At the end of December, winter came.

Snowflakes drifted in the Konoha sky, and the water of the river was frozen.

After completing the last task of the year, Ruri has been staying at home.

If nothing out of the ordinary happens, this situation will probably last until mid-January of the following year, when you will consider taking the task.

When you open the door, you can see that there is also a thick layer of snow on the ground of the courtyard outside.

Shiraishi sat across from Ruri, with a table in between the two.

After the shadow dancer put the tea and pastries on the table, he stepped aside without saying a word, and secretly stared at the two of them with curious eyes from time to time.

For her, who is not yet half a year old, sometimes she really feels that the relationship between human beings is too complicated.

Take her family as an example, when she observes others, she finds that others are just a father and a mother.

And her father really has one, but 'mother' has two.

Moreover, her brother General Tu has a very strange body, and he often uses the shadow blade to get his head down to observe, trying to find out why it always keeps alive and undying.

But after observing it for a long time, I didn't find any mechanism in it.

Its body is made of soft earth, but it doesn't seem to have anything special.

Not only is the body shape different from normal humans, but even the words that come out of the mouth are also grunting, making people unable to understand the meaning of the meaning, and they can't even communicate normally.

These things are really difficult for her to understand, who is less than half a year old.

"I've heard a few things about Kakashi in the village lately, and he seems to be at odds with a lot of the squad."

Ruri picked up the teacup and took a sip of hot tea.

"Isn't this a matter of course? Ignoring the lives of his companions and only seeing the task to be completed will definitely make his teammates dissatisfied and exclude him. ”

Shiraishi shrugged his shoulders and said.

"Sometimes, I can't really figure out what's going on in the upper echelons. Kakashi became like this, and they themselves are to blame. ”

Ruri snorted coldly.

Kakashi's idea was indeed a bit extreme in her opinion.

But what drove Kakashi to this point, if you think about it, wasn't it the inaction of those high-level leaders that caused it?

"In order to maintain the balance of forces in the village, our Hokage-sama cannot take these responsibilities on his own initiative. Therefore, the existence of the root becomes meaningful. ”

Shiraishi said this with a smile as he watched the snowflakes flying in the middle of the sky in the yard and spilled them towards the ground, admiring the beautiful snowy scene.

In order to be able to better manage Konoha and the identity of the Hokage, he must maintain his glorious and righteous side many times, and become a model and exemplary figure in the eyes of all Konoha ninjas and villagers.

But in such a huge wooden leaf, it is impossible to be completely free from a little filth, and where there is light, darkness must breed.

Therefore, with a glorious and righteous Hokage, someone must bear the opposite of the light - darkness, so as to better safeguard the interests and order of the village.

As a result, the root of the organization, which bears all the darkness and sins of Konoha, was born smoothly at the right time with the unanimous promotion of the high-ups.

Since its birth, this organization has enjoyed the worst reputation and does the dirtiest work, and its leader, Shimura Danzo, is known as the 'Dark Ninja'.

It is because of his cruel and ruthless style, and he does whatever it takes to achieve his goals.

Such a dangerous character, with the same extreme thinking of ninjas gathered under his hands, I don't know how many dirty things he has dealt with in the dark over the years, and the name of 'Ninja Dark' is worthy of its name.

To be honest, for this alone, Shiraishi still admires the political vision of the three generations of Hokage Ape Fei Ri Slash.

This arrangement, from a strategic point of view, can not find any major faults.

But the problem is that the series of measures taken after the three generations of Hokage can be called a typical failure-

Over-indulging in root growth, not restricting roots thoroughly when necessary, and not having a strong hand to handle this vast darkness are all problems.

For those who have made major mistakes, they cannot immediately give any practical punishment, and at the same time, they have not been able to appease their subordinates whose interests have been infringed upon, which directly leads to a serious disagreement between their own personal affairs and the official affairs of the village, and the loss of public credibility.

Therefore, based on the premise of indulging the roots, the balance that can be maintained, this strategy will not only not bring benefits to Konoha, but will continue to consume the living power inside Konoha in many cases, so that Konoha's future will fall into an embarrassing situation of reverse growth.

In the future, once the ninja war breaks out, Konoha is likely to fight very hard, and is even in danger of being destroyed.

