Chapter 12 (Patreon)

“The first time is when the heart stops.”

“The second time is the burial.”

“And the third time… is when the last person forgets.”

Minato suddenly rose from his chair.

His expression had changed completely.

“Minato-sensei?”

Kakashi froze for a moment, startled by his teacher’s reaction.

Why was he this shaken?

Minato steadied his breathing and slowly forced down the excitement in his chest. Then his gaze turned back to Kakashi.

“Kakashi… what did you understand from those words?”

Kakashi lowered his voice.

“I think… it means we should cherish the people still beside us.”

For a moment, his fingers tightened slightly.

“I never really understood what Obito meant back then.”

“Those who break the rules are scum… but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum.”

Kakashi’s voice became quieter.

“So that’s what it was. Obito had already seen something I couldn’t.”

He lifted his forehead protector, revealing the Sharingan hidden beneath it.

His gaze was serious.

“From now on, I won’t turn away again.”

“I’ll use the eye Obito left me… to protect the people around me.”

The moment those words left his mouth, Kakashi felt as if something heavy had finally loosened inside his chest.

The pressure that had weighed on him for years seemed to disappear all at once.

At last, he had stepped out of that darkness.

Perhaps from this moment onward, the cold, ruthless Copy Ninja Kakashi had truly become a thing of the past.

The path ahead of him would be different now.

And the reason for that change…

Was because of Yujiro’s words.

Those words had altered the direction of Kakashi’s life.

“Kakashi… hearing you say that makes me truly happy as your teacher.”

Minato’s face softened into a bright, gentle smile.

But Kakashi noticed something.

“Sensei… did you understand those words differently from me?”

Minato’s expression slowly became solemn again.

“The way people understand those words will be different. But in the end, they point to the same thing.”

He looked at the documents on his desk.

“Yujiro’s words did not only wake you up. They also made me see Konoha’s current situation more clearly.”

Minato’s voice became extremely serious.

“The first death… is when shinobi give their lives for Konoha on the battlefield.”

“The second death… is when some of them cannot even have their bodies brought home, left somewhere far from the village they died protecting.”

His hands slowly clenched.

“And the third death comes after the war.”

“When Konoha stops remembering them.”

“When time erases their names.”

“The deaths of those shinobi are lonely… sad… and almost absurd.”

Minato let out a deep sigh.

That was the current state of Konoha.

Behind every shinobi who died on the battlefield was a family.

And yet, most of the time, Konoha only handed over a pension and let the matter end there.

Perhaps the more famous shinobi would have their names engraved on Konoha’s Memorial Stone.

But most of those names belonged to Jōnin.

Everyone knew it.

The ones truly throwing their lives into the mud and blood of battle were often Chūnin and Genin.

They fought desperately too.

Were they not also heroes of Konoha?

Did their names not deserve to remain on the Memorial Stone?

If the last person who remembered your name was gone, then you were truly dead.

Was that not exactly what was happening in Konoha right now?

Minato forced the anger deep into his chest.

Then he raised his head and looked at Kakashi.

“Kakashi. Where is Yujiro?”

“I want to meet him.”

Kakashi’s expression changed slightly.

His teacher said he wanted to meet Yujiro himself.

Not summon Yujiro to the Hokage office.

That alone was enough to show how much weight Yujiro now held in Minato’s mind.

Still, Kakashi felt sincerely happy.

After all, Yujiro was already his comrade.

Maybe they had not reached the point where they could be called friends yet…

But Kakashi believed they would.

“Yujiro should be training with Itachi right now.”

Kakashi paused, then corrected himself.

“He’s probably sparring with Itachi near the training grounds on the back mountain.”

“Good. Let’s go take a look.”

Minato nodded.

Then he left the office together with Kakashi.

…

Konoha’s back mountain.

At the training ground.

The sound of metal clashing rang out from time to time.

Clang! Clang!

Sparks scattered through the air.

Yujiro casually caught the shuriken that had been knocked away, then flicked them back toward Uchiha Itachi.

Itachi barely avoided the incoming shuriken at the last second.

“Yujiro-san… you’re fast.”

Itachi panted lightly.

If he had reacted even a little slower, that shuriken would have hit him.

Yujiro raised an eyebrow.

“Itachi. Do you think fighting me is ordinary training?”

“Huh?”

Itachi looked at him in confusion.

“If you’re facing me, then fight with everything you have. Don’t hold anything back.”

Yujiro slid his black blade back into its sheath.

“Next time, that shuriken won’t stop at grazing you.”

Ding.

Congratulations, Host. Physical limit broken.

Limiter progress increased by 0.2%.

Limiter: Level 1 — 32.8%.

Yujiro walked to the riverbank and sat down on the grass.

Itachi’s current strength had already surpassed the level of an ordinary Genin.

But in taijutsu and kenjutsu, he was still lacking.

Shurikenjutsu could be made flashy, but flashiness would not help Yujiro break through his limits faster.

And as the Limiter’s progress increased, Yujiro’s body strength and adaptability had also risen rapidly.

That meant the speed of unlocking further progress had started to slow.

Thinking of this, the corner of Yujiro’s mouth lifted slightly.

Taijutsu and kenjutsu can’t push me much further for now.

Then the next step is ninjutsu.

“Yujiro-san’s strength is improving too fast.”

Itachi walked over and sat beside him.

“I feel like I can’t catch up at all.”

“I’ll give you ten minutes to recover your chakra.”

Yujiro glanced at him, then lay back casually on the grass.

“After that, we raise the difficulty.”

He had to make Itachi use ninjutsu.

In this world, strength decided everything.