Chapter 236: Old Friends, Fading One by One
Sarutobi Residence
Six months had passed since Hiruzen's retirement. Freed from the burden of administrative duties, his spirit had noticeably brightened — and yet, day by day, this already-frail old man had been visibly aging further still.
Hiruzen sat hunched on the veranda of his courtyard, a cup of still-steaming tea beside him.
The potted plants and greenery scattered throughout the courtyard had begun sprouting new buds, and at its center stood several early-blooming cherry trees.
These particular cherry trees bloomed earlier than most — spring had barely arrived, and already the entire courtyard was carpeted with pink petals.
Light footsteps approached from the entryway. Hiruzen didn't turn to look — he simply reached for a teacup from the set beside him, placed it across from himself, and poured.
The visitor sat down opposite him, glanced at the still-warm tea, and drank it in a single gulp without hesitation.
Hiruzen clicked his tongue at this, mildly displeased but resigned.
"That's fine new tea, and you drink it like that. Absolute waste."
Sakura paid no mind to the comment, simply pouring herself another cup right in front of him and downing it just as quickly.
"It's just a cup of tea, old man. Don't be so stingy."
Watching her pour a second cup, Hiruzen let out a helpless laugh, then drank his own, savoring the flavor properly.
Only Sakura could get away with this kind of shameless behavior in front of him.
"So. Speak. You never show up here without a reason."
"What is it you need from this old man this time?"
Hiruzen set down his cup, gazing at the cherry blossoms drifting across the courtyard, and let out a quiet sigh.
"What, can't a student come visit her beloved teacher?"
The girl arched an eyebrow.
"You can. But this is your working hours."
Hiruzen glanced sideways at his student.
Sakura's body stiffened slightly, then she shrugged it off.
"That's what Shadow Clones are for."
The old man let the excuse pass without comment.
This student of his was exceptional — capable of leveraging every available advantage while simultaneously keeping Konoha's ever-turning machinery running smoothly. Whatever her considerations and plans might be, Hiruzen had no intention of interfering.
But suddenly, teacher and student fell into silence.
As cherry blossoms drifted down from the trees, time slipped past, minute by minute.
Eventually, Sakura broke the silence.
"Someone in the village died."
Hiruzen's expression remained calm, as though this news held no surprise for him whatsoever.
Death.
He'd seen far too much of it already.
He simply spoke evenly: "How did it happen."
"He gave his life protecting the younger generation — stood alone against two Akatsuki members and fell."
Hiruzen's expression didn't change. He slowly drank the last of his tea, his voice carrying a note of quiet nostalgia and grief.
"He was a hero."
Listening to Hiruzen's words, Sakura slowly rose to her feet.
"Tomorrow — will you attend Kosuke's funeral?"
At the name, Hiruzen's expression seemed unchanged — and yet something in it had shifted slightly.
After a long moment, he finally spoke.
"I'll be there."
That was his answer.
But by the time he'd finished speaking, the pink-haired girl had already gone, vanished at some point without a sound.
Hiruzen's clouded eyes remained fixed on the cherry blossoms scattered across the ground beneath the trees. What was going through his mind in that moment, no one could say.
After a long while, a quiet sigh drifted through the small courtyard.
"Old friends, fading away, one by one..."
The next day
The sky hung heavy with clouds
Few had gathered at Konoha's cemetery.
Maruboshi Kosuke, as one of Konoha's elders, had often kept to himself.
A mistake in his youth had once cost the life of a teammate. Burdened by guilt and grief over it ever since, he'd chosen never to advance in rank — even after achieving jōnin-level ability, he'd remained, in official title, nothing more than a genin.
Asuma placed a bouquet of white chrysanthemums before the old man's headstone, then pulled two rings from his pocket, setting them down as well.
Akatsuki's Sanshō. Akatsuki's Hokuto.
Hidan and Kakuzu's rings.
After Asuma, Hayate, Kakashi, Guy, and Mei stepped forward one by one to offer their own flowers.
Even Anko, still recovering in the hospital, had pushed her injured body to its limits to see the old man off one final time.
Then came the younger generation, led by Sakura.
Kushina. Sasuke. Naruto.
Naruto had worked missions with the old man before — Kosuke was hardly a stranger to him.
Kushina and Sasuke had both participated directly in the hunt that brought down Kakuzu and Hidan.
Naturally, they understood exactly what kind of man deserved this respect.
