Between the two photos was a brand new blank photographic paper with a line of small writing on the edge.
'A true family photo: Sasori, Hoshino, their son, daughter-in-law, and their wife all in one frame!'
That was a wish she had kept hidden for many years.
The rain was pattering.
Grandma Chiyo's fingertips gently traced the family photo, then moved to Hoshino's chubby cheeks as a child.
Scorpion disappeared after his son and daughter-in-law died.
From adopting Hoshino to Hoshino embarking on the path of change, the boy has now become a 'vessel' that walks on the edge of divinity and humanity!
These two photos became treasures in her drawer.
In the rainy night, Grandma Chiyo smiled bitterly as she looked at the photograph.
A picture of happiness is five people sitting around a warm fireplace.
Scorpion complained about the engine oil staining his clothes, Hoshino held up his newly carved wooden sculpture seeking praise, his son and daughter-in-law bickered nearby, and she would, as usual, tap them on the head and scold them for being silly.
Instead of what it is now.
One became a puppet, one became a god, and two others remain forever in the yellowed photographs.
Knock knock knock--
The knocking on the door shattered the silence of the rainy night.
Who is it?
Grandma Chiyo hurriedly wiped her eyes with her sleeve, quickly pretending that nothing had happened.
"Sister, it's me."
Ebizo's voice carried the gentle warmth unique to his younger brother, yet also possessed the composure characteristic of a healer.
"Come in." Grandma Chiyo cleared her throat and stuffed the photograph into the deepest part of the drawer.
"What kind of lab report are you delivering so late?"
Ebizo open the door and entered, but what he was holding in his hands was not a cold file, but a bowl of steaming miso soup.
But when his gaze swept over Grandma Chiyo's reddened eyes and the hastily closed drawer, a complex emotion flashed in his eyes.
To be honest, he didn't like Hoshino.
She felt that this boy who suddenly appeared in her sister's life was nothing more than a substitute to fill the void left by Scorpion's disappearance.
In his early years, he watched as Grandma Chiyo poured her love for her grandson into Hoshino, teaching him to carve puppets and modify Ninjutsu training plans, and he always felt a pang of indescribable bitterness in his heart.
After all, in her memory, Sasori was the child who carried the bloodline of Grandma Chiyo.
He later realized that his sister's love for Hoshino was not a substitute.
Instead, she is a mother and grandmother who, amidst the ruins of war, picks up her broken heart again and clumsily but resolutely mends a new sky.
He then felt relieved; the so-called 'substitute' was nothing more than his own obsession.
His sister had already etched Hoshino into her life with love, so what was wrong with him, as her uncle, having another grandson to cherish?
Holding onto this thought.
When Hoshino was carrying out his reform plan for Sunagakure, he decisively chose to withdraw from the center of power and secretly cooperated in handling some shady matters.
Even now... things have changed!
"Sis, have some hot soup. You've been working too hard lately."
Ebizo gently placed the bowl on the table, his voice softer than usual.
Grandma Chiyo waved her hand, feigning nonchalance, and said, "I'm not so old that I need your care."
Ebizo didn't reply, but silently pulled up a chair and sat down.
The sound of rain was exceptionally clear in the silence, and the sound of raindrops tapping on the windowpane seemed like a silent urging.
Knock knock knock--
The knocking sounded again.
Grandma Chiyo's hand trembled slightly, the spoon clinking against the rim of the bowl. She slowly looked up at the doorway.
The door slid open silently, Hoshino's figure stood at the boundary between the rain and the lamplight.
His long, gray hair fell down, and raindrops mysteriously evaporated and disappeared the moment they touched an inch around him, as if they were blocked by some invisible force.
He was like a still statue, devoid of any living presence.
Its presence is so strong, yet it seems to be separated from the world by a thin veil, distant and detached.
" Hoshino?"
Grandma Chiyo stood up subconsciously, her fingers unconsciously clenching the hem of her clothes.
"Grandma, I have a question to ask."
Hoshino's voice was calm as still water, without the slightest ripple.
Grandma Chiyo's heart skipped a beat. "What's the problem?"
"Where did you find me in the first place?"
The air in the room seemed to freeze for a moment.
Ebizo frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Hoshino and Grandma Chiyo.
The raindrops outside the window meandered down the glass, much like Grandma Chiyo's chaotic thoughts at that moment.
She had a premonition about this issue, but she never expected it to be brought up on such a rainy night.
Why are you suddenly asking this? Is it important?
"It's not important, it's just to verify a guess." Hoshino's answer was crisp and straightforward, as if stating a trivial fact.
" Hoshino, you..."
Ebizo suddenly stood up, as if he wanted to argue something.
" Ebizo."
Grandma Chiyo raised her hand to stop her younger brother, but her gaze never left Hoshino's face.
After a moment, she took a deep breath and slowly said, "In the desert on the border of the Land of Wind, near the Rōran Ruins, you were lying in the middle of a broken formation."
Hoshino nodded slightly, seemingly unsurprised by the answer.
"I understand, thank you."
After saying that, he turned to leave.
"Wait!" Grandma Chiyo exclaimed almost instinctively.
Hoshino stopped walking, but did not turn around.
Boom--
The lightning outside the window illuminated his back at that moment, casting an exceptionally long shadow on the wall.
Grandma Chiyo suddenly didn't know what to say; the words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat, and in the end, she could only utter one sentence.
"You're going to that new world, right?"
"Um."
Will he come back?
As Dragon Vein once said, those so-called invaders from other worlds are all similar to people from other Shinobi World.
The Scientific Research Department even proposed the concept of parallel universes based on this.
Using a tree diagram as an analogy.
When spacetime reaches a causal event fulcrum, there will be several branching paths leading to different event outcomes.
In the parallel universe theory, there are infinitely many event pivots and branching paths, thus creating infinitely many timelines and infinitely many different worlds.
But why would the Dragon Vein say there's a completely new world coordinate system, entirely different from the Shinobi World, and send Hoshino there?
As an elite ninja from a major ninja village, Grandma Chiyo was never a fool; on the contrary, she saw things very clearly.
From the location where Hoshino was found, to Hoshino specifically asking this question today, it was enough for her to guess Hoshino's true origin.
Hoshino wasn't an orphan abandoned by the Shinobi World; rather, he was sent here by some unknown entity through that broken array by chance.
Perhaps even the teleporter didn't expect this.
This child will fall into a ninja world based on Chakra, and will eventually be adopted by her.
Thinking of this, Grandma Chiyo felt a tightness in her chest.
She suddenly became frightened.
If Hoshino finds his true home, will he return to this turbulent Shinobi World?