Ina's Intentions

"So, have you heard when you might be discharged?"

"Because I've been lying here for half a year, my body has grown sluggish; I can't even perform the Clone Technique properly. It looks like rehabilitation is going to take quite a while. If I want to become Hokage, I have to get out of this hospital as soon as possible..."

"I see... I'm not trying to rush you, but you need to 'come back' soon. Everyone is waiting for you; you can't exactly afford to be held back a grade, can you?"

"Yeah, I am the grandson of the Hokage, after all. Being held back would be a bit..."

Watching Diejian's bitter smile, Sakumo gazed at him in silence.

The two of them chatted about recent events while eating oranges.

During the six months Diejian lay in a deep sleep, the world outside had undergone earth-shattering changes. The selection and inauguration of the Second, the announcement of Hashirama's death, the funeral—

Tobirama had asked Diejian if there was anything he wanted from Hashirama's belongings, to which Diejian replied that he needed nothing.

Due to his chaotic chakra, there were still no signs of Diejian being ready for discharge.

Classmates from the ninja training academy would visit him after school, which allowed Diejian to maintain his connection to the outside world.

According to Sakumo, the end of the school year was approaching, and the promotion exams were drawing near.

Diejian crossed his arms and let out a thoughtful "Hmm," feeling quite troubled.

"Your injuries were severe to begin with, so it can't be helped. I'll help you with your rehabilitation, let's work hard together."

"Thanks. Sakumo, you'd be well-suited to be an advisor in the future."

"..."

"Yo—! Diejian, you doing alright?"

"It's Choya. Still as noisy as ever."

"I've got nothing on you! Hahaha!"

"Hey, this is a hospital room, you know? Keep it down."

"Ah, sorry, sorry."

The door to the ward swung open, and a slightly chubby but wild-looking boy—Akimichi Choya—appeared.

He was a classmate from the ninja training academy and one of Diejian's friends.

Choya belonged to a branch family of the Akimichi clan, who possessed a secret family technique that allowed them to enlarge parts or all of their bodies several times over.

The Akimichi secret techniques consumed more calories than chakra, so maintaining a slightly plump physique was actually quite convenient.

It should be noted that they were not merely "fat."

After being reminded by Sakumo, Choya apologized honestly.

Though his behavior was rough and reckless, his nature was not bad.

"Here, a get-well gift."

Choya pulled a magazine from his chest, which featured photos of women in sexy attire.

Diejian raised an eyebrow and chuckled, while Sakumo shrugged.

"You guy, what kind of stuff are you bringing?"

Despite his words, Diejian wore a mischievous grin.

"Don't want it? This is your type, I stole it from my old man's collection."

"I didn't say I didn't want it. But it would be a disaster if Tsunade found out."

Diejian grabbed Choya's hand as he tried to pull the magazine back, stopping him.

Choya grinned and placed the magazine into Diejian's hands.

Sakumo laughed, looking like he couldn't handle them.

"What are you planning to do with something like that? Tsunade comes to see you every day, right? You'll definitely get caught. You'd better not take it."

"No, but this..."

"Suit yourself."

"Hmm—" Diejian fretted, then his eyes suddenly lit up.

"I'll hide it with a Shadow Clone—" he muttered, then immediately deflated, "...Ah, right, I can't use ninjutsu yet..."

"Choya, that was Diejian's stuff, wasn't it?"

"I know."

"You're way too casual, man."

Seeing Choya helping himself to the fruit brought for Diejian, Sakumo frowned and scolded him.

But seeing how much Choya was enjoying the food, Diejian stopped Sakumo: "It's fine."

He only added a warning: "Just don't eat my peaches."

"Diejian, what are you holding?"

"Ah, whoa, did we come at a bad time? Sorry about that."

"Oh my..."

"Yo, the three idiots have arrived."

"You three are the idiots!"

"How about we call them the 'Ino-Shika-Cho' idiots?"

"Am I an idiot too?"

The new arrivals were three young girls.

From top to bottom, they were from the Inuzuka, Nara, and Hyuga clans—all scions of Konohagakure's prestigious families.

While Chouya teased them to distract their attention, Diejian quickly hid the magazine under his bedsheet.

