The black dot quickly vanished without a trace. Mai frowned as she gazed at the clear, bright moon. In the vast night sky, there was no sign of any shadow left.
After a long while, she withdrew her gaze, feeling somewhat puzzled. That momentary sensory alert didn't seem like an unintentional mistake. Hesitantly, she turned to look in another direction. About a hundred meters away, under the torchlight, two patrolling Ninja were watching the distance with calm expressions, occasionally exchanging a few words.
'Perhaps I was overthinking it.' As the night wind blew, a chill seeped through the gaps in her clothes. Hugging her arms, she hopped down, deciding to go back and sleep.
Truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure herself. A fleeting sensory alert could either be a trick of her eyes or, at most, a bird like an eagle or a wild goose.
"Mai's back, huh?"
"Was the view from the rock nice?"
As she walked back to the camp, a few people teased her. Mai felt embarrassed but still glared fiercely at the uncle who loved to poke fun at her the most. No wonder she'd heard this guy was almost forty and still unmarried.
The quiet path was lined with sleeping tents on both sides. Mai thought she had already put the incident at the ruins behind her, but when she looked up at the sky, it suddenly came back to her mind. A round, bright moon shone clearly, its boundless light spilling through the clouds.
"The moonlight is beautiful tonight." Mai's gaze was captivated. The moon today was truly beautiful, rarely had she seen it so clear. She could even make out the hazy lunar halo and the contrasting light and dark patches on the moon's surface.
'Right, with the moon this clear, that speeding black dot shouldn't have been a mistake, should it?'
'And…' Mai struggled to piece it together, her memories aligning with what she'd seen, 'Why did it feel vaguely familiar? Could that bird in the sky be one I'd seen somewhere before?'
When she reached her tent, Mai lifted the flap and went inside. The fatigue from a long day of work washed over her. Thanks to the dedication of all the Medical-nin, the villagers injured in the attack had mostly been settled, and daily treatments were becoming more stable.
But that didn't mean tomorrow's work would be any easier. After a quick wash, she prepared to rest and recharge.
As she changed clothes and stretched to relax, Mai suddenly noticed something different from usual.
Inside her unfolded sleeping bag, the quilt seemed to be pressing down on something.
"I don't remember leaving anything here…" She muttered curiously, stepping forward to check. It was an ordinary letter, with no sender or recipient indicated on the surface, completely blank.
"Whose is this?"
The seal was open, 'Could it be from brother? Ah, how boring…' Mai picked up the thin envelope and shook it. A piece of paper fluttered out.
She caught it and glanced at it instinctively, then froze.
Her eyes fixed on the paper. The entire letter contained only a short line of text and a signature.
"Three days from now, the Valley of the End."
Time and place, concise and clear. Just as Mai was about to see who it was from, a voice came from behind her.
"Mai."
Startled, Mai turned around to find Sakura, who should have been asleep long ago.
"What are you doing?"
"Ah, nothing…" Mai sighed in relief while quickly stuffing the envelope back into the sleeping bag. She patted her chest and said, "Sakura-nee… I wasn't doing anything. I was just about to sleep."
"Is that so?" Sakura, dressed in casual home clothes, seemed to notice Mai's furtive movement. She tiptoed to peek, deliberately feigning disbelief and curiosity, "Could it be something you're hiding? Now that I think about it, our little Mai is all grown up…"
"Wh-what nonsense are you talking about!" The graceful young girl immediately retorted, her face flushing.
"Really? You can share with me, you know…"
"What are you even saying?!"
Sakura kept teasing but didn't press further. However, the sudden change in topic made Mai's reaction even more exaggerated than before… flustered, embarrassed, and blushing deeply.
After the playful banter, Mai looked at her senior sister's expression and straightened her face slightly, "What's going on, Sakura-nee? Weren't you back ages ago? You scared me."
"Well," Sakura brushed her hair aside and glanced around the tent, which made Mai tense up again reflexively. Finally, Sakura smiled, "It's nothing. I was discussing tomorrow's medical station arrangements with the patrol team earlier. I got bored and decided to come find you."
Mai was speechless, shooting a deeply resentful look at her.
"Alright, alright, I know I was wrong. I'm going back to sleep…" Sakura awkwardly waved her hands and backed out of the tent.
The two had a close relationship, so they chatted for a bit longer at the entrance before bidding each other goodnight.
After tightening the tent flap, the night grew quiet again, with only the faint crackling of a small bonfire audible.
Mai curled up in her sleeping bag, carefully folding the letter she had read twice and hiding it away.
