CHAPTER 157: CHAPTER 157: MAKING FRIENDS

Chapter 157: Making Friends

The traitors on the danger list were executed that very day, along with several others closely associated with them. There was no need for Hyuga Hiashi or the elders to lift a finger—the enraged clan members had already begun their own retribution. One by one, they unearthed the ancestral graves of the traitors’ forebears, shouting that such people did not deserve to rest alongside their honored kin.

Ironically, the chaos brought a strange calm to the clan’s leaders. Hiashi and Hizashi, who had once burned with righteous fury, now watched it all with a quiet stillness. The farce, if it could still be called that, had come to a long-awaited end.

That night, the Hyuga compound was eerily silent. No fires were lit. Not even the chirping of crickets or the barking of dogs could be heard. The clan’s beasts, sensing the unrest that lingered in the air, curled into their dens, unwilling to make a sound.

Within the main house, even Hinata and her father had long since gone to bed, exhausted by the endless strain of recent days. But Ryosuke remained awake, perched high atop a building, staring out across the entire territory.

The winter wind howled softly, sharp enough to bite into bone. But Ryosuke sat still, his back leaning against a mahogany railing, the moon casting a silver halo over his form. In his arms, a plump, aging cat curled deeper into the warmth of his robe.

"Go inside if it’s cold," Ryosuke murmured, adjusting his robe to wrap around the feline. "I don’t know what your fat and fur are for if they can’t even keep you warm."

"Meow."

The cat gave a soft response but didn’t leave. It simply stayed nestled in his arms, dozing contentedly. Whenever Ryosuke was idle, it always seemed to appear—as if it was drawn to the comfort of his presence.

"You’re a strange one," Ryosuke said with a chuckle. "You can understand human speech, even use minor psychic abilities, but you still can’t mold chakra."

He gently rubbed behind the cat’s ears.

"That training you’ve been doing in secret—stop it. You’re burning energy you can’t afford to lose. You’re old, especially for a cat. Rest well. If I master Yin-Yang Release, maybe I can finally break your limitations."

The cat let out another soft meow, one tinged with something almost like loneliness. But it soon drifted off to sleep.

Ryosuke continued to gaze over the clan grounds, his expression unreadable. The moonlit night was stunning, the land below bathed in silver tranquility. It would have been perfect, were it not so empty. Just a man and his cat beneath the stars.

But he didn’t truly mind the solitude. If someone had disturbed this quiet night, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the moonlight at all.

Of course, he hadn’t come here expecting to catch a straggling traitor fleeing in the dark. That was secondary. What he truly needed was clarity.

Too much had happened this year.

The third transformation had passed. Power had shifted. The rulers of both light and shadow within Konoha had fallen. A new Hokage had risen. The Hyuga clan had undergone an unprecedented purge.

All within a single year.

It was too much. Even for someone like Ryosuke.

He could already see the shape of things to come. Next year would not be easier. Nor would the years after that. The quiet days of the past were gone.

Though Konoha appeared stable on the surface, he knew better. Beneath it all, unseen forces moved—whispers of war and the scent of coming storms.

Black Zetsu’s exposure had set off a chain of events. The news would undoubtedly reach Uchiha Obito, and through him, the Akatsuki. It was only a matter of time before the eyes of pain and ambition turned toward Konoha.

Ryosuke sighed.

If Nagato dropped a meteorite on the village tomorrow, claiming to bring his twisted doctrine of peace, Ryosuke wouldn’t even be surprised. In fact, he almost welcomed it.

He needed the challenge.

His physical training had long since reached its limit. No amount of weight or intensity seemed to yield the growth it once had. As for techniques, his library of jutsu had grown vast—but without opponents worthy of testing them, they remained theoretical.

Strength without validation was illusion.

And Ryosuke wasn’t arrogant enough to believe he had no weaknesses. He just didn’t know what they were yet.

He needed a real fight to find out.

Once, he might have sought such a challenge himself. He might have walked into enemy territory, dared fate to respond. But now... now he had people to protect. A clan. A future.

He couldn’t afford recklessness anymore.

The wind picked up again, sharper than before, but Ryosuke didn’t flinch. His Byakugan remained open, glowing faintly, watching over the slumbering clan.

Gradually, the world below quieted. Conversations ended. Lights dimmed. Dreams claimed the weary.

Hours passed. The stars wheeled overhead.

The moon dipped.

The first rays of dawn painted the sky in hues of gold and blue. And with that, Ryosuke’s eyes finally lost their glow.

He closed them.

Then opened them again.

Back to normal.

A night had passed. The village remained at peace. No new crises had emerged. Under his gaze, every home whispered, but none roared. The traitors had truly been rooted out.

And with that, the last lingering doubts in his mind were cleared away by moonlight and time.

---

Though Ryosuke had half-expected a dramatic attack the next morning—perhaps a sudden arrival of Nagato’s puppets or some cosmic disaster—nothing came.

Konoha, irritatingly, remained calm.

Well, at least for things Ryosuke cared about.

There were still minor disturbances in the aftermath of the war. The search for Shimura Danzo remained unresolved, his fate a lingering mystery.

Following Danzo’s disappearance, most of the Root operatives under his command vanished as well—leaving behind only a couple of clueless recruits who had no idea what had happened. In response, Konoha’s higher-ups urgently recalled many shinobi who had been idle since the war, including Tsunade.

Troubled by Jiraiya’s relentless letters, Tsunade eventually returned to the village this year and temporarily filled the vacant Hokage advisor position left behind by Danzo. That was the most notable change in Konoha recently.

As for Hinata, she was gradually emerging from the fog of internal reorganization at the end of the previous year. Compared to the past, when the Hyuga clan enforced obedience through threats and strict tradition, things had changed.

