Death

Five months later, Shiraishi Eizawa died.

He committed suicide by using the Cocoon Binding Technique in front of Shiraishi Yoshijo.

Many people came to the house.

Shiraishi Yoshijo merely stared at them with indifference.

Because Shiraishi Eizawa had been stripped of his ninja status, his name could not be carved onto the Memorial Stone.

He erected a cenotaph for Shiraishi Eizawa outside the village.

After Shiraishi Eizawa died, he summoned his Butterfly Seed.

Transformed into a Ninja Butterfly, Shiraishi Eizawa stood before him just as he always had.

He knew very well that this was not the real Shiraishi Eizawa, but he could not keep his eyes off him.

When it came to feelings for this uncle, even his parents could not compare.

When he was a child, his father was very busy, and his mother had a mountain of things to do.

Only Shiraishi Eizawa was idle, spending every day at home playing with him.

Shiraishi Yoshijo would always climb onto his back, making him carry him around everywhere.

Sometimes, when he felt mischievous, he would pee directly onto his neck, watching him darken his face, wanting to hit him but unable to bring himself to do it.

Whenever this happened, Shiraishi Eizawa would ignore him for a few days, but as long as he ran over to obediently apologize, the two would be playing together again in no time.

After his parents died, he actually never had any intention of blaming Shiraishi Eizawa.

It was just that Shiraishi Eizawa was too sensitive and dared not face him.

Their relationship had improved a bit in recent years, but they could never find that feeling from the past again.

The Shiraishi Eizawa of the past was like an older brother, but later on, he acted more as an elder.

It started to rain.

Shiraishi Yoshijo held an umbrella as he arrived outside the village, looking at that lonely grave.

He placed the umbrella on the tombstone and stood in the rain himself.

"In the past, you sheltered me from the wind and rain; now it's my turn, though you always said death is not the end, but in my eyes, dead is dead."

"I won't accept the nonsense that a Ninja Butterfly is family, especially when it calls me 'sir'—I refuse to accept that even more."

"I am the only one left in this family; you told me to take good care of the other clansmen, but in truth, I don't want to pay them any mind at all."

"But there's no help for it; since you said it, I will try to do it, but don't hold out too much hope—I am, after all, a selfish guy."

After rambling on for a long time, Shiraishi Yoshijo fell silent.

Mourning for the deceased had no meaning; he was very clear on that point.

Whether the decline of the Shide was due to conspiracy or politics, it had its own inevitability.

Or perhaps this was the fate of all ninja clans in Konoha eventually.

The Will of Fire would burn all the rotten leaves beneath the great tree clean, and then new buds would grow again.

Konoha would still be Konoha.

Walking back along the small path, he didn't want to go home, so he went to the Memorial Stone instead.

There was already someone in front of the Memorial Stone.

Shiraishi Yoshijo walked over and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

Neither of them spoke.

Shiraishi Yoshijo looked at the familiar names on the Memorial Stone without saying a word.

I do not know how much time passed before a hoarse voice sounded in his ear.

"I heard someone in your family passed away?"

Shiraishi Yoshijo ignored him and turned to leave.

"You should know that as a ninja, this is fate; everyone has their own destiny. Do you really think your choice is the right one?"

"I heard you've been working as a caregiver for the past two years. Is that meaningless work really your choice?"

Shiraishi Yoshijo sighed, and without looking back, he spoke directly: "Orochimaru, I am a caregiver, not a ninja, and what is meaningless is not necessarily truly without meaning."

"As for fate, I believe in myself, not in destiny. You are becoming more and more boring lately, to the point that I find you laughable."

Shiraishi Yoshijo, who had taken a long leave of absence for over half a year, returned to work at the hospital.

Wearing that colorful clan robe, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, he swaggered down the street, drawing countless strange looks along the way.

Regarding this, Shiraishi Yoshijo did not care in the slightest.

The clan robe was something he wanted to wear; no one forced him, and he would likely wear it for the rest of his life.

As for smoking, he had been a heavy smoker in his past life; now, he was simply picking it back up.

Anyway, he was alone now, and no one could interfere with his freedom.

After arriving at the hospital, those strange gazes still hadn't vanished.

Shiraishi Yoshijo shrugged; he certainly knew why others looked at him that way.

After all, from his appearance, he was still just a ten-year-old boy.

A boy, at that, yet he dressed like a girl.

Add the cigarette in his mouth to the mix, and the sense of dissonance was simply unbearable to behold.

In the hospital corridor, Kawadome pulled on Takemoto Anna and asked, "Sister Anna, how did that guy become so weird? He at least looked like a normal person before, but now he's practically a lunatic."

