A lively murmur swept through the gathered crowd.
The rabbit goddess and the god of the shinobi world standing together—it felt almost natural, as if it were meant to be. Everyone seemed pleased to see it.
And yet, in some shinobi's eyes, complex emotions flickered… Uchiha Rin, the Sage of Six Paths, Tsunade.
What is going on here?
"Kazuki, I've missed you so much…" Kaguya wrapped her arms around Kazuki's shoulders, wanting to continue speaking with tender intimacy.
"I've missed you too, Kaguya…"
But Kazuki gently pushed her back. "Let's save it for when we're home."
Kaguya bit her lip lightly and nodded in understanding.
At last, Kazuki came before Senju Tobirama.
"Tobirama, I told you—we would win."
Kazuki spread his arms wide and embraced him, clapping his back hard.
Tobirama laughed heartily. "Of course. I always believed in you!"
The laughter of a Senju and a Uchiha rang across the shinobi world.
In that moment, Kaguya too joined the silent ranks of those watching with clouded, unreadable eyes.
Good thing Senju Tobirama was a man…
When Kazuki had spoken with Tsunade earlier, her heart had stayed calm.
"Tobirama, about the times I deceived you…"
Kazuki cleared his throat. "I'm sorry."
But Tobirama didn't ask what he meant. He only arched his brow and smirked. "You little brat of the Uchiha clan—evil by birth…"
The two exchanged a knowing smile.
It had been a very long time since Kazuki last heard those words.
"Tobirama, do you still remember what I once promised you? One was to bring you back, the other was to see you married. After all, in your last life you stayed a lifelong bachelor… You know me—if I promise something, I will see it through!"
Kazuki clapped Tobirama firmly on the shoulder. "So tell me, what kind are you looking for?"
Tobirama narrowed his eyes dangerously.
What's going on here? Now he's pushing me to marry? Enough is enough already!
"I say, Kazuki, you should give Tsunade and that woman an explanation first…" Senju Tobirama glanced at the clearly displeased Kaguya and shrugged.
He was about to say more when Senju Hashirama suddenly appeared, nodding vigorously and declaring, "Tobirama, I think Kazuki's right! Hurry up—you should find a wife and have children!"
"You're too wild, always wandering. It'd be good to have someone keep an eye on you! As for me and your sister-in-law, we're off to travel the mountains and rivers—we won't have time to watch over you!"
"Shut up, you useless brother who can't help with anything!" A cross-shaped vein bulged on Tobirama's forehead, showing no mercy to Hashirama.
"Tobirama, Kazuki and Hashirama are right—you can't keep avoiding this." Uzumaki Mito came over with a gentle smile. "You're not like Kazuki—he's still young. You, on the other hand, have already been buried once and revived. Do you really plan to spend the rest of your days with only your forbidden jutsu for company?"
"In any case, this matter needs to be put on the agenda. Otherwise, I'll summon Senju Butsuma-sama with the Impure World Reincarnation to talk some sense into you…"
Kazuki burst out laughing. "I support this!"
Tobirama let out a long sigh. "Alright, alright, I'll think about it. Stop pushing me, stop pushing me!"
In that moment, chatter filled the air.
Everyone was buzzing with curiosity—what kind of partner would a man like Senju Tobirama end up with?
As for Kazuki and Tsunade, or Kaguya, or perhaps other women—that wasn't the gossip people cared about.
A creator god having several confidantes, even dozens—wasn't that perfectly normal? Kazuki had labored his whole life for the shinobi world. What was wrong with him enjoying life in the end? Nothing to fuss over!
Better to focus on the "evil old Senju ghost." That was the truly entertaining piece of gossip!
...
On the land of the original Konohagakure.
Tobirama and Kazuki sat cross-legged atop a low hill, bathed in the still-pleasant warmth of the sun. Below them, people bustled with great energy, busy with their tasks. The two men chatted idly, words drifting without much weight.
Empty, meaningless daze—though seemingly pointless, this kind of carefree idleness was, in a sense, the best way to ease and nourish the soul.
Not everything had to carry meaning. Sometimes, you just did whatever you wished…
"The war is over. What are your plans next?"
Tobirama glanced at Kazuki, who seemed too tired to even sit up properly, sprawled on the ground with a grin as he stared at the blue sky. Tobirama let out a helpless chuckle.
"You… don't tell me you plan to just lie there forever?"
Kazuki said nothing, simply savoring the cool breeze brushing across his face.