Rain fell in a fine, steady drizzle.
Sakura, dressed in black mourning attire, glanced back toward the cemetery entrance.
There, a figure moved with unsteady, halting steps, leaning heavily on a cane as he made his way toward them.
Rain fell on him. He paid it no mind.
He simply, carefully, took each step in turn.
Sakura moved forward, intending to support Hiruzen — but the moment their eyes met, her hand froze in midair.
He didn't need it.
He would walk this distance himself, to see off an old friend.
Everyone stood along both sides of the path, watching in silence as the stooped old man made his way, step by step, toward Kosuke's gravestone.
The rain had begun to fall harder now. Hiruzen's robes were already soaked through.
Sakura glanced at Kushina, who understood instantly and vanished from the spot.
Before long, she returned with a black umbrella and handed it to Sakura.
Sakura took it and moved behind Hiruzen, quietly holding it over him.
Rain fell against the umbrella, running off the edges — inevitably, some of it slid down onto the girl's cherry-pink hair.
"All of you, go home."
"Especially you, Anko. Your wounds haven't fully healed. Don't make them worse for an old man like me."
Hiruzen didn't turn around, his voice low.
"...Understood."
The group fell silent for a moment, then departed one by one.
"Sakura..."
Naruto's face was wet — whether from rain or tears, it was impossible to tell.
"...Let's go."
Sasuke tugged at Naruto's sleeve and led him away as well.
Now only the girl and the old man remained in the cemetery.
Time passed, slowly, and eventually the old man's voice rose through the rain.
"Sorry, Sakura. Making you stand out here in the rain."
Hiruzen didn't turn to look at her.
"It's fine."
Sakura answered evenly.
"Honestly, at my age, one should have made peace with everything by now."
"But..."
Hiruzen's words trailed off there. He said nothing further.
But Sakura understood.
No matter how thoroughly one made peace with the concept of death in the abstract, facing the actual loss of an old friend was never something a few resigned words could simply gloss over.
Orochimaru — one of Hiruzen's own students — had never been able to accept this truth, which was precisely why he'd spent his life chasing eternal life so relentlessly.
The old man studied Kosuke's photograph on the headstone carefully, as though trying to sear it permanently into memory.
But age had dulled his once-sharp eyes; he needed to lean in close to see it properly.
Carefully wiping the rainwater from the photograph, Hiruzen was finally able to see his old friend's familiar face clearly.
In that moment, the only sound reaching his ears was the falling rain — no room left for anything else.
"Let's go home."
Hiruzen spoke.
"Alright."
With that, Sakura stepped forward to help support the old man as they left.
But just as her hand was about to reach his sleeve, before the girl's stunned eyes, the body that had withstood war, withstood the siege of Konoha, withstood the chaos of the Nine-Tails, withstood Orochimaru's betrayal, Jiraiya's departure, Tsunade's abandonment — the body that had never once faltered, even before the First and Second Hokage — collapsed to the ground in that instant.
It happened so suddenly that Sakura's mind went briefly, completely blank.
"OLD MAN!"
Without another thought, Sakura dropped to her knees beside Hiruzen, gathering him into her arms, one hand still holding the umbrella, the other glowing faintly gold as she pressed it against his chest.
But the moment her hand made contact with his chest, it froze in midair.
As the shinobi world's most powerful medical ninja currently alive, the instant that golden light touched Hiruzen's body, Sakura already understood the full picture.
Simple. Painfully simple.
Old age.
He was meant to go now.
Every organ in his body had reached its natural end, and the accumulated hidden wounds from decades of battlefield sacrifice in his youth were surging forth like a flood, all at once.
Even with Sakura's Yang Release having nourished his body over these years, even with Tsunade's periodic medical care —
Medical ninjutsu wasn't omnipotent. Neither was Yang Release.
Sakura had no way to extend the life of a man whose natural lifespan had already reached its end.
"Sakura..."
In the rain, a withered hand gripped hers tightly.
"Take me home."
"I'm old now. Can't walk any further..."
The voice was faint as a thread, yet utterly unyielding.
"...Okay."
The moment the words fell, Sakura vanished from the spot, carrying Hiruzen with her.
Sarutobi Residence
By now, only Sakura, Asuma, Kurenai, Konohamaru, and Kakashi remained at the residence.
Tsunade was currently stationed at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain, unable to leave her post.
As for Jiraiya, Sakura had already dispatched a ninja hawk with orders for him to set aside his current assignment and return to Konoha immediately.