"Um, didn't Ina come? I thought for sure she would have arrived first."

Nara Rushika, a girl from the Nara clan who was on good terms with Ina's clan, looked around curiously.

She was a rare girl who used a masculine pronoun to refer to herself.

"Yeah, she didn't come."

"I see. Where could she have gone? I really thought she would be here."

Sakumo peeled an orange as he confirmed that Ina was not present.

Rushika pouted slightly, tilting her head in confusion.

"Eh, but, over there—"

"Woof!"

The dog at the feet of the girl, Inuzuka Yaeha, let out a bark.

The Inuzuka clan utilized a technique that involved commanding special canines known as "ninken."

Ninken was the collective term for special dogs capable of human speech and the use of ninjutsu just like a ninja; the Inuzuka clan was a unique family that fought alongside such partners.

"Yaeha, isn't it bad to bring an animal into a hospital room?"

"Don't call him an animal! Kazemaru is my partner! We are always together!"

Although Chouya called Yaeha's ninken, Kazemaru, an "animal," a smile bloomed on his face as he reached out to rub Kazemaru's cheeks.

Yaeha pulled Kazemaru away from Chouya, hugging him protectively.

She circled Chouya while making threatening noises—her adorable behavior, so at odds with her wild appearance and battle-ready attire, made Diejian smile warmly.

"It's true, Yaeha. Yaeha and Kazemaru are always together. Don't worry about me."

"Really! Thank you! Wah—!"

Overjoyed, Yaeha picked up Kazemaru and shook him up and down—only realizing a moment later that Kazemaru was a bit dizzy, she hurriedly laid him down on Diejian's bed.

"By the way, Diejian, what about you? Will you make it in time?"

"Miss Yaeha, you're missing a subject. You mean school, right, Diejian-san? The promotion exams are coming up soon..."

Yaeha, who had been stroking Kazemaru's belly while leaning toward Diejian, was calmed by the composed Hyuga Kotori with a smile.

One could tell from that single gesture alone that she possessed an elegant temperament.

As expected of one of Konoha's premier noble families, Diejian thought.

"I told Sakumo too, but it seems the rehabilitation is going to take quite a while."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. I want to get out of the hospital as soon as possible so I can become Hokage—even if that's what I'm thinking."

"You'd better hurry up. We're the first class of students. Even with special circumstances, it wouldn't be good to have students repeating a year in the very first year of the academy."

"The person in charge is the Second Hokage, though; he'll probably figure something out."

"But the Second Hokage isn't like his predecessor; he's a very strict man, isn't he? And he's not the type to show favoritism to his own people, either."

"No, I think the Second Hokage just looks stern on the outside, but he's actually quite kind."

"Eh, I don't think that's possible."

Rushika and Sakumo set Diejian aside and began chatting among themselves.

"I want to be Hokage, too."

At Rushika's ill-timed remark, Diejian gave a wry smile, but his brow furrowed at the same time.

"Woof—" Kazemaru barked along, as if throwing his hat into the ring.

"Oh, Yaeha. Are you declaring war on Diejian?"

"Eh? I don't want to fight Diejian!"

"You really are an idiot."

"You're the idiot!"

As soon as Chouya and Yaeha started bickering, the hospital room immediately became noisy.

The children's laughter and chatter continued until the nurse came to scold them.

"Oh my, oh my—"

—Incidentally, amidst that commotion, Kotori used the Byakugan, a dōjutsu passed down through the Hyuga Clan, to see every detail of the magazine Diejian had hidden away.

★

A while later—as the sky began to darken, Chouya said he was "hungry" and left the hospital room.

Then, Kotori and Lucica also left because of the curfew.

Sakumo and Yaeha, who had remained, departed shortly thereafter.

In the room that had returned to silence, Diejian gazed up at the stars.

The night had grown deep.

—Knock, knock.

A knocking sound echoed, and Diejian turned his gaze toward the door.

He waited for a moment, but there was no sign of anyone entering.

"Please, come in."

Diejian gave his permission to enter.

Come to think of it, since he had been hospitalized, this might be the first time someone had knocked properly before entering, Diejian thought with a wry smile.

"Ina... it's so late, what's the matter? Lucica was just worried about where you'd gone."

