Fortunately, the doctor was merely being dramatic with his words. He quickly added,"However, your condition isn't that serious. Compared to when you were first brought to the hospital, the markings on your body have already faded slightly in just a few hours. They should disappear completely before long."
Could things really be that simple? Yuusuke showed clear skepticism.
"If you're still worried about your condition," the doctor continued after noticing Yuusuke's concern, "then the best advice I can give is for you to learn to control your chakra as soon as possible. Use your own energy to resist external intrusion—that's the most orthodox and reliable method."
"I understand," Yuusuke replied, nodding. At this point, there was little else he could say.
Chakra. Ninja.Everything about this was unfamiliar territory.
Yuusuke did possess some knowledge of the ninja world and the Hokage, but that knowledge came solely from manga he had read in his previous life during adolescence. Setting aside the question of how accurate his memories still were, could illustrated panels and scripted dialogue truly compare to the sheer volume of information contained in a real world?
Because of that, Yuusuke had always regarded his memories as nothing more than references—never as a foundation for understanding reality.
"You can rest here in the hospital without worry," the doctor said with a half-smile. "After all, rare samples like you are quite valuable for research."
Medical ninja were among the busiest in the village, and he clearly couldn't linger for idle conversation. But just before leaving, he seemed to remember something and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small glass vial.
"Oh, right. These were removed from your body earlier—foreign fragments. You can keep them as a souvenir."
With that, the doctor left the room.
Yuusuke stared blankly at the vial. Its bottom was covered in countless tiny shards—some as large as a fingernail, others no bigger than nail clippings.
Looking at them, realization struck him all at once.
When the Second Hokage had attacked him without warning, Yuusuke had been carrying ninja tools that once belonged to the Kumogakure rogues Kinkaku and Ginkaku. He couldn't remember their exact names, but he knew they could be traced all the way back to the Sage of Six Paths.
Whether it was the gourd or the cleaver, both were items created and used by the Sage himself.
Perhaps due to metal fatigue, or perhaps because they were simply too old—long past any "warranty," so to speak—those tools had shattered under the Second Hokage's Water Severing Wave. And in this world, there was an unspoken rule:
Anything connected to the Sage of Six Paths was either exceptionally fortunate… or catastrophically disastrous.
At the time, Yuusuke's body had been riddled with fragments from those shattered tools. And considering that their previous owners had a habit of sealing and slicing all sorts of bizarre things into them…
At this point, Yuusuke was no longer worried about chakra erosion.
He was worried about cross-contamination.
With that thought, Yuusuke gently pulled aside one section of the bandages wrapped around his body. Beneath them, the small wounds showed the same black, eroded markings.
So that was it.
He had known things wouldn't be that simple. But at this stage, all he could do was hope the doctor's words were correct—that the markings would fade naturally before long.
His concern wasn't groundless; it was logically sound.The problem was that the danger he feared wasn't limited to the future.
It was about to arrive in the present.
Not long after the doctor left the room, another—entirely unexpected—visitor arrived.
"Yuusuke Ame… that's your name, correct?"
"You are…?" Yuusuke recognized the young face immediately, but he forced himself to suppress his surprise and pretended not to know the man at all.
Shimura Danzō.The shadow beneath Konoha's firelight.
Of course, the younger version standing before him had not yet reached the extremes of his later self—but even so, there was something inherently unsettling about his face.
"Shimura Danzō," the man said, introducing himself. He then stated his purpose directly."I must say, Yuusuke—your arrival, and the news of the Second Hokage, are matters of tremendous importance. Not only to Konoha, but to the entire ninja world."
"No, no… it's not that important—"
Danzō cut off Yuusuke's meaningless humility without hesitation.
"This is not praise. I am merely stating a fact. At this stage of the Shinobi War, a single event capable of influencing the entire conflict has occurred. Whether it is the attempted alliance between Konoha and Kumogakure, or the further deterioration of relations caused by the deaths of the Hokage and the Raikage—both are events that can reshape the world."
"And right now," he continued calmly, "apart from you, there is no one who knows what truly happened at that alliance ceremony."
"Not just the Hokage's fate," Danzō added, "but also the Raikage's death—and even the actions of the attackers, the rogue Kumogakure ninja Kinkaku and Ginkaku. This is intelligence every village desires."
"And that intelligence," he said, eyes fixed on Yuusuke, "is in your hands."
The more Yuusuke listened, the more uneasy he felt. He frowned.
"Wait. Aside from the Hokage's whereabouts, I know nothing about the rest of what you mentioned."
That was the truth.
But to Danzō, such an explanation carried no weight.
"No. As long as Konoha believes you know everything, then in the eyes of the other villages, you do know everything. The moment you brought the Hokage's message back, the course of events ceased to be within your control."
"I'm just an insignificant nobody—"
"Whether in wartime or peace, Konoha has always dispatched spies to enemy and potential enemy villages—Kumogakure, Kirigakure, Sunagakure, and others. Likewise, those villages have always sent spies into Konoha. No matter how tightly we guard ourselves, this can never be fully prevented."
"…So without realizing it," Yuusuke said slowly, "I've become bait?"
By this point, Danzō's intention had become unmistakably clear.
"In order to determine what truly happened at the alliance ceremony, to judge the future relationship between Konoha and Kumogakure, and to further predict the course of the war—spies from other villages hiding within Konoha will inevitably make a move against me, the so-called 'informed party.' Is that correct?"
The situation had already far exceeded Yuusuke's expectations.
Danzō did not answer the question directly.
"Spies have no reason to ignore intelligence of this magnitude," he said calmly. "Even at the risk of exposure."
"And accordingly," he continued, a faint, eerie glint flashing in his eyes, "when they begin to move in large numbers, it will also be the perfect opportunity for Konoha to cleanse them."
There was no hint of negotiation in his tone.
This was not a discussion.
It was the announcement of an already-decided plan.