As for everyone else — Hiruzen himself had no wish to make a scene of this.
Especially with Ōnoki's delegation, led by Akatsuchi, still present in Konoha.
Sakura sat in silence, watching the old man on the bed, her heart a tangle of complicated feelings and a creeping sense of helplessness.
"Sakura..."
"Do you know what you should be doing right now?"
Hiruzen forced his eyes open with visible effort.
Now only Sakura and Hiruzen remained in the room. Asuma and the others stood quietly outside the door, giving Hiruzen his final moments alone with his student.
"As Hokage... the most urgent priority right now is extracting Akatsuki's intelligence from Hidan..."
"Akatsuki is currently Konoha's enemy, and the damage they've inflicted on the village is far from trivial..."
"And Iwagakure's situation as well..."
Hiruzen's voice was faint, but his mind remained perfectly lucid.
"...Understood."
Sakura hadn't dared tell Hiruzen about the Terracotta Army — terrified that learning she'd let a hundred-thousand-strong force march unopposed straight through the Land of Fire might send the old man into a rage severe enough to finish him off then and there.
"Go on."
"Don't wait for me."
Hiruzen looked at the silent girl before him with tender affection.
As though trying, in this final moment of his life, to sear her face permanently into his memory.
This was his final student, and the one who'd brought him the greatest satisfaction.
He'd once assumed that after Minato's sacrifice, he'd eventually have to force either Tsunade or Jiraiya into the Hokage's seat, threatening them with his own death if necessary.
He'd never imagined—
In these final years, he'd meet this child instead.
She was extraordinary. There had been times when Hiruzen genuinely wondered if he were dreaming.
Heaven had shown him mercy, letting him find her.
Now the dream had ended, and reality had confirmed it was no dream at all.
He could hand Konoha — the village he'd devoted his entire life to — into her hands.
He had no regrets left.
If there was one thing he still regretted, it was that he wouldn't live to see the child in Anko's belly born into the world.
"Send Asuma and Kurenai in..."
Hearing her teacher's request, Sakura rose quietly and walked toward the door.
Having relayed Hiruzen's request, Sakura, on her way out, glanced toward the courtyard, where the cherry blossoms had nearly finished falling.
The cherry blossom season is so brief...
Even during spring, when all of nature reawakened, the blooms lasted no more than half a month before falling.
Then they'd wait, quietly, for the following year to come again...
Sakura left.
She returned to the Hokage's office.
Looking at the visibly bored figure sitting in the Hokage's chair, Sakura's brow furrowed slightly.
"You got weaker?"
The one occupying the Hokage's seat right now wasn't a Shadow Clone — it was a Yang Clone. Specifically, Sakura's Yin Release manifestation. Inner Sakura.
She'd established ground rules with Inner Sakura before — letting her out to play on a regular schedule. If she ever stepped out of line, she'd never get the chance again.
That threat had proven effective, and given that Inner Sakura currently stood no chance against Sakura herself, she'd genuinely been behaving.
But right now, Sakura noticed something — whether it was her imagination or not.
This woman seemed weaker than before.
If Inner Sakura, manifesting through the Yang Clone, had previously carried eighty percent of the original's combat power—
Right now, she seemed to have only about sixty percent.
"It's not that I got weaker. It's that you got stronger."
Inner Sakura sat bored in the chair, spinning it idly in circles.
"Between the Yang Release and the Sage Mode training you've picked up, how's a poor, helpless little woman like me supposed to stand a chance against the almighty Fifth Hokage~~~"
Sakura paid the sarcastic remark no mind, taking it as nothing more than griping over having her precious playtime forcibly relocated to this boring office.
"Anything happen today?"
Sakura walked to the desk, looking at the documents scattered across it. In her current state of turmoil, not a single word registered.
"Nothing major. Just that old man Tobirama over at the Research Bureau, working with someone named Tōno Hōsuke, apparently finished putting together the scientific ninja tools."
Inner Sakura pulled a random document from the pile and tossed it into Sakura's hands, unbothered.
Sakura didn't even look at it. Instead, she looked at the clearly displeased figure before her and reached out, ruffling her hair.
"What?"
Inner Sakura scowled, stopping her spinning.
"Sorry. We had a deal about your time, and I ended up dumping this on you anyway."
"So — can I go out and play?"
"Next time. I'll be pretty busy for a while."
☆☆☆
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