As they walked into the orphanage, lots of kids were there from all ages with banners along with his genin team and finally the matron and his sensei Choza.
The entrance was decorated with colorful handmade signs that said things like "Congratulations Shunsui".
The children waved small flags and looked very excited. They all jumped in claps as they saw him coming in. "Congratulations big brother Shunsui." The kids shouted together in happy voices. He could also smell some good food.
"Ah a celebration for me how wonderful. Though, the competition was not that tough but I will take it who says no to free food and praise." Shunsui said with a big grin on his face.
This made Mukai and Genma look at him awkwardly. They sweat dropped a little because Shunsui sounded too casual about the chunin exams and his fights against the best of the genin.
Guy though had tears coming from his eyes. "Don't worry Shunsui, I will train harder and become stronger to give you a better challenge. I won't let your youth rot away without facing real challenge." Guy said this with full passion and energy.
Shunsui just smiled calmly at his friend's words.
Choza came to him and wrapped him in a bear hug. "Congratulations Shunsui." The large man said with a booming laugh.
"Sensei, you might damage me more than what other contestants could do... in the Chunin Exams." Shunsui said in bated breaths. He pretended to struggle for air while smiling.
Choza laughed as he let go of him. He looked at Mukai who wore the chunin vest. "Congratulations Mukai. While you did not win the exams, you still showed skills enough to be promoted by the chunin. And I am sure while Shunsui gave a lot of surprise to the crowd, you were not that far behind." Choza praised him.
He then chuckled. "To think those stern Hyuga people could make the expression of shock. I never thought I would see that day. You have my thanks for that." Choza said this with a big belly laugh.
"Thank you Choza san for your kind words." Mukai said bowing politely. He felt happy to receive praise from Shunsui's sensei.
Shunsui had already walked to the matron. "Boy, you have made me proud. I have made food that you love for today. Enjoy because you deserve it for all your hardwork." The matron said with tears of joy in her eyes.
"Thank you." Shunsui said softly. The matron looked at him with deep affection. "You truly have grown. To think the boy that refused to join the academy. To think of the boy who used to hide behind my skirts, stubbornly refusing to even look at the academy gates...is now a chunin" She let out a soft, choked laugh, wiping a tear before it could ruin her good apron.
"You used to tell me that the world was too big, and that you'd rather stay here forever doing nothing but eating my stews and napping in the garden. Frankly, I was terrified I'd be supporting a permanent, lazy house-cat of a boy until I was ninety...."
Shunsui interrupted her, "Wait you are not ninety?"
The matron shot him a glare that made him shut up.
Matron continued to speak emotionally, "You fought me tooth and nail on every single chore, Shunsui. I honestly thought your greatest life achievement would be mastering the art of sleeping while standing up."
She paused, her expression softening as her thumb brushed his cheek, "But look at you now. Look at what you have become through your own sweat, blood, and stubbornness. You didn't just walk through those academy gates; you conquered them."
"Every late night, every bruise, every setback you fought through when you thought no one was watching... it was all leading to this. My heart is so full it feels as though it might burst. You have given this old woman the greatest gift: seeing the boy she raised become a man of true honor."She suddenly patted his face a bit too hard, snapping herself out of the waterworks. "
"You really proved that you are a Konoha shinobi with a strong will of fire." She said with pride.
Shunsui could not help himself and finally asked, "Why do you like the will of fire so much? Why do you insist that I follow it?" He had wondered about this for a long time since Matron had always talked about will of fire almost as much as Hiruzen.
The matron did not get angry. "I guess I should tell you this as your reward for making me proud."
She began her story gently. "I never believed in the will of fire when I was young. I did not like the Hokage. But when Lord Third was made Hokage, he visited everyone who had lost their loved ones in the war. I had just lost my parents in the first great shinobi war. They were shinobi. I had become an orphan."
She described how alone and angry she felt after losing her family. The village was in chaos from the war, and many children became orphans like her.
"He saw me, a civilian, crying. I was not even a shinobi, yet he talked to me," the matron continued with a soft smile. "And he said, and I quote his words: 'You have lost your parents, the village has lost good shinobi, but they still live. Their will of fire lives in you.'
"I remember looking at him and thinking he was completely out of his mind," she said, a dry chuckle breaking through her nostalgia.
"I was an fifteen-year-old girl covered in dust, sitting on the rubble of what used to be my kitchen. I didn't want a lecture on spiritual metallurgy. I wanted a hot meal and my parents back. I actually threw a broken piece of roof tile right at his chest. If my father had been alive, he would have died on the spot from the sheer disrespect of it."
Shunsui blinked, a sudden grin tugging at his lips. "You threw a rock at the Lord Third?"
"A heavy one, too," she nodded proudly.
"And you know what the Hokage did? The legendary 'God of Shinobi' caught it with one hand, looked at it, and then used it to prop up a broken table legs so we could sit down properly. He didn't lecture me about military duty. He just took off that Hokage hat, set it on the floor, and pulled out two squished sweet bean buns from his cloak. He gave me the bigger one.
"He told me, 'The Will of Fire isn't a weapon, and it isn't a law. It is just the warmth we give each other when the world outside gets cold. Right now, your flame is low because you are grieving. So, let me share a bit of mine until yours can burn on its own.'
"He sat with me for over an hour, just eating those squished buns while the ash from the battlefield drifted down around us. He didn't ask me to be brave. He didn't tell me to become a great kunoichi to honor my family's legacy. He just told me that it was okay to hate the world a little bit today, because tomorrow we would start rebuilding it together. For the first time since the casualty lists were posted, the weight in my chest didn't feel quite so heavy."
"That was the moment I realized the village wasn't just a military base or a collection of clans; it was an incredibly messy, traumatised family trying its best not to fall apart."
"I never learned to mold chakra. I never learned to throw a kunai. But I realized my version of that will of fire didn't belong on a battlefield. It belonged right here, in this kitchen, making sure kids like you had enough soup in your bellies and heavy blankets in the winter so you'd never have to feel that absolute, freezing loneliness that I once felt."
"Every time I patched your trousers, scolded you for skipping academy, or stayed up waiting for you to come home, I was just passing along a spark of the warmth the Hokage gave to a feral, grieving civilian girl decades ago. And seeing you standing here today, ready to protect this village... I think Lord Third was right. The fire didn't end with my parents. It just took a long, roundabout path through this old orphanage, and now it belongs to you. Don't let it go out, Shunsui."
Small tears again came from the matron as she said, "Go now eat, you deserve it boy."
She gently pushed Shunsui toward the food tables. Shunsui thought 'Hiruzen you might not be the bad guy I thought you to be.'
He felt a new respect for the Hokage after hearing the story. With those thoughts he sat down to eat.
'After this let's have that drink with Mukai.' Shunsui decided to rest and party for today because he knew that it would not be long before the village decides to send him to war now that he was a chunin.
-------Author Notes--------
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