I Can Even Bring You Back to Life

When Nawaki pushed open the courtyard gate, Amamiya Maki heard two sounds.

One was the chime of a wind bell beneath the nearby veranda.

A breeze brushed past, its clear, delicate notes like fingertips lightly plucking a string of translucent water droplets.

The other was the dull thud of something hitting the tatami inside a distant room.

Nawaki's shoulders drew in slightly.

The sound had come from Tsunade's room.

"My sister's probably still packing."

Nawaki lowered his voice.

"She's been saying every day lately that she wants to move out."

"The Uzumaki Clan girl who arrived yesterday-the one I told you about-my sister hasn't wanted to see her."

"Last night, she talked with Grandma Mito for a long time. Afterward, she started packing."

"When I went to call her this morning, she just said everything would go on as usual."

"She's been in a really bad mood lately."

"She said she'd send me to stay with Master Orochimaru for a few days, then come get me once she finished moving."

Amamiya Maki said nothing.

Nawaki had always been like this.

He never got straight to the point. Instead, he built up to it slowly, recounting every little thing he had seen in painstaking detail.

Those seemingly trivial details were never empty chatter. They were the world as he truly saw it.

Just then, the soft sound of a teacup settling onto a wooden tray came from the veranda.

It was quiet, as though whoever had set it down feared disturbing the morning stillness, yet it rang distinctly through the silent courtyard.

Amamiya Maki looked toward the sound.

Mito Uzumaki sat quietly beneath the veranda, her black hair arranged in twin buns, smiling gently at them.

She wore a plain kimono, with a thin blanket draped halfway over her knees.

Its edges had faded from washing, a few fine threads coming loose, simple and comforting.

Wrinkles covered the old woman's face, climbing in layers around her eyes and across her forehead like the growth rings of an ancient tree.

Yet her eyes were exceptionally bright.

Not with a piercing sharpness, but like a candle burning quietly inside a paper lantern-tempered by the years, steady and gentle, impossible for the wind to extinguish.

Mito Uzumaki.

The First Hokage's wife, one of the Shinobi World's foremost masters of sealing jutsu, and the jinchūriki who had kept the Nine-Tails under control for decades.

At that moment, she looked no different from any ordinary elderly woman enjoying her twilight years.

But Amamiya Maki could sense it clearly.

A faint trace of chakra slowly spread from her body, sweeping gently across the entire courtyard like ripples over a lake.

There was no hostility, no testing-only pure perception and observation.

Instinctively, he suppressed every flow of chakra inside him.

His chakra had been synthesized from countless fragments, even if the system had promised that it had been fully converted to his own attributes without any flaws.

The gentle chakra ripples passed slowly over his body without pausing or stirring, like a breeze brushing past a stubborn rock.

Amamiya Maki quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Mito's gaze settled on his face and lingered for a moment.

It was entirely different from the Third's scrutiny.

There was no weighing of benefits and drawbacks, no assessment of his potential-only warm, uncomplicated acceptance.

As though she had known he would come and had simply been waiting for him to enter this courtyard.

"Greetings, Lady Mito."

Amamiya Maki and Nonō bowed together.

Mito smiled gently, her tone relaxed and casual. "This isn't some formal occasion."

"No need to be so stiff. Just call me Grandma Mito."

"Come sit down. Let this old grandma get a good look at the friends Nawaki talks about every day."

Her gaze passed over Amamiya Maki's and Nonō's faces in turn, and she nodded lightly.

That small gesture seemed to confirm an answer she had already been certain of.

Then she turned slightly and gently nudged the small figure hiding behind her.

A head of brilliant red hair immediately came into view.

Its red was vivid and pure, like a flame burning quietly in the morning sunlight.

The little girl clutched Mito's kimono sleeve with both hands, her face buried against the old woman's shoulder.

Only half of one innocent eye and a splash of bold red hair peeked out.

Kushina Uzumaki.

