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"Don't… space out…"
"Now is… not the time… for that…"
"Cough… cough…"
Heshu vomited a mouthful of blood.
Nara Sōsai's eyes were bloodshot as he screamed at the crowd. "Medic! Where are the medics?! Get over here! Now!"
Everyone wept uncontrollably.
"Hokage-sama…"
"Don't be stupid."
Heshu's legs gave out. He fell to his knees, his strength gone.
Sōsai knelt before him, tears striking the ground in heavy drops. "I'm not the stupid one. You are."
Heshu managed a weak smile. He leaned on Sōsai's shoulder, his grip feeble. "I… still have… so much… left to do…"
"What's left… is… yours…"
"You always dump the work on me!" Sōsai's voice broke. "Do it yourself! Why hand it all over to me?"
"I'll never nag you about work again!"
"I won't complain about overtime!"
"Come to work whenever you want!"
"Okay?"
"Just… come to work… please?"
Heshu let out a soft, helpless laugh, his own eyes brimming with tears. "Sorry… about that…"
"Promise me… one last thing…"
His gaze drifted to the crowd surrounding them.
"Hokage-sama, don't leave!"
"Please!"
"Waaaaah!"
A child, unable to hold back, burst into loud sobs.
"I have… no other request…"
"Only… I hope… you can… forgive… my student…"
"Uchiha Itachi…"
"Give him… a chance… to atone…"
Heshu's eyes began to lose their light.
He kept repeating, his voice fading. "Please… I beg you…"
A final trickle of blood escaped the corner of his mouth.
He collapsed.
Beside him lay the cold, stiff body of Hanataki.
They were each other's only family in this world. Born together. It was only right they left together.
Sōsai couldn't move. Couldn't think.
His heart hurt so badly it had gone numb.
He stared at the pale, lifeless face before him. It felt absurd. Impossible.
The Heshu who bickered with him in the office, who handled paperwork beside him… couldn't be dead.
"You idiot…"
"Worrying about others… until the very end…"
Tears streamed down Sōsai's face.
"Did you ever… worry about yourself… even once?"
Muffled sobs came from the crowd.
"We heard you," Sōsai said, nodding firmly. "We heard your request."
Whether Uchiha Itachi was a missing-nin or not… it didn't matter anymore.
This was the final wish of Hokage Tsukimi Heshu.
No one could refuse her.
Land of Lightning.
Kumogakure.
The Fourth Raikage was buried in paperwork, utterly frazzled.
"Lord Raikage."
His secretary, Toroi, knocked on the door.
The Raikage looked up and flinched. "Toroi! You look paler than the wall!"
Toroi, for the first time ever, faced him with unnatural calm. She walked forward and placed a scroll gently on his desk.
"Konoha has sent unfortunate news. The Fifth Hokage, Tsukimi Heshu, has fallen in the line of duty."
The Raikage's hands trembled. He forced a snort. "Trying to trick me? I don't believe it!"
Toroi said nothing. Her eyes, full of sorrow, never left his face.
"That woman!" The Raikage's eyes grew red. "She was younger than me! How is she gone first?"
He blinked hard, forcing the moisture back.
The news spread through Kumo quickly.
Killer Bee was training with Gyūki, the Eight-Tails.
"Bee-sama!"
A ninja sprinted up, shoving a scroll into Bee's hands.
"Yo! What's the rush, man?" Bee's laid-back expression froze solid as he read.
"What is it, Bee?" Gyūki asked.
"The Fifth Hokage… is gone," Bee said quietly.
Gyūki fell silent.
A long moment passed. The calm sea surface wrinkled under a passing breeze.
"What a shame," Gyūki's voice rumbled at last.
Such an exceptional person.
Land of Water.
Kirigakure.
"To think you'd be the first to leave…"
"Hokage…"
Mei Terumi stared at the scroll in her hands, her expression profoundly complicated.
The strongest of them all… gone first.
"I was thinking, after we both retired… we could spend time together." A bitter smile touched her lips. "Seems you missed your chance."
She pressed her red lips together. The sadness in her eyes hardened into resolve.
"Akatsuki."
"That burden falls to us now."
The Hokage had eliminated their greatest enemy. The task of resisting Akatsuki now rested on the shoulders of those still living.