She fell into silent thought for a moment, then leaned over to turn off the electric light. With a click, everything went dark.
The time and place didn't require any confirmation. Lying in the soft cotton, Mai stared at the top of the tent, her mind lingering on the signature at the end of the letter.
A crudely sketched, crescent-moon-shaped necklace.
The night seeped through the tent, casting a faint glow that seemed both red and silvery-white. Mai gazed at it, thinking to herself that the moonlight tonight was indeed beautiful.
...
The next day, after waking up, Mai went about her work at the medical station as usual, treating patients, monitoring diseases, caring for hospitalized individuals, as if nothing had happened.
Except she found herself spacing out more often.
"Hey, hey, be careful. Glass equipment is expensive."
Once again, her lack of focus caused her to bump into some instruments while organizing them.
Flustered, Mai hurriedly apologized and properly sorted the used equipment on the table, placing them in designated cleaning areas.
"Looks like you didn't rest well." Sakura said casually while washing her hands.
"Oh, it's nothing."
Mai patted her cheeks, aware that her behavior from morning to afternoon had raised concerns. After all, she and Sakura, as a well-coordinated team, often worked together. She wiped her hands dry with a towel and mustered a cheerful smile.
"Don't push yourself too hard, okay?" Sakura gave her a light pat on the back, just hard enough to sting, leaving Mai unsure whether it was a joke or an encouragement…
'No, I couldn't let it slide.' But by the time Mai turned around to retaliate, Sakura had already run off.
"I'm going to find Shizune-sama. Don't make any mistakes!"
Helplessly watching Sakura disappear, Mai sat back down in her consultation seat, forcing herself to stay alert.
Come to think of it, the day had indeed become much less busy, which was why she'd had so many opportunities to space out and ponder the letter.
If a critically injured patient had arrived, it would have required hours of intense, focused work. Mai propped her chin in her hand and watched the bustling crowd outside. The collapsed Konoha was gradually taking shape again, with the frameworks of new buildings rising here and there.
She knew the letter, silently left in her tent, was undoubtedly from Logan. The shadow she'd seen flying past the moon hadn't been a mistake either… Clicking a ballpoint pen repeatedly with her left hand, Mai smiled faintly at the memory of the crescent-moon necklace from their distant time in the Land of the Moon.
A one-yen coin, back then, she'd naively strung it together like a treasure.
'It seemed Hattori-nii hadn't forgotten.' Mai thought it made sense, how could something like that be easily forgotten?
She just wondered where he'd hidden it or if he kept it with him.
'Pretty bold of him… What if he'd been discovered?'
Meeting up was understandable, but whether she should go wasn't even a question in Mai's mind. No matter what labels like Missing-nin were attached to him, she trusted what she had seen and known of him.
Besides, after the Uchiha battle incident, the village's attitude toward Logan's assistance had also shifted from what it was before.
Perhaps there was a chance for reconciliation. From what Mai understood, there didn't seem to be any records of Logan directly causing harm to the village's interests.
The only problem was the current timing. The village was under strict curfew at night. If she wanted to leave, she couldn't reveal her real reason, and she'd have to sneak out.
The honor student Mai was deeply troubled by this.
Her work routine didn't change much. As she grew more accustomed and skilled, Mai was increasingly able to hold her own in the field of Medical Ninjutsu.
She diligently fulfilled her duties as a medic while also worrying about the details of the meeting. Was it at night? Who else would be there? What were they going to do? Sometimes she complained at him for picking such a critical moment. His sudden arrival felt like an ordinary, insignificant matter, yet also somehow important, leaving her deeply conflicted.
In her field of view, buildings slowly rose frame by frame. Construction workers filled every corner, and people's enthusiasm remained undiminished as time passed.
Allied nations like the Land of Wind sent wave after wave of support teams and supplies, greatly alleviating the pressure. Konoha seemed to have found a new kind of harmony and stability. All sectors relaxed their pace, and Ninja no longer desperately took on missions. Everything was steady and solid. In contrast, the medical station finally became less hectic.
When Mai worked a shift without a single critically injured patient for most of the day and the number of hospitalized patients gradually decreased by nearly half, she even felt a bit unaccustomed to it. Of course, this was all part of the normal progression. During this time, her brother, Kazuya, managed to find time to visit her. Well, it wasn't interesting at all, so she shooed him away immediately.
As expected of her dear brother, Foreman Hasegawa hurried back to the construction site to direct others, or himself, in moving bricks. Later, to Mai's surprise, she also had a chance to run into her old teammates.
