His sleep was so deep that he lost all sense of time.
When he finally woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.
Gisei rubbed his sleepy eyes, yawning as he got up to wash. After eating, he leisurely walked towards the Takemoto estate.
Today was the day he would officially join the Anbu.
However, before reporting for duty, he still needed to talk to Shuichi Takemoto about the matter.
When he saw Shuichi and told him about joining the Anbu, the old man looked a bit strange.
"Joining the Anbu is fine, but I would have preferred you to join the regular forces."
"You should be clear about your responsibilities. In the Anbu, you must study carefully and strive to improve your strength."
"When you become powerful enough, we will support you—even if you want to become Hokage in the future."
That same old line again. Gisei sighed, shrugged his shoulders, and after perfunctorily saying a couple of sentences, he left the Takemoto house.
Masamasa Takemoto walked out, watching Gisei's retreating back. "Father, you saw it too. He doesn't have that kind of ambition at all."
"Silly son. When you were little, you used a small bowl to eat, and when you grew up, you used a big bowl. Do you know why?"
"Of course! Because I grew up and eat more!"
Masamasa smiled. "He is currently someone who uses a small bowl. If you tell him about becoming Hokage now, he definitely feels it's unrealistic."
"When he starts using a big bowl, even if he doesn't want to become Hokage, it won't be up to him. The circumstances will push him forward."
"Human nature is struggle. As long as he isn't destroyed in the struggle, he can break out of the cocoon and become a butterfly."
"Even if he is a dog, as long as he dares to fight, he can become a wolf."
...
On the way to the Anbu headquarters, Gisei ran into the person he least wanted to see.
Danzo Shimura.
Gisei began to lament his tragic fate.
When he was first born into this world, he thought he had reincarnated well. But after only a few days of living the good life, the clan was almost wiped out.
If the clan was gone, it was gone. Gisei felt that as long as he didn't court death, he could always survive.
Unexpectedly, he became a thorn in Danzo's side, stared at constantly without blinking.
Danzo had tried every way to control him, and now seeing him grow stronger and stronger, Gisei estimated the old man had already started sharpening his knife.
He hid and hid, just wanting to develop quietly.
As a result, he caught the eye of that non-human creature, Mei. He was given a bunch of benefits, only to be prepared for use as a tool.
Ah, why is it so hard to just live peacefully?
Is heaven bestowing a great responsibility on him?
Don't joke. He felt like a jinx, possessed by the god of bad luck—always managing to survive but never able to be at peace.
Trembling with fear, walking on thin ice, living a life worse than a commoner.
Shaking his head, Gisei looked at Danzo and said grumpily, "Lord Danzo, what are you planning this time? Can't you just let me off?"
Danzo said with a dark face, "I don't understand what you are saying. But there is something I hope you can tell me. How exactly did you know Nonō Yakushi's identity?"
Danzo had been having a very bad time these past two days. After Nonō's identity was exposed, he had a quarrel with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Before his anger could even subside, someone else surrounded his house, forcing him to hand over the brat in front of him.
Danzo felt he wasn't stupid. Even if he wanted to kill this brat, he wouldn't do it right in the middle of the village.
However, no one believed him.
Just when he was ready to take action, someone reported that the brat had already returned home safely. The people surrounding him quickly withdrew, leaving only a bewildered Danzo.
He felt like he had been played for a fool.
How could Danzo, whose ambitions were as high as the sky, endure such mockery? That was how the scene before him came to be.
"If Lord Danzo doesn't understand what I'm saying, then why ask me about Nonō Yakushi? I also don't know what Lord Danzo is talking about."
Danzo's cold, stern gaze fixed tightly on Gisei. After a while, two words came out of his mouth.
"Very good."
"Of course I am very good, but Lord Danzo seems very unwell. Let's not waste each other's time. A good dog doesn't block the way."
Veins bulged on Danzo's forehead, and Gisei's hand began to reach for his ninja tool pouch.
In the end, Danzo didn't make a move. He understood that if he really did, things would slide into an irreversible situation.
"I will always be watching you from the darkness. I hope you won't do anything out of line. When that time comes, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Gisei raised an eyebrow. "There is one thing I hope Lord Danzo can understand. Even a rabbit will bite when cornered."
Danzo snorted coldly, turned, and left.
