Chương 29: Changes

"Morning classes are finished." Iruka tucked his textbook under one arm.

"Afternoon is taijutsu. Lunch first, then meet at the first practice field." The door hadn't fully closed before the classroom erupted. Bentos appeared from bags. Groups formed. Half the class was already heading for the hall.

"Come on, come on." Kiba was on his feet, snapping his fingers at Shin and Shino.

"Let's go." Shin stood slowly.

"Do we have to?"

"There's a new grilled fish place." Kiba's hands moved, sketching out a queue of catastrophic length.

"It's good —actually good—and the line gets insane. We have to go now."

"What about the bento?" Shin lifted the box from his desk.

"Hana made this." Kiba's expression darkened. He scratched the back of his head and made a sound of genuine suffering.

"I don't care," he announced, in the tone of someone who cared very much.

"I'm going."

"Go, then." Shino's voice was quiet but settled.

"If Kiba wants it that badly, there's no reason not to." He had his own reasons. His mother's cooking had been fine lately—fine wasn't the same as interesting. Shin looked at the bento. Looked at both of them.

"Alright." Kiba's face transformed.

"Then hurry —"......

"Shin! Hey, Shin!" They were almost at the door when Naruto's voice caught them. They turned. He was still at his desk, grinning, holding up a cup of instant ramen with both hands like a trophy.

"Are you guys going to eat? Take me with you!" Shin looked at the ramen. Then at Naruto.

"I've told you before," he said.

"Don't live on that stuff."

"But ramen is good," Naruto said, very seriously.

"We're going to the new grilled fish place. Do you want to come?"

"If you're coming, move it." Kiba jabbed a finger at the hall.

"I'm not waiting."

"Yeah!" Naruto dropped the ramen cup and was halfway to the door before anyone else had moved. The shop was everything Kiba had promised and worse. The line started inside, spilled out the front door, bent at the corner to avoid blocking the street, and still stretched half a block.

People of every kind packed it end to end—old men, children, couples, a cluster of lower-year Academy students Shin half-recognized, three jonin in green vests who'd apparently decided queuing was beneath them and were eating something else entirely while they waited.

"How long is this going to take?" Naruto stood on his toes trying to see the front.

"Business is incredible," Shin said. Kiba wasn't listening. He was already at the back of the line.

"Get over here." The three of them exchanged a look and followed.

"Shin-senpai!" Two girls near the middle of the queue were waving at him. Younger—a year below, maybe two. One of them was already red in the face.

"Would you like to—you can have our spot, if you—""I'm fine, thank you." Shin smiled.

"Stay where you are." Beside him, Kiba made a sound that wasn't quite a word. Naruto glanced at him.

"That happens a lot, huh?"...... A couple joined the line behind them a few minutes later. She had long purple hair and moved like someone who'd spent years knowing exactly where her body was at all times. He was lean and dark-eyed with the kind of shadows under his eyes that went beyond one bad night's sleep—and he was coughing, quietly and steadily, in a way that bothered no one around him except apparently himself.

"Anko recommended it," she was saying, "so I don't see what the problem is."

"I don't— koff —have a problem."

"You said it was a long line."

"It is a long— koff koff —line." She looked at him with the patient expression of someone who had long since decided to forgive this. Then her gaze shifted and found Shin watching.

"Oh." Her smile adjusted—warmer, more direct.

"Do you like this place too, little brother?" Naruto spun around first, because Naruto always spun around first. She looked at them—actually looked, the kind of look that was doing something behind the surface. Her eyes moved from Naruto to Shin and back. Whatever she'd noticed, she glanced sideways at the man beside her. He gave a small nod. She recognizes us. Shin filed it away without reacting. An active kunoichi, probably in a role with Academy record access. Not surprising. Just something to remember.

"Are you all together?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Naruto said immediately.

"We're all friends."

"Is the fish really that good?" She tilted her head.

"I keep hearing things."

"It's the best," Naruto said, with tremendous confidence for someone who hadn't eaten here before.

"You definitely won't regret it, big sis."...... The line moved in slow fits. The four of them talked intermittently, filling the wait without filling it up entirely. Behind them, the couple spoke in low voices—low enough for privacy, not quite low enough given the crowd.

"... so he's keeping us off the roster tonight— koff —" The man's voice was careful.

"It's just how it is. We're not his people." If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"He put that boy in our squad." Her voice had dropped further, but the street noise wasn't working in their favor.

"Sai. Whatever just happened to him—I think I can guess what kind of help he's been given."