The person who pushed the door open was none other than Yamanaka Ina, who had been absent today.

The girl's figure, illuminated by the moonlight, appeared even more dazzling than usual.

That purple-red outfit really suits her in the moonlight, Diejian thought.

Ina did not respond to Diejian's words, merely staring at him in silence, unmoving.

Diejian also raised an eyebrow in confusion, looking back at Ina carefully.

"What is it?"

Ina walked closer with a rhythmic tap, tap of her footsteps, still not saying a word.

Diejian felt a sense of unease.

"Today, those 'three idiots' Chouya mentioned came to see me."

"Is that so? That's nice."

Ina sat down by Diejian's bedside as if it were the most natural thing in the world, casting her gaze over her shoulder toward him.

Her fair skin seemed to shimmer in the moonlight.

"And Sakumo and Lucica even split into the 'Grandfather Faction' and the 'Uncle Tobirama Faction,' and started arguing."

"Really? But those two are completely different types, aren't they? I can probably guess a little. Sakumo must be on the side of the Second Hokage."

"Ah, you know them well."

"Of course. How long do you think I've been with you all? Our clans have had dealings on a familial level, so I didn't even have to think about it."

"I suppose that's true."

Diejian nodded with an "mm-hmm," and Ina smiled as if she found it amusing.

This unchanging daily life made Diejian feel a warmth in his heart.

Ina felt the same.

No, during the half-year Diejian had spent in a deep sleep, Ina had cherished the present moment more than anyone else.

During those six months, Ina had visited him frequently every single day.

In the process, Ina had gotten to know Diejian's sister, Tsunade, and his grandmother, Mito Uzumaki.

The three of them had gradually grown close.

Ina had begun to find the self-reproach within her unbearable, feeling that she was the one who had caused Diejian's condition and indirectly led to the death of Mito's husband, Hashirama.

Finally, she had poured out these feelings to Mito—

Sakumo was the same.

To avoid repeating the same mistakes and to keep his companions from falling into the abyss of death, he had thrown himself into training that bordered on reckless.

Ina, who should have stopped him, had been too preoccupied with visiting Diejian and her own restlessness to pay attention to anything else at the time.

—To become stronger.

Harboring this thought and repeating his reckless training, Sakumo was eventually stopped by a man.

This man's name was Sasuke Sarutobi.

He was the father of Sarutobi Hiruzen, one of the village's high-ranking officials, and the current head of the Sarutobi Clan.

It was because of this that Sasuke Sarutobi was able to introduce Sakumo, who was suffering from the torment of self-blame, to Senju Tobirama, who had become the Second Hokage.

Tobirama, having heard the situation from Sasuke Sarutobi, reprimanded Sakumo for his reckless behavior up to this point, but forgave him for everything else.

However, when Sakumo tried to offer further excuses, Tobirama did not allow him to speak.

Adults have the responsibilities of adults, and children have the responsibilities of children.

Senju Hashirama—the previous Hokage—had merely done what was perfectly natural and what should have been done: protecting the children.

Protecting the children—this was the very origin of Senju Hashirama creating the organization known as the "village," his initial conviction.

If one were to view this as a sin, it would not only be a denial of Senju Hashirama, but also a denial of the Will of Fire that defined this village.

Mito and Ina, Tobirama and Sakumo.

By a twist of fate, at almost the same time, the same truth was conveyed to both pairs.

Mito and Tobirama, who understood Hashirama better than anyone else.

It was almost inevitable that these two would be the ones to save Ina and Sakumo.

Sakumo was now living a life of steady training under the guidance of Sasuke Sarutobi.

Ina, meanwhile, had become Mito's apprentice, learning sealing jutsu and medical ninjutsu.

How much joy those two felt when Diejian woke up was something the "current" Diejian could never know.

Precisely because of that—

"Then, what is that?"

"Eh, ah, this was brought by Chouya when she came to visit. I told her not to, but she forced it on me."

"Heh—? Is that so?"

"Y-yeah, it is. Ah, right, speaking of Chouya! Why does she always provoke Yaeha? Even today, when I said I wanted to become Hokage, she just joined in on the teasing—"

"Could you, um, stop talking?"

—Ina felt incredibly angry at the "current" Diejian.

