Memories * Yūki

Senju Yūki still remembers that when he first met Izuna, he was practically tense up all his muscles.

His father, Hashirama, took him to the Hokage's Office.

He pushed open the door and saw the Uchiha sitting by the window, talking to Lord Madara.

She has black hair, delicate features, and a very kind smile.

But those are Uchiha! The Uchiha that the Senju fought for over a hundred years!

Fifteen-year-old Yūki stood behind her father, trying to keep her expression calm, but her hands secretly clenched the hem of her clothes.

Izuna looked at him and said with a smile, "Hashirama, is this your son? He looks quite dashing."

Yūki immediately bowed respectfully, his voice tense. "Greetings Lord Izuna."

Izuna raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Later, Yūki learned that he had been chosen to play the role of "Taira no Koremori".

My first reaction was to refuse.

Why would a Senju) follow the orders of the Uchiha Tobirama), especially those guys who were once considered Tobirama's mortal enemies?

But my father said this was a matter for the village, not just for the clan.

He had no choice but to go.

During the first rehearsal, he stood in a corner, a long distance away from the other children.

The children seemed to know Izuna very well; everyone was happy, and laughter filled the air.

Yūki just watched, without saying a word or moving forward. He would only step forward when it was his turn to perform.

Then, after rehearsal that day, Izuna suddenly appeared out of nowhere, holding a few roasted dumplings that he had somehow gotten his hands on, and handed them to him.

"Yūki, come on, eat."

Yūki paused, then instinctively adopted his standard etiquette. "Thank you Lord Izuna, I--"

"What's Lord Izuna?" Izuna shoved the dumpling into his hand, his smile gentle but his tone leaving no room for refusal. "I've been putting up with you for a long time, call me Izuna... ouch..."

He frowned first, "That's a bit too much of a bargain, after all, I'm the same generation as your father... Just call me Uncle Izuna!"

Yūki:"..."

He held the warm dumpling as if it were a hot potato.

"... Uncle?" He squeezed out the syllable with difficulty, feeling as if he were betraying his ancestors.

"What? You don't want to call me?" Izuna's expression was very serious, and he wasn't joking at all. "I'm still your dad's friend, after all."

Yūki opened his mouth, wanting to say, "How long have you known Father?" and "The Uchiha and Senju are not friends," but looking into Izuna's calm eyes, all these words stuck in his throat.

"So you're not happy...?" Izuna suddenly slumped down. "Sigh... I thought I was very approachable... sobs..."

He looked exactly like his father.

Yūki couldn't help but turn his head away.

"No, I'm not... you..."

"Then call me 'Uncle' and let me hear it."

There was a few seconds of silence.

"... Uncle Izuna."

"Eh!" Izuna responded immediately, his voice loud and clear, filled with undisguised joy.

Then he reached out and grabbed Yūki's shoulder, his grip so strong that Yūki stumbled. "Come on, come on, let's play together!"

That afternoon, Yūki was dragged along by Izuna to play with the other children for a long time.

He couldn't remember exactly what they played, only that he went from being stiff and at a loss at the beginning to laughing happily later on.

Uncle Izuna would take them to the river to catch fish in his spare time, rolling up his trousers and standing in the water, acting more like a child than the other children.

He would wail dramatically when he lost a game of tic-tac-toe to Takuma.

He became smug and boastful after winning, acting nothing like a twenty-four-year-old adult, much less like the legendary Uchiha Izuna who struck fear into the Senju on the battlefield.

Yūki stood on the shore, looking around, and suddenly felt a little dazed.

Is this person... really the formidable Izuna that Uncle Tobirama spoke of?

On the way back that day, Izuna walked beside him and suddenly said, "Yūki, do you know why I chose you to play Koremori?"

Yūki shook his head.

"Because you're a lot like him." Izuna looked at the road ahead, his tone calm. "Both are family heirs, both have powerful fathers, both are well-behaved, and both strive to do their best in everything."

"But have you thought about what you truly want?"

Yūki froze.

Before he could answer, Izuna patted him on the shoulder. "But it's okay, take your time. The play still needs many more days of rehearsals."

The victory celebration in Kyoto went a little too far.

The entire second floor of the restaurant was occupied by Konoha, with long tables arranged in a row and dishes being served in a continuous stream.

The lanterns cast a warm yellow glow, the grilled fish smelled delicious, and the sake swirls gently in the glass. The Ninjas, who had been enacting life-and-death dramas on stage during the day, now took off their costumes and laughed and joked together.

Yūki sat in the corner, holding a teacup in his hands, a faint smile on his face.

The Akimichi Takahiro and Akimichi Shiro, are having a contest to see who can eat more Tempura, with Yamanaka Harukawa acting as the referee. Uchiha Takuma marking tally marks on the side, saying that this is a precious sample of human eating speed.

Then he got beaten up by the Akimichi brothers.

Senju Ichiyo then performed a magic trick, which he called "The Ichiyo Flying Technique."

Simply put, it involves using color to hide one's legs under a camouflage cloth, and then placing one's 15-centimeter-high Geta under the hem of one's clothes, pretending that one is sitting cross-legged in mid-air.

It creaked and groaned, controlling its height with its legs, making it appear as if it were floating.

This action made everyone burst into laughter, finding it both silly and funny. The only ones who seemed surprised were the children, Akimichi Takahiro and Yamanaka Harukawa.

Hinata Rei sat at another table, leaning on her cane Uchiha Hinata sat diagonally opposite her, seemingly casually, twirling a teacup in his hand, but his gaze kept drifting over to her.

Yūki looked at all this, a soft yet empty space filled his heart.

Uncle Izuna said that you need to find what you truly want.

But he still didn't know.

He wanted to please his father, to make the Senju Clan proud of him, and to become a worthy successor. These were things he "should have," not things he "truly wanted."

So what is it that we really want?

He looked down at the tea in his cup, its reflection in the warm yellow lamplight blurry.

"Yūki."

Ichiyo gently touched his arm.

Yūki returned to its senses.

"Uncle Izuna isn't here," Ichiyo said, a hint of worry in her voice. "It seems like he hasn't shown up since the curtain fell."

Yūki paused, taken aback.

Indeed. From the stage to the celebration banquet, he never saw that dark blue figure who always moved among the crowd again.

"He probably has something to take care of," Yūki said. "After all, he was in charge of coordinating a lot of things for this performance."

Ichiyo Ye nodded, but her brows did not completely relax.

Yūki didn't think much about it.

He continued to sit in the corner, continuing to listen to the laughter filling the room, continuing to drink his tea that was gradually going cold.

"Do you want some?" Ichiyo placed a thick omelet on her plate and put it on his plate. "It's too much."

"... Um."

Yūki took it and took a bite.

Yūki can't remember when the celebration banquet ended.

He only remembered that later, Harukawa was so tired that he leaned on Takuma's shoulder, Hinata escorted Rei, who was using a cane, back to their residence. The Akimichi brothers slumped in their chairs, rubbing their stomachs.

Ichiyo yawned and said, "Let's go to sleep early; we have to travel tomorrow."

Back at the inn, Yūki lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, the Konoha team set off back to the village—as was the plan.

But the adults showed no intention of cleaning up.

He only found out what Lord Izuna had done the next day.

He destroyed the entire street.