"That's just how— koff —he operates." A pause.

"You know this."

"I know." Shin let the words settle into background noise. Whoever he was, it wasn't his business....... An hour of shuffling forward, one incident involving Akamaru and someone's dropped food, four conversations—and then, finally, the front.

"One signature fish!" Kiba had both hands on the counter.

"The big one!" The man behind the curtain had kind eyes and an apron dusted with char. He already had the tongs moving. A few minutes later: a golden-brown fish on a long wooden skewer, oil glinting in the light.

"Come back soon," the owner said.

"Thank you!" Kiba grabbed it with both hands and bit in immediately." Hot — HOT —" He did not stop. He breathed steam and kept chewing, eyes watering. Shin watched this. Then he laughed—quiet and actual, the kind that didn't happen often—and Naruto turned to look at the sound of it.

"Nobody's taking it from you," Shin said. Shino received his. Shin received his. Naruto's was last.

"That's the last one for today," the owner said pleasantly, and reached for the SOLD OUT sign. Naruto blinked. He turned around. The line behind them was still long. The purple-haired kunoichi's expression had gone very still—the particular stillness of someone who had waited an hour for something and just watched it disappear.

"There's nothing left?" She stared at the sign." Koff —we can come back, earlier next— koff —"" Hmph."

"Yugao—"" Hmph." Shin watched Naruto. Naruto was looking at his fish. Looking at her. Looking at his fish again. Then he walked over.

"Hey, big sis." She looked down. He was holding the skewer out with both hands.

"Here. For you."

"—What?"

"You should have it." He smiled easily, like this was simple.

"I've already eaten here a bunch. I just came along with a friend today." Shin:... Kiba:... Shino:... She crouched slowly until she was level with him. Her hand came up and rested on his head.

"You're very sweet," she said.

"But eat it yourself. You waited just as long as I did." Naruto shook his head. He took her hand and folded the skewer into it before she could object.

"Try it." The man beside her coughed and said, " Koff —Yugao, just accept it— koff." She shot him a look. Turned back to Naruto.

"Thank you," she said.

"What's your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki." He puffed his chest out.

"I'm going to be Hokage someday." She looked genuinely surprised for a moment.

"Are you? Then you'd better work hard."

"I will!" He was already nodding.

"I'm Yugao Uzuki." She let her hand rest briefly on his hair again before standing.

"And this—" a gesture beside her, "—is Hayate." Hayate raised a hand. Then coughed.

"And this is my friend, Shin Takami." Naruto pointed with the energy of someone announcing something important.

"And Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame."

"Hello." Shin gave a small bow. Yugao's gaze moved over him one more time. The same smile as before—warm, with something else behind it.

"Hello." On the way back, the four of them walked in a loose row—Kiba already done with his, Shino working through his methodically, Naruto moving in quiet with his hands folded behind his head. Shin had taken two bites of his. He held it out toward Naruto.

"Two bites. If you don't mind." Naruto stopped walking.

"Shin?" Kiba turned around.

"You waited in that line too," Shin said.

"And you're not going back to eat instant noodles."

"But you—""I don't really like fish." His arm stayed extended.

"Besides—you can't be the only one allowed to do something like that." Naruto stared at him.

"What do you mean, the only one —""Just take it." The Uchiha compound was already full when Itachi arrived. Men he knew—all of them, every face—filled the courtyard and lined the covered walkway. Senior clan members. Elders. The generation that had lived through the war and come out the other side with something heavy still settled in their shoulders.

"Itachi."

"We've been waiting." He moved through them with his head slightly lowered, acknowledging each greeting without slowing. The house smelled like incense and old wood.

"Itachi." Mikoto met him at the threshold. She took his blade and his jonin vest before he could reach for either, and brought out the formal clan kimono instead—black, the Uchiha fan crisp and white at the back. He kept his voice quiet.

"Is it urgent?" She shook her head, smoothing a fold at his shoulder.

"You're not late." He looked past her into the room. Fugaku sat at the center of it, still with the patience of someone who had already made every decision he intended to. Itachi's eyes swept the courtyard once. Carefully. Shisui isn't here. A man of Shisui's standing in the clan couldn't have been left uninformed of a meeting like this. Unless he chose not to. Or couldn't. Something is wrong. The Aburame estate was quieter than Tsume liked.

"Your people aren't exactly rolling out the welcome mat," she said, settling across from Shibi. He regarded her with the patience of a man accustomed to saying very little.

