Early the next morning, sunlight filtered through the mottled leaves and fell across the courtyard of the Uchiha clan grounds.
By the time Rengoku slowly woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.
Under normal circumstances, he required very little sleep.
However, after this journey through time, not only had he traveled back and forth across different timelines, but after returning, he also had to fully absorb five whole years of memories from his clone. The sheer volume of information left his mind completely exhausted.
This time, Rengoku slept deeply and soundly.
When he finally woke up and got out of bed, he felt refreshed all over, as if all his fatigue had completely disappeared.
After washing up, Rengoku strolled into the courtyard and immediately spotted Ryuri crouching by the pond, focused on feeding the fish named "Little Kun."
The chubby fish moved incredibly slowly, its entire body looking like a round, cylindrical lump.
Because it was so overweight, its originally small fins were almost impossible to notice on its body, and even the frequency of its tail swishing had become extremely low.
Thinking about it, that made sense. It only needed to open its mouth to easily suck in the fish food, why bother swimming at all?
Seeing this, Rengoku couldn't help but tease with a smile, "Ryuri, if you keep feeding it like this, 'Little Kun' is really going to get fed to death by you."
Hearing that, Ryuri showed a bright, innocent smile and replied, "Hehe! If it gets fat to death, then so be it. We can just make soup out of it."
As the two chatted and laughed, Ryuri suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to Rengoku, "Onii-san, when you were sleeping a lot of people came to see you."
Rengoku paused slightly, a hint of confusion appearing on his face as he asked, "Hm? Who came?"
Ryuri counted carefully on her slender fingers, "Karin, Sasuke, Gaara, Kimimaro, Haku, the Fourth Hokage, and Kabuto…"
She paused for a moment, then continued, "Karin originally wanted to wait here for you, but the barrier team suddenly needed her, so she left first."
When mentioning Sasuke, Ryuri frowned slightly, as if recalling something puzzling.
"As for Sasuke, I don't know what's wrong with him, acting all mysterious. He came right after Karin left, but the moment he saw her, his expression looked like he'd seen a ghost, and he ran off!"
Then Ryuri pointed toward the gate and went on, "As for Gaara, Kimimaro, and Haku, they were brought here personally by the Fourth Hokage."
"When they heard you were still sleeping, the Fourth Hokage took them back first."
"Kabuto said that once you wake up, you should go find him at Orochimaru's lab."
After hearing this, Rengoku thought for a moment. He more or less understood why they had come, so he nodded lightly.
"Mm, got it."
At that moment, a gentle voice came from behind him:
"Forget about that for now. Come eat first."
Rengoku turned around at the sound and saw that Kaori had already changed out of her usual combat outfit and was now wearing an apron.
Her whole aura was completely different from before.
At this moment, she had less of that heroic sharpness and more of a gentle, homely warmth.
Rengoku's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but sigh, "Yeah, this look really feels more natural."
Kaori rolled her eyes at him and said with mock annoyance, "Hmph! Now you know I'm good? Let's see if you still dare to run off like that again!"
Facing her complaint, Rengoku just chuckled awkwardly and replied, "Not leaving, not leaving. Let's eat first."
The wide wooden table was filled with all kinds of home-cooked dishes. Though they looked simple and unpretentious, each one gave off an inviting aroma and unique flavor, clearly made with a lot of care.
Ryuri chewed her food in small bites while enthusiastically telling Rengoku about the major changes Konoha had gone through over the past few years.
She first talked about the intense economic rivalry between Kumogakure and Iwagakure after the war, where both sides fought fiercely over resources and market share.
Then she went into detail about how Minato, using Konan's flight ability combined with the Flying Thunder God technique, had successfully forced Sunagakure to cede land and pay compensation, greatly strengthening Konoha's power and influence.
As Ryuri spoke, the scene shifted to the establishment of Sandthorn City.
This rising city was like a dazzling gem, situated near Konoha, attracting merchants, craftsmen, and shinobi from all over to settle and develop there.
Konoha itself had also undergone a series of transformations. The village now had many advanced medical facilities and highly skilled medical-nin, drawing patients from all over the country.
Not only that, with the newly constructed national road running through the village, caravans traveled to and from Konoha without end, bringing prosperity in trade and exchange.
———
[Land of Water, Kirigakure, Mizukage's Office]
Right after Rengoku returned to Konoha, the clone left here regained its awareness as if power had been switched back on, and quickly exchanged information with Rengoku's main body.
Now, taking advantage of the empty office, the clone quietly emerged from the shadows.
Yagura Karatachi had been focused on handling documents when he suddenly sensed someone appear beside him and couldn't help but be startled.
When he saw that it was Rengoku's clone, he froze for a moment, then gave a wry smile and said, "You've been gone for quite a long time this time."
The clone shook its head helplessly and replied, "I ran into some unexpected situations along the way. Being able to return safely is already fortunate, so don't complain anymore."
"How is your village recovering?"
Most of the time, this clone stayed hidden within Yagura's shadow, so it received relatively little outside information.
Because of that, exchanging intelligence with Yagura was especially important.
"We didn't participate in the last Fourth Great Ninja War."
Ever since Rengoku intervened, Kirigakure had undergone huge changes.
The lower-ranking shinobi had basically stayed away from the battlefield, and most of the time it was Yagura alone carrying out certain raid missions.
Being located at sea, Kirigakure had the opportunity to recuperate and gradually rebuild its strength.
After Rengoku left, Konoha firmly adopted a strategy centered on strong economic development.
They carefully built wide and smooth national roads, greatly facilitating the movement of people and goods.
At the same time, for missions involving escorting merchant caravans, Konoha not only increased support but also deliberately lowered the price of such missions, attracting many caravans to hire from them.
Commercial activity flourished.
Those caravans that benefited from Konoha's favorable policies, out of gratitude, frequently traveled between the Land of Water and the Land of Fire, trading all kinds of goods.
Thanks to this active trade exchange, the lower-tier combat strength of the Land of Water gradually recovered without anyone really noticing.
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