The walls had been painted snow-white. The narrow room contained only a wooden bed and a set of table and chairs. Cold light shone down from above as Hiruzen Sarutobi bent over the desk, practicing calligraphy. The living conditions here were a bit lacking, but as a former Hokage, his treatment was not too bad.
So long as his requests were not excessive, the guards would fulfill them.
This was also a small courtesy Torifu Akimichi extended to his old friend. No matter what, they had once been classmates.
"Phew!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi gently exhaled, lifted the large character he had just written, and carefully admired it beneath the light. The freshly inked character for "ninja" was bold and fluid. He nodded with considerable satisfaction. "Not bad! My skills haven't declined." He wondered whether he ought to hang it on the wall.
Just as he pressed the sheet against the wall, measuring where to hang it, a series of hurried footsteps sounded in the corridor outside.
"Father!"
The visitor was beyond Hiruzen Sarutobi's expectations.
Standing at the doorway was his second son, Asuma Sarutobi.
"Asuma?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at his second son, who was leaning against the bars, momentarily stunned. He had never expected to see his rebellious, headstrong youngest son at a time like this. He had grown quite a bit taller since leaving the village, and his beard had become a full one. There was also a cloth sash at his waist symbolizing the Twelve Guardian Ninja... It seemed he had been doing fairly well outside!
"Father, how... how did things become like this?"
Asuma Sarutobi stood outside the door, gripping the bars. Looking at his father—stripped of his Hokage robes, dressed in gray, with graying hair and a face full of wrinkles, like some old farmer by the