Asuma couldn't keep watching the smith sob.
"Any medical-nin? Anyone?" he called.
Kaede stepped closer—just as Master Wang's skull split with a wet crack, red and white splashing out.
None of them had ever seen something like it; within seconds everyone was retching. Kaede got spattered head to toe.
When Asuma finally wiped his mouth, he frowned. "That black stuff… what was it? Why would there be something black in a man's head? I was close enough to see… it looked like bad insects…"
The Uchiha and Aburame had distant ties, but right now the Uchiha looked like fools—murder in broad daylight?
(Truth was, Kaede didn't need complicated theories—everything pointed to a "Northern King" collector's trick.)
Aoi and a shadow clone had both dropped their techniques in the shock. Swallowing her nausea, Aoi helped clean Kaede; Sun Long-Rabbit hurried over and helped wipe away the smeared red and white.
Shouts rose from the foot of the hill. Faint at first, then louder. Looking down, a dense swarm of black specks—thousands—came rushing up. Word spread like fire: Mito-sama might have just passed.
Sun Long-Rabbit's parents thanked Kaede so deeply they almost collapsed to their knees.
Kaede glanced at the mess on the ground. "Nee-san, uncle, auntie—head back first. We'll handle the body and follow after."
Rabbit-mother bowed. "My husband is mended by Aoi-chan's treatment, but he hasn't eaten in days. Long-Rabbit, help Lord Kaede here—I'll take your father home!"
Kaede hauled the smith's corpse into the dungeon pit, burned the chamber to ash, and heaped a cairn—his grave, right where he'd schemed.
"Grave's dug. Let's go—to the Senju grounds," Kaede said.
Rabbit-mother suddenly dropped to her knees and almost knocked Asuma's head with her bow. Kaede stopped her; she had no words and only fumbled at her pack, producing a red scroll. She stood and whispered, "I came by this by chance. A secret scroll—arts of collection and mending. When you're grown you'll understand. First of all, hide it. Don't let Hokage-sama find it. I can do no more—please, take it."
Kaede didn't posture. He took it, and she fled with a blush.
"Let's wash and change, Aoi," Kaede said, as if offhand.
By the river, Kaede stripped and jumped in. "Aoi—anyone else watching me bathe?" he called.
"Who'd watch you?" she shot back, flustered. "Hurry up. Not even the animals are around."
The whole day felt wrong. Kaede scrubbed three times, then pulled fresh clothes from a sealing scroll.
He nudged Shiro with his foot. "Head home first. This is extra."
Shiro, used to the routine, sprinted toward the Sarutobi compound. No one noticed the delicate, pretty bell on Shiro's neck—or that it made no sound.
On the way downhill, Kaede plucked two onions from a field and bit in—June was harvest month, and the bulbs were huge.
"Use those, Aoi-chan."
"For what?"
"Might not cry later without help."
Aoi's mouth worked soundlessly.
Near the Senju land, Kaede took the onions out and chomped twice. Tears sprang, hot and sharp. He stuffed them away again. "Let's go."
Uzumaki Mito's residence was ringed with elders. Inside, mother, the three students, father, Danzo, Kushina, his brother, the village leadership—everyone was crowding to help.
It wasn't loud with weeping; only kaa-san's eyes were swollen red. Kushina cried in silence. Hokage-sama cradled his kiseru without lighting it.
Kaede peeked toward the bed. He couldn't see Mito—only the back of a woman's shoulders shaking with sobs: blonde hair in a high ponytail, tea-green coat piped in black, a black sash at the waist, deep-blue cropped pants. Tsunade.
Beside her stood Jiraiya and Orochimaru, faces set. They moved to comfort Tsunade while kaa-san tried to soothe Naruto.
As Kaede and Aoi stepped in, a blast of hot, pure chakra hit him—like a small furnace burning. And overlaying it, the sting of onion.
Hiruzen blinked at the change in Kaede, then scowled as the boy barged in. "Why bring a child? Take Aoi-chan out."
(Kaede's body had fully absorbed the sacred water from the pond by now, his reserves sharply boosted.)
"Tch," Kaede clicked his tongue. He'd been about to bring up Ennosuke when Biwako grabbed him and ushered him out.
As they watched Kaede's back, eyes narrowed, even Orochimaru's gaze flickered, unreadable.
Inside, under Hiruzen's orders, the work resumed. Beyond Hokage-sama himself, only the First and Second's disciples were allowed to remain close.
(End of Chapter)
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