Just a few sentences were enough to bring tears to the eyes of many people present.
Mito gently closed her eyes below the platform, and tears finally slipped from the corners of her eyes. Little Tsunade raised her head, looked at her grandmother, and began to cry silently as well.
At the end of the ceremony, the coffin was slowly sent to the cemetery behind the village.
People continued to follow behind of their own accord along the way.
Some cried quietly, while others silently wiped away their tears.
On the Hokage Rock, Hashirama's enormous face, which had only recently been carved, looked especially silent beneath the gloomy sky.
When the coffin was finally lowered into the grave and shovelful after shovelful of earth fell down, the crowd in the distance gradually dispersed.
Seito stood some distance away, looking at the newly erected gravestone, silently thinking, 'The real First Generation has ended.'
The funeral was nearing its end.
The crowd gradually dispersed, while the light rain continued to fall.
Mito was supported by several elders of the clan, her emotions almost collapsing.
Tobirama was quietly giving instructions about the matters that needed to be handled afterward, his expression sorrowful but forcing himself to remain calm.
Little Tsunade stood where she was, her small hands tightly clutching the corner of her clothes, her eyes red.
Just then, she suddenly raised her head and looked toward the shadow of a tree some distance from the cemetery.
A young man was standing there quietly.
He looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old. He was slender, and there was an almost transparent cleanness to his bearing.
Rain fell on his shoulders, yet it seemed as if it had never truly touched him. The strangest thing was that so many people were coming and going around them, including her grandmother Mito and Second Grandpa Tobirama, yet not a single person looked in that direction, as if there were nothing there at all.
"Who is he?"
Tsunade froze.
She instinctively let go of her grandmother's clothes and took one small step after another toward him.
Soon, she was standing in front of the young man.
The young man looked down at her, the corners of his lips curving into the faintest smile.
"Hello, Tsunade."
Arisu's voice was gentle, as if he had known her for a very long time.
Tsunade instinctively became wary. She took half a step back and asked with her little face tilted up, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
Arisu did not answer.
Arisu simply reached out and very gently rubbed her golden short hair.
The warmth of his palm was incredibly real.
Tsunade's body stiffened. More fear rose in her heart, but at the same time, another, stranger emotion quietly emerged.
Familiarity, closeness, and even a kind of inexplicable fondness.
As if she should have known this person, as if she should have met him a long time ago.
"Just like before..."
Looking at the young form of his lover from his previous life, Arisu's eyes flashed with an extremely complicated gentleness.
Just then, Tobirama's slightly tired but still clear voice came from behind.
"Tsunade? Why did you run over here?"
"Why are you talking to yourself? It's time for us to go."
Tsunade suddenly turned around and saw Second Grandpa walking toward her.
She immediately raised her little hand and pointed toward where Arisu was, saying loudly, "I'm talking to this big brother! Second Grandpa, look..."
Tobirama looked in the direction she was pointing.
There was nothing there.
Only a tree trunk wet from the rain and the continuously falling rain.
Tsunade's eyes widened. She looked back at the spot in disbelief.
The young man had disappeared.
As if he had never appeared at all.
"How could that be... I clearly just saw him... He even touched my head...", Tsunade muttered strangely to herself.
Tobirama looked at his granddaughter's shocked and flustered expression and sighed softly in his heart.
Big Brother had just been buried. This child was still too young to withstand such a shock. It was normal for her to have hallucinations.
He walked forward, bent down, and picked Tsunade up in his arms. His movements were unusually gentle.
"All right, don't be afraid. You'll still have Second Grandpa from now on. Grandpa may be gone, but Second Grandpa will always be with you.", Senju Tobirama said.
Held in his arms, Tsunade gripped Tobirama's clothes tightly, but she still could not help turning her head to look toward the direction that was now completely empty.
The rain blurred her vision.
She did not understand why that gentle big brother who had called her by name and inexplicably made her feel at ease had appeared, nor why he had suddenly disappeared.
———
[Time Passed]
[Two Years Later]
The First Great Ninja War broke out in full.
The flames of war quickly spread from the borders of the Land of Fire to the borders between several countries.
Driven by interests, hatred, and survival, shinobi from various countries slaughtered one another. The land was stained dark red, and nameless corpses floated in the rivers.
Under Tobirama's iron-fisted rule, Konoha barely maintained its defensive line, but it could not stay out of the conflict either.
It still came into conflict with the Land of Lightning to the north.
And in an abandoned canyon, two Kage-level powerhouses reached the end of their battle.
The Second Tsuchikage, Mu.
His figure had merged with the air, while the particles of Dust Release circulated silently around him.
As a man capable of breaking all matter down into its original atoms, his very existence was an erasure of the battlefield.
The Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hōzuki.
However, Mu was being controlled by Uchiha Katsu at this time.
The Second Mizukage stood in the center of the canyon, a familiar carefree smile on his lips. Behind him, the enormous clam had already enveloped the entire area in the illusionary mist of Water Release.
Steaming water vapor mixed with oil, filling the air with suffocating heat and humidity.
"Tsuchikage-sama."
"You seem to be having quite a good time hiding. Why don't you come out and have a proper fight with me? We're both going to die in the end anyway, so why waste time?"
Gengetsu drawled, his voice echoing through the mist.
Mu did not answer immediately.
The next second, a tiny crack suddenly appeared in the void.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique."
The invisible beam of light instantly pierced through the illusionary water mist. Everything in its path was broken down into the most primitive dust.
The enormous clam let out a piercing shriek, its body disintegrating directly from the middle and turning into dust that filled the sky.
But Gengetsu's smile only grew wider.
"Found you."
His hands quickly formed seals, and a large amount of sticky oil sprayed from his mouth. At the same time, his body began to evaporate violently.
The high temperature distorted the air. The oil instantly ignited, forming a sea of scorching flames.
Mu's invisibility revealed a brief opening under the interference of the heat and light.
Gengetsu narrowed his eyes slightly. His figure flashed through the sea of flames like a ghost, and a sharp blade condensed from high-pressure steam had already appeared in his hand.
"Water Release: Steam Imp!"
The steam explosion erupted at close range.
The scorching airflow and shock wave forcibly drove Mu out of hiding.
The sleeves of the Tsuchikage's robe were torn apart, revealing the body beneath, which was almost hollow from the backlash of Dust Release.
"It's over..."
Mu's voice remained calm.
He raised his hand, and the glow of Dust Release once again condensed at his fingertips.
This time, the beam was no longer a straight line. Instead, it spread into a fan-shaped field of death. Wherever it passed, rocks, air, and steam were all stripped away into nothingness.
Gengetsu was forced to dodge repeatedly, yet his laughter grew more and more unrestrained.
"So strong... No wonder you're a man who can be mentioned alongside me. But..."
He suddenly spread his arms wide, and the chakra within his body surged wildly.
His entire body began to expand and turn transparent, finally transforming into a huge mass of water and oil that continuously spewed steam.
"I've never used this move on anyone else. Die, Tsuchikage!"
A look of release appeared in Mu's eyes.
On the other side, Uchiha Katsu silently manipulated the Tsuchikage, preparing to die together with his opponent.
The two ultimate killing techniques of the strongest level collided in the canyon.
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