As for whether a great hero will appear in Konoha to turn the tide at that time, Shiraishi can't predict it.

The future is so unpredictable.

And Shiraishi himself is obviously not very interested in this kind of thing.

At that time, he had already left Konoha, and whether Konoha was destroyed or ushered in a new life could be watched from the wall.

"By the way, you can take this thing, I've already made it, and it took a lot of time."

Shiraishi remembered something at this time, took out two black metal rings from his pocket, and put them in front of Ruri.

"What is this?"

"It's similar to the chakra limiter you gave to the team for shinobi training. The difference, though, is that this is a particularly strengthened chakra limiter, which can only be adapted to by the upper ninja. ”

Shiraishi reminded this sentence emphatically.

Wearing a chakra limiter of this level in the lower ninja, although there is no danger to his life, he does not want to successfully perform ninjutsu, body arts, and illusions.

These three types of fighting methods must rely on chakra circulating in the body to achieve release.

Especially for physical arts, the faster the chakra flows through the body, the more powerful the physical arts. On the contrary, the slower the flow speed of the chakra, the more difficult it will be for the body to exert its due ability.

Ruri wears one of the black metal rings on her left hand.

On the surface, there has been no change in the body, but only Ruri herself knows that the chakra flow speed in her body, although it is not in a static state, is also not much faster than the crawling speed of the turtle.

Based on this terrible state where the flow speed of chakra is severely restricted, it is by no means a simple matter to train the flow speed of chakra in the body to the same as normal.

After that, Ruri looked at the second metal ring, wondering what would happen if she wore the second one.

One has already made the chakra in her body flow so slowly, and wearing the second one may really make the chakra in her body fall into a 'static' state.

Shiraishi seemed to see through Liuli's thoughts, took a sip of tea, and said slowly: "It's better to follow a step-by-step approach, even if it's you, wearing a chakra limiter now is the limit." Once you're familiar with the first one, it's not too late to put on the second limiter to train. Anyway, you have to rest in the village next, and with your ability, it shouldn't be difficult to completely overcome the first chakra limiter within a month. ”

"A month? Does it take that long? ”

Liuli doesn't agree with this time of a month.

She expects to complete this training in about half a month.

"This is a conservative estimate, because the more powerful the chakra, the more chakra needs to be controlled, and the more difficult it will be to overcome the limiter."

Shiraishi explained a little.

"Then I'll see how it works. How about it, do you want to come along? ”

Ruri got up from her seat and sent an invitation to Shiraishi to go to the training ground to test how much strength she could retain in the restricted state at the moment.

"I'll forget it, I still have work to do after that."

Shiraishi shook his head and refused.

"You're getting lazy. If this continues, I'm really worried that your strength will degrade, and last time, your physical skills have become much more rusty. ”

Liuli frowned, a little dissatisfied with Baishi's current attitude of laziness to deal with cultivation.

"It's okay with this kind of thing, don't worry, the shadow dancer can protect me."

Shiraishi said with a smile.

Although he was proficient in the chakra nature changes of many attributes, it was all for his own research.

Specializing in cultivating all kinds of retreat techniques, and mastering them, will distract your energy, and the gains outweigh the losses.

Because whether it is the earth general or the shadow dancer, they are all 'part' of themselves, strictly speaking, they are also the embodiment of their own strength.

Shiraishi believes that this is his own unique way to become stronger.

Since your own strength is insufficient, you can create a 'clone' that can adapt to any environment and fight the enemy.

As long as this power is in your own hands, you can do it.

Seeing that Baishi was still unmoved, Liuli snorted lightly and went to the training ground alone.

Seeing Ruri leave, Shiraishi just continued to drink the hot tea in his hand and enjoy the snow outside.

"Alright, let's go back to work."

After Shiraishi finished speaking, he slowly stood up.

And at the moment when his body stood up, the shadow dancer turned into a black shadow and scurried on the floor like lightning, and it actively merged into the shadow of the white stone and disappeared.

As Shiraishi's only personal guard at the moment, the Shadow Dancer follows Shiraishi inseparably behind Shiraishi many times, protecting the life of Shiraishi, the creator.

◎

Konoha 42 years, February.

