Leaving the Hokage Building, Drake looked unusually serious.
"Hey, what did Lord Danzo say to you? Was it a mission?"
Obito rushed over, wearing his trademark curious expression.
"Nothing."
Drake responded flatly and walked off alone.
"Huh? Something's off about him," Rin said, puzzled.
"Yeah… usually he just acts lazy, but this time he looks kind of… down," she added.
"Probably got scolded," Kakashi guessed.
At Home
Back in his courtyard, Drake lay on his wooden recliner, looking deeply troubled.
Half an hour later, his eyes suddenly sharpened as he glanced in a certain direction.
"Damn it, making me put on this act for so long."
Where was that gloomy expression now? It had vanished completely.
"I can't go see Sensei yet. I'm not sure if Danzo's sent other people to monitor me."
Entering the house, he took out paper and pen and began recording the characteristics of Gravity Sphere.
First: This technique consumes an enormous amount of chakra.
Second: Once thrown, it releases terrifying gravitational force, pulling in all surrounding matter.
Third: I am not affected by this gravity and can even transmit chakra from a distance.
Fourth: Once I stop supplying chakra, the sphere explodes immediately.
Fifth: The explosion does not distinguish friend from foe — even I must escape its range.
He reread the notes, then crumpled the paper and burned it.
There was no need to leave evidence. He had already memorized everything.
Noon – The Hot Spring Incident
Hands in his pockets, Drake wandered the streets, buying a few skewers of dango.
He eventually ended up in the residential area and knocked on Kushina's door.
No response.
"Oh right… she's probably at the bathhouse."
Happy hot springs!
The moment Drake stepped inside, his eyes nearly got blinded.
Women.
Women everywhere.
And very lightly dressed ones at that.
"Hey, kid! This place is for women only! What are you doing here?" a middle-aged woman in suspenders scolded him.
"Women only?" Drake blinked.
Well, that's an interesting business model.
"Eh? Drake?"
Kushina, who had just finished at the front desk, spotted him.
Reception Room
"Senior Kushina, could you help me arrange a meeting with Sensei Minato?" Drake got straight to the point.
"Me? Arrange a meeting for you with Minato?" she looked baffled. "Why not just go to him yourself?"
"Tonight, 8 PM. At the barbecue restaurant. One with 'backbone' — no, I mean, raw grilling!"
Leaving that puzzling line behind, Drake rushed off.
"…Weirdo." Kushina muttered.
8 PM — Barbecue Restaurant
Inside a private room.
"I heard from Kushina that you wanted to see me. Something important?" Minato asked seriously.
Using such a roundabout method clearly meant the matter carried risk.
"It's about you, Sensei."
"Go on."
"Danzo ordered me to act as his spy. To monitor you."
"…What?"
Minato looked genuinely surprised.
After a moment's thought, he nodded.
"This must be related to the three Root members who were killed."
"Sensei… you're taking the blame for me," Drake said awkwardly.
Minato smiled faintly.
"You're admitting it now?"
"Huh?"
"Don't say things like that again."
Truth be told, Minato had suspected Drake from the very beginning — which was why he told him to burn the bodies.
"This matter should blow over soon," Minato said calmly.
"With the front lines collapsing, Danzo won't have the luxury to investigate too deeply."
"Go back and keep training. You might be sent to the battlefield at any time."
The Very Next Day
Drake immediately realised his teacher had jinxed it.
Early morning, an emergency assembly order came down. He didn't even get breakfast before sprinting to the village square.
"Oh? Xiaoxi — I mean, Ibiki — you've got teammates now?" Drake greeted Mori no Ibiki casually.
Ibiki instantly turned his head away, pretending not to know him.
"Hey, that dead-last called you by nickname," Gekko Hayate said in disbelief.
"And you're not even mad?"
"Tch… maybe they're just close?" Yugao guessed.
Seeing his old friend ignore him, Drake turned to another familiar face.
"Red Bean, why do you look so lifeless? Where are your teammates?"
He was joking — and then he noticed.
She was crying.
Ah… right.
Her teacher had defected.
That explained everything.
Out of simple human decency — and also to keep her from talking about the Root incident — Drake invited her again.
"Do you want to join Team Nine?"
"You… you really mean it?" She wiped her tears, shocked.
Since Orochimaru defected, her teammates had thrown her away. Other groups rejected her too — the stigma of being Orochimaru's student clung to her like a curse.
She never expected Team Nine to accept her.
"But… adding a new member needs approval from the higher-ups…" she said nervously.
"That's easy. I'll go talk to Danzo later," Drake replied calmly.
As Danzo's 'undercover agent', this was the perfect time to cash in a favour.
Kakashi and the others exchanged suspicious looks.
"When did Drake get so close to Danzo…?"
The Assembly Grows
More and more ninja gathered in the square.
Almost all the shinobi of their generation were present.
"This must be a massive operation," Kakashi murmured.
"Could it be the Sand frontline?" Obito asked nervously.
"Probably not," Red Bean shook her head.
"I overheard someone say it's about the Cloud Village's advance unit."
Cloud Village? Advance unit?
Drake frowned.
"So they've already passed through the Land of Moon and the Land of Hot Water…"
A certain girl's face flashed in his mind.
I hope you're okay, Minaizi…
His gaze slipped to his stat panel.
Physique: 1152 (576 × 2) — [Secondary ???]
The battlefield was coming.
And Drake's real performance…
was about to begin.
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