That... That was...
She smiled?
Watching the door slowly close, Chiba blinked. In his mind was the faint smile that had appeared at the corner of Utatane Koharu's lips when she had turned back to speak to him just before leaving—a smile that was no longer stern and cold, but carried the kindly warmth of an elder looking upon a younger generation.
Yes, just now, only moments ago, Utatane Koharu, who was always stern and rarely smiled, had smiled.
And she had smiled at him—the brat she had practically threatened to retire over rather than let him become an assistant. She had smiled with the kindly expression of an elder looking at a promising youth.
Was I too tired? Was I hallucinating? Then, Chiba began to feel as though he really had been hallucinating.
This had to be a joke. Utatane Koharu was not an approachable person to begin with. She was exceptionally serious, rarely smiled, and drew an absolute line between public and private matters. One could even call her rigid.
If she had a son, then the first time her daughter-in-law met her, she would definitely think she was the sort of harsh, difficult-to-please mother-in-law.
Of course, that comparison might not have been entirely appropriate. Chiba knew that Utatane Koharu was not actually a harsh person. It was simply her sternness, her unsmiling manner, and her clear distinction between public and private affairs, combined with her appearance, that gave people that impression.
As one of Konoha's senior advisors, Chiba believed Utatane Koharu was definitely not so harsh. From the perspective of the original work, her political views differed from those of the Hokage, an absolutely righteous character in the original story, which made her seem like a villain.
But in this real world, Chiba, who had once been