At this time, the ninja school will have about ten days off, so you don't have to go to school.

At the end of last month, not long after the end of the New Year's festival, Ruri had already resumed her role as a shinobi and went to the Hokage Building to pick up the mission.

The people around him seem to be the only one in a state of idleness.

Occasionally, the cute little girl of Nohara Rin would come to him and ask for some knowledge about medical ninjutsu.

Of course, behind this cute little girl, there will always be a guy named Uchiha Obito, who can be called a goddess licking dog.

This guy seems to be a student in the same class as Kakashi, and Shiraishi can often hear from him that he wants to surpass Kakashi and the like.

But Shiraishi felt that this kind of thing was a bit unrealistic.

Kakashi graduated from ninja school at the age of five and became a middle shinobi at the age of six, and neither word 'genius' is enough to describe Kakashi's exceptional talent.

As for Obito, this little ghost said today that he was going to cultivate hard, and then because he often ran into an old woman who encountered difficulties on the road, the cultivation thing was over.

Shiraishi didn't know how to complain about the physique of Obito, a little ghost, saying that it was a murderous peach blossom...... But why are all the grandmothers who are attracted to him?

Or maybe it was the grandmothers who attracted him?

100% encounter with granny physique?

In every way, it's a very strange little ghost.

"Hey, Obito, it's so late, don't you really have to go back?"

Shiraishi tilted his head and shouted loudly to Obito, who was standing upside down on a branch covered with fine snow and doing physical exercises.

Shiraishi, who doesn't have much to do these days, sometimes trains with Obito.

Coming out once in a while to relax is good for your physical and mental health.

He didn't want to be bald at such a young age.

"Don't be verbose, I've only been cultivating for less than an hour."

Looking at the sky, there should still be some time before it gets dark, and Obito did not give up exercising.

"It's not because of the indescribable things that happened to you and the three grandmothers in the afternoon."

"You have to take care of it! You can go back alone first, anyway, you're just eating soft rice, what is arrogant. ”

Obito puffs and pants while doing a handstand upwards to do pull-ups.

Seeing that he was also sweating profusely in the cold weather, it could be seen that he was indeed training seriously.

"One hundred and ninety-one...... One hundred and ninety-two ...... Hundred...... Yes! ”

With a panicked shout, Chakra, which was attached to the soles of his feet, had an accident, separated directly from the branches, and fell to the ground with his head on the ground.

His head sank into the snow, and his body twitched slightly.

Shiraishi gently blew a breath of white air between his palms, then rubbed it, and stood there watching, not going up to help.

The vitality of this stupid person has always been very vigorous and energetic.

"Ahem!"

Sure enough, Obito struggled out of the snow, spit out all the snow in his mouth, coughing violently, and his face was red.

"Damn! That's eight to two hundred! ”

Obito said unwillingly.

"Give it up, Kakashi was able to do better than you two years ago. Now the gap between you will be even greater. ”

Shiraishi said.

"Isn't it a middle ninja, I will definitely graduate from the ninja school next year!"

Obito made such bold statements.

Although Shiraishi does not think that Obito can have such talent, this belief in not admitting defeat and catching up is worthy of approval.

"Then you work hard, if you open the writing wheel eye in the future, maybe you can really do it."

Shiraishi didn't want to hurt Obito's self-confidence.

This guy is positive and optimistic, but because of this, there is always a string missing in his head, and it is useless to cultivate this kind of thing just by shouting slogans.

Because Kakashi tempered himself harder than Obito.

Genius is not terrible, what is terrible is that genius works harder than ordinary people.

Therefore, following the normal trajectory, Shiraishi did not think that Obito could catch up with Kakashi.

Obito heard Baishi say this, and was about to show a smile, but Baishi said coldly: "But I think with your talent, it is estimated that you will not be able to open the writing wheel in your life." After all, it's the tail of the crane in the school. Writing Wheel Eye: It's a pupil technique that only elite Uchiha ninjas can open. ”

"You bastard! How dare you underestimate me! Taste the wrathful iron fist of our Uchiha clan! ”

Obito bounced off the snow and threw a ferocious punch at Shiraishi.

It's really troublesome to deal with this kind of imp with few brains.

However, as an object of play when you are bored, it can bring a lot of joy.

