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What else Tōji discussed with Minato afterward, he could no longer really take in.

The two talked for a while, and Tōji roughly gathered that Natchi had been stationed near the Land of Fire's border with the Land of Waves as a patrol shinobi.

Only after Kirigakure had withdrawn its troops from the Land of Waves for over half a year did Natchi return to the village with part of the Konoha forces stationed there.

From the looks of it, the Land of Waves had relatively stabilized.

Also…

Kenji's batch of Konoha jōnin who'd gone deep into Kirigakure to gather intelligence had been completely wiped out.

Kirigakure had even piled their bodies into a heap—as if deliberately making a statement, or maybe it was just Obito's twisted sense of humor.

And as far as Minato knew, only four Konoha spies had escaped the Land of Water—two tokubetsu jōnin, plus Tōji and Iwao, two chūnin.

All four were among the weakest spies Konoha had sent to the Land of Water, and all had only been stationed on its outermost edges.

One of the tokubetsu jōnin had discovered the pile of Konoha jōnin corpses when he went to a designated meeting point…

Tōji suspected it was Obito deliberately letting Konoha "send a message"—however many you send, I'll collect their souls for you.

And Minato indeed no longer planned to send anyone deep into the Land of Water. But some of the more peripheral surveillance networks still needed to be re-established.

But those messes had nothing to do with Tōji anymore.

Minato gave Tōji a half-month leave, after which Tōji would be assigned to the Barrier Corps under Konoha's Security and Defense Department, routinely monitoring Konoha's barriers.

『Not a bad gig—I can play cards with the Gatekeeper Duo from time to time…』 After leaving the Hokage Tower, Tōji headed home immediately. 『Though I wonder if Obito triggering the Nine-Tails Incident in Konoha would count as the Barrier Corps' fault…』

Since the scroll he'd left for his parents wouldn't be needed, Tōji naturally had to retrieve and destroy it in time. When he got home, his parents weren't off work yet—perfect timing.

After that, he stopped by the old clan head's place to say hello, then headed out again.

He really couldn't stand being alone at home.

Minato had also asked Tōji to notify Natchi and Neru about Kenji.

Tōji wasn't too keen on it. He wanted to tell Neru first, then bring her along to break the news to Natchi together.

In Tōji's own estimation, he didn't have much emotional attachment to Kenji—because he'd always avoided forming bonds with others.

But right now, Tōji felt a bit dazed, like he'd been awake for three days straight—his mind couldn't focus, and his thoughts were a mess.

He'd secretly gone near Kenji's house, watching the young, innocent Genta playing carefree from a distance…

And somehow his thoughts drifted, until he found himself at his old familiar spot.

Stripping off his shirt, Tōji stepped onto the river and practiced the jutsu Kenji had passed down to him, over and over.

Thanks to his effective training in the Land of Seas, Tōji could now control B-rank and C-rank jutsu at D-rank or even E-rank intensity, releasing them with proper form…

To most people, that kind of "technique" might be useless, but Tōji never tired of it.

As Tōji put it, it was grinding proficiency—one day it would come in handy.

Right now, because he was downgrading high-level jutsu, Tōji could practice tirelessly for many repetitions before resting.

That 44-seal 【Water Release: Water Dragon Missile Technique】—Tōji could even use those 44 seals to cast it as a "Water Snake Missile Technique."

Among Kenji's jutsu, the one that left the deepest impression on Tōji was the 【Water Dragon Missile】. So as he practiced, he ended up repeatedly casting "Water Snake Missile" over and over…

After a long while, Tōji, panting for breath, walked back to the grassy riverbank and picked up his shirt.

"How long have you been watching me train?" Tōji asked while putting on his clothes, not looking at anyone in particular.

Someone jumped down from a tree. "Not running this time?"