Konoha's streets were as bustling as ever, with many small vendors beneath large umbrellas calling out their wares from the open spaces along both sides of the road.
Walking slowly along the bluestone pavement, Kato Osamu watched as the lingering glow of the setting sun painted the towers and upturned eaves in dreamlike colors.
Kato Osamu stood silently. Hokage Rock, symbol of Konoha's highest honor, gazed back at him from afar atop the towering mountains. The blood-red glow passed across his waist, gleaming brightly in his eyes.
"The human world is wonderful..."
"But Konoha... isn't worth it..."
Beneath Hokage Rock, the bright red Hokage Building seemed to merge with the bloody sky at the horizon.
Kato Osamu's gaze settled on the stone likeness of the Third Hokage, known as the strongest Hokage. He wondered what the man sitting at the center of Konoha's highest authority felt every day when he saw his own statue towering overhead.
Compared to those lofty figures, the fate of civilian ninja like them seemed to have already been decided the moment they were born.
"It's about time..."
Setting aside his thoughts, Kato Osamu slowly headed toward Konoha's center of power.
Perhaps because of their confidence in the Hokage's strength, Kato Osamu was not questioned much before a young Chunin led him to the Hokage's office door.
"Come in..."
Kato Osamu had not expected the Third Hokage, renowned as the strongest, to appear somewhat kindly, like an old man next door.
"Genin Kato Osamu greets Lord Hokage!"
"Sit..."
The Third's voice came from behind stacks upon stacks of documents. After that, there was no further response, only the soft rustling of his writing.
Kato Osamu quietly knelt on one knee, without making the slightest movement.
The sky gradually darkened. Only when the evening star had become clearly visible in the distance did Kato Osamu feel a gaze settle upon him.
"You're Dan Katō's nephew, aren't you..."
"I never thought Dan's nephew would already be this grown..."
The Third stood, lit his pipe, and wisps of pale smoke slowly rose.
"You've had a hard time in Root these past few years, haven't you..."
"Reporting to Lord Hokage, Kato Osamu has never felt it was difficult."
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a light puff from his pipe and silently watched Kato Osamu before speaking again.
"Your teacher, Orochimaru, is my disciple. By that reckoning, I am your grandmaster as well. There's no need to be so restrained."
"Yes, Lord Hokage!"
"Orochimaru wants you to join Minato Namikaze's team. He does not have much spare time to teach you the basics, so you should already know that..."
"I called you here today mainly to meet you..."
Kato Osamu was slightly surprised. He recalled the task Danzo had given him—to join Minato Namikaze's team as a Genin and gain his trust—and roughly understood the sequence of events.
"Reporting to Lord Hokage, Teacher Orochimaru has already informed me. If Jonin Minato Namikaze's team has an opening, Kato Osamu is willing to join Jonin Minato Namikaze's team."
"Kato Osamu, is it? You're a very polite child..."
"Go. Someone will notify Jonin Minato Namikaze of your transfer..."
"Yes! Lord Hokage!"
Kato Osamu's figure gradually vanished from the Third's office. Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, gazed out the window, and silently smoked, seemingly lost in thought.
"Danzo... Orochimaru..."
The office seemed like a sea of clouds in turmoil, thick smoke spreading through every corner of the room.
Only after leaving the Hokage Building did Kato Osamu feel a sense of relief.
If Danzo was Konoha's hardest shit-stained stone, then the Third was Konoha's finest politician.
More than thirty years as Hokage seemed to have given the Third a pair of eyes capable of seeing through every mist. At the Third's side, Kato Osamu had felt uncomfortable all over, as though he had needed to carefully weigh every word.
"Minato Namikaze... Minato... I think I've heard that name before..."
"Was it that man?"
Kato Osamu recalled the blond-haired Jonin he had once seen at the cemetery. If it was him, he did not seem like someone who could be easily fooled.
