"You're back?"
"Yeah."
Kazan returned to the Forest of Death after taking care of business.
Uchiha Hikari tended the flowers Kurenai had planted. She had also tilled a patch beside them, planning to plant something herself.
When Kazan dropped from the sky, she hurried over, dirt smudged on her face.
Who would have thought she was a treasure to Konoha?
"Minato and the others..."
Kazan hadn't killed her. That day, his finger had stopped a hair's breadth from her head.
In the end, it hadn't pierced her skull. It had struck the rock behind her instead.
"You put up a decent fight. Keep fighting to stay alive."
It had been such a casual excuse, yet she had survived.
Now Kazan threw back his head and laughed. "Gahahahaha!"
"I'm Kazan. If I don't kill you, nobody else gets to. You can live in Konoha from now on. You can go back to the Uchiha too. By seniority, you could be their great-grandmother."
He could have left that last part unsaid.
Hikari sighed, then smiled. "Can I live here? I really like this forest."
There were no complicated people here, though the Nine-Tails remained hostile toward her.
"Suit yourself. I'm going hunting. Go gather some firewood."
"Okay."
Hikari obediently ran into the forest. After a moment's thought, she decided she ought to thank Hiruzen Sarutobi and Minato Namikaze in person.
At the Sarutobi Clan compound, Hiruzen Sarutobi had barely sat down after returning from the Hokage Building when someone came to report.
"Clan Head, someone's asking to see you outside."
Who could it be at a time like this?
He went out and found Uchiha Hikari.
"You. What do you want?"
"Third Hokage, I came to thank you. Thank you for letting me live in Konoha."
"Don't thank me. I did