Although Windcloud Mountain had not given Torikaze much fatherly love, that feeling could never truly be erased.
"How did you get so old? How many years have passed?"
Torikaze and Windcloud Mountain let go of each other, and Torikaze said, "Father, I'm already over fifty. It's been far, far too long since you died."
Windcloud Mountain looked somewhat dejected. "Yes, I've been dead for far, far too long. In the blink of an eye, it's been nearly fifty years. I've always felt as though it only happened yesterday."
Then he noticed Chisato beside Torikaze.
"Little girl, what are you to him?"
Chisato took Torikaze's arm. "Hello, Father. I'm his wife. My name is Uchiha Chiri."
"The Uchiha Clan? That's a great clan. They actually chose to marry into our family?"
The decline of the Windcloud Clan had always been Windcloud Mountain's greatest pain. Because he could not learn Cloud Release, the clan had steadily fallen into decline.
And if he had learned Cloud Release, he and his wife would not have died in the war, and his son would not have had to live alone.
All these years, Torikaze must have suffered terribly. As his father, he had failed to fulfill his responsibilities.
His own incompetence had deprived his son of familial love during his childhood.
"Torikaze... you must have suffered a great deal all these years. Your father was useless. I couldn't learn Cloud Release. Otherwise, I wouldn't have left you to survive alone."
Torikaze smiled at those words, but as he smiled, a tear slid from the corner of his eye.
"I didn't suffer... Aunt Mamiko, our neighbor, was very good to me. When I was young, she felt just like a mother. No matter what problems I had, she always did everything she could to help me."