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Facing the polite greeting from the unfamiliar young man, the two ninja girls also responded courteously.
"Hello."
"Hello, are you a painter?"
The young man turned back, continuing to paint as he spoke, "I'm just someone who enjoys painting, not a famous artist."
"Not at all, your painting is very good." Ino took a step closer, carefully looking at the landscape in the painting.
The painting used a lot of red.
The setting sun was like blood, even the waters of the Naka River were dyed red. The distant, slightly blurry buildings were covered in a red veil. The entire painting had an indescribable air of desolation and sorrow.
"This painting feels a bit sad," Sakura suddenly said softly.
"Sakura, why did you come here again?" Ino looked at the distant buildings with some suspicion. "That's the Uchiha clan's area, are you thinking about Sasuke-kun again?"
"No..."
Sakura was just like usual, coming to the Naka River to relax after training.
Occasionally, looking at the area left by the Uchiha clan, she always thought, does this bring her closer to Sasuke-kun?
This kind of girlish thought, which was not meant to be shared with others, was now revealed by Ino.
Seeing Sakura's dejected look, Ino sighed and earnestly advised, "Sakura, Sasuke-kun isn't coming back. You should forget about him."
"Ino, you're the one who's changed too quickly!" Sakura looked at her friend somewhat displeased.
Ino retorted, "You're the one being foolish. So many girls like Sasuke-kun, but he's never responded to any of us! Are you going to wait for him foolishly? Everyone says Sasuke-kun won't come back."
Sakura opened her mouth but couldn't find words to argue back.
She also knew about the recent appearance of Sasuke-kun's uncle in Konoha.
The Uchiha clan withdrew from Konoha.
It was said that the announcement came from that person.
When she heard the news, she broke down and cried.
Even though Kakashi-sensei comforted her, saying Sasuke could still return to Konoha as an individual, she still felt pessimistic deep down.
Unlike the past when she was just a fangirl, she now understood that, in Sasuke-kun's heart, his clan's relatives were definitely more important than Konoha.
And herself, she might not even compare to that idiot Naruto in Sasuke-kun's heart.
"Are you talking about that Sasuke, THE Uchiha Sasuke?"
The gentle male voice suddenly interrupted Sakura's thoughts. She looked up to see that the young painter had put down his brush.
"How do you know Uchiha Sasuke?" Ino looked suspiciously at the stranger.
"Sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet." The young man turned around. "My name is Kuno Kouta, a traveling painter."
"As for Uchiha Sasuke, I watched the Chunin Exams held in Konoha earlier. That event was really dangerous."
"Is that so, sorry for being rude, haha..." Ino laughed awkwardly. "Don't worry, Mr. Kuno, such things won't happen again. Konoha is very safe now."
"Thank you for the assurance, Miss Ninja." The young man expressed his gratitude.
"I'm Yamanaka Ino." Ino introduced herself generously, then pulled Sakura over. "This is my good friend, Haruno Sakura."
"Miss Yamanaka, Miss Haruno, it's a pleasure to meet you both." The young man nodded with a smile.
"Mr. Kuno, you mentioned Sasuke earlier?" Sakura asked curiously.
Could this traveling painter know something about Sasuke?
"I didn't mean anything by it." The young man apologized. "I overheard your conversation and got curious, so I interrupted. Sorry."
"It's okay, Mr. Kuno," Sakura replied, a bit disappointed.
"You mentioned that Uchiha boy left Konoha?" the young man asked again.
"Yes... this news should have spread already," Sakura said dejectedly.
"For someone like me, it's not common to hear about ninja affairs."
The young man suddenly turned and took the painting off the easel, handing it to Sakura.
"Sorry for unintentionally asking too much, please accept this as an apology."
After Sakura took the painting, he packed up his easel and paints, slinging them over his back.
"To be cherished by a girl like you, that boy must be lucky."
"Thank you, Mr. Kuno." Sakura held the painting, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"It's getting late, so I'll take my leave." The young man nodded and walked towards the village. "Good luck, Miss Haruno. I hope you and the Uchiha boy can be together. Goodbye."
"Goodbye, Mr. Kuno." Sakura clutched the painting, feeling a renewed determination.
"That's nice, Sakura." Ino reached out to touch the painting in Sakura's hands. "You got such a beautiful painting."
"Hmph, don't even think about it, Ino!" Sakura quickly protected the painting. "This is Mr. Kuno's gift to me, a blessing for my love with Sasuke-kun!"
"Hmph, it's enough that you have his blessing!"
"You were just telling me to give up on Sasuke-kun!"
"Because I knew you wouldn't listen with that wide forehead of yours!"
"Ino-pig!"
...
Kaito silently made his way to the other side of the Naka River, into the desolate Uchiha clan area.
Without stopping, he walked through the ruined buildings, heading to a secluded spot towards the cemetery.
After arriving at the outskirts of the cemetery, he carefully checked the barriers he had set up and, confirming they were intact, went inside.
Entering the barrier, Kaito's form shimmered with spiritual light, reverting to his true appearance as the colorful paper figure attached to him turned to confetti and blew away.
He then spent some time meticulously cleaning all the graves.
Throughout the process, he didn't use any spells or make a sound, simply and quietly clearing away the dead leaves and branches and wiping the tombstones clean.
After finishing the cleaning, he stood in front of the graves and deeply bowed.
Finally, he sat on a stone at the edge of the cemetery to rest.
By this time, the setting sun had completely disappeared below the horizon, stars were beginning to appear in the night sky, and a bright moon cast its cold light on the ground.
Kaito's red eyes revealed a pentagram as he focused intently, observing the celestial movements, calculating in his mind.
After a long while, his eyes returned to their normal color, and he visibly relaxed.
He now understood where the previous sense of danger had come from.
At the same time, the unsettling feeling had completely vanished.
A confident smile appeared on Kaito's face.
As long as he wasn't caught off guard by sudden events, he was confident he could find the right way to break through any predicament.
Taking out a blank scroll, he spread it on his knee and began writing rapidly, conducting further calculations.