After finishing their ramen, the three friends walked around the village streets. They chatted and laughed as they strolled.
Later, they had a light dinner together. Around 8:30 PM, they headed back towards their residential building.
Entering the building, Hiroshi and Kaiji went towards their houses on the first floor.
They said goodbye to Ren, whose house was on the second floor.
Reaching his home, Kaiji lay down on his mat.
He looked out the window at the night sky. A smile touched his lips.
'At least in this life,' he thought, 'I'm not completely alone. I have these two friends with me.'
His thoughts then drifted to Mukade. "Mukade," he murmured to himself. "Mukade. Just where in the anime did I hear that name?"
He recalled that the characters he had remembered yesterday were the only ones from Sunagakure he could remember from the anime.
Suddenly, it clicked, he sat up. "Lost Tower arc!" he said aloud.
"Mukade was the villain from that movie arc!"
But immediately, confusion set in. How could that be possible?
According to the movie's timeline, the future missing-nin Mukade should be in Loran City, serving as a minister to Queen Sara under the alias Anrokuzan.
After a few minutes of thought, he considered the possibilities. 'Well,' he mused, 'it's possible there are two individuals named Mukade.'
'One is the future Anrokuzan, and the other is this young one in my timeline.'
He also considered that his classmate could be the one who becomes the villain of the Lost Tower arc.
The movie never explicitly stated which village Mukade was a missing-nin from, the one Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato were sent to capture.
However, in the movie, Mukade possessed mastery of puppetry arts and knowledge of the Ryūmyaku.
These factors strongly suggested he was a shinobi from Sunagakure.
'I also think that the higher-ups of the Village might already be focusing on Loran,' he considered.
After all, Loran City housed a great source of power like the Ryūmyaku within their nation. Why wouldn't Sunagakure be interested?
Though he doubted they fully understood the power of the Ryūmyaku itself, they likely only detected unusual but powerful chakra emanating from there.
'All this time travel stuff can be confusing,' he thought.
The possibility of two individuals named Mukade currently existing was also a valid theory.
He remembered the movie's events took place a little before the Third Shinobi World War.
The possibility of the movie happening during or after the war was zero.
Konoha would not send a vital shinobi like Minato on a mission in the Land of Wind during wartime.
And after becoming Hokage, Minato would obviously not be undertaking such missions.
Kaiji got up from his mat. He placed a hand on his chin, adopting a familiar thinking posture.
"If the Third War is really starting in one year," he thought, "then the Lost Tower arc will happen within this year."
In the movie, Naruto, who time-traveled 20 years into the past, was sixteen-years old. The future Mukade was easily over 30.
He wasn't captured by Yamato's team, implying he was likely Jonin level by that future point.
His classmate Mukade was the same age as him, soon to turn 12.
'If I add 20 years to my classmate's current age,' he calculated, 'that could potentially align with the future Mukade's age and possible rank.'
If his theory was correct, then his classmate Mukade might indeed be the same Mukade from the Lost Tower arc.
A small smile formed on his face, and he sighed softly.
"Haa," he exhaled. "Now I remember one more character from the anime who is from Sunagakure."
He then reflected on the Ryūmyaku. "Ryūmyaku, huh?" he mused.
"That thing also has a very large Chakra capacity, maybe even matching the Ten Tails. But controlling its raw chakra was not easy."
Even if he found a way to easily control it, how could he openly go to Loran City when the future Mukade, under the alias Anrokuzan, was currently there?
And after Team Minato's mission, Minato would seal the Ryūmyaku.
The possibility of him taking control over the Ryūmyaku's chakra was very, very low.
After these ponderings, he decided to put them aside for now.
He should just focus on basic training and improving himself little by little. With this resolution, he went to sleep.
The next morning, he woke up early again. After freshening up, he got ready for his morning training and began.
After his running, he performed push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and pull-ups. Then, he attempted Tree Walking.
Tree Walking remained difficult for him. He tried the exercise for about half an hour, falling every single time.
"It's really tough," he said, frustrated but determined.
He then went back to his home, washed up, had a light breakfast, and got ready for the Academy.
While walking to the Academy with Ren and Hiroshi, he opened his small purse.
He looked at the few coins inside and sighed. "I really left nothing," he muttered, referring to his meager funds.
Hiroshi put a comforting hand on Kaiji's shoulder. "Don't worry, Kaiji," he assured him.
Then, he slumped his own shoulders slightly and added, "Me neither. I also have no Ryo left."
Ren looked at them and chuckled lightly. "I have some money left," he offered. "Tomorrow we'll have our allowance, so today you can eat with me."
Kaiji and Hiroshi's eyes lit up.
They laughed. "Yeah," Hiroshi said playfully, giving Ren a friendly nudge.
"As a friend, you should help us in difficult times."
Chatting and laughing, they continued their walk to the Academy.
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