I didn't want to turn sideways and let the menacing Obito lie on the snow in an embarrassed posture like a dog eating.

"I've said it many times, if you can't control your body, don't punch in such an exaggerated way. The first time you dealt with me, it was the same way. When fighting, this is undoubtedly a fatal act, and it is easy for the enemy to grasp the weak point and kill with one hit. ”

"It's not that you said that I can't open the writing wheel in my life!"

Obito sat on the snow like a nobody, his hands clasped to his chest, his mouth shriveled away, as if he didn't want to pay attention to Shiraishi.

If you think about it, it seems to be the same.

For those who are ninjas in the Uchiha clan, not being able to open the Sharingan means that they are the real crane tails.

Obito has always wanted to work hard to prove his strength, and the Sharingan is the embodiment of the strength of their Uchiha clan.

When it is said so, it is no wonder that he is angry.

"I mean, because if you don't open the Sharingan, it's a good thing for you."

Shiraishi walked over and pulled Obito up from the snow and said something like that.

"Huh? Why? ”

Obito looked dazed.

"Because you're stupid. Once the fool turns on the writing wheel, isn't that the end of the world? If you think about it, isn't that the truth? ”

Shiraishi said seriously.

"You bastard who eats soft rice, eat me with an angry iron fist!"

In the snow, there was a roar full of earthy energy.

……

"Don't think that if you invite me to eat meatballs, I will forgive you! Tell you, after I open the writing wheel, it will be your death! Be enlightened! ”

On the way back, Obito viciously eats the balls that Shiraishi bought for him, and threatens Shiraishi fiercely.

"It's okay, Liuli will protect me, your writing wheel eye is not effective for me."

Shiraishi took out his most powerful shield at the moment, Ruri Uchiha.

“……”

Obito doesn't know why, but there is an indescribable bitter taste in his mouth, a little astringent.

"Hey, can't you just take my challenge like a man?"

Obito really has no problem with the man in front of him.

In terms of the other party's thick skin, he Uchiha Obito is the strongest.

"I'm a medical ninja, and I don't need to focus on strength training. Of course, if you want to compete with me in medical ninjutsu, I can accompany you at any time. ”

Shiraishi smiled indifferently.

“……”

Obito took a deep breath.

Calm.

Calm down.

Can't be angry.

Come to think of it, there's nothing crazy about this.

I should learn from this man and have a calm attitude in the face of any difficulties.

Think like a mature adult.

But...... Sure enough, I'm still angry.

Just as Obito was about to say something, two Nakashinobu were suddenly talking to something on the side of the road, and one of them said loudly in an uncontrollable angry voice, "Let the captain remove Kakashi from the team!" I've put up with him to the limit! ”

"Although I agree, I heard that Hokage-sama values Kakashi very much."

"But if this continues, we have to be scared every time we carry out our missions. This guy is not fit to be a ninja at all. Every time we sent a signal for support, he ignored it, saying that we were slowing down the mission. ”

The shinobi's face was very bad, his eyes were full of anger, and he had reached a critical point where he needed to be released.

"Honestly, I'm almost at my limit. Then let's go to the captain and explain. I thought that after the year, he would change his temperament, but it seems that he really can't expect anything from him. That guy only has a task in mind, and there is no existence of us companions at all. ”

Another Nakashinobi also made up his mind.

If this continues, the task really can't be done.

A guy who is always indifferent to his peers really can't give a reliable sense of trust.

One day when they die, maybe the other party will not leave a single tear.

"Well, may I ask you, were you talking about Kakashi just now?"

When Obito heard them mention the name 'Kakashi', he stepped forward with curiosity and asked the two shinobi seniors.

"yes, what's wrong? Do you know him? ”

Nakashinobi, who was the first to speak, glared at Obito with an ugly face, and his attitude was very unfriendly.

"Uh...... No, I don't know. ”

I really want to say that I know, but if I admit it, Ibito is really afraid that this guy will beat him up.

"So what do you do with these?"

Nakashinobu was even more dissatisfied.

