The Curtain Falls

After prosperity came not only desolation.

Though the Buddha towering into the clouds had failed to attain nirvana and turned to ashes, the flame illuminating everyone's hearts would not be so easily extinguished.

Tiny bonfires blossomed with their own faint glow across the earth. Though the firelight was small, it could dispel the darkness from people's faces.

An ancient folk song rang out in the heavy twilight. The drifting melody swayed like flickering flames before everyone's eyes, intoxicating them with its mystery and stirring their yearning.

Rikusei kept time with the rhythm, listening in confusion to the poems passed down by each clan. He had never expected that ninjas, who lived alongside slaughter every day, could have such a tender moment.

That was right.

On the agricultural Blue Planet, works such as the Book of Songs and the Manyoshu had once been born. It would have been stranger if the Shinobi World, also an agricultural society, had produced nothing of the sort.

After the younger generation of ninjas finished singing the songs of their respective clans, they all looked toward Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, who had yet to speak. Perhaps the deepening night had drawn their hearts closer together, for they began egging them on. "Lord Hokage or Lord Madara—which one will go first?"

Tobirama, seated cross-legged, decided to break the awkwardness, only for someone to grasp his right hand. The familiar warmth around his wrist eased the heart that had risen to his throat.

Hashirama's rich voice rose beside the bonfire, broad and generous in tone, carrying the sonorous strength of the Forest of Senju.

When the song ended, Madara, pinned beneath everyone's gazes, turned to look at his disciple. His rapidly blinking eyes clearly signaled that it was Rikusei's turn to step up. After all, a disciple raised for a thousand days was meant to be used at a crucial moment.

Their complicated gazes met in the night, passing between them a signal that only a master and disciple with such tacit understanding could comprehend.

The problem was that Rikusei did not know how to sing either. He could only imitate Madara, turning his head and letting his gaze skip over Naori beside him to wink at Kagami in the distance, giving the same signal.

Fortunately, Naori stepped forward.

The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was only for show. The true Light of the Uchiha had to be Uchiha Naori.

The blaze of the fire shone upon the girl. Her serene bearing brought peace to the heart as she slightly parted lips dyed orange by the flames, her gentle singing lingering beneath the starry sky, unwilling to fade.

They had danced and sung; next, it should have been time to rest.

Senju Hashirama stood and gestured for them to move back. He touched the ground and focused his Chakra, sensing the underground water. His eyes suddenly lit up as he clenched his fists and smashed the earth with a thunderous punch, completely shattering the ground. Torrents of water gushed forth like a fountain.

Fortunately, the battle with the Nine-Tails had already caused the ground to sink considerably. He found it with one punch; otherwise, he would have needed to waste a few more.

Pressing his palms together and drawing upon Sage Chakra, two fully furnished wooden houses suddenly rose from the earth. Their exquisite carved beams and painted rafters made Rikusei briefly think that an old residence from Konoha had been moved here wholesale.

After entering, he discovered that the place where water had originally gushed out had been transformed into a bathhouse. Looking up, he saw that the second and third floors were both sleeping quarters.

Enjoying Natsuhi's coolness, Rikusei could not help letting out a low groan. The flow of water washed away every trace of exhaustion from his body, and he only wished time could stop at this very moment.

But things did not go as he wished. As Rikusei leaned against the side of the pool with his eyes closed, enjoying himself, he sensed someone slowly walking toward him over the wooden boards behind him.

It was Tobirama. His signature silver hair lay limp against his head as he carried over a small stool and sat behind Rikusei, asking curiously, "Go on. What did you call me here for?"

"Nothing. Teacher, did you remember wrong?"

The boy's puzzled voice reached his ears. Tobirama forcibly suppressed the vein twitching on his forehead, swept his gaze over the gradually dwindling number of people in the bathhouse, and raised his voice slightly. "When you were making eye contact with Madara, you glanced at me, didn't you?"

"Ah! That did happen." Rikusei rose from the hot pool, took out a matching towel from the wooden basin beside him and wrapped it around himself, then carried over a small stool and sat beside Tobirama.