Although the transition was rocky—members often distrusting one another—this same distrust disrupted old power structures. The clan began to shift its focus from blind loyalty to a more structured, familial bond. Gone was the simplistic master-servant system. In its place arose a more complete management structure, one that gradually restored and even strengthened the clan’s cohesion.

Life had become almost too peaceful—so peaceful, in fact, that Ryosuke began to wonder if his past suspicions about a coming storm had all been wrong...

---

"Rasengan!"

In the forest clearing outside Konoha, where a past battle had leveled trees and earth, the open space had since been repurposed into a training ground. Two figures clashed in its center, their movements swift and precise.

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed. One glance at the swirling chakra in Naruto’s hand was enough to gauge the power of the technique.

An A-rank jutsu...

His instincts screamed danger. Without hesitation, Sasuke dodged, his movements far more agile than when he had only two tomoe in his Sharingan. With the awakening of the third tomoe, his speed, awareness, and reflexes had all elevated sharply.

He sidestepped the Rasengan with ease and countered, three magatama gleaming in his eyes as he activated a genjutsu—his attempt at a Yin Release technique.

But it was still too weak. Even with the Sharingan, Sasuke’s illusion couldn’t penetrate Naruto’s mental defenses. It fizzled out uselessly.

Naruto, unfazed, reacted immediately. He spun with a whip-like kick at close range. It looked ordinary—but Sasuke’s instincts told him otherwise.

That kick could kill.

He didn’t gamble. Pouring chakra into his legs, he vanished using the Body Flicker Technique.

Naruto’s kick missed, and he stumbled forward, hitting the ground hard.

Crack!

A sharp sound echoed as the earth split beneath his feet. Chakra surged violently through the impact point, and the ground quivered like mud under pressure. Then—boom—a powerful shockwave tore through the area, shaking the training ground.

"What... the hell is that?" Sasuke muttered, staring at the aftermath in disbelief.

Naruto stood in the dust, calm and composed.

"After I finished chakra control training, my teacher started showing me a few strength-enhancing techniques," he said casually.

Behind him, the earth looked like a crater—ruined and mangled like a collapsed building. All that... from a single kick.

Sasuke’s fists trembled. He gritted his teeth.

He thought Naruto would weaken, confined to the village and unable to go on missions. But instead, Naruto had grown even stronger.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had no teacher, no special background, and no clear direction. He still had no idea how to catch up to Itachi—let alone surpass him.

"Strange power techniques...?" he muttered.

---

High up in the trees, Ryosuke had been silently watching. He dropped from the branch, landing softly and walking toward them.

Peaceful days had grown boring. This—watching them grow, evolve—this was the only thing that still entertained him.

Fighting them personally didn’t interest him. The gap in strength was still far too large.

"I lost..." Sasuke admitted through clenched teeth.

It was his first real defeat since awakening the three tomoe, but the opponent was Naruto. That made it easier to accept.

"Ryosuke!"

Naruto’s face lit up with surprise, his usual calm momentarily disrupted.

Sasuke turned as well, expression unreadable. He’d rarely interacted with Ryosuke, despite being classmates. From the few things Naruto had mentioned, Sasuke knew one thing for certain—Ryosuke was not weak. In fact, he might be stronger than Naruto himself.

Ryosuke nodded politely to Sasuke, then looked at Naruto.

"Your progress is impressive," he said, tone genuine.

He wasn’t one to praise casually, but Naruto had earned it. Ryosuke couldn’t help but feel a spark of excitement—perhaps he was nurturing a worthy future rival.

There were few people left in the ninja world whose growth excited him. But Naruto and Sasuke? Their talent, their drive—they were different.

And between the two, Ryosuke placed more value in Naruto, not just as a rival... but as a friend.

"I’m leaving. Next time we meet, I’ll defeat you," Sasuke said abruptly, turning away without waiting for a response.

Ryosuke and Naruto silently watched him go.

When Sasuke disappeared from view, Naruto muttered, "What a complete idiot."

He was talking about Sasuke’s obsession with power.

"Yeah," Ryosuke agreed softly.

As if remembering something, Naruto reached into his jacket and tossed something to Ryosuke—a forehead protector.

"The Hokage told me to give that to you. Took me forever to find you."

Catching it with one hand, Ryosuke looked at it, brows raised. "I haven’t even graduated yet. Why is she giving me this?"

Naruto shrugged. "His words, not mine: ’He never goes to school anyway, and with his ability, there’s no need.’"

He repeated Jiraiya’s message almost word for word.

"And besides, with your clan rules, even if you’re a Genin, no one can force you onto missions until you’re promoted to Chuunin. So, graduation doesn’t really mean anything to you. Stop pretending."

"I was... just accompanying Hinata..."

Ryosuke trailed off. He realized even that excuse no longer held water. He hadn’t been showing up with her for a while now.

"Just take it," Naruto said, waving him off. "Hokage’s not assigning you to any team anyway."

It seemed Naruto and Jiraiya had gotten closer lately. Probably Tsunade’s doing.

Naruto’s expression grew serious.

"There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about... it’s about—"

"Eh? Hold on," Ryosuke interrupted with a smirk. "Didn’t you once swear you’d start thinking for yourself? What’s this? Backpedaling already?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "It’s not about me—it’s about Sasuke."

He gestured for them to walk. "C’mon. I’ll treat you to ramen. Then we hit the hot springs."

"I just found out how amazing a soak feels after training."

Ryosuke raised a brow, amused. "So... your relationship with Jiraiya-senpai didn’t start as ’student and master’... more like ’bathhouse buddies’?"

Naruto chuckled. "Hey, baths were definitely involved. Can’t deny that."

They walked side by side toward the village, the morning sun climbing slowly into the sky—signaling the end of a peaceful day... and the start of something stirring beneath the surface.

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