"Eh?"

"I said, stop talking about wanting to become Hokage."

Diejian froze with a "snap."

But the next second, he gave a bitter smile and shrugged his shoulders as if to placate Ina.

"Hey, hey, Ina. You know I want to become Hokage, right? Telling me to stop all of a sudden isn't really appropriate, is it?"

"With the way you are now, you'll never become Hokage."

"Ha—? What did you just say?"

The words Ina spoke in a cold, disinterested tone—made a vein pop on Diejian's temple.

Even so, Diejian held back and asked Ina again.

He comforted himself, thinking there was no way Ina would deny his dream.

However, Diejian's expectations were dashed—

"I'll say it as many times as I have to. You won't become Hokage."

"Ina!!"

Diejian slammed his hand against the bed and leaned forward, threatening her.

Ina had a habit of crying whenever she was shouted at or spoken to harshly.

Diejian knew this, yet he still raised his voice at her.

He did not understand the meaning behind her words.

Even so, Ina did not shed a tear.

"Hokage this, Hokage that, are you an idiot?"

"You!!"

Diejian lunged toward Ina.

Ina was lifted off her feet as he grabbed her by the collar.

Ina struggled to push Diejian away, stood up from the bed, and put some distance between them.

Diejian was pushed back like a piece of paper, propping himself up on the bed with his elbows.

"Ina, mocking the Hokage, mocking my dream like this—"

"Then tell me, just tell me!!"

Diejian threatened the head-bowed Ina with a voice laced with killing intent.

But before he could finish, Ina's scream drowned out his words.

The sound was like her slamming her own cry into the ground, a wail filled with heart-wrenching pain.

—Why, why aren't you crying?

Facing Ina like this, Diejian was merely confused as to why she wasn't crying.

Unconsciously realizing that he had grasped Ina's weakness, Diejian could not believe that this reaction was nothing like the Ina he had known before.

Ina gripped the hem of her skirt tightly.

Finally, is she going to cry?

Diejian breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that Ina had returned to her normal self.

Yes, just like always.

This was the usual—

"What kind of joke is this? Dreams, dreams, right? Fine. Then why are you waving that 'dream' around as an excuse!"

"...Eh?"

Ina, who had been keeping her head down, looked up.

Tears shimmered under the moonlight.

That picturesque, beautiful scene made Diejian hold his breath, and he immediately felt at ease.

But he still did not understand that the meaning of these tears was completely different from before.

"I know you admire Hashirama. You always smile so happily whenever you talk about him."

I used to love that smile of yours.

"Wanting to be Hokage and all that, it's obvious to anyone who looks. Come to think of it, everyone actually knows."

But I know there are things you are too embarrassed to say out loud.

"You were never the kind of man who would use 'Hokage' as an excuse!!"

Ina knew that Diejian always carried the forehead protector Hashirama had given him.

She knew Diejian wanted to wear it so badly—wanted to wear it so much—yet he had always restrained himself, thinking he would wait until the day he became a genin.

Even when there were children who publicly declared their desire to become Hokage, Diejian would only quietly ignite his competitive spirit and hone his skills.

He did not want anyone to know the dream he truly longed for.

"Ina, I don't understand what you're talking about. What's wrong with you...? I'm sorry, my rehabilitation training hasn't been making much progress, and I'm a bit irritable. I hope you can forgive me."

The anger on Diejian's face shifted, replaced by an expression of concern for Ina.

Ina, however, glared at him with sharp eyes.

Diejian got out of bed and approached Ina timidly, apologizing before her as if bowing to a deity.

But, Ina understood.

It was something she had seen before.

The thing that hid everything—Diejian's "mask."

That was back when they were very small.

When she was taken by her father, the head of the Yamanaka Clan, and her older sister, the next clan head, to attend a clan gathering.

Ina had even felt afraid when she first saw that child's expression.

When they met again as classmates after entering the Ninja Training Academy, Diejian had completely changed.

Ina, feeling intrigued, didn't take long to get close to Diejian—after they truly became good friends, she noticed at some point that Diejian possessed a forehead protector even though he wasn't an official ninja yet.

Grandpa gave it to me, you have to keep it a secret, okay?

Diejian had said with a smile when Ina, feeling curious, asked him about it.