"Teacher, can you use Sealless Jutsu like Lord Hokage?" Rikusei asked softly as he dried his wet hair, shifting his gaze away from Tobirama's lean, capable physique toward the brown wooden wall ahead.

"Sealless Jutsu?" Tobirama lowered his head and pondered for a moment. "Does Flying Thunder God count?"

"..." Rikusei was a little speechless. After wringing out the towel in his hands and placing it in the wooden basin, his eyes suddenly became profound. "Do you remember the Tailed Beast Bomb the Nine-Tails spat out?"

"What does that have to do with ninjutsu—" Tobirama reflexively denied it, then understood in an instant. A Tailed Beast Bomb was formed by condensing the Chakra within a tailed beast. Then could a ninja likewise condense a Tailed Beast Bomb belonging to a ninja through the same method?

"Looks like Teacher understands already." Rikusei smiled smugly. At last, he had stumped Tobirama in something he excelled at, and in his noble, upright heart, he felt not the slightest guilt toward Eternal Sister.

"It really is a very good line of thought." Tobirama nodded in agreement, but also voiced his doubt. "Why not try developing it yourself?"

Rikusei shook his head and denied it. "Teacher, you think too highly of me."

Tobirama did not answer. Instead, he looked at him intently, his red Pupils gleaming with dazzling light as he whispered in Rikusei's ear, "Would you consider taking me as your master?"

Rikusei paused slightly, then immediately returned his expression to normal and asked innocently, "Huh? Isn't Teacher already guiding me at the Ninja Academy?"

Tobirama was not surprised by that answer. Leaning back against the wooden wall, he looked at the ceiling and sighed. "The Uchiha Clan—no, it would be better if every ninja clan in the village had more ninjas like you."

Rikusei sensed the loneliness in his heart. He stood up, looked at him, and declared firmly, "With Teacher here, the Uchiha Clan has nothing to worry about."

Tobirama, seated on his stool, looked at Rikusei's distant back. Thoughtfully, he turned his gaze toward a section of wooden wall. You sensed it too?

Some people were asleep, but not entirely asleep.

Half-dazed, Rikusei felt someone poking him. He abruptly sat up from the wooden boards and saw Madara sitting beside him, staring at him without blinking.

Was he sleepwalking?

Still shaken, Rikusei thought to himself, but quickly dismissed the idea. Madara's eyes were full of life; he was clearly awake. Rikusei tested softly, "Teacher?"

Madara stood and gestured for him to follow.

Clear Radiance spread across the rooftop, while the breeze through the woods stirred their robes. Madara sat facing the Full Moon and gently patted the empty spot beside him.

Rikusei slowed his steps and walked toward him in confusion, wondering why his teacher had called him out in the middle of the night for a heart-to-heart. His thoughts began to run wild.

Had he discovered Black Zetsu's scheme? Probably not. Black Zetsu hid himself so deeply that he was practically the foremost master of hiding among the seven great escape arts.

Then, unless something unexpected had happened, it had to be an evolution in his eye power.

The moment Rikusei sat down, he realized it was neither of those things. The grip tightening around his wrist made his heart go cold. He asked hesitantly, "Teacher, what is it?"

Madara turned his face to the side and looked toward the dense forest bathed in moonlight, his tone full of distance. "I'm not your teacher. Your teacher is asleep downstairs."

The throbbing pain in his wrist drove all sleepiness from Rikusei. Looking at Teacher's lonely back beside him, he said proudly, "A disciple's excellence is like the radiant glow of the bright moon in the heavens—dazzling, eye-catching, and deeply ingrained in people's hearts."

No sooner had he finished speaking than dark clouds drifted in, tightly obscuring the bright moon. Under the night sky, only the starlight remained.

A tremor ran through the wrist being held. Rikusei watched Madara's shaking shoulders ahead of him, sweating inwardly as Madara fought to keep from laughing, then added, "Shouldn't a teacher's disciple be like this?"

That did it—Madara completely lost it. He released Rikusei's wrist, turned around, and patted him on the shoulder, his smiling eyes fixed on him. "After beating little Naori, your confidence has certainly grown quite a bit. Want to train with Teacher?"

"After careful analysis, this disciple has concluded that sleeping would be the better choice at this hour."