Following Nara Shikadai all the way, Uchiha Mitsuki couldn't help but think about the teacher's intentions.
"What exactly could it be? Could it be that... Teacher Shikadai discovered it?"
He squinted his eyes and thought this way.
Not long after, he and Nara Shikadai came to the Nara family's living room.
The two of them sat down.
Looking at the familiar chessboard in front of him, Uchiha Mitsuki couldn't help but look nostalgic.
"Seeing the moon, your hands are itchy? Why don't we play shogi?"
"okay!"
Interrupted from his thoughts by the sound, Uchiha Mitsuki nodded quickly.
At this time, he noticed that Nara Shikadai opposite was placing chess pieces and smiling softly.
"Shikadai-sensei, what's the matter? You're smiling so happily!"
"Isn't it a good thing that busy people from the village can come?"
Nara Shikadai put down the last general, raised his head and said with a smile.
"You are blaming me for not coming enough!"
Hearing the teacher's joke, Uchiha Mitsuki felt inexplicably relaxed.
After arranging the flying generals, he asked softly.
"Teacher, you guessed it, right?"
"Play chess first, and then talk about anything else after you finish."
"As you command!"
The man's serious look made Uchiha Mitsuki laugh.
"Shikadai-sensei, you are still the same! You are always so serious when facing shogi."
Nara Shikadai didn't respond, so he picked up the flying general and ate the golden general in the enemy's formation.
"eat!"
Seeing the man with pineapple hair lowering his head and looking serious, Uchiha Mitsuki was moved and couldn't help but become serious. He didn't want to ruin his current 100% winning rate because of his carelessness.
"Master, it's not good to be in such a hurry! Eat!"
Using his backhand to capture the flying commander who was deep in the formation, Uchiha Mitsuki used a voice full of laughter to interfere with the man's judgment.
Comparisons with Nara Shikadai, who has played thousands of games with the boy over the years, have become accustomed to him.
He calmly judged the situation. When he saw the flying general rushing out of the enemy's formation, he rolled his eyes and had an idea.
"superior!"
"eat!"
Naturally, Uchiha Mitsuki would not let go of the chess pieces that were delivered to his door.
Seeing that the boy had been fooled, Nara Shikadai was as happy as a child and grinned.
"Victory is in sight!"
"That's how it is! Then how should you defend yourself from Master?"
"Is the killer move in this round actually on the right?"
"That's right! It's over!"
"No, it's not that easy to win against me!"
The two of them started fighting with wooden chess pieces.
As time went by, gradually, the night outside the window became darker.
inside the house.
Uchiha Mitsuki once again played the king's hand, and his 100% winning rate has not been broken by anyone.
"We lost again!"
Although the teacher's tone sounded a little regretful, his expression was filled with two words - "Have fun".
"Accepted!"
Uchiha Mitsuki smiled before bringing up the previous question again.
"Teacher, why did you come to see me today?"
Seeing the man opposite became silent, he waited patiently.
After a while, a mature male voice sounded steadily in the room.
"Mizuki, are you planning to compete for the position of Hokage?"
"Yes, I have such a plan!"
Uchiha Mitsuki nodded and admitted it generously. Facing the teacher who was very kind to him, he did not choose to hide it.
"I see!"
Nara Shikadai sighed, after all, his disciple and Lord Hokage have reached this point.
As a fan of Naruto, he should have killed the boy as soon as he got the answer.
But - at this moment, sitting opposite him was his favorite disciple, the disciple to whom he did not hesitate to teach his family knowledge, and he really couldn't do it.
The young man opposite seemed to see his entanglement, and said in a heavy tone: "Teacher, there is no need to be entangled. From the moment I made up my mind, I was prepared to face everything."
Nara Shikadai stood up and sat down next to the boy.
"Is it worth it?"
“In my opinion, it’s worth it!”
As if waiting for such a positive answer, Nara Shikadai touched the boy's head and spoke with memories.
"Mizuki, did you know? More than twenty years ago, this was not Konoha."
"When I was a child, I lived at the end of the most terrifying Warring States period. Big families were annexing small families crazily. Countless people died every day. For those children who were five or six years old, they could eat one meal safely every day, even if they were
Great happiness."
"I have three brothers above me, but now, I am the only one who stands out in front of you."
"So, when Hashirama-sama and Madara-sama joined forces to establish Konoha, turn the family into a village, and dispel the fog of war, can you imagine the scene of the ninjas reveling in that era?"
"I clearly remember that day when I woke up from a nap and opened the door, there were endless cheers from all directions, from east to west, from south to north, and they continued all night long."
"My father and mother pulled me and knelt in front of the tombstones of several brothers, crying bitterly. When I was a child, I thought my parents' cries were painful. When Shikaku was born, I realized that my parents should be more happy than in pain at that time.
.”
"If you don't have children, you probably can't understand what it's like to have a child and worry about the child's life and death while fighting on the battlefield, right?"
"It is said that children are the flesh that has fallen off their parents' bodies. However, the most common tragedy during the Warring States Period was that the parents came back with injuries, but the children were attacked by the enemy and died. Or the children who were still babbling were killed because of an inexplicable accident.
Fighting, losing parents.”
"In such a precarious era, losing one's parents undoubtedly pronounced the death of these ignorant beings."
"Four years ago, what Hokage-sama did made me see the terrifying reincarnation of the past. Integrating into the village and becoming a part of the village is what all the families, including Inokacho, are working hard to do."
"There is no village, and there is no struggle. Where the people want, power lies. I never expect Konoha to be monolithic, a sweet poem, but - leaving a bottom line for the losing side is my lifelong pursuit!"
"After the great changes, I went to the Thousand-Hand Clan and the Kurama Clan. There, I felt the desolation and despair. I saw the deathly silence in the eyes of young people your age. I saw the stumbling steps on the roadside and the eager anticipation.
The children whose parents had returned saw the little girl whose eyes were red from crying behind the half-open door."
"This scene makes me feel like I have returned to the scene when I was a child, fighting among the children, waiting with eager anticipation for the return of my parents."
"At that time, what I was most afraid of was that when I looked through the crowd, I couldn't even see my parents."