Amid the mist rising from the hot spring, the female ninja bared themselves to one another.
In this pool roughly thirty feet square, distinctions of status, age, and ninja rank disappeared. They were all women, free to speak their minds.
Hana Inuzuka draped a towel over her face and stretched her arms along the wooden ledge beside the pool.
"You have no idea. My little brother is only a chunin, just like me, but he goes on every day about becoming Hokage. He even says that once he's Hokage, he'll make Akamaru's birthday Dog Day. The worst part is, my mom actually supports him..."
"Heeheehee..." The women couldn't help giggling.
Shizune said, "He's a boy. Having ambition is always a good thing. Who knows? He might actually achieve it someday~"
Hana Inuzuka merely laughed it off, then changed the subject. "Speaking of Hokage, I really feel sorry for Naruto. If he hadn't deserted the village, he definitely would have become Hokage someday. Even if he wasn't the Sixth, he would have been the Seventh..."
"..." The women fell silent.
Only Shizune spoke thoughtfully. "Becoming Hokage isn't necessarily the only way to fulfill your worth as a ninja. I'm sure he's somewhere that suits him, doing what suits him..."
"I agree with that."
Facing the moonlight, Uzuki Yugao raised a wooden basin filled with hot water and poured it over her head.
Splash...!
The water streamed down her waterfall of purple hair, flowed over her graceful back, and pattered into the pool.
She shook the droplets from her hair and sank her upper body into the water. Her slender hands gently smoothed her hair, her eyes closed and her expression serene...
Moved by the sight, Shizune said, "Yugao really seems like a different person once she takes off her mask..."
Uzuki