Return and Rebirth

On the way back from the Death Forest, Shinichi walked more slowly than ever.

It was not because he was injured—the self-healing ability had fixed everything that needed fixing over the past three days—but because he was exhausted. He had fought continuously in the forest, explored ruins, and collected the notebook. The dual drain on his stamina and mental strength had finally surpassed the Sage Body's current limit of endurance, and now his knees wanted to buckle with every step. He had long since run out of soldier pills, and his stomach felt as empty as a wrung-out sponge. Leaning against the sidewall of a drainage canal, he slowly crouched down to catch his breath, though his mind continued turning. One sentence from the notebook kept circling in his head: "Don't rush from the first stage to the second. Soak in hot springs a few more times; train again once your chakra pathways have softened." It was Hashirama's personal advice, so its value went without saying. The question was, where were the hot springs in Leaf Village? He tried hard to recall scenes from the original work. An image surfaced in his mind: the entrance to a bathhouse hung with red curtains. There seemed to be a hot spring inn not far from Ichiraku Ramen, with an outdoor pool that steamed all year round.

But this was not the time to soak in hot springs. The first priority was to hide the notebook somewhere safe.

It was afternoon when he returned to the orphanage. The matron was hanging bedsheets in the courtyard. When she saw him push open the gate, she looked him over from head to toe. Her lips moved, but she said nothing. She turned and went into the kitchen, then brought out a bowl of radish soup and set it on the table. The bottom of the bowl struck the wooden table with a dull thud. The soup had been reheated, the radish stewed until soft and mushy, with a thin layer of oil floating on top. Shinichi sat down and lowered his head to drink. The matron wiped the stovetop beside him, over and over, until it gleamed. At last, she spoke her first words. "Gone for three days and you come back a whole size thinner. Keep this up, and I'm going to complain to the Third Hokage."

"I won't go next time," Shinichi promised obediently.

The matron tossed the rag into the sink. Disbelief was written all over her face, but she did not press him further. She retrieved the rag, dried her hands again, then turned and added a multigrain bun beside his bowl of soup.

After eating, Shinichi returned to his room and stood by the bed, carefully sweeping his gaze across every corner. He took the notebook from his clothes and tucked it under his pillow for a moment. After thinking it over, he pulled out the blanket and checked beneath it, deciding it would be too easy to find. Finally, his eyes settled on the pile of broken boards in the corner. They were the remains of an old cabinet the matron had planned to throw away last year, but had kept because Little Fatty said he wanted to use them as building blocks. Shinichi pried up the bottom board and dug out a small hollow in the gap between the board and the wall. Then, using the small knife he usually used to sharpen pencils, he smoothed the edges of the hollow. He wrapped the notebook in three layers of oil paper, placed it inside, and put the board back exactly as it had been. Once the board was in place, he used a rag to spread the dust around evenly. He stepped back two paces to inspect it—it looked exactly the same as before. Even if someone searched the room in the middle of the night, lifting the bedframe and turning over the pillows and blankets, they would have a hard time discovering that beneath a pile of rotten boards lay a complete guide to the Sage Body handwritten by the First Hokage.

After hiding the notebook, he sat on the edge of the bed and raised his arm, studying it for a while. The green veins had receded somewhat compared to two days ago. No longer spreading along his entire forearm, they had retreated to the chakra pathway junction near his upper-arm bicep. Before, his palm had been constantly releasing low-power Yang-nature chakra every second. Now, that leaking aura had naturally closed off. This was not degeneration, but adaptation—he could feel that the healing chakra absorption and self-healing ability remained, only changing from continuous activation to activation as needed.

The discovery put him more at ease. Hashirama had written a line in the notebook: "The outward traces of the Sage Body will fade as control improves." Now, Shinichi understood exactly what that meant.

That evening, he went to the Ninja Academy. Classes officially began the day after tomorrow, but Iruka Umino had been preparing lessons in the classroom these past few days. When Shinichi entered through the back door, Iruka was sticking new labels onto the class schedule. He looked up at Shinichi, set down his paste brush, and gave him a once-over. "You look like you just came back from a war."

"I previewed the training material in advance and practiced a little too much." Shinichi sat in the seat in the middle of the front row and pulled out a pencil case from the desk. "Iruka-sensei, will the first lesson cover chakra control?"

"The first day is usually for assessing basic taijutsu." Iruka walked over and leaned against the desk beside him. "What, have you already practiced chakra control? A lot of new students have trouble getting used to it at first."

"I practiced a little on my own. Naruto's practicing too. Recently, he can stand on water for a little while."

Iruka's expression immediately brightened. "Naruto? That blond kid—he's really practicing water walking? I was worried he wouldn't keep up with the class, but I never expected him to work so hard in private." The surprise in his voice was sincere, along with a hint of fatherly gratification. "If you have time, guide him a little more. He's easily impulsive and needs someone to keep an eye on him."

"I will," Shinichi said. Iruka lightly tapped his shoulder with the attendance book, then turned back to continue attaching labels.

By the time he left the classroom, dusk was approaching. Instead of returning directly to the orphanage, Shinichi took a detour to Ichiraku Ramen. When he lifted the curtain, Teuchi was wiping down the stove, while Naruto sat in the innermost seat at the counter, waving excitedly at him. "School starts the day after tomorrow! Two more days! Two days!!"

"You said the same thing yesterday."

"Yesterday was three days! Today is two days! It's different!"

"Did you bring money for ramen? It's Naruto's turn to treat this time."

"Of course I brought—" Naruto was just about to thump his chest and answer boldly when he suddenly patted his pocket. His expression changed at once. He grabbed Teuchi's apron, pressed his face into it, and shouted, "Uncle! Can I wash dishes again tomorrow?"

Teuchi pulled back his ladle and made a mock tap at Naruto's head. Afterward, he looked at the two children, his gaze lingering on Shinichi's face for a moment. "This meal's on me. Eat more once school starts. You'll need the energy to train." Shinichi noticed that extra moment Teuchi's gaze lingered on his face, but he said nothing. He merely nodded in thanks. After three days of scrambling around in the Death Forest, he had lost far more than a little weight. He could not fool a ramen shop owner who saw people every day.

By the time they finished their ramen and left, the moon had risen. Streetlights stretched their shadows side by side across the stone road. Before parting at the intersection, Shinichi took the copper piece from his pocket and placed it in Naruto's palm. "This is for you. It's nothing valuable—just consider it a school-starting gift."

Naruto lowered his head to look at the copper piece with its diamond-shaped pattern. He turned it over and over in his palm, then carefully tucked it into his pocket and lightly patted it. He did not say thank you—not because he did not want to, but because the words felt too light between them.

Back home, fresh green buds on the old locust tree in the courtyard gleamed beneath the moonlight. Shinichi filled another basin with water, washed himself thoroughly, and changed into clean clothes. Water poured from his shoulders and ran down his arms, thighs, and ankles, washing away the last of the Death Forest's muddy, musty smell. He held his breath in the cool water for a moment, then dried his face and sat back down by the bed.

School began the day after tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, he would no longer be an obscure orphan, but a ninja candidate officially registered by the Hokage, with a complete identity file. Outside the window, the evening breeze of Konoha Year 60, April, carried the fragrance of locust blossoms into the room, stirring the corners of his notebook's pages. He could feel the chakra inside him circulating slowly in a steady rhythm, keeping both his mind and body in their optimal state.

Everything was ready.