Naruto: Chronicles of a Fire Ninja-Chapter 374 - 369: Grief

"I am sure this is not the interesting thing you wanted to talk about," Tobi said, not wanting to follow up with Zetsu's play.

Hearing that, Zetsu's face grew wider as he said, "Konoha had gained one more S-rank, and he is from the Uchiha clan."

Tobi kept on looking toward Zetsu, wanting more information, but Zetsu could see slight annoyance in Tobi's eyes. "Remember the boy I told you about, brother of Shisui Uchiha who went to Kumogakure for the Chunin Exam, well he awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan after seeing his friend die in that attack."

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

"I remember telling you to keep a close eye on him. If he had awakened the Mangekyo, he should have been very weak at that time. Why is he not captured or killed till now?" Tobi asked, his eyes showing annoyance, but that was only visible for someone at Black Zetsu's level, a being who had lived for thousands of years. For a normal person, there was no emotion in Tobi's eyes at all, though there was no one else there other than these two.

"I tried. The moment I got to know about this, I went there, but by then an elder of Mount Myoboku had appeared near that boy. I didn't want to test my stealth skills in front of such a being, so I didn't participate further, especially considering he could have run away as soon as he felt any danger, leaking my abilities to the world."

Tobi just gave a slight nod to Zetsu before he began pondering the future. Kumo and Iwa seemed hell-bent on starting the next ninja war. Even though there were low chances, it showed how little this world truly valued life. This cemented his already presented belief.

'I have to complete the final plan, so that everyone can find true peace and I can finally meet...'

"I am going to keep surveillance, but the chances of finding anything about the boy are low. He will be in Mount Myoboku for some time, followed by his arrival in the Uchiha district. Both of these areas are out of reach for me, so for now, we have to continue with the assumption that Konoha had gained a new S-rank whose abilities are unknown for now," Zetsu interrupted Tobi's chain of thoughts, only getting a nod before he was eaten by a plant eerily similar to a Venus flytrap and was submerged in the ground once again, the same way he came to the cave.

Leaving behind a man in an orange, spiraled mask, thinking about the future alone, he still didn't have many pieces to start the process. So, for now, he had to wait and build his and his organization's strength until he could confidently move in the world without worrying about those major villages at all.

At the thought of major villages, he remembered a major village he had actively involved himself with, a village which was still paying the price for the death of his... friend.

The mood of the Inuzuka clan was somber. They had lost two of their promising ninja in the recent attack, one of them being a special Jonin while the other was a recently promoted Chunin at a young age of 10. He had a very high chance to achieve Jonin, even Elite Jonin rank in the future.

In a clan where even the clan head was just a stronger Elite Jonin, such an achievement mattered very much, so the whole clan was sad about the loss they faced.

But their sadness didn't even come close to that of two people, those who had lost their only son in the attack. The son who was just celebrating his promotion to Chunin rank and was boasting about soon achieving Jonin rank to catch up with his friend.

They both were really happy for their son. He was getting the success every parent dreamed of for their children, and the next second, the news of his death reached their ears. The amount of anger they were feeling was only second to their sadness.

When both of these people were sitting in their home, not willing to move at all, their two dogs laying on the ground with them as well. All four of them had not eaten in two days, but not one of them even thought of hunger as their mind was plagued by sadness.

Dong Ding

Suddenly their doorbell rang. Yasuhiro Inuzuka, Ryota's father, stood up to go and check who was at the door, already prepared to return the person if he was someone who came to give them advice to move on.

"..."

"Who are you?" Yasuhiro asked in a gentle tone, as instead of a person of his clan, there was a boy the same age as his son, most likely his classmate who came to pay his condolences.

"... ... Hello sir, I am Kaida Uchiha. I am... was Ryota's friend," Kaida, who couldn't find words to speak in front of a father whose son died mostly because of him, or so he thought.

But the person who heard that became even more emotional. The friend his son used to talk about was in front of him. From what he knew, Kaida was injured and was in medical care.

"Come inside, son," Yasuhiro said as he opened the gate more.

Kaida, who didn't want to hold the next conversation on the door, nodded and followed Yasuhiro inside the house.

"Honey, Kaida, Ryota's friend is here," Yasuhiro shouted, and in a minute his wife also came down from her room. Since Ryota's room was on the ground floor, they were not coming down to revisit all of those painful memories once again.

"Kaida Uchiha, right? Ryota always used to talk about you, about how you are his true rival and one day he will beat you by becoming an Elite Jonin before you," a smile formed on Ryota's mother's face when she remembered her son.

But Kaida's eyes were focused on the two people in front of him. Being a medical ninja with more than enough experience, it was not hard for Kaida to see the condition of the two people in front of him. He sighed. The topic he was going to discuss would only worsen their condition further.

"Aunt, I was also injured during the attack and recently came back from the hospital. I am really hungry. Can I please use your kitchen to make something for myself?" Kaida asked.

"No, no. Why would you make something? Just tell me what you want to eat..."

"Please let me do it," Kaida said with genuine worry in his eyes, at which both of them could only sigh and let him cook.

And in just 15 minutes, the table was filled with light food. Since he could see they had not eaten for quite a long time, he had only cooked light food like porridge, mixed with a lighter dose of calming medicine he once developed when his family was in shambles after the information about Shisui's father was given to them.

"I have cooked a little too much. Can you guys please join me? It is rather lonely to eat alone," Kaida said. Even though both of them could see what Kaida was trying to do, they couldn't bring themselves to say no to a boy who was reminding them of their own son.