Kakashi turned his head.
The hospital room he was in had good lighting. Through the window, he could see Hokage Rock in the distance.
The statues of every previous Hokage stood upon it.
"Father... I'm beginning to understand you."
Kakashi murmured.
As a child, he had not understood why his father had abandoned a mission for the sake of his comrades.
"Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
Obito had said those words when Kakashi went after him.
It was not as though, if Kakashi had not hesitated, Obito might not have ended up dying beneath cold rocks in a foreign land.
He was the one who got Obito killed...
Staring at the unchanging Hokage Rock outside, Kakashi covered his aching left eye.
"Rin, you're back?"
When Rin Nohara returned home, she was greeted by her parents.
Her parents came from a very ordinary family—what people commonly called civilians.
Rin Nohara nodded and went into her room alone.
After gathering a change of clothes, she began to bathe.
Splash...
Hot water poured from the showerhead, flowing over her slightly immature yet delicate body.
A hazy mist rose in the bathroom, making everything within look foggy.
"...I feel hotter the longer I wash."
Rin Nohara switched the hot water to icy cold water.
Yet it still could not put out the heat within her.
It only grew hotter and hotter.
It was as though a flame had been suppressed inside her all along.
Even under the icy stream, she still felt comfortable.
Rin Nohara noticed this.
"It seems my stress is getting worse and worse."
People were like springs.
Once pressure built up, it needed to be released.
But Kakashi's situation had kept Rin Nohara from feeling at ease.
Rin