The reason Hayashi met Tsunade was simple.
By then, Mikoto was heavily pregnant and waiting to give birth at Konoha Hospital.
Uchiha Kagami was away on a mission, so Hayashi came to the hospital every day, quietly waiting for "himself" to be born.
Waiting for your own birth was an indescribably strange experience.
As for Tsunade, her mother was also expecting a child.
Nawaki would soon be born.
Perhaps she felt sorry for the frail, white-haired old man who always sat alone in his wheelchair. Whatever the reason, the ten-year-old Tsunade would often stop by and help push him around.
As the days passed, the unlikely pair gradually became friends.
Hayashi raised a wrinkled hand and gently ruffled her hair.
"My, you've grown."
Tsunade planted her hands on her hips, lifted her chin proudly, and puffed out her flat chest.
"Of course! Next year, I'll definitely be taller than you."
The young Tsunade was overflowing with energy. She was bold, confident, and fiery, even more spirited than Kushina would one day become.
Hayashi smiled.
"What about Jiraiya and the others?"
She rolled her eyes dramatically.
"That idiot Jiraiya is rambling on with another idiot named Hiruko. I don't want to waste my time with them. As for Orochimaru, he's reading another anatomy book. It's creepy, so I'm staying away from him."
"Really?" Hayashi narrowed his cloudy eyes. "Or are you just out of money again? Planning to trick an old man out of his retirement savings?"
Tsunade stuck out her tongue.
Even after being caught, she shamelessly extended her hand toward him.
"Just a little."
Hayashi ignored her.
Instead, he bent down and plucked a single blade of grass.
With a flick of his finger, the grass shot forward.
Rather than flying in a straight line, it glided across the lake's surface like a living fish, weaving gracefully before disappearing into the distance.
Tsunade froze.
Her mouth slowly fell open.
Children of her generation graduated from the Ninja Academy at six years old, and thanks to her accomplishments during the war, she had already become a Chunin little more than a year later.
Although her strength had yet to fully mature, growing up in the Senju Clan had given her excellent judgment.
That was exactly why she was so shocked.
The old man before her wasn't throwing a kunai.
He had accomplished it with nothing more than a blade of grass.
Even the Uchiha, renowned for their mastery of shurikenjutsu, would struggle to perform such a feat.
Not even her Sensei, the man destined to become the Third Hokage, could replicate it.
Just as Grandma Mito had always said, no shinobi who survived the final battles of the Warring States Era could ever be underestimated.
Hayashi remained calm.
He had no intention of showing off.
After spending twenty years confined to a wheelchair, even as his memories gradually faded, he had continued refining his skills every single day.
To him, this was nothing more than an idle pastime born from boredom.
"Wheelchair Grandpa! Teach me! Please teach me!"
Tsunade's eyes sparkled.
Money had completely slipped her mind.
Instead, she clung to Hayashi's arm, repeatedly begging him to teach her the technique.
After all, strength came and went with the times.
Looking cool, however, lasted forever.
"Easy now," Hayashi laughed helplessly. "If you keep shaking me like that, I'll fall apart."
He gently tapped the blade of grass.
"To perform this technique, you need extremely precise Chakra control. You also have to infuse the grass with Wind Release chakra."
As he explained, Hayashi suddenly felt an odd sense of familiarity.
These words...
It felt as though someone had once said the very same thing to him.
He had forgotten.
In his previous life, it had been Tsunade herself who taught him how to control chakra.
After fumbling through his bag, Hayashi pulled out a sheet of chakra paper and handed it to her.
"For chakra control, your grandmother Mito can teach you far better than I can."
He smiled.
"But I can help you understand Wind Release nature transformation."
Tsunade accepted the paper, then immediately pouted.
"That sounds like too much work."
Rather than practicing, she simply sat beside him.
Hayashi didn't urge her.
The two quietly watched the scenery while chatting about whatever came to mind.
"I wonder if my mother will have a little brother or a little sister."
Hayashi smiled.
"Which would you rather have?"
"A sister."
She answered without hesitation.
"If it's a sister, I'll spoil her and give her the best of everything."
She paused before grinning mischievously.
"If it's a little brother, I'll bully him and steal all his stuff."
Hayashi laughed softly.
"And why do you want a sister so much?"
"Because girls are cute."
She puffed out her chest proudly.
"Just like me."
Then her eyes lit up.
"Oh! Wheelchair Grandpa, I just walked past a delivery room earlier and saw the cutest newborn baby ever. That's why I want a little sister!"
