Nawaki scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed. "No. Father's whereabouts are just too hard to figure out. I don't know how they're doing, either."
The last time Torifu had seen Senju Hayama had been when Nawaki was very young. Hayama and his wife had left Nawaki with Hashirama and then disappeared.
In all the years since, Torifu hadn't seen Hayama once.
He'd even wondered whether the couple had passed away, but Hashirama received letters from them every year.
Those letters were what had made Nawaki want to find his parents.
Otherwise, if he'd settled down and built a career in the village, he'd surely be the head of some important department by now.
But Torifu didn't think he'd done anything wrong. He'd never seen his parents growing up, yet they'd kept sending him letters.
He had to find them and ask why. Only then could he put the ache in his heart to rest.
So when Nawaki said he was leaving on missions, he was really going off to look for his parents.
But from the looks of it, he hadn't found any answers.
"Do you still plan to look for them? You've been searching for so long—you've traveled all over the Shinobi World, haven't you?"
Torifu spoke earnestly. "If they really wanted you to find them, you wouldn't have needed to spend so long looking."
Nawaki understood that. He'd refused to give up before, but it seemed he'd finally come to terms with it.
"I'm done looking. Now that I'm back, I'm going to protect Konoha properly. I don't plan to go searching for them again."
Torifu sighed and patted Nawaki on the shoulder. "Big Brother Hayama was always someone who loved his freedom. Maybe your pursuit has become a burden to him, so it's better to let