Haku stood silently behind Mei, a dark light flickering in his eyes.
Land of Earth.
Iwagakure.
"WAAAAAAH!"
"SOB!"
"You're lying, you old fossil!"
"I don't believe it!"
"You'd die before Hokage-sama ever would!"
Deidara was a sobbing, snotty mess in the Tsuchikage's office. He choked on his words, one hand already plunged into his clay pouch.
"I'll blow this whole world to bits! Yeah!"
"A world without Hokage-sama has no right to exist!"
He flung his hand out. A massive clay spider erupted on the floor.
A vein throbbed on Ōnoki's temple. Grief for the Hokage hadn't even settled before his apprentice started this.
"Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"
The explosive spider disintegrated into dust.
Ōnoki wiped sweat from his brow. "Deidara. Don't you want revenge for the Hokage?"
The words hit their mark. Deidara's world-destroying tantrum stopped dead.
His face turned dark, sinister. "You're right. Yeah. I'll blow every single member of Akatsuki to smithereens!"
He stormed out in a huff.
"Lord Tsuchikage!" Kurotsuchi, standing behind Ōnoki, looked worried.
"Let him go," Ōnoki sighed, shaking his head. "He probably won't even find them."
Kurotsuchi: "…"
Fair point.
"What a waste. A life cut so short…" Ōnoki's weary sigh filled the office.
Land of Wind.
Sunagakure.
Rasa nodded to the messenger. "Understood. Dismissed."
"Yes, sir."
He turned to his son, standing beside him.
Gaara froze.
"A… rumor, right?"
How could the Fifth Hokage, the strongest of their era, just… die?
Rasa heaved a heavy sigh. He patted Gaara's shoulder and walked away, leaving his son alone.
Gaara stood at the highest point in Suna.
A single tear traced a path down his cheek, sudden and unbidden.
"Hokage-sama…"
Amegakure.
"The Fifth Hokage, Tsukimi Heshu, is dead."
Zetsu popped up from the floor, addressing the remaining members.
Itachi jolted as if struck. His eyes locked onto Zetsu with terrifying intensity. "Impossible!"
There was no way. His teacher was too strong.
Zetsu looked at Itachi. "Ah! Forgot to mention~ Hanataki is dead too!"
Kisame kicked Zetsu. "What kind of shit are you spewing?"
Zetsu, from the floor: "…Hanataki is also dead."
Kisame caught a meaningful look from Tobi and held back a second kick.
Itachi's bangs shadowed his face. But Kisame saw it—a single teardrop clinging to the sharp line of his jaw.
Ah.
Itachi-san is crying silently again.
As if Itachi's grief wasn't enough, Zetsu added, "So touching, really!"
"That legendary shinobi's final words… were, 'Please, give my student, Uchiha Itachi, a chance to redeem himself.'"
"Such a moving bond between teacher and disciple!"
Zetsu narrated with dramatic flair.
Kisame could feel the wave of suppressed agony radiating from Itachi. He changed the subject, lips tight. "What about Konan and Pain?"
Zetsu: "Konan—"
"I'm back."
Konan stepped into the meeting room, rain dripping from her clothes.
She was alone. That fact alone told the others everything they needed to know.
"Our plan…" Tobi spoke up.
His voice wasn't his usual playful whine. It was deep. Serious.
"Our plan remains unchanged!" Konan's eyes burned with a wild, desperate light. She couldn't let Hanataki and Nagato's sacrifices be in vain.
She wouldn't.
"Good." A flicker of satisfaction passed through Tobi's visible eye.
Perfect.
Everything was proceeding.
Even better than expected.
"We didn't capture the Eight-Tails, but we obtained a portion of its chakra." Tobi produced the tentacle.
With that, the chakra of all nine Tailed Beasts was now gathered within the Gedo Statue.
Konohagakure.
The village was drowning in grief.
Homes destroyed.
Families torn apart.
And above all… the Hokage was gone.
The Hokage who had achieved so much, who had led them through so much… was truly gone.
More urgent than rebuilding was the need to lay her to rest. The villagers organized themselves, preparing for the funeral with solemn determination.
Two days later.
Amidst a sea of white daisies lay a black coffin.
Heshu, dressed in pristine Hokage robes, rested peacefully inside. Her face was young, serene, beautiful.
