The Man-Tree Theory × Maha's Guidance

"How many days?"

"Eight."

"Then you've still got a long way to go. It took me half a year to get the hang of it."

Sabito stood on the branch of a birch tree, with Makomo beside him. They silently watched the scene below...

Roy hugged the tree, doing a little better than before. He had managed to stay awake for two hours.

"Half a year is already pretty fast." Makomo crouched boredly on the branch, drawing circles with her finger. "Master always praised me for being clever, saying that after you, I was the quickest to grasp 'Breathing.' But I still took nearly a year."

Sabito smiled. "That's not where your talent lies."

"And besides..." Sabito gazed out into the boundless mist, his voice tinged with nostalgia. "The fastest was Giyu."

"He really was gifted. He learned 'Breathing' in three months, and after three years of training, he could cut through a boulder. It's a shame he was a little timid back then."

"What about him?" Makomo gazed at Roy below with bright, sparkling eyes. "I think he's better than all of us."

"He might even break Senior Giyu's record."

Sabito stroked his chin, lost in thought... Could he?

Eiichiro really was impossible to figure out...

"Hiss... Hoo..."

After two and a half hours, Roy finally couldn't keep going. He fell asleep with his back against the tree trunk.

The familiar sensation of falling swept over him—

The boy rolled out of bed and scrambled to his feet, returning to Kukuroo Mountain once more.

He quickly got dressed and went for a run, ate, endured electrotherapy, then continued hugging the willow tree in the garden.

Illumi still woke up in the pit, later than Roy for several days in a row. He seemed to have grown numb to it... He didn't even look at Roy, waiting only for the numbness in his body to pass before heading down the mountain.

It was time to settle the score for the end of his eighty-win streak.

Illumi would tear out the other guy's heart with his own hands to celebrate opening his Aura Nodes.

Of course, compared to the hateful guy beside him, that Emission Nen user was a mere trifle. If he could really... tear out Roy's heart... Illumi felt he'd tremble with excitement.

"Keep your Evil Nen to yourself... You're making me sick..."

Roy hugged the tree with his eyes closed, as if he were asleep...

Illumi hung his head, shoulders trembling as he suppressed a low moan. He flung out an arm, his long black hair whipping wildly and startling a flock of sparrows perched in the willow.

"Heh heh, is that so... You'd better pray you never have a day when you're weak... When you do, I'll cut off your head and make it into a pillow. I'll hug it every night when I sleep."

Illumi glared at him with hollow, dead-fish eyes, then stormed off...

Roy kindly reminded him, "A little to the left. Don't step in Milluki's shit."

Unfortunately, it was too late... Illumi awkwardly lifted his right foot, his expression indescribable...

Who could he blame?

He was the one who'd ended Milluki's happy childhood and personally designed a hellish training regimen for him.

So he couldn't blame Milluki for taking revenge by shitting beside his pit...

"Caw—"

A few crows flew by, bringing with them clouds that blotted out the sky. A few tail feathers drifted down.

Roy could almost hear the sound of Illumi losing his mind. Milluki was in for a truly miserable few days, he supposed. So after finishing his morning tree-hugging practice, Roy went to the kitchen.

He still hadn't found that feeling of "becoming one with the tree," so he decided to cook a couple of dishes to clear his head. He had Gotoh prepare the ingredients in advance, then picked up a spatula.

"Steamed Fish" and "Stir-Fried Beef" were the dishes he'd prepared for lunch.

Unlike last time, when he'd sent the cooks away, this time Roy let them watch. When he was in a good mood, he even explained a few of the key points...

About half an hour later, the two home-style dishes were soon served.

Gotoh stood at his side, serving him as he ate.

But Roy didn't start right away. Instead, he had Gotoh set out another place across from him. Before long...

A familiar gust of wind swept through...

Roy respectfully called out to Great-Grandpa, then immediately dug in the next second, clearly having learned his lesson from last time, when he hadn't gotten a single bite.

The old man's eyes widened. His grandson was so unfilial! Without a second thought, he wielded his chopsticks like a storm, moving with lightning speed. In the end, he still managed to eat a few more slices of beef and half a fish head than Roy.

After the meal, the old man was satisfied. Rarely, he didn't leave. Instead, he asked Gotoh to bring him a cup of coffee to settle his stomach...

He lazily picked at his teeth with a toothpick and asked, "Well, good grandson?"

"Is hugging trees fun?"

"Great-Grandpa, it's not 'hugging'—it's 'embracing.'" Roy was at a loss for words.

"What's the difference?" Maha shot him a sidelong glance. "In all the time I've been alive, I haven't spent as long embracing your great-grandmother as you've spent embracing trees."

"What, planning to marry a tree one day?"

Roy: "..."

He kept his head down and said nothing.

Maha took the coffee Gotoh handed him and sipped it. Paying Roy no mind, he said leisurely, "People are people, trees are trees. Mistake a person for a tree, and the person won't like it. Mistake a tree for a person, and the tree won't agree either..."

"How can a person become a tree?"

Roy listened attentively.

After finishing his coffee, Maha clasped his hands behind his back and went to the window. He looked through the sunlight at the willow in the garden, his voice touched with nostalgia. "So people needn't treat trees like people, and trees don't know how to be people... If you force it, that's 'Compulsion'..."

"People will be confused, and trees will be displeased too..."

"Then what should I do?"

"Don't you already have the answer in your heart?"

The old man turned and looked at him with a warm smile. "Just let things take their natural course..."

Let things take their natural course...

Roy pondered the words. Did Great-Grandpa mean he shouldn't deny his position as a "person" and force himself to think about a "tree's" life?

But if people couldn't become trees, how could he put himself in a tree's place and become one with nature?

Roy pondered for a moment, his mind full of questions. When he finally looked up, Maha was no longer by the window. Only a corner of the curtain billowing in the breeze proved he'd been there, along with... two empty plates on the table...

"Young Master, have some coffee first." Gotoh thoughtfully brought over a cup.

Roy drank it, thoughts and all, then left the kitchen and returned to the garden. He sat down with his back against the willow.

The willow's bark dug into his back, and its countless drooping branches brushed against the breeze, tickling his neck... The boy wore the Sun and Mountain Earrings, but this time, he didn't dwell on anything.

Forget about "trees"... or "people"... or Zetsu... or Breathing...

He simply relaxed and leaned against the willow for an afternoon nap...

"Chirp... Chirp..."

Cicadas sang along with the breeze...

Drowsily, Roy's eyelids drooped. In a hazy daze, he saw a scene...

In it, a man held the hand of a pregnant woman as he dug a hole in the garden and planted a sapling. He happily told his wife, "It symbolizes new life."

A few years passed, and the sapling had grown. The man brought over a child and taught him how to water the tree...

A few more years passed, and the child grew up. He insisted on going to some place called the Dark Continent, so the man dragged him over to the tree and gave him a thorough beating...