In the apartment.
Uchiha Shinji stood still for a long time after returning, finally taking off his disguise: the mask and the cloak.
This time, the fight against the invasion hadn't actually taken much time. The clock on the wall showed that it had taken around forty minutes, but he still felt extremely fatigued.
This burden... It was getting too heavy for him to bear!
He gazed out the window, looking at the peaceful Hidden Leaf Village in the quiet of the night, and an inexplicable sense of loneliness began to grow in his heart. Right now, no one besides him knew about the impending crisis, and he couldn't just shout it out loud.
It seemed that everything had to be silently borne by him, the last remnant of the Uchiha clan.
"Why was I chosen...?"
He began to doubt himself, questioning whether he even had the capability to prevent the destruction of the ninja world.
However, he didn't allow this pessimistic thought to spread further. Instead, he quickly collected his thoughts, focusing on finding a solution.
The burden was already on his shoulders—he had no choice but to carry it!
As a Junior Lampbearer, he now had the ability to recruit two attendants.
This meant he could choose two allies from the ninja world, people who could be entrusted with the truth without worrying about them being contaminated by the other world.
"Who should I choose?"
The first person that came to mind was none other than Uchiha Itachi, the one who had killed him once.
Itachi was the only shinobi in the ninja world, aside from himself, who possessed the dojutsu Amaterasu, a natural counter to demons. Coupled with his Kage-level strength, Itachi could almost handle any invading demon.
But recruiting attendants only granted the ability to block contamination, not loyalty.
Not to mention that Shinji currently had no way to even reach Uchiha Itachi. Even if he could meet him, with Shinji being a survivor of the Uchiha massacre, it would be hard to gain mutual trust with Itachi, the very one who had wiped out their clan.
If Itachi mistook him for a madman or a conspirator plotting against the Hidden Leaf and gave him a strike with the Sword of Totsuka, it would be a terrible loss.
"With my current strength, I shouldn't provoke someone that dangerous..."
He shook his head.
Shinji figured that he should only consider recruiting someone of Itachi's level after he had the strength to converse with him as an equal.
Next, he thought of Sasuke, but quickly dismissed the idea.
For Sasuke to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan and gain Amaterasu, it would take at least another six or seven years. He could afford to wait, but the ninja world might not be able to.
Then, he began considering other candidates.
The helper couldn't be too weak, or they wouldn't be of much use. However, they also couldn't be too strong because powerful individuals were usually affiliated with a village or organization and wouldn't easily follow him, a remnant of the Uchiha. There was also the risk that they might leak information about the other world, causing secondary contamination.
Ideally, the helper would have techniques that could deal with demons.
Even if they couldn't eliminate demons quickly, they would at least need to have the ability to trap them, buying time for Shinji to arrive or for the sun to rise and kill the demons.
Unfortunately...
After much consideration, Shinji found that there was no one around him whom he could both trust and rely on to possess such capabilities.
Sighing, he recalled the Lower Moon Six in Rui's eye.
He distinctly remembered Rui being Lower Moon Five among the Twelve Kizuki, but now he had become Lower Moon Six. At first, he hadn't paid much attention to this, but now it struck him as odd.
The one orchestrating this invasion was a Lampbearer like himself.
The world of Demon Slayer might have undergone significant changes already. If Shinji continued to assume things based on his old memories, he could be in for a rude awakening.
Then there was Shion.
During the first invasion by the Hand Demon, she had seen the demon. Although Shinji had sealed her memories with his dojutsu, temporarily suppressing the contamination, it was still not completely secure.
"Should I give one of the attendant slots to Shion, to protect her from contamination? The priestess's sealing techniques might be effective against demons." He thought for a while, then hesitated. "But she's still just a child…"
Demons truly viewed humans as prey, and Shion was only seven years old, barely doing more than shopping in the village...
At that moment, a discomfort in his eyes reminded him that he had overused his dojutsu today.
Along with it came a strong wave of exhaustion, and soon he fell into a deep sleep.
...
Early the next morning.
Knock knock.
The sound of knocking woke Uchiha Shinji from his sleep. He was momentarily confused before realizing what was happening.
Opening the door, he was surprised to find Haku standing outside, holding a lunchbox. "Haku? Aren't you—"
Haku smiled. "The misunderstanding between the village and Hidden Mist has been cleared up."
Shinji's eyes fell on the lunchbox in Haku's hand.
Haku immediately handed it to him. "I noticed you hadn't gotten up yet, so I bought you some breakfast."
Shinji glanced at the clock in his room and saw that it was already 10 a.m.
After inviting Haku into the apartment, Shinji ate breakfast while listening to Haku explain the negotiations between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Mist.
Apparently, due to the Nine-Tails incident that night, Hidden Mist, knowing they were the prime suspect, immediately reached out to the Third Hokage, claiming that they had no involvement. To show their sincerity, they even gave up their previous demand for Haku.
Thus, Haku regained his freedom.
"I see..."
Shinji mused, and an idea began to form in his mind.
Haku then asked, "I heard that the village has reduced the number of rounds in this year's Chunin Exams. The written test in the morning is over, and the final competition will be held in the arena this afternoon. Shinji-kun, do you want to go watch?"
Shinji, wanting to relax for a bit, nodded in agreement.
Before long, the two of them arrived at the arena.
Perhaps because the Nine-Tails incident had been resolved so swiftly, the villagers hadn't been affected at all; in fact, they seemed more energized than before.
After all, in the eyes of the ordinary villagers, the fact that the Nine-Tails had been subdued so quickly meant that the village's strength had only grown.
So, when Shinji bought tickets and entered the arena, he found it already packed with people.
Once seated, Shinji and Haku chatted while waiting for the matches to start.
Suddenly, the crowd around them began looking in one direction, whispering to each other.
Shinji followed their gaze and saw Sasuke, hands coolly shoved into his pockets, walking into the arena under everyone's watchful eyes.
Next to him, Haku looked deeply at Sasuke. "Shinji-kun, that's your fellow Uchiha, Sasuke, right?"
"Yeah."
Haku couldn't help but praise him. "I heard it was him who single-handedly subdued the rampaging Nine-Tails that night and saved the village! And he's even younger than us. It's unbelievable!"
Shinji noticed that the people around them were all whispering similar praises.
Instinctively, he glanced over at the resting areas for the other villages and saw that the shinobi there, who had come to participate in the Chunin Exams, were also discreetly watching Sasuke.
Feeling all the attention from every direction, Sasuke maintained a cold expression, though the corner of his mouth twitched slightly upward.