Beside her lay an identical coffin.
Hanataki.
The villagers had initially objected to Hanataki's burial beside her. It was Nara Sōsai who persuaded them.
"The Hokage yearned for family. For kinship. To protect us, she fought her own kin. Now that she is gone… can't we at least grant her this? Can't we ease that loneliness for her?"
A heavy silence fell. Heads bowed.
Yako cried silently, choking back sobs that fought to escape her throat. The white daisy in her hand trembled violently.
"How… how can this be?"
"How can she just… leave?"
Jūri stood beside her, eyes red-rimmed.
Shisui was unnervingly calm.
Jiraiya stood in the center, staring blankly as if he still hadn't processed the scene before him.
"Heshu… dead?"
"Must be a joke."
"That kid was ridiculously strong…"
He kept talking, his own eyes growing redder. He rubbed at them, forcing a laugh. "Tsunade's gonna come back and punch me. 'Why didn't you protect my student?' she'll say…"
"Where's Kakashi?" Asuma Sarutobi asked Might Guy beside him.
Guy looked up at the overcast sky. "Probably hiding in some corner… crying quietly."
Kakashi had witnessed too many deaths.
He couldn't take any more.
Asuma silently lit a cigarette.
Hyūga Tenri had collapsed from overwhelming emotion on the day of the funeral and was taken to the hospital by Akiaoi Shinya.
Two more days passed.
When Neji returned to the village after a mission with Tenten and Rock Lee, the first place he went was to pay his respects.
"Teacher…"
"I've come to see you…"
Heshu's grave was piled high with flowers.
Neji found a small space and gently placed his own white chrysanthemum.
Tears fell, one by one, onto the grass, sinking into the damp earth.
In Mount Myōboku, Naruto knew nothing of this.
A month later.
The yellow markings around Naruto's eyes faded. He leaped to his feet with a shout.
"I did it!"
He couldn't help a triumphant laugh. "Finally! Time to go back to Konoha! Man, I miss Heshu-nee and Ritsue-nee so much!"
He stretched luxuriously.
The two toads of Myōboku exchanged uneasy looks. They hadn't dared tell him. Jiraiya had sent word a month ago about the Hokage's death.
"Ahem! Naruto, you head back on your own! We won't see you off!" They vanished in a puff of smoke before he could reply.
"Huh? What's their problem?" Naruto scratched his head, puzzled. But his mind was already flooded with joy. "Alright! Time to see Heshu-nee! I've missed her like crazy!"
Under Yamato's diligent efforts, Konoha's reconstruction was taking shape.
POOF
A cloud of white smoke.
Naruto appeared in the village square.
"Captain Yamato!" Naruto threw a friendly arm around Yamato's shoulders.
Yamato went rigid. "I—I have things to do! Gotta go!" He disappeared in a flash.
"…"
Naruto stared, dumbfounded. He shifted targets. "Ero-sennin!"
Jiraiya coughed. "I also have… urgent matters!"
"Huh?" Naruto frowned. "Why's everyone avoiding me?"
"Sakura!"
His eyes lit up. He waved at Sakura, who was coming to check some lumber.
Sakura halted. Hesitated. Then walked over.
"Long time no see, Naruto. How was the training?"
She forced a small smile.
Naruto beamed. "Awesome!" He gave a thumbs-up.
"That's good," Sakura said softly.
"What happened to Konoha?" Naruto asked, finally taking in the state of the village.
"We were attacked by Akatsuki a month ago."
"What?!" Naruto's eyes widened. "Is everyone okay?"
He didn't ask about Heshu. Of course she was fine. How could she not be?
Sakura's eyes suddenly filled with tears.
"Sakura? What's wrong?" Naruto was stunned. Sakura was tough. He rarely saw her cry.
"The Hokage… The Hokage…" Just saying the title made the tears spill over.
Naruto's expression turned cold. "What are you talking about?"
Why was she crying while talking about Heshu-nee? Nothing happened to her!
He started to turn away, but Sakura's broken words reached him.
"The Hokage… fell in the line of duty…"
Fell in the line of duty…
The Hokage…
Fell…
Who fell?
The Hokage?
Heshu-nee?
Impossible.
Naruto's lips twitched into a strained, disbelieving half-smile.
No way.
He refused to believe it.
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