The expression of being both shy and genuinely happy, along with the feeling of her heart pounding violently because of it, remained fresh in Ina's memory to this day.

The smile on Diejian's face now was not the one Ina had been longing for over the past half-year.

"Right, if it's not too much trouble, could you help me with my rehabilitation training?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll help you."

"I see, thank you."

Diejian smiled and returned to his bed.

Watching that smile, Ina made up her mind.

It didn't matter if she was hated.

No, it actually did matter if she was hated.

But, Ina was a woman of the Yamanaka Clan.

Just watching Diejian wear a hypocritical mask and force a smile—how could she possibly do something so "passive"?

Diejian lazily rested his legs on the bed.

At that completely defenseless back—Ina had already formed the hand seals.

Ninja Art—Mind Transfer Jutsu.

Diejian collapsed onto the bed, and Ina slumped down right along with him.

★

"Where is this..."

A sky as turbid and crimson as burning flames, a beautiful land of lush forests illuminated by light—and between the two, a world of pure, blank white.

This place, which seemed as if it were covered in glass, was the boundary between heaven and earth.

Is one side hell, and the other heaven?

Ina looked around, searching for Diejian.

This was Diejian's mental world, entered by applying the Mind Body Switch Technique.

If Diejian were in a normal state, he might have repelled Ina with his massive chakra reserves, but his current chakra levels had dwindled to the point where he couldn't even perform a Clone Technique.

At this moment, Diejian was completely under Ina's control.

She hadn't walked many steps before she saw the figure of Diejian, huddled with his knees pulled to his chest.

Surrounding this version of Diejian were three chairs.

"Diejian?"

Hearing Ina's voice, Diejian's ears twitched slightly.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Diejian did not answer Ina's question.

"..."

"..."

Silence.

"Hey! Don't you dare hole yourself up in here!"

"...Leave me alone."

To Ina's roar, he only muttered a single reply.

"You guy, you're so overbearing on the outside, yet so spineless on the inside?"

"Shut up."

At Diejian's angry retort, Ina thought to herself that she had really been a fool to be scared earlier.

"Hey, come out. Everyone is waiting for you."

"There is no one. I am already all alone."

Hearing Diejian's words, a vein throbbed on Ina's temple.

"Ha?! Are you serious? Don't joke around. Do you have any idea how worried we are about you!"

"I never asked you to be."

"Relationships that only act when asked... what kind of friends are those... you idiot."

Diejian, who had kept his face buried in his knees, lifted his head slightly.

"Hey, Diejian. Lord Hashirama was once your everything. To lose a Lord Hashirama like that, and to have it be at the cost of your own life... the hand I held back then was trembling—I was truly, deeply heartbroken."

Facing the silent Diejian, Ina poured out her heart.

She spoke of how Sakumo and the companions at the Ninja Training Academy were worried about Diejian.

She spoke of how his younger sister Tsunade, his parents, and his grandmother were desperately praying for Diejian to wake up.

She spoke of how Tobirama had spent such a fortune behind the scenes to arrange for medical ninjas.

Even so, it still couldn't reach Diejian.

During his most painful moments, although there were many people by his side, the only one who had truly saved him was Hashirama.

There was only one person in the world who understood him.

And that one person had died because of him.

"You're probably thinking, 'Don't act like you understand.' But, you know, I think I can understand, just a little. Because, at that time, I lost you too."

Diejian lifted his head.

What he saw was Ina's face, stained with sorrow.

"Even now, I still remember the scene from that moment. Your final seconds. So, so... really, truly, the fact that you are alive is just—"

—a blessing.

This was the mental world.

Each other's intentions, emotions, and thoughts would be conveyed to the other without a shred of falsehood.

Bluffing was useless.

Empty platitudes were useless.

They could both see through everything.

Precisely because of this—Ina's words fell like a flower petal onto the lake of Diejian's heart, sending ripples across its surface.

Diejian's origin was loneliness.

Born different from everyone else—that overwhelming sense of isolation gnawed at Diejian.

The one who stopped all of this was Hashirama.

Hashirama's unconditional familial love and immense capacity for tolerance accepted even an outlier like Diejian.

That warmth, overflowing within his loneliness, was so precious that words could never fully describe it.

