The day of the Uchiha coup was getting closer.
The tension between the Uchiha and the village kept growing.
Hatake Satoru didn’t even need to ask around to know what was going on—just walking to and from class, he could see two or three arguments between Uchiha and villagers on the streets.
The Uchiha Police Department didn’t try to calm things down like before either. Now they looked more like, "If you’ve got a problem, we’ll beat you up."
Itachi and Shisui hadn’t come to see Hatake Satoru since then, either.
Maybe they found a better place to go. Or maybe there just hadn’t been any progress, so there was no point in talking.
Hatake Satoru leaned against the podium, flipping through his teaching notes while letting his mind wander.
"Teacher, the big kitty came in again."
Hui, who was on tiptoes working on a math problem at the blackboard, tugged on his sleeve and called out to him.
"Hm? Even if he’s here, you still have to finish the problem first."
Hatake Satoru looked up from his notes with a smile and reached down to pinch the little girl’s cheek.
Hui’s head dropped and she slowly shuffled back to the board.
Hatake-sensei is great and all... but why does he have to be a teacher!
Hatake Satoru looked toward the one called "big kitty"—Naruto—who was rocking back and forth in an empty seat at the back of the classroom.
"Being a ninja is awesome. No extra homework, and you can skip class whenever you want."
The student sitting next to Naruto whispered, glancing carefully at Hatake Satoru.
"Ninjas can really make two of themselves? Show us after class, okay?"
Once one person speaks, others will always join in.
Naruto’s bright blue eyes sparkled as he eagerly bragged about himself to the others.
This class was the only place in the village where people didn’t treat him differently.
To Hatake Satoru, kids were easy to guide.
Unlike stubborn adults stuck in their ways, kids Naruto’s age didn’t really remember the Nine-Tails attack.
The bullying and exclusion—they only learned that by copying what they saw from others.
"You all look the same, there’s no real difference. Just treat him like a regular guest student."
Naruto had a cheerful personality and wasn’t a bad kid.
And with Hatake Satoru purposely avoiding talk about the Nine-Tails and always pointing out how everyone’s the same, it didn’t take long before Naruto fit right in with the class.
His Six Eyes could sense pretty far, but the Uchiha district and the school were still a bit too far apart.
He could only faintly sense that a lot of Root members were suddenly moving toward the Uchiha area.
They were spread out, but there were quite a few of them.
Hatake Satoru pressed down on a piece of chalk, snapping it in half with a sharp *crack*.
This kind of movement, right before the coup...
Hatake Satoru’s heart sank a little.
He still saw Shisui and Itachi as tools he could train and use later.
If one of them died now, that’d be a real loss.
Hatake Satoru glanced at the clock on the wall—there was still a while before school ended.
If he went to ask for leave now, by the time he got to Nangekawa, he probably wouldn’t even find Shisui’s body.
His eyes landed on Naruto, who was sitting in the classroom.
"Ah, Naruto’s teacher asked me to take him home first, so after you finish the questions, you can all head out on your own."
"Don’t forget the workbook exercises tonight~ I’ll be checking them tomorrow!"
After throwing a wink at the groaning students, Hatake Satoru grabbed Naruto and quickly slipped out the back door of the classroom.
Hatake Satoru grabbed Naruto and teleported straight from the second floor to outside the school.
"Eh?! What—how did we suddenly end up outside?!"
Before Naruto could say anything, Satoru had already yanked him out.
In the blink of an eye, their surroundings completely changed.
Naruto looked around in disbelief, his head swinging side to side in Satoru’s grasp.
"Well, I’ve got something urgent to do. This way’s faster."
"You skip class all the time to find me, so it’s only fair you help me skip work this once."
Hatake Satoru said it like it made perfect sense, put Naruto down, and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
Before Naruto could say anything, Satoru vanished on the spot.
All that was left was a light breeze and the faint smell of something sweet in the air.
Naruto stood there with his mouth open, looking around. He couldn’t see any sign of Satoru—not even which way he had gone.
It didn’t feel like Satoru left—it was more like he disappeared into thin air.
"Big bro Satoru, that was awesome!!"
A loud voice rang out at the school gate, startling the crows in the trees nearby. They squawked and flew off into the sky.
"To secure Konoha’s future, we must completely wipe out the Uchiha."
"This is the only way to bring true peace to the village."
Danzo looked down from above, blood slowly dripping from the gaps between his half-clenched fingers.
Shisui let out a muffled grunt, half-kneeling on the ground as he wiped the bloofrom his eye socket with one hand.
The ANBU Root agents wearing different animal masks surrounded Shisui, ready to act the moment he tried to escape.
If only these people weren’t here...!
Just as Danzo reached for Shisui’s remaining eye, the Root agents around them suddenly flew into the air.
A wave of shouts broke out from the group. Danzo’s hand froze in midair.
Taking advantage of that brief moment, Shisui quickly threw a smoke bomb to the ground.
In an instant, thick smoke filled the area.
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