[Hokage] Flower Time

The streets in the evening are still very lively, and the nearby shops are gradually lit up.Bright or faded signboards are arranged one by one on both sides, and the footsteps of people coming and going are scattered.The sounds of people talking, the clinking of wine glasses, the knocking of dishes on the table, the sound of someone turning the pages of a book, mixed with the soft sound of wind blowing leaves, entered her ears together.

The ninjas who came back late talked to each other about their tasks in low voices. They all had green vests and black foreheads, symbolizing their identities as Konoha ninjas.Laughing children ran through the gaps in the crowd with their schoolbags on their backs, catching up on time for dinner so as not to be scolded by their relatives waiting at home.The girls I met by chance covered their lips with their hands, whispered secretly with a smile on their faces, and watched from time to time on the opposite side of the street.

She walked forward slowly among the crowd, her eyes flicked from side to side slightly, looking at the scenes that didn't seem to have changed much.She couldn't remember how long it had been since she left here, but Muye Village was not much different from the scene in her memory, even her favorite sweet shop was still decorated in the same way.The bookstore, fruit shop, bakery, dessert shop, weapon monopoly, and the Hokage Building and Hokage Statue in the distance are all in memory.

She took a few steps forward and passed one of them in the crowd.The female ninja with dark blue hair and short ears suddenly stopped in her tracks, turned her head abruptly, her eyes wandered among the crowd for a while, passed the figure in the black cloak several times, and finally became dazed.

"Hey! What's the matter with you?" Nara Shishiyu who came from across the street greeted her: "Did you see your blind date? That's why you're so nervous."

"...No." Guolinan withdrew his gaze and said, "It's nothing."

"Is there such an urgent task that must be called at such a time..." Lu Sheng said, turning his head and looking around: "Yang Doujun will never arrive on time. In order to come at this time, I was also asked by my sister Grabbing and beating..."

"Where's Luna?" Guolinan asked, "Ah, really, I knew that only the two of us would be there on time."

Lu Sheng and Guo Linan looked at the sky together and sighed.

——A long time ago, only Haruto was late.But that was a long time ago.

Their conversation was drowned in the noisy crowd, Huashi didn't hear it.She walked towards the hero cemetery in Konoha Ninja Village along the road she used to be familiar with.Every time she took a step, a little strange feeling appeared in her heart.

She remembered that she had walked this road countless times.

She has come here to visit His Excellency for four generations, and she also comes to clean her father's tombstone every New Year.since she left Konoha

, She hasn't come to visit these two people for a long time.I don't know... Will they be angry?

Thinking of this, she couldn't help laughing.She will no longer believe the words her brother used to deceive her when she was a child. "Death" means eternal loss, and there is no so-called "place to go to and meet again".

Even if she hadn't come to scrub the grave again, the two of them wouldn't have felt it.

Feeling... so what?Do you sympathize with her situation, or leave a sad sigh for it?

In the hero cemetery, there is only one person.As Bai Jue said, Madara is indeed here.

At this evening, no ninja from Konoha Ninja Village came here to visit the grave, and the only visitor was Uchiha Madara, whose target was unknown.Although the surname he gave was Uchiha who once belonged to Konoha Village, he is not from Konoha.

Madara heard her footsteps, raised her head, and said, "Ze never takes me seriously any more."

——Bai Jue didn't take you seriously at all, did he!

——It is lazy behind your back every day!It would rather play with the little dinosaurs!It's too lazy to monitor and gather intelligence!

Hua Shi took two steps forward, stepping over several rows of gray and white tombstones.The evening wind blew her clothes, nearby grass blades, and the flowers inserted in the wooden barrel.

She seemed to be able to hear the conversation between her and Zhishui once here.

"Father, the new year is here. The war has been over for a long time... My brother and I are one year older."

"Hua Shi finally learned to go to school by himself."

"Hey! Brother!"

"Your Excellency the Fourth, please let me pass the graduation test ahead of schedule! I must catch up with Itachi!"

"...Isn't it good to bother Your Excellency the fourth generation because of this kind of thing? Xiaohuashi."

"'Grateful' means 'grateful'."

"...That's why I scrubbed Kakashi's teammate's tombstone. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."

Her eyes fell on the tombstone in front of Madara's body—in the wooden tube in front of the tombstone, there were finely divided flowers, which were obviously the same kind as the ones she had received earlier.It does not belong to the seasonal flowers bought in the store and used to give to others, but the flowers that are cut off from the branches without names and stems.