"Hey, Lord Hashirama is a great man. And he's a very easygoing person, too. Just like you."

Ina's words, spoken with a soft "hehe" laugh, reached deep into Diejian's heart after all.

Even thinking "stop it" was useless.

But if Diejian truly wanted her to stop, Ina would have stopped.

In this place, truth and falsehood were instantly apparent.

In other words, that was exactly how it was.

Ina continued.

"Hey, what use is there in being restless? What use is there in blaming yourself? It's precisely because you are you that the Hokage entrusted his 'dream' to you, isn't it?"

"Don't act like you understand..."

"Yes. I am acting like I understand. Then, as someone who knows the Hokage very, very well—you should know whether my 'acting like I understand' is correct or not, right?"

—Bullseye.

That's right.

Diejian had always been chasing Hashirama's back.

It was impossible not to understand.

The feeling behind him risking his life for Diejian—it was impossible not to understand.

Even so, by blaming himself and retreating into his shell, Diejian had been running away from the reality that he had no grandfather.

No grandfather—that loneliness alone terrified him.

He wore a false mask, wanting only to chase the "form" known as the Hokage.

He wanted only to chase the "surface of the words" of Hashirama.

To inherit it on his own—the "Will of Fire" was simply too vast and too heavy.

Did Hashirama misjudge Diejian?

That day, at that moment, he shouldn't have told Diejian "what a Hokage is."

He thought he couldn't do it.

Unable to treat everyone as family—Diejian suffered because of his own insignificance.

He believed he was alone.

And then, Diejian had misjudged as well.

"Hey, Diejian. I won't tell you to look forward. I won't tell you to become stronger, either."

—Because even I was saved by Lady Mito.

Ina's words reached the deepest parts of Diejian's heart after all.

And Diejian no longer wanted to stop them.

"I don't know much about the Hokage. But I know a lot about you, whom I've always been with and always watched. A sister-loving, grandfather-loving, bossy, stubborn, shy yet attention-seeking, gambling-addicted, bonsai-loving old man at heart who refuses to lose—a kind person. So—"

—Please don't say that you are all alone.

Ina gently embraced Diejian.

In Diejian's mind, the memory of receiving the forehead protector from Hashirama on the Face Rock flashed by.

—After that, Grandpa lied and said he lost the forehead protector, and he even got scolded by Uncle Tobirama.

Memories and thoughts surged forth one after another.

His heart, which had been trying to freeze over, began to melt under Ina's warmth.

Yes, what he should be chasing was Hashirama's back—that gentle posture, that heart.

The thing entrusted to him by his great grandfather was the most worthy of pride.

Only now did Diejian understand this in the true sense.

On Diejian's forehead—because this was a spiritual world—the forehead protector manifested.

Once, Diejian had been entrusted with the forehead protector by Hashirama—entrusted with the Will of Fire.

At that time, what Hashirama wanted to convey to Diejian was—"You are not alone. Everyone in the village is family."

However, Diejian only regarded "Hashirama alone" as his family, finding a temporary salvation in that.

This could also be called a form of dependency.

Furthermore, he had once believed that as long as someone was "Hashirama's family," they would be a companion to him as well.

Diejian had misjudged.

It was not others, but he himself whom he had misjudged.

Hashirama had not been mistaken.

When he strayed from the path, there would be companions rushing to Diejian's side.

Ina's feelings reached Diejian.

It was not just Ina's feelings.

During the half-year Diejian lay fallen, everything Ina had witnessed—the anxiety of those who worried for Diejian—all reached him.

To say he was lonely—to refuse to let him shrink into his shell like that—was both infinite tenderness and a form of severity.

Fading memories.

In the end, what remained, deeply branded upon his heart, was indeed the back of Hashirama.

—Now, let us grieve.

Acknowledge the passing of his grandfather, lament that great figure, and mourn his departure.

Not to bemoan a fate of becoming lonely—but to reminisce about the lost, deeply beloved family member.

"Thank you..."

Ina remained silent, holding Diejian even tighter.

As if to say, this was her answer.

A drop of warm liquid fell onto Ina's skin.

In Ina's embrace, a small boy, all alone, trembled silently by the shoulders.