Among tens of thousands, Hiruzen's word was law—and in the Senju faction, only Tsunade stood as a pillar.
Kaede muttered inwardly. He couldn't exactly climb onto the operating tatami with them—there went two onions, wasted.
Ennosuke waved to a line of attendants. "Bro, hungry? Feed the others first. Two bowls each!"
"Add two eggs—two per person!"
"Don't act like you're not 'others' yourself," Aoi scolded. "Kaa-san and tou-san are busy with Mito-baa's rites. Don't make trouble."
Twilight deepened over the First Hokage's residence. After answering the call for noodles, Kaede slipped back to the veranda and sat, a steaming bowl in hand. Aoi stared up at the night sky; Kaede bit a clove of garlic between mouthfuls, the sharpness twisting the taste.
"Master," Aoi said softly, "when I was little, gramps told me that after people die, they become stars. When a star dies, it falls—and if you wish to a star, your wish comes true."
Slurping udon, Kaede said, "Gramps was teasing you. Stars last hundreds of millions of years. Humans have been around, what, three to four million? Who was 'changing stars' four million years ago?"
Aoi's shoulders drooped. "Master… when you die, where will you go?"
Asuma had his own opinion—he'd brushed death before.
Kaede remembered that final moment from his past life: no clear sense of death, no terror, no panic—only a little regret, a breath of reluctance. He sighed. "Honestly, I don't fear death. Maybe it isn't losing life—just stepping outside time."
"Master… will we die too? Someday?"
Seeing the light fade from the innocent girl's eyes, Kaede changed tack fast.
"Hey—chasing immortality too hard isn't good. Everything has a proper measure. Cross it and good turns bad. Maybe seventy or eighty years is the measure. By then I'll be old and ugly, grumbling like my dad with a permanent scowl. You'll toss me aside and—pfft—hope I croak!"
He even hunched his back and wagged his hips like an old granny, making faces.
Aoi burst into giggles. "I wouldn't! Don't be so mean about people."
"Yeah… if we could just reach seventy or eighty," she sighed. "That smith today scared me. And Mito-baa—she didn't even look that old, and still… life is so fragile."
Afraid the afternoon's horror would brand itself on her heart, Kaede tapped his chopsticks on his own head. "How old are you to be brooding about spring and autumn like that? Just remember Mito-baa well, and she'll live forever in here." He tapped his chest. "Now eat before your noodles clump."
"You're lying, Master. Dead is dead. How can she 'live in my heart'?"
Asuma raised a brow. "That bald monk the other day—remember him? He said the end of life isn't death; it's forgetting." Kaede crunched more garlic.
Asuma went on, "We die three times. First when our eyes close—body death. Second at burial—our social self dies. Third, when the last person alive forgets us—then we're gone from the world entirely. I hate to admit it, but the guy had a point."
"You're starting to get it, Master," Aoi murmured.
A rasping voice came from behind. Orochimaru.
"I disagree with your little brother."
Later, in the daimyo's residence, Kaede sang a Jay-inspired ballad with aching warmth; hands swayed in time all around. The Third Princess watched the shine in Kaede's eyes and knew the song was for Aoi. Seeing the girl beside him quietly cry—and remembering her story—the princess's heart pinched.
Sensing the lift in mood, Asuma started a song of his own—about the you from long ago. The long intro drew even the court musicians along.
"I dreamed of swords… of walking the world," he crooned. "Of seeing what lies beyond…"
Kaede was about to harmonize when—pop—he vanished.
"Out of chakra?" Second Princess whispered.
Ennosuke frowned. "Doubt it. He's pulled stunts like this, and he's got more reserves than most adults. Either something's wrong—or he wants me home. I'll check. Keep the music going."
Aoi worried, rising. "I'm going too."
But Ennosuke didn't wait.
Back at the house, he found Hizashi at the gate with three squads—already formed up. Ennosuke hurried into the hall.
"What happened, kaa-san?"
"Word just came from the village," Biwako said, voice steady but low. "Mito has passed the Nine-Tails. Kushina sealed it."
Ennosuke stared. "What? Wasn't Mito-baa expected to live much longer? Why now?"
"The snatch attempt the other day," Biwako said. "Perhaps the elder chose this moment—while she could still restrain the beast—to transfer it safely, to protect her descendants."
(End of Chapter)
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