Takemoto Anna gritted her teeth and said, "How would I know what a lunatic is thinking?"

Shiraishi Yoshijo picked at his ear: "Could you two not talk bad about people to their faces?"

"And Kawadome, do you have the right to talk about me? Look at yourself; where is there any trace of a girl in you?"

Kawadome began to grind her teeth, and Takemoto Anna hurriedly pulled her back, saying, "This is a hospital, and we're on duty. Don't make a scene."

Kawadome snorted and turned to leave.

Takemoto Anna stepped forward and said, "Can you stop smoking?"

Shiraishi Yoshijo flicked the cigarette butt in his hand onto the ground, causing Takemoto Anna to frown.

"I know you're upset about the passing of Shiraishi Eizawa, but there's no need to act like this, is there?"

Shiraishi Yoshijo didn't answer her; instead, he spun around a few times and asked, "Do I look good?"

A vein popped on Takemoto Anna's forehead, and she gritted her teeth: "You're beautiful, more beautiful than me."

Shiraishi Yoshijo nodded: "You have some self-awareness, at least. Well, anyway, that's how it is. People have to look forward; you need to learn to adapt."

"Don't use your own thoughts to speculate about me. The me of yesterday is not the me of today, and the me of today will not be the me of the future."

"But can you say that I am not me?"

"I am who I am, and I am standing right here. You might not fully understand my words, but that's fine; there will be plenty of time to ponder them later."

"I said all that just to tell you that people change, and they are very fickle."

"Perhaps you think I'm wrong today, but tomorrow you might feel that I'm not wrong at all."

"People, as a species, are truly quite boring."

After that long-winded speech, Shiraishi Yoshijo returned to his office.

Takemoto Anna stood there, completely bewildered, her face gradually turning pale. She remembered her grandfather's words about wanting her to marry Shiraishi Yoshijo.

She felt uncomfortable just being around a person like this, let alone spending a lifetime with him?

She felt like she was going to turn into a lunatic herself.

Shiraishi Yoshijo began to use medical Ninjutsu in the hospital.

It quickly caused a sensation.

And then, he arrived here.

In the Hokage office, the four high-ranking officials stared at Shiraishi Yoshijo, who stood there with a cigarette dangling from his mouth and a slouching posture, all of them looking completely stunned and unable to speak.

After waiting for a while, seeing that they had no intention of speaking, Shiraishi Yoshijo grew impatient.

"Hokage-sama, the two advisors, and Danzo-sama, if there's nothing else, I'll be going. I could have read a few pages of a book in the time you've wasted."

"Wasting other people's time is equivalent to wasting their lives. Farewell."

He said this quite rudely, but who told them to look at him with those kinds of eyes?

Shiraishi Yoshijo had been quite annoyed these past few days; after all, it was hard to feel comfortable when being watched like a monkey by everyone.

If it weren't for the fact that these people were the high-ranking officials of Konoha, he would have already started cursing.

In fact, he had lost his temper at the hospital more than once; his mood was quite volatile.

Seeing that Shiraishi Yoshijo was truly turning to leave, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally gathered his scattered composure.

He first expressed his condolences for the passing of Shiraishi Eizawa, then asked about the situation regarding his medical Ninjutsu.

To this, Shiraishi Yoshijo simply tossed a scroll at him.

Medical Ninjutsu was nothing rare; if he could research it, others could too.

In fact, as long as one's control over Chakra was strong enough, researching this kind of Ninjutsu was as easy as turning over one's hand.

Seeing Shiraishi Yoshijo throw the scroll so casually, Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth twitched: "Yoshijo, that's not what I meant."

"What I meant was, do you have any thoughts about joining the Anbu? Actually, there are quite a few people in the Anbu who know this kind of Ninjutsu."

Hearing this, Shiraishi Yoshijo didn't look too surprised.

He had always felt that it was very abnormal for Konoha to have no medical ninjas on the surface.

Now it seemed that these people were all being kept by Hiruzen Sarutobi as special talents.

Perhaps they would only emerge one by one when Tsunade promoted medical Ninjutsu in the future.

He had no intention of communicating with these people, and he chose to turn a blind eye to the subtle hints from Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"I am just a doctor who doesn't even have the status of a ninja. The threshold for the Anbu is too high; I'm afraid I'll break my legs."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was speechless, his mind flashing back to his last meeting with Shiraishi Yoshijo, then looking at the impatient child before him.

If not for that familiar face, he would have thought they were two different people.

It seems the death of Shiraishi Eizawa has had a profound impact on him!