Konoha remained brightly lit at night, but as midnight approached, the village gradually grew desolate. Other than the few establishments that never closed, everywhere else had sunk into darkness.
The Kato Clan's training grounds were not close to central Konoha. Konoha's practice fields lay nearby, and the somewhat eerie forest training grounds normally drew no vendors. At midnight, they seemed even quieter.
Kato Osamu slowly stepped into this place he had been away from for six years. Memories buried deep within him gradually awakened, and a strange yet familiar feeling that things had changed while people remained filled his heart.
"Has someone been here..."
There was not much dust in the small bamboo building at the training grounds. It seemed someone had cleaned the place recently.
"Was it Cousin Shizune..."
Kato Osamu truly could not think of anyone besides the cousin he had only met once as a child who would remember to clean this place.
The teru teru bozu hanging from the eaves swayed in the wind just as it had back then.
He had noticed nothing in the past, but now he saw its difference. A trace of blue light flashed through Kato Osamu's eyes, which seemed to be shrouded in a pale blue mist.
He saw something invisible to the naked eye—specks of fluorescent light gleamed from the swaying teru teru bozu.
Kato Osamu gently took it down from the platform and softly rubbed it in his palm. The fluorescent light slowly drifted from it and entered his spiritual platform.
"This is from Uncle Dan..."
He could feel the deep unwillingness and concern within it, even a trace of longing—the unwillingness of one who had died before becoming Hokage, and longing and concern for his lover...
Kato Osamu slowly climbed the bamboo building. In Kato Yuan's room, a smiling teru teru bozu had appeared in a place where none had existed in his memories.
"Is this from Uncle Yuan..."
At the touch of his finger, fluorescent light scattered into the air. Kato Osamu remained silent as tears welled in his eyes.
"Uncle Yuan... even at the end of his life, you were still worrying about me..."
Unlike the other objects from before death that contained soul fragments, a clear image suddenly appeared in Kato Osamu's mind, flashing over and over. Compared to anything else, it seemed that Kato Yuan had wanted to convey the information within that image to Kato Osamu most of all.
"This is... the small attic..."
As though recalling something, Kato Osamu gripped the two teru teru bozu, quickened his pace, and darted up to the attic at the very top...
When Kato Osamu gently placed his hand on the attic's handle, an unfamiliar pulling force seemed to appear from nowhere, causing his consciousness to blur.
A faint phantom began to emerge from Kato Osamu's body.
It was a force that acted upon the soul.
"No... I can't resist it..."
Kato Osamu's vision went black, and his soul left his body...
As though he had completely lost all weight and all control over his spirit body, Kato Osamu's soul traveled through pages upon pages, like a tunnel through time and space. Scenes he could not possibly describe in words flashed continuously through his mind.
"It was black, filled with blue, perhaps pink... There were elephants, spiders, and horses!"
Countless motes of fluorescent light began emerging from every direction. Whenever one touched his body, his soul was flooded with an ecstasy-like comfort.
"My spiritual power is continuously increasing. My soul seems to be undergoing some kind of mutation..."
He could not make any movement. His entire spirit body seemed bound by something, and he could only watch as it slowly underwent a change he did not understand.
Outside the attic, beyond his perception.
Kato Osamu's body slowly began to float.
His eyes were tightly shut, his heartbeat growing slower and slower. His entire body began to emit a hazy divine glow, and strands of mist emerged around its edges. The outline of his body seemed to have been drained of color, gradually becoming blurred.
The fluorescent light within his spirit body's perception grew scarcer and scarcer, while his spirit body slowly came to a stop within an endless space of darkness.
After the final mote of fluorescent light entered his soul, he seemed to lose all five senses and was engulfed by absolute darkness.
He did not know how long passed before he could sense his spirit body again. The connection between body and soul had never been so weak. Following that faint link, he dragged his heavy spirit body—he did not know why it had become so bloated—back into his body, but he could not open his eyes no matter what.
"What... happened to me..."
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