The candidate to become the next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

For now, she was still a timid, reserved little girl afraid of strangers.

Her fingertips had gone white from gripping so tightly, and she looked even more ill at ease than Nonō had earlier.

"Little Kushina, don't be shy."

Mito gently stroked her red hair, soothing the frightened child. "Nawaki's brought his friends."

"They might be your classmates someday, too."

Kushina bit her lip. After a long silence, she finally squeezed out a tiny reply.

"No."

Her voice was muffled against Mito's shoulder, carrying a barely perceptible tremor of unease.

Mito did not press her. She continued stroking her hair slowly and asked with patience.

"Everyone has friends of their own. They're an essential part of life."

"So can you tell Grandma why?"

Kushina's fingers tightened around the fabric until her knuckles turned white.

Her voice was barely more than a whisper, as though she were speaking to herself.

"That boy... keeps staring at my hair."

When Tsunade first saw her last night, her gaze had fixed on Kushina's red hair.

That look had been complicated and unreadable, neither fond nor displeased.

It was like gazing at a treasure she had once possessed but had long since lost forever.

Kushina could not understand that emotion.

All she knew was that, starting that night, Tsunade had begun packing and insisted on leaving the clan compound.

Young as she was, she instinctively decided that her conspicuous red hair had made her unwelcome.

Her days in Uzushio Village had been much the same.

The adults would always lower their voices to discuss her.

They discussed her unusually pure bloodline, her seemingly destined fate as a jinchūriki, and the life that would take her all the way to Konoha at such a young age.

Those scattered whispers had long since etched themselves deep into her heart.

Mito was just about to reassure her when a boy's calm voice spoke first.

"It's beautiful."

Kushina's fingers suddenly froze around the sleeve.

"Fiery red hair, as bright and warm as the morning sun."

Amamiya Maki paused briefly, Minato's blond hair flashing through his mind, his tone open and sincere.

"I have a friend who's like a little sun, too, warming everyone around him."

He looked at neither Kushina nor Mito.

His gaze rested on the old cherry tree in the courtyard, his voice as calm and natural as if he were casually discussing the weather.

Sunlight passed through the cherry tree's branches, scattering fragments of gold across the ground.

He knew very well that all pretense was futile before Mito Uzumaki.

This old woman possessed a supreme sensory ability. The Mind's Eye of the Kagura could distinguish good from evil and peer into people's hearts without exception.

So he chose to speak honestly.

Blond hair was a sun, and red hair was a sun, too.

With the Third added in, darkness never fell on Konoha.

[Detected: Host has caused mental pressure to "Kushina Uzumaki"

Pressure +25

Obtained: Sealing Jutsu Talent Fragment ×2]

Amamiya Maki was briefly taken aback.

He had genuinely been complimenting her, yet that could trigger mental pressure, too?

He quickly reviewed his words and actions.

His tone had been proper, his wording sincere, and his expression open. There was nothing wrong with any of it.

In an instant, he fully understood the system's logic.

Malice had never been the only thing that counted as pressure.

Kindness that shattered someone's established beliefs could leave them at a loss and tense as well.

Kushina had spent years being ostracized, whispered about, and regarded with strange looks.

When an unexpected, sincere compliment suddenly landed in her lap, she would feel uneasy, doubtful, and uncertain how to respond.

That bewildered panic was a new kind of mental pressure.

The wind bell in the courtyard chimed softly again.

At last, Kushina lifted half her little face from Mito's shoulder.

Her clear eyes stared straight at Amamiya Maki.

There was no anger, no embarrassed irritation.

Only an earnest search for confirmation.

She wanted to know whether this unfamiliar boy meant what he said.

She wanted to know whether this sudden kindness was merely a fleeting courtesy.

She wanted to know whether she could trust this rare compliment.

A few seconds later, she gently released Mito's clothing, turned, and hurried into the house.

