Maruboshi Kosuke was stooped, his face etched with the ravages of time and hardship. His eyes were narrowed, making it impossible to tell that his left eye was already blind.
His left leg below the knee had been replaced by a wooden prosthesis, which made a soft tap, tap as he walked.
He wore plain clothes and carried an old pack that looked as though it had seen many years of use.
He looked like any weathered old man on the streets of Konoha.
Yet when his gaze passed over the others and landed on Tobirama Senju, with his spiky silver hair and stern face...
Maruboshi Kosuke straightened his back, and his usually narrowed right eye opened wide.
His reaction was unlike the instinctive fear and restraint Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura showed before the Second, and unlike the heavy, complicated guilt and reverence in Third's eyes.
There was no fear or evasion in Maruboshi Kosuke's gaze, only the pure joy and ease of seeing an old acquaintance again after so many years.
He was moved because he could once again see the Second, who stood like a monument in his heart.
He was at ease because, looking back on his life, he could honestly say he had done right by Konoha and by whatever trust or expectations Lord Tobirama might have placed in him all those years ago.
Their last meeting had been on a battlefield during the First Shinobi World War, when Maruboshi Kosuke was still a passionate, agile young ninja.
Time had flown, and the world had changed beyond recognition.
Now that they met again, Tobirama still had the same stern dignity, silver hair, and piercing eyes, as though time had stood still for him.
Maruboshi Kosuke, however, had gone from that vibrant young man to a