Many years later, in a dim hospital ward, a group of elderly men and women lay dying in their beds, their hair white and their faces aged. A crowd of young children gathered around their beds.
"Our grandchildren..."
"Grandpa, Grandma, we're listening!"
Tears filled the children's eyes as they tightly clasped the elders' dry, trembling hands, listening intently to the last words of their lives.
"You must... snatch the bells from Teacher Madara..."
An elder drew a deep breath, as though gathering the last of their strength, then roared with everything they had:
"You must graduate from the Ninja Academy!"
At the mention of their lifelong regret, all the elders opened their eyes bitterly, their furious roars continuing through their sobs:
"Graduate!!!"
After delivering their last wishes, the elders squeezed their eyes shut and fell back limply. With their wishes unfulfilled and their regrets endless, they died bitter deaths.
Their grandchildren wailed in anguish, throwing themselves onto the elders as they cried:
"Grandpa! Grandma!"
"We can't do it! Get back up and pick another dying wish!"
Back in the present, the instant Madara produced the bells, the students knew it was over. They would never graduate in their lifetimes!
In that moment of utter despair, their faces turned white as paper. They seemed to glimpse their own miserable, ridiculous futures, which were certain to go down in history-
Not only were they the first students to enter the school, they would also be the first to repeat a year, and the first who could never graduate!
All the students turned to stone, then crumbled into dust in the wind.
It was over. Their lives were completely ruined...
"Tch. Of course I'll go easy on you."
Looking at the students below, shattered into pieces, Madara clicked his tongue in disdain. How