Her brilliant red hair flashed through the morning light before disappearing at the end of the corridor.

Watching her retreating figure, Mito slowly broke into a tender smile.

She pulled the thin blanket higher over her knees, lifted her teacup for a small sip, then turned to Amamiya Maki.

"That child Hiruzen was right. You really are a good boy with a pure heart."

Amamiya Maki understood.

His remarks at the Barbecue Restaurant last time must have left a deep impression on the Third.

Perhaps he had mentioned them in passing at a meeting of the village leadership, or perhaps he had specifically praised them while grading essays.

The Will of Fire was practically the Third's catchphrase.

Just then, footsteps came from the end of the corridor.

Tsunade walked out slowly.

She had changed into clean clothes, her blond ponytail neatly brushed.

But the heavy dark circles beneath her eyes remained striking, and she could not conceal the exhaustion of days spent sleepless and drinking heavily.

In the few days since they had last met, her face had grown thinner, her cheekbones protruding slightly.

She was still one of the Sannin whose name shook the Shinobi World, Konoha's strongest Medical Ninja, and Princess Tsunade, the First's granddaughter.

Yet now she was weary through and through, weighed down by the sorrow knotted in her heart.

Her argument with Mito had just ended fruitlessly, and now she had to face two children who had come seeking instruction.

Tsunade first looked toward Mito beneath the veranda.

Their eyes met briefly and silently.

Only they could understand the meaning within that glance.

Mito nodded gently, conveying without words: this boy was sincere and meant no harm.

Tsunade withdrew her gaze and looked at the two children before her, both around her younger brother's age.

Nonō stood straight and properly, but her hurried breathing betrayed her nervousness.

Amamiya Maki stood beside her, looking calm and relaxed, as though he were merely an ordinary boy waiting in line to buy dumplings.

"Next, you two are coming with me to Konoha Hospital."

"Yes, Lady Tsunade!" Nonō answered at once, her voice strained with irrepressible nerves, as though she were standing at a dissection table for the first time.

"What are we going to the hospital for?" Amamiya Maki asked bluntly.

He truly could not make sense of Tsunade's rhythm.

A few seconds earlier, she had been smashing things in her room out of frustration and packing to escape the world. Now, suddenly, she was taking them to the hospital.

The shift was faster than he had expected.

Tsunade lowered her eyes toward him, the corners of her mouth lifting into a faintly cutting smile.

She desperately needed something to prove herself.

To prove that the Strength of a Hundred Technique had never failed, that her medical skills could produce a top-tier prodigy, that she did not need to avoid Mito or fear the passing years.

She needed a worthy disciple, someone new who could carry on her medical legacy.

"Since you're supposedly so talented, we'll go straight to a practical test."

"I don't have time, and I won't teach mediocre fools."

Her gaze settled on Nonō, but her words were addressed to them both.

"What if we make a mistake in actual practice and hurt the patient instead?" Amamiya Maki asked calmly.

Tsunade's demeanor grew heavy, her voice brimming with absolute confidence.

"Kid, don't underestimate a Medical Ninja."

"Come to Konoha Hospital, and I can even bring you back from the dead!"

Amamiya Maki fell silent for two seconds, then habitually slipped into trash-talk mode.

"Medical Ninjas get their own special title? Aren't you just doctors who treat illnesses, when it comes down to it?"

In an instant, Tsunade clenched her fist tight, released it, then clenched it again.

She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surging urge to unleash her Monster Strength.

He was Nawaki's friend, the child Mito had just praised.

She couldn't hit him, especially not in front of Mito.

[Detected: host has inflicted mental stress on "Tsunade"

Stress +35

Obtained: Monster Strength fragments ×2, Chakra Control fragments ×5.]

"Follow me."

Nonō's heart tightened, and she hurried after Tsunade.

Amamiya Maki brought up the rear, instinctively looking back toward the veranda.

Mito was still sitting quietly, waving gently at their retreating figures.