Even Kakashi himself—veteran of countless battles—couldn't see through the mask Menma wore. In fact, during this mission, Kakashi made one of his rare misjudgments. Menma's sharp reprimand toward Inari, followed by his emotional withdrawal that night, had only reinforced Kakashi's impression that Menma was exactly what Iruka once described him as—a shinobi who appeared cold on the surface, but whose heart burned fiercely for his comrades beneath.
That belief wasn't entirely wrong.
But it was incomplete—and, more dangerously, untimely.
Menma had once carried the habits and mentality of his previous life, never fully blending into the shinobi world he now lived in. But that had changed. His heart was no longer divided between past and present.
Comrades? Of course, he would value them—but only those who shared his path.
Those who stood on different sides, those whose ideals clashed with his—could such people still be called companions?
No.
To walk a different road meant to become strangers.
That night, as the cold sea wind howled outside the Tazuna home, Menma fully grasped the true weight behind the shinobi adage: Those who abandon their mission are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum.
He understood now that the definition of "comrade" wasn't universal—it was personal, bound by shared goals, not sentiment.
And in this quiet revelation, Menma's will hardened. His resolve became something that even Kakashi's keen eye could not perceive.
⸻
The night passed in silence. Morning came to the Land of Waves wrapped in mist.
The child Inari, still shaken from Menma's killing intent the night before, had not appeared again. Whether out of fear or because Tsunami and Tazuna had warned him to keep away from Menma, it didn't matter.
Menma, for his part, didn't care in the slightest.
His mind was already focused elsewhere. Kado—the corrupt magnate pulling the strings of the entire country—was his next objective. That man's fortune could fund Menma's future plans. Every great endeavor required capital, and Menma intended to start now.
After breakfast, Team 7 split into two groups as Kakashi had arranged.
Sakura and Sasuke stayed behind to protect Tazuna as he worked on the bridge, while Menma took Naruto with him to investigate Kado's movements. The decision was deliberate—Naruto's Shadow Clone Jutsu made him invaluable for information gathering, allowing them to cover a wide area quickly.
Menma's goal was simple: gather enough intel by noon to pinpoint Kado's current location. If possible, he wanted to end the threat today.
As he had anticipated, luck favored him.
It took less than thirty minutes before Menma's kunai pressed coldly against the throat of a trembling middle-aged man in a narrow alley on the southeastern edge of town.
"Interesting," Menma murmured, eyes narrowing. "So Kado plans to take matters into his own hands—just like in the original account of this incident. And today, no less. How confident."
His tone was quiet, almost amused, as the frightened man whimpered beneath his grip.
The interrogation had been swift. Menma had noticed this man tailing him shortly after splitting from Naruto—his movements clumsy, his chakra weak. A civilian spy. It didn't take long to corner him.
Threatened with a kunai, the man broke instantly. He confessed everything: his role as an informant, how he had betrayed his fellow villagers for a handful of ryō, and how Kado had paid him to report the team's movements.
Pathetic.
Menma had prepared himself to use genjutsu or other forms of coercion if needed—he had even considered bringing the man back for Kakashi to interrogate with Sharingan genjutsu—but none of that was necessary. The coward spilled everything with the slightest pressure.
The only valuable piece of information was this: Kado himself was preparing to lead a group of thugs and mercenaries to attack Tazuna's bridge that very day, hoping to wipe out both the villagers' resistance and the Leaf shinobi protecting them.
It was all Menma needed.
"Well," the man stammered, clutching his hands together, "I've told you everything, shinobi-sama. May I… go now?"
Menma looked down at him, his face unreadable.
"Of course," he said calmly. "I'll see you off personally."
The man blinked, a brief moment of relief crossing his face—until the meaning registered.
"W-wait, what do you mean by—"
Shing!
The kunai flashed in the morning light.
Pfft!
A crimson spray splattered across the wall. The man's eyes went wide, one hand clutching his throat as he collapsed. His body twitched briefly before falling still, blood pooling beneath him.
Menma watched without expression. The man's unseeing eyes stared back at him, frozen in disbelief—as though asking why?
Menma's reply was silence.
A man willing to sell out his countrymen, betray his own people for scraps—such a person was nothing but poison. Killing him wasn't cruelty; it was cleansing. Leaving him alive would only mean he'd betray someone else tomorrow.
This was the way of the shinobi world.
After wiping the blood from his kunai, Menma turned and disappeared into the mist, heading toward the rendezvous point.
⸻
When he met Naruto again, the blond was wide-eyed.
"Wait—what?! You already got intel? That fast?" Naruto exclaimed.
Menma's calm smile didn't waver. "Just a bit of luck. Kado's on the move. He's leading his men to attack Tazuna and the bridge today."
"Seriously? He's coming to us?" Naruto grinned, his excitement barely contained. "Heh, then we won't have to go looking for him! Finally, some action!"
Menma chuckled faintly. "Exactly. No need to waste effort searching when our enemy's delivering himself. We just have to be ready to welcome him."
Naruto pumped a fist in the air, his energy infectious. "Then I'm going all out this time! I'm not letting you hog all the credit again!"
Menma nodded, that same faint, knowing smile tugging at his lips. "Fine by me. Let's make it quick."
With that, the two leapt into the trees, moving swiftly toward the bridge.
From the information Menma had extracted, Kado was approaching with a small army of hired swordsmen and mercenaries—enough to overwhelm civilians but no match for true shinobi. Still, the sheer numbers meant this would be no simple encounter.
Kado intended to finish everything today—to kill Tazuna, destroy his bridge, and crush the last hope of the Land of Waves.
But this time, fate would not favor him.
The mist-shrouded sea ahead was about to witness the first true clash of this mission—where the path of the cowardly tyrant would collide with that of the shinobi who had decided to live without restraint.
And in that silent, gray dawn, Menma's eyes gleamed coldly.
This would be the day everything changed.