It wasn't until Danzo's figure could no longer be seen that Gisei finally relaxed.
He understood that winning or losing in words was completely irrelevant, but he had been holding back anger in his heart for days.
Or rather, this fire had been burning since Eisawa's death.
After encountering that situation in Butterfly Habitat Valley, the fire in his heart burned even more fiercely.
For Danzo to come up to him at this time was purely asking for trouble.
He was sure Danzo wouldn't make a move in the village; the precaution just now was only because the pressure Danzo exerted was too great.
The current Danzo was definitely at his peak strength, completely different from when he later relied on that strange technique, Izanagi.
He could sense that Danzo had gathered a large amount of chakra in his body. The oppressive momentum forced Gisei to take precautions.
Fortunately, Danzo didn't make a move, otherwise he would have had to call for reinforcements.
"Come out, Captain."
Sakumo Hatake walked out from behind a tree not far away.
"Lord Danzo is a high-ranking official of the village, after all. Is it really okay for you to speak to him like that?"
Gisei shrugged. "Yesterday, people even surrounded his house. Faces have already been torn, why care about such a small matter?"
A small matter. Sakumo revealed a bitter smile.
He also knew some things about the village; they were all games between the great ninja clans. For someone like him, there was no other way out except following the Hokage.
Fortunately, his sword was very fast.
After taking Gisei to complete the entry procedures, Sakumo took him to the Hokage's office.
"The atmosphere in the village has been very tense these past two days because of you. You'd better explain yourself to Lord Hokage."
Actually, there wasn't much to explain. Gisei simply said he had an accident while going to the summoning grounds, and the Third let him go.
Of course, he was made to promise to try not to let this kind of thing happen again in the future.
Sakumo then took him to the training ground dedicated to the Anbu.
After coming out of the Hokage's office, Gisei had been thinking about Mei.
Regarding Mei, he now had a rough conjecture.
Mei was very likely the first ninja in the clan to start using the secret technique.
Thinking of the evolution Cheng told him about, Gisei was certain that Mei had already become some kind of existence similar to a Sage.
The Butterfly User Clan used their bodies to raise butterflies, which would devour life force. Part of this life force was used to nourish the butterfly seeds, and part was used to nourish Mei.
For the sake of life force, Mei even came up with lies to deceive the clan, saying nonsense like "ninja butterflies are family."
This kind of thing should only be known by the clan head, and the clan head wouldn't speak of it.
Because living in chaotic times, being alive without power was worse than death. Just giving up some life force to obtain powerful strength was a good deal no matter how you calculated it.
Mei was also very shrewd—or rather, she already had human thinking, her thoughts closer to humans.
Life force was what she constantly needed.
She could suppress the desire in her heart and instead extract the clansmen's life force bit by bit, thus treating the Butterfly Clan completely as her own ATM.
Their clan, to put it bluntly, was food raised by Mei in captivity, just like pigs in a sty.
When out of money, people would kill the pigs, but people wouldn't kill the sow, because the sow could give birth to piglets.
Pigs beget pigs, money begets money, people beget people. An endless stream of life force flowed onto Mei just like that.
And now that he was the only Butterfly User left, his life force definitely couldn't support Mei, so she had a new idea.
To re-cultivate a Butterfly Clan that could continuously supply her with life force. Perhaps Mei had done this before; after all, their Butterfly Users were named "Shiraishi."(check author note at the end)
Other clans used surnames as addresses, while their clan used butterflies as code names.
Could it be because there were other Butterfly User clans before?
This possibility couldn't be ruled out. Gisei groaned inwardly thinking of this.
Mei wanted him to spread the butterfly seeds. If he really did it, he might very well be kicked aside.
If he didn't do it, Mei would kill him and then go find a new Butterfly User family herself.
So what should he do?
"I think you are overthinking it. Lady Mei wouldn't do that."
Gisei was stunned for a moment, then went to his consciousness space.
Another him was standing there, waiting for him.
-----
Translator's Note:
Gisei suspects that "Shiraishi" (白石) is not a real family name but a label given by Mei. Literally meaning "White Stone," it symbolizes something blank, inanimate, and replaceable—like a blank slate or a container.
This implies the clan members are merely vessels for her butterflies, and when one "batch" of Shiraishis dies out, she simply finds new people and applies the same label to them.