Chiba spoke with Hokoma for a long, long time, until Hokoma's worsening condition made him close his eyes again, unable to speak.
Although Hokoma's sudden silence and closed eyes had startled Chiba, he only relaxed after examining him.
Hokoma had merely passed out again temporarily.
However, this time, he had not fainted because talking with Chiba had exhausted him. His body had simply deteriorated to a certain point.
He probably would not survive the night.
"This should at least make him a little more comfortable."
At that moment, Chiba slowly withdrew his hand. The pale green glow in it gradually faded, and a trace of melancholy crossed his face.
Although this young man before him had shown him goodwill early on, Chiba only remembered him. They were not close and had barely interacted. Hokoma was not entirely a stranger, but he was still quite unfamiliar to him.
Originally, Hokoma's death would not have stirred any particular emotion in him. At most, he would have felt some regret.
After all, Hokoma had long served as the Third Hokage's Hokage Assistant, then directly become the Fourth Hokage's assistant. As an assistant himself, Chiba understood what an outstanding shinobi Hokoma had been.
But after their conversation, Chiba now felt as though he had met someone far too late.
From Hokoma's explanation of his work, Chiba discovered that Hokoma's methods of handling affairs were quite similar to his own, and many of their principles closely aligned. Some of Hokoma's views even leaned toward the belief that "the ninja world needs to be unified, or war will continue forever." This coincided perfectly with Chiba's own views on peace in the ninja world.
Although this was a principle Danzo upheld, the correctness of that principle could not be denied simply because of the methods Danzo used