"Is that so?"
Hayashi smiled.
"What was her name?"
"Mikoto."
"...Mikoto."
His eyelids slowly lowered.
His gaze became distant.
Some deeply buried memory stirred within him.
Absentmindedly, he smoothed his increasingly gray hair and sighed.
"The older I get... the more I envy young people."
After a moment, he looked at Tsunade with a teasing smile.
"So, little girl, are there any boys at the Ninja Academy that you like? Want this old man to help you judge them?"
Tsunade's cheeks instantly turned bright red.
She stuck out her tongue and made a face at him.
Hayashi chuckled.
"Do you even know what it means to like someone?"
She stubbornly turned her head away, refusing to answer.
Hayashi pulled a silly face at her.
Unable to hold it in any longer, Tsunade burst into laughter.
She gently rested her head against his shoulder.
"Wheelchair Grandpa..."
"Do you have someone you like?"
Hayashi's smile softened.
"I do."
With trembling hands, he slowly took a pen from his pocket.
On the sheet of chakra paper in Tsunade's hands, he carefully wrote:
To Mikoto,
I hope you're doing well.
I'm doing well, too.
Those few simple words seemed to exhaust the last of his strength.
His head slowly drooped.
The countless moments of his life passed before his eyes like flickering lanterns.
Even the forgotten memories from his previous life resurfaced one after another.
At last...
The old man's journey came to an end.
He quietly closed his eyes.
Like any ordinary old man who had simply waited long enough to return home.
He passed away peacefully in his wheelchair.
Beside him, Tsunade clung to his arm, crying uncontrollably.
A cluster of pale blue light slowly rose from the old man's body.
It circled him several times before gradually taking shape.
The translucent figure steadily became solid.
Tsunade continued crying, completely unaware that a young man now stood quietly beside the wheelchair.
A flash of scarlet crossed Hayashi's eyes.
The entire world blurred like wet paint.
He instinctively knew that with a single thought, he could shatter this entire genjutsu.
"You're finally waking up."
An old, hoarse voice echoed through the fading world.
Hayashi remained calm.
"Yes."
There wasn't the slightest trace of surprise in his expression.
It was as though he had expected this meeting all along.
"You've done exceptionally well."
The elderly figure smiled.
"I originally intended to wake you before the end, but I never expected you to break Taikōjin through your own strength before the illusion completed its course."
A figure appeared in midair.
He floated cross-legged above the ground.
A black staff rested across his knees.
Nine black Truth Seeking Balls formed a perfect circle behind him.
It was none other than the Sage of Six Paths.
He smiled warmly.
"Taikōjin is an extraordinary technique."
"It constructs an entire world through genjutsu, allowing its target to live an entirely different life."
"Thanks to you, I was able to witness countless things that even I had overlooked."
Hayashi looked at him.
"Even you have things you've missed?"
The Sage nodded.
"Far too many."
"The shinobi world is vast."
"I have spent most of my attention watching only a handful of people."
"In doing so, I inevitably overlooked countless others."
Hayashi was silent for a moment before asking,
"Then... do you think we can win?"
The Sage of Six Paths slowly shook his head.
"Although the world calls me the Sage of Six Paths, I am not a true immortal."
"I cannot see every possible future."
He smiled gently.
"But at this moment..."
"I feel at ease leaving the future in your hands."
Hayashi wanted to continue speaking.
The Sage, however, simply smiled knowingly.
"Death is not the opposite of life."
"It has always existed as a part of life itself."
"And because death is part of life, accepting it is a necessary step for every living person."
"It is also one of the final requirements for awakening the Rinnegan."
"You have fulfilled that requirement."
Hayashi quietly nodded.
Without another word, he turned around.
With a single punch, he shattered the entire Taikōjin world.
The endless illusion collapsed into countless fragments of light.
Immense ocular power poured into his eyes.
Hayashi slowly closed them.
When he opened them again...
He had returned.
Deep beneath Root headquarters, Hayashi still lay where he had fallen after being trapped inside Taikōjin.
To Orochimaru and Hiruko, barely five seconds had passed.
The two had been watching him closely.
Then they suddenly heard a quiet sigh.
Their eyes widened.
Hayashi slowly sat up.
The scarlet Sharingan had vanished.
In its place was a pair of ghostly purple eyes.
Each Rinnegan bore six tomoe arranged in perfect circles.
After dreaming for twenty years...
Hayashi stretched lazily before smiling.
"What a wonderful dream."
___
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