The established shinobi units weren't as fast as the full-speed shinobi troopers, but it didn't take more than a few days to get back to Konoha Village from the border.
However, Manoshi, who returned to the village, didn't return to the Uchiha family; he first went to find Kaoru-san to keep her from worrying.
Because a few strange acquaintances stopped him at the village entrance.
"Manoshi, it's good to see you again finally. "
The young girl held the hands of the teenager beside her and greeted Manoshi.
"Jiro and I came back from the front to visit you, only to find that you had applied to go to Kikyo City. "
"Are you ... Yuki?"
Listening to the familiar voice, Manoshi guessed with uncertainty.
"Hey, we've been together for so many years, you can't even recognize my voice?"
'Of course, it's not hard to recognize.'
'However, I clearly felt your name on the tablet before ...'
"Yeah, Manoshi. I haven't seen you for so long; you don't even know my voice. "
A boy intervened in the conversation between the two.
"Thanks to you, I was able to survive. I ended up losing a hand on the battlefield and had to retire and come back. What a shame. "
This voice, Manoshi, couldn't be mistaken. After all, it was his words that made Manoshi firmly believe in going to the front.
'It's you, Oki Miyamoto!'
'But why are you acting like nothing happened now? Why is Yuki still alive?'
'Think calmly, analyze calmly, correlate backward and forwards, and make wild guesses.'
Manoshi came to the conclusion that Oki Miyamoto was someone disguised, and the memorial tablet was also fake. The illusion interfered with the sense of direction on the road ...
'To sum it up in one sentence: I, Manoshi Uchiha, got screwed by Danzō.'
'Maybe this was a big conspiracy in Konoha!'
In fact, Manoshi's speculation was basically close to the truth.
Oki, who retired from the battlefield, was hypnotized by illusion as soon as he returned to the village and was taken away by a mind control jutsu.
Naturally, there was no memory of that experience.
"It's great to see you again!"
He wasn't expecting to meet again after a long time, but they could meet again. The ups and downs of emotions make Manoshi embrace Yuki excitedly.
"Hey, you don't hug other people's girlfriends just because you're young!"
Jiro, who was standing aside and not saying anything, pulled away Manoshi's hand wrapped around Yuki's back and glared at Manoshi angrily.
Because of the early graduation, Jiro and Yuki were both 3 years older than Manoshi. Later, Manoshi was promoted to Jōnin and left the team, and they added Oki Miyamoto, who was the same age as Jiro and Yuki.
So, many people still looked after Manoshi quite well outside of combat, except for Jiro.
As if there was a curse that the two boys in a squad were bound to dislike each other, Jiro and Manoshi have never been able to get along.
However, it seems that we now know why.
Yuki separated from Manoshi, took Jiro's hand again, and sweetly said, "This time on the battlefield, I realized that I was in love with Jiro, so we got together. "
Jealous little boys, really terrible ...
"Oh, what a surprise, congratulations. "
The four were reunited with some twists and turns, but they were all happy.
"I'm back!"
"Unexpectedly, no one's home ..."
Manoshi stood at the door, listening to sounds in the room.
"You and Kaoru have already lived together?" Yuki thought for a moment.
"Yes, for the convenience of taking care of me, Kaoru-san moved in. " Manoshi felt his bandages. "It wasn't very easy for me to move around on my own. "
The three of them accompanied Manoshi back home together, but Kaoru Uchiha wasn't home, so they decided to get together at a barbecue restaurant.
A plate of meat was laid out on the table, and several boys couldn't wait to spread it out on the stove, and in between waiting for the barbeque, raise the glass in front of each other.
"Cheers!"
All four underage people couldn't drink, so four cups of juice toasted each other.
"Suna, who provoked the war, was defeated. So is the war coming to an end?" Yuki sighed, "But Oki can no longer be a shinobi. What about Manoshi? Will you come back as our captain?"
"No, I probably won't be active as a shinobi anymore, and life as a non-shinobi is actually pretty good. "
Picking up a piece of barbeque and putting it in his mouth, Manoshi, who hadn't eaten such delicious meat for a long time, grunted and enjoyed it.
"Really? In fact, I have the same idea. I will probably apply for retirement as a full-time housewife when I get married. "
Saying that Yuki and Jiro looked at each other and smiled.
"I'll probably go be a sensei or help out at the orphanage." Manoshi, facing Oki, earnestly suggested, "In fact, Oki can also apply to Hokage-sama for admission to Ninja School. "
Oki, who only had one hand, wasn't very confident, "Me? Is that okay?"
"Of course, it's no problem. You're a Chūnin; isn't it a breeze to educate a bunch of kids?" Yuki said laughingly, "When the time comes, Jiro and I will leave our children to you. "
Therefore, don't go out to dinner with couples .... it's suffocating ...
Manoshi and his teammates were having a party here (eating sour jealousy by looking at the couple).
On the other hand, a post-war meeting was being held in the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't the sole judge of a project, and there were many things that needed to be discussed.
"The war with Suna is over, and the Daimyō of the Land of Wind has submitted in surrender to the Daimyō of the Land of Fire. Koharu, you go to the capital of the country to participate in the negotiations. "
Most of the political issues related to the Daimyō were handled by two council members, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. No one was surprised.
Koharu Utatane nodded and replied, "No problem."
After solving the last problem, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the file on the desk -- the post-war summary submitted by -- Minato Namikaze and Orochimaru.
"Hmm, as if the power of a tailed beast?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was smoking his pipe. No one knew what he was thinking.
"Since he is willing to use this power to contribute to Konoha, don't worry about him. "
"Hiruzen, Manoshi Uchiha can be trusted, but the Uchiha clan has to be watched out for!" Danzō Shimura, who was sitting on one side, quickly retorted, "Once the Uchiha clan is allowed to grasp such power, the consequences are unthinkable. Why don't we let Manoshi Uchiha join Root and let me manage him? "
Danzō's manner caused several people involved in the meeting to frown.
Of course, these high-level officials weren't considering the feelings of the Uchiha family.
Although the Uchiha clan had a less than cordial relationship with the village, the Konoha hierarchy didn't treat them as one of their own.
It was mainly because of Danzō's wish to take all the power into his own hands, which made people easily disgusted.
"Danzō, stop saying that. I trust Manoshi Uchiha as a person." The Third Hokage tapped his pipe on the table. "Don't allow your people to touch Manoshi Uchiha. I have other plans. "
"Humph!"
Danzō grunted lightly, showing his displeasure.
...
It was late at night.
There were no pedestrians in the cold streets, only two or three people passing in a hurry.
Manoshi said goodbye to these few friends and left the barbecue restaurant.
He hadn't gone far before he ran into Kaoru Uchiha, who was looking for him.
In the dim light of the streetlamp, the young girl wearing a mud-stained ninja uniform puffed up at the teenager walking towards her.
"Kaoru-san, I'm back."