Obito's head was big for a while, cold sweat flowed from his face, and he stammered: "That, I just think that the two seniors are talking about a person like this on the street, and the impact is not good." ”

"If it weren't for the unbearable, we wouldn't be so irrational. In short, it's none of your business, don't meddle, Uchiha imp. ”

Knowing that Obito and Kakashi knew each other, this Nakashinobi didn't plan to do anything to Obito either.

He didn't want to take his anger out on innocent people.

What's more, this is still a student of a ninja school.

Watching the two middle ninja leave, Obito's face suddenly became heavy, as if he was thinking about something.

"What's wrong?"

Shiraishi walked over and asked.

"I'm thinking about Kakashi."

"Don't you know?"

Shiraishi asked rhetorically.

"Know what?"

It's strange to take the soil now.

"I heard that Kakashi has changed many squads since June and July of the previous year, because of disagreements with his teammates. Now many of the upper ninja teams in the village don't want to accept him. ”

Shiraishi said as he put his hand in his pocket.

"What's going on? Isn't Kakashi a genius? He was a mid-ninja last year, right? ”

Obito can't understand.

Such a genius figure, it should be that many Shangnin squads are scrambling to get it.

"The reason is that when he was on a mission, because his teammates were so injured that they couldn't fight, and even caused drag, he didn't choose to save his teammates, but chose to continue to complete the mission."

Shiraishi said this sentence flatly.

Obito was stunned for a moment.

Thinking of the various unfavorable words that the two shinobi had said to Kakashi just now, he suddenly understood.

"No, Kakashi isn't that kind of person!"

Obito firmly thinks so.

Kakashi in his impression is by no means such a cold-blooded person who will not save his companions when he sees death.

Something must have gone wrong.

"Are you going to visit him, then?"

Shiraishi asked Obito.

"Is that okay? Wouldn't it bother him too much? ”

Obito was a little hesitant.

"It's okay, that little ghost doesn't have much to do at home."

"Little ghost, are you familiar with Kakashi?"

Obito asked unceremoniously.

"What is familiar, his father is my former boss and Liuli."

Shiraishi smiled calmly.

"Huh? You and Ruri's predecessor's former boss? Is Kakashi's father such a powerful man? ”

This time it was Obito's turn to be surprised.

Shiraishi is an inconspicuous medical ninja aside, but Uchiha Ruri is the proudest genius of their Uchiha clan today.

To be her mentor Shinobi, Obito thinks that Kakashi's father must also be a great ninja in the village.

"Alright, don't be in a daze, I'll have some work to do when I go back after watching that little imp from Kakashi."

"Oh, oh, got it."

Obito immediately caught up with Shiraishi and followed him towards Kakashi's house.

It was a detached Japanese-style courtyard with the word 'Qimu' printed on the door number.

Obito knew that this was where Kakashi lived.

"Why are you here?"

Kakashi looked at the two who appeared at his door, a look of confusion.

"How about I bring your friends to visit you and have dinner by the way, aren't you welcome?"

Shiraishi touched Obito's head and smiled at Kakashi.

"If you want to eat takeout with me, I don't care."

Kakashi's tone didn't fluctuate at all, and his attitude was lukewarm.

Shiraishi didn't feel anything, after all, Kakashi with this attitude was already relatively kind.

"Kakashi, I'm ......"

"Since you're here, come in."

Kakashi shook his head and walked away, not giving Obito a chance to speak.

Obito's smile stiffened on his face, his hands were in the air, and the atmosphere was a little awkward.

"What the hell happened to this guy?"

Obito put down his hand and muttered a little depressedly.

Compared to the Kakashi in his impression, the current Kakashi is like switching to another person.

Following Shiraishi into the living room of Kakashi's house, and after sitting down there, Kakashi brought up the tea set and a pot of hot water.

He said to Shiraishi and Obito, "If you want to drink tea, make it yourself." ”

“……”

"I haven't finished my cultivation today, I'll order takeout when it's time for dinner, please take care of yourself."

“……”

Obito watched Kakashi simply leave, without exchanging ideas too much, and his face was stunned.

Shiraishi calmly picked up the tea set, not dissatisfied with Kakashi's indifferent attitude, so he made himself a cup of hot tea and drank it.

"I'll go upstairs and have a look."

Leaving this sentence, Shiraishi also left here.

Obito's face suddenly darkened, you two bastards are enough! Don't leave me here alone!