On the day of the funeral, the entire Land of Grass mourned.
To the people of the Land of Grass, Chiba Tetsuya's arrival truly had been like that of a savior from the legends.
Before that, the people of the Land of Grass had lived in poverty, with most lacking even a permanent home and wandering from place to place.
But after Chiba Tetsuya appeared, everything changed.
Their lives had been transformed, and even their country's standing in the Shinobi World had risen.
Once, they had been a buffer between the great nations, a battlefield whenever war broke out.
Now, however, the Land of Grass was the heart of commerce in the Shinobi World, a place through which goods and merchant caravans traveling north and south all passed.
But now, the man who had changed all of that was gone.
Tetsuya's funeral was scheduled for a sunny afternoon. Rather than building a lavish cemetery, he had chosen a hilltop.
He had said that, buried there, he could look down upon the entire country and see everything he had changed.
Likewise, the people of the Land of Grass could see the hill where he lay from any direction.
Many people attended the funeral: representatives of nations and villages, merchants, workers, old farmers...
Standing at the very front of the funeral ceremony were Chiba Tetsuya's son, Chiba Ryo, and grandson, Chiba Satoru, along with his apprentice, Teuchi, and Teuchi's apprentice, Ichiraku.
When Teuchi learned of Tetsuya's death, he felt as though he had been struck by lightning and nearly passed out. Fortunately, Tsunade and Jiraiya happened to be eating ramen in his shop at the time, and Tsunade's exceptional medical skills saved his life. Otherwise, Teuchi might have followed his teacher to the grave.
The funeral ended, but the representatives of the