Main World.
Summer, Konoha Year 30.
Konohagakure, main gate.
Jiefang stood before Konoha's main gate, leaning on a wooden staff he had brought from Rōran. Its tip rested against the stone paving without pressure, merely touching it.
He looked up at the gate. Its posts were wooden, and an old timber beam stretched across the top of the frame, its edges already beginning to crack. Sunlight filtered through the cracks, cutting slender strips of light and shadow across the ground. He watched that beam as though looking at a wall slowly splitting apart.
"When I was young, I was one of the Uzumaki Clan's few top fighters." His tone was level, not boasting, merely stating something that had already happened.
Ryukōshi stood beside him without replying. Only after a few breaths did he speak, his tone equally level. "Time really spares no one."
Jiefang did not respond to that.
His gaze had already shifted from the beam to the street stretching beyond the gate. A few old trees stood on either side, their crowns joining together to cast broad patches of shade across the road. He had not walked this road in many years.
After entering Konoha, they avoided the main street, winding through several turns in the side alleys and crossing a residential area before stopping before a row of houses with gray exterior walls. The houses were low and their walls clean. No one was coming or going at the doors, but a broom lay on the steps outside, as though it had just been used.
Jiefang stopped, his gaze settling on someone arranging a cloth bag beside a doorway. The person wore pale gray clothes, sleeves rolled up to the forearms, and moved deftly. He watched for a while, his gaze lingering briefly on that person's face