Both ends of the bridge had fallen quiet. The torches were out, boats still lay along the shore, and the mist had thinned.
The line of trees across the river emerged in silhouette, though a layer of white vapor still hung over the water.
Two mounds of earth had risen beside the bridge, one large, one small.
The earth was freshly turned, piled high.
Shovel marks remained along the edges, where each shovelful had been tamped down. Neither mound had a gravestone.
Naruto crouched before the smaller one, so low that his knees almost touched the ground.
He clutched a string of kunai, counting them one by one.
When he finished, he spread the kunai before the mound in a row.
As he laid them out, he checked the direction of each one.
Then he took something else from his pocket.
It was a corner broken off that mask, with a crack running through it.
He set the fragment beside the kunai, straightened it, and only then withdrew his hand.
Kiyoshi stood a few steps away. Kakashi leaned on a broken oar.
The oar had been fished out of the water. Only half remained, its broken edge slanted.
He stood straight, braced on that half an oar.
He stood a few steps from both mounds, exactly between them.
He set the oar upright.
Taking his hand off it, he walked toward the larger mound with both hands empty.
He reached out and tugged down a piece of someone else's clothing that protruded from the earth.
He neither lingered over it nor said anything. He simply smoothed it flat.
Then he stepped back.
The man had not made it through the night. They had carried him to the bridge and laid him beside the smaller grave.
Kakashi switched the oar to