"The clan has particular views on my choices." His wife set tea on the table between them without a word. Left without a word. Tsume watched the doorway a moment before looking back.

"You're the default head," she said.

"Why not just make it official?" Shibi's fingers wrapped around his cup.

"Shikuro is still alive."

"He gave his child to ROOT," Tsume said.

"He did."

"Pretty ruthless."

"He did it for the clan." Shibi's voice didn't change at all.

"I have always respected him." She turned her cup in her hands.

"The Hokage's position is clear," Shibi said.

"What you're doing won't work."

"Did I do something wrong?" She looked up. Flat and bright at the same time. Shibi considered this.

"Wrong and right," he said at last.

"You want justice for Shin. The Hokage prioritizes the village's stability. Your clan and mine don't want to be caught in someone else's conflict." He lifted his cup.

"Everyone is choosing correctly for themselves."

"So who's wrong?"

"When there's a conflict, someone has to yield. If you and I keep pushing—it won't just be clan pressure and the Hokage. There is also the Elder Council." She already knew what that meant.

"Homura," Shibi said.

"Koharu." He set his cup down.

"And Danzō Shimura." Her knuckles had gone white around her cup without her noticing.

"The Hokage visited Shin," Shibi said.

"... Yeah."

"We are shinobi, Tsume." He looked at her directly now. Shinobi." Tch." She looked away.

"I really hate your lectures."

"A shinobi endures what others cannot." The first practice field baked in the afternoon sun.

"The discomfort you're feeling right now—is it really any different from a mosquito bite?" The man speaking was not Iruka. He was lean and cold-eyed, with a black windbreaker and strips of bandaging wrapped around his forehead. Three long scars crossed his face like old claw marks.

"I see some of you sighing over there." He scanned the rows without blinking.

"Born in peacetime. Nothing but livestock." Every student had a wooden post. They had been kicking for thirty minutes. Nobody had been told to stop.

"Who does this guy think he is?"" Livestock —seriously—""Why isn't Iruka-sensei here?"

"You. With the dog." The whispers died. Kiba went still. Akamaru retreated inside his collar.

"And the short blond one." Naruto opened his mouth. Then he met the instructor's eyes—hawk-sharp and entirely uninterested in arguments—and closed it. They walked forward.

"My height is fine," Naruto muttered, barely above a breath.

"Your height is what I called it," the instructor said pleasantly.

"Roll up your pants."

"... What?" The narrow-eyed look was two degrees from nothing, but Naruto's body made the decision before his brain did. He crouched and rolled the fabric to his knees. Both shins were red. Not yet bruised, but getting there. Thirty minutes of contact with hard wood and no padding did that. Kiba followed without waiting to be told. Same result.

"Continue your training." They looked at him. Then they turned around and kept kicking. The difference with skin exposed was immediate. Kiba's jaw clamped. Naruto hissed.

"Ease up on the force," Shin said quietly, from the next post over.

"Takami." The instructor's gaze found him.

"Top of the class." He let the title sit there, neither a question nor a compliment.

"Pants." Shin pressed his lips together and bent down. When he straightened, his shins were visible—red, less severe than the other two, but marked. The instructor made a sound that didn't commit to being anything.

"Continue." When Shin drove his foot into the post again, the pain was sharper than before. He made no sound. The rest of the class had gone completely quiet. Whatever muttering had been building dissolved. At his post, Sasuke stopped moving. He'd been watching Shin. The instructor noticed—he noticed everything—and his gaze settled on the Uchiha crest at Sasuke's back.

"Something the matter?" Sasuke didn't answer. He bent down and rolled his own pants to the knee. No one had told him to. His shins were red too. He planted his feet and drove the kick back into the post without looking at anyone. The instructor looked at him. Then at Shin. Then at the distance between the two of them. The corner of his mouth moved.

"Interesting." The room had no windows. Danzō stood at the head of it. Around him, four masked ANBU knelt with their weight on one knee—still as cut stone, not a breath out of rhythm. A fifth appeared without warning.

"Sir." He knelt, a scroll balanced on both palms above his head.

"Delivered from the Uchiha." Danzō descended the two steps and took it. He turned it over once, examining the seal. Simple—more ceremonial than functional. He broke it open. The contents were brief. He read them twice. His left eye—the only one visible—moved over the lines one more time." Kotoamatsukami." A murmur, almost to himself.

"What tremendous power." He rolled the scroll closed.

"Change of plans." His voice was level. It always was.

"Find Shisui Uchiha. Bring him back."