Thank you, Makoto. You really are a good and reliable friend."
Higashino Makoto leaned back slightly. Shisui's tone was sincere, but paired with those bewitching, crimson Sharingan eyes, the feeling changed completely.
At that moment, he somewhat understood the mindset of that old ghost Senju Tobirama.
Those naturally evil little Uchiha brats—I'll personally—
Seeing that Shisui seemed to still have many questions he wanted answered, Higashino Makoto quickly cut him off. "We'll talk more later. The ceremony is about to start—let's go downstairs."
Just interpreting the Will of Fire already gave you two tomoe. If we kept talking any longer, wouldn't you take off on the spot? You might even awaken the Mangekyō right in front of me.
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