"You put that bouquet of flowers."

"Which one?"

"... when I was 12 years old, the bunch that was placed in front of the tombstone of the fourth generation of Your Excellency."

Madara didn't admit it or deny it, but just stood there, never taking his eyes off the tombstone in front of him.She walked forward quickly, and within a few steps, she was beside him.In her eyes, the tombstone was not turned upside down, she could clearly see the somewhat blurred handwriting engraved on it - Ye, Yuan, Lin.

Nohara Rin.

She has seen the name before.

It seems that when she was very young, one winter, she saw a bunch of purple freesias, which represented passion and purity, in front of Nohara Lin's grave.

In the following winter, she gave freesias to four generations, but finally distributed some of them to this person named Nohara Lin.For this reason, Kakashi almost got into a fight with her.

Then in the summer of a certain year that she couldn't remember, she and Zhishui came to the hero's cemetery together in the afternoon.As if to thank Kakashi for his kindness, she cleaned Nohara Rin's tombstone and replaced it with new flowers.

"Brother, flowers, where are the flowers?"

"Give."

"I just remembered... There are no such flowers in summer."

She couldn't help but want to reach out to touch the glass bottle in her arms - there are Zhishui's eyes in it.She wanted to reach out, but stopped herself.

The wind blew everything silently, and the flowers without roots were quickly lifted up and scattered with the wind.Uchiha Madara didn't mean to chase, but just stood there looking at Nohara Rin's tombstone.

"Blade." She suddenly asked, "Are you really Uchiha Madara?"

Uchiha Madara's eyes moved slightly, looking at her, but did not answer.

"Why no answer?" she said.

"I have no obligation to answer your question." Uchiha Madara said slowly: "You'd better remember this."

"Nevertheless..." she whispered, "I still want to say it."

Huashi also looked at Ye Yuanlin's tombstone, and then her eyes drifted to the side, and landed on the position where her father's tombstone should be - the wooden tube in front of the tombstone has long disappeared, perhaps because some kind people scrubbed it, the tombstone only has a shallow off-white.Then, she looked at Hokage's tombstone - the tall flame logo was as bright as ever.

"Are you really Uchiha Madara?...Really not, some ninja from the Uchiha clan that existed in Konoha Village in the past, faked the illusion that he was dead, or committed suicide, or died in battle...In short , use death to deceive your closest people, and then continue to survive in this world under the guise of Uchiha Madara?"

"Really...isn't it really like this?"

There was a longing in her words that even she didn't understand.

The setting sun gradually sank, and the golden-red light on the horizon also dimmed.The noisy leaves returned to calm, casting long shadows on the ground.Everything was so quiet except for the sound of her own breathing.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked again.

Her continuous words were exchanged for Madara's silence.After a long time, he raised his head and stared at her, the scarlet color in his eyes never faded: "Uchiha Madara."

This answer made her feel inexplicably disappointed.

"Really?" she said casually.

Suddenly, a loud noise came to my ears, it was ninjas outside the cemetery who seemed to be searching for something.She turned her head to the side, and soon realized that the two clearance ninjas who had lost consciousness due to the illusion she had previously awakened, should have notified Konoha Village by this time.

When she entered the village, she did not remove the crossed Konoha forehead, which symbolizes rebellious tolerance. Coupled with her Sharingan, age and gender, it should be easy for the other party to guess her identity.

"You are too careless." Uchiha Madara reprimanded in a low voice.

"So what?" She said nonchalantly, "As long as I find you, I can escape unscathed."

Uchiha Madara didn't answer, but she knew, she guessed right.

It is impossible for him to let her wait here alone to be searched by the ninjas of Muye Village, he will only take her along.

Although, even if Uchiha Madara is not there, she still has the ability to retreat completely.She knew that through the enchantment of Muye Village, she could also use the group illusion to directly apply it to the group of ninjas who were looking for her, or simply break through the enchantment and let everyone in Muye Village know that she had returned.

But she still hoped that he would take her with him.

Just as she expected, Uchiha Madara said in a low voice: "...Come with me."

Just like the him she met after the Genocide Eve, he stretched out his hand in front of her, as if he wanted to hold her and take her to a new world that she had never been to before.His words are low and bewitching, reality and memory are intertwined, flashing each other.

"Come on, follow me."

"follow me."