Tobirama shook his head, about to speak again—then suddenly frowned.
"Wait, what's with this farmland? You can't cultivate it like that… they're doing it all wrong."
He quickly formed a hand seal. With a puff of white mist, a shadow clone shot off toward the busy shinobi below.
These youngsters… they don't even know how to farm?
Didn't the academy teach them? Hm, maybe it really didn't… but still, can't they learn on their own…?
Tobirama sank into thought.
Beside him, Kazuki peeked at him from beneath the brim of a straw hat he had just created with Yin-Yang Release, then sighed.
This little detail made the vacation feel more immersive to him.
"You really are cursed with a workaholic fate…"
Kazuki rolled his eyes. "What does it matter if farming is efficient or not? There's no more external threat. As long as people move forward, it's all good. Maybe they actually enjoy the feeling of breaking new ground."
"And here you are giving them instructions. Do you think this is war again? Old man Tobirama, that's lame."
Tobirama froze.
Come to think of it… he was right.
The era had changed. It was no longer a time where every second of efficiency had to be fought for.
Clumsily repairing and cultivating one's own homeland—this too was a unique joy of peace.
Tobirama nodded in sudden understanding, dispelled the shadow clone, and lay down beside Kazuki in imitation. He nudged him with an elbow.
"Give me a straw hat too. My Yin-Yang Release still isn't good enough to conjure things from nothing."
"Make one yourself…"
Kazuki still kept the hat over his face, while his palm quietly gathered an immense chakra. Its presence was so well-restrained it could only be sensed a few steps away.
In the blink of an eye, a chakra fruit appeared in his hand.
He tossed it casually, as if it were some wild fruit plucked at random.
Tobirama instinctively caught it, then faltered.
What could you say? Kazuki was lazy enough not to bother making a straw hat, yet diligent enough to create a chakra fruit on a whim.
"Not bad… pretty tasty, actually." Tobirama bit down with a crunch, chewing loudly.
From that crisp sound alone, one could tell the fruit was fresh, sweet, and full of juice.
The Six Paths' power filled Tobirama's organs, and in an instant, his very level of life was elevated to a staggering height…
Tobirama clenched his fist, and an unbidden thought rose in his heart: 'If I threw this punch at Uchiha Izuna's face, would he be able to withstand it?'
At once, Tobirama chuckled at himself.
He had just eaten a chakra fruit—he was, at the very least, at the Six Paths level now. Why was he still brooding over an Uchiha who couldn't even survive the Flying Thunder God Slash?
There was no need. They were no longer on the same level.
Tobirama's mind turned to another question—just how strong had Kazuki become?
This chakra fruit was clearly extraordinary.
Though Tobirama had never stepped into the Six Paths tier himself, nor fought an opponent of that caliber…
In his Rinnegan's sight—
Even the Sage of Six Paths, plowing the fields below, seemed nothing more than a somewhat troublesome opponent.
Which meant that the strength Kazuki had given him far surpassed that of the Sage of Six Paths!
A smile tugged at Tobirama's lips. He couldn't say whether it was joy at gaining such overwhelming power, or the reassurance that his unbreakable bond with Kazuki had once again been proven.
"Kazuki, how are you now? Are you keeping control over the power inside you? After all, those are two supreme forces…"
Imitating Kazuki, Tobirama fashioned a Yin-Yang Release straw hat and dropped it over his face, lying down nearby.
"Overall… not too bad."
Kazuki's voice was lazy. "Shibai's lingering consciousness in his withered bones was mostly burned away by Kaguya, and under the exclusionary impact of Gaia's consciousness, it was completely erased."
"With the filtering of the shinobi world, the planet's consciousness left little residue inside me. Using Shibai's already-controlled power to erase it, in time, it'll be completely cleansed."
Tobirama nodded, relieved.
But Kazuki still held back one truth he did not share.
After devouring Ōtsutsuki Shibai's withered remains, his bloodline had ascended to its utmost peak—and along with that, he had inherited vague, indescribable traits.
Kazuki could faintly sense them.
It was the aura of kin.
Only, it stretched across an unfathomable distance—perhaps even across space, or timelines themselves. So faint it was almost unreal.
In Kazuki's guess, this might be the true Ōtsutsuki God who had already ascended.
But either way, they were not in the same dimension. To deal with that final hidden danger would require long-term planning. For now, and for quite some time to come, it was not a pressing matter.
And so the two sages, Kazuki and Tobirama, fell into quietude, lying in the valley and letting time pass them by.
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