Arata and Yuta, led by their Jonin Instructor, Gensaku, came to the medical station.
"What are you guys doing here?" Mai widened her eyes, her gaze shifting among the three. None of them seemed injured.
Lately, she had been mostly separated from her former companions. After temporarily joining Team 7, Mai was assigned to the medical team due to the critical importance of Medical Ninjutsu, where manpower was desperately needed. Amid the separation, she had learned that the others were safe and sound during the village attack, which was already a great comfort.
"Long time no see." Her two teammates said with grins. Both seemed to have matured quite a bit.
The shadow of Pain's rampage hadn't left any visible marks on them, but the typical traits of teenagers remained completely unchanged.
Well, Mai wasn't discriminating against teenagers of a certain age, she just thought they could be pretty awful most of the time.
From their conversation, she learned they had come to visit her. The reason was that after such a long separation, they had heard about her but hadn't seen her in person and missed her… It was such an embarrassing reason.
Mai felt touched inwardly, but on the surface, she still scoffed at it, pretending to be busy. She had zero interest in hanging out with young boys.
"If there's nothing important, don't bother me. I'm really busy, okay?"
It was only when facing Gensaku that Mai would bow respectfully. The calm man of the older generation, weathered by battles, softened his scarred face, showing a are smile when facing his lovely and outstanding student.
"Hey, Mai-chan, aren't you going to show us around? We're really interested in the nurses... I mean, the medical equipment."
"No time. If you don't have any physical problems..."
"Ah, actually, my stomach has been hurting lately."
"Me too, me too!"
"...Get lost, both of you."
Bickering aside, the old Team Gensaku still managed to have a meal together, a rare reunion. The warm, pure friendship made Mai feel grounded. After parting ways, they would continue contributing to the village in their respective roles.
The days passed quickly, and soon it was three days later, the day of the meeting.
Mai finally gritted her teeth and made up her mind.
She packed her bags without telling anyone. The timing was perfect. It's a dark and windy night, with the moon hidden and the world plunged into darkness, ideal for sneaking around.
Leveraging her familiarity with the terrain, Mai carefully slipped past the guards and stealthily made her way north.
…
Skimming over mountains and rivers, farther and farther north, the weather grew increasingly cold. The rivers along the way were already frozen, and the mountains seemed shrouded in white mist.
On the road to the Land of Iron, the delegation from Konoha was making its way.
"Danzo-sama, our people have already made contact with the Land of Iron's covert sentinels ahead. We should reach our destination before sunset today."
Inside a cave, a team of over a dozen people was taking a short rest. At the front, a Ninja clad in black and wearing an animal mask knelt on one knee, reporting to the man before him.
"Hm." Danzo, his forehead and right eye bandaged, dressed in a half-length kimono, sat upright on the ground. He responded faintly, not even opening his eye.
Since fighting his way through the competition to become the acting Hokage, stepping out from the shadows into the spotlight, his presence had grown imposing and profound.
This trip to the Five Kage Summit was attended mostly by his own people, the dark side of Konoha, the Root.
"Thud." About fifteen minutes later, several figures radiating killing intent abruptly appeared before the group. Two corpses were set down.
"Danzo-sama, these are two scouts we found one kilometer southwest and seven hundred meters east. They bear no insignia, so we don't know which faction they belong to."
This time, Danzo opened his eye, glanced at the bodies, and waved his hand. These days, with undercurrents of power shifting, the Ninja World was truly restless.
The Root's members disappeared with the corpses. Some people in the team whispered among themselves.
His mission was of great importance.
Whenever he thought about it, Danzo felt a profound sense of duty. This was what he had been quietly working toward all these years while bowing beneath Konoha's surface.
Now, becoming the Hokage might seem like a timely blessing, but it was merely a change in approach. There was no room for complacency, and he had to strictly uphold this responsibility.
Once the break was over, he led the team onward, "By the way, is the village's reconstruction proceeding as planned?"
"Yes, everything is progressing as you expected."
Snowflakes drifted down from the sky. The cold wind carrying the snowline swept across the wilderness. The road ahead was long and magnificent, with layers of mountains rising in the distance.
The team advanced through the wind and snow, with Danzo at the forefront. His expression was stoic as he contemplated matters that would shape countless futures, the weight on his shoulders heavy.
This was why he had come here, insisting on the execution of Uchiha Sasuke.
However, he anticipated many obstacles, both external and internal… from Itachi to Logan. He had made preparations for this...
The capital of the Land of Iron was now visible in the distance.