Farewell? Gifts?

Of course, they certainly weren't the ones who got the lion's share.

It was the Sarutobi, Shimura, Mito, and other clans...

"Is this true?"

At Konoha Hospital.

Shizune was dumbfounded when she heard about the Uchiha's annihilation.

Remembering what the Third Hokage had said a few days ago, she looked apprehensively at Tsunade, whose expression was changing. "Lady Tsunade..."

She had followed Tsunade across the Shinobi World, traveling far and wide for so long.

Naturally, her perspective was broader than that of the village's low-ranking shinobi and ignorant civilians.

How could Uchiha Itachi alone have wiped out a clan as large as the Uchiha before the village even had time to react and send reinforcements?

Besides, when Rikuto left the hospital, he had already noticed.

The Uchiha Clan had been surrounded in advance by a large number of shinobi.

The Uchiha probably hadn't been wiped out at that point. Otherwise, Rikuto would certainly have sensed a large amount of Chakra disappearing.

"The whole clan was wiped out... Power struggles really are terrifying!"

Chiya Rikuto feigned shock as he murmured to himself.

He seemed just as shocked by the news, as if he hadn't known anything about it.

"Hmph..."

Tsunade clenched her fists.

She frowned, her face somewhat ashen. "Those people are getting more and more reckless!"

She had thought that even if something had happened with the Uchiha the night before,

at most, the Third Hokage and the rest of Konoha High Command had acted with overwhelming force to preemptively suppress the Uchiha radicals who were secretly plotting to seize power.

She hadn't expected the entire Uchiha Clan to have been brutally murdered.

Only Sasuke Uchiha had been left alive.

Although she had little fondness for the Uchiha, who had always been arrogant and looked down on everyone else,

she didn't go so far as to dislike and reject even the ordinary members of the clan.

After all, they were part of the village too.

Tsunade was no saint, and she knew very well that being a shinobi was no game.

But she knew even better that this was not what her grandfather, the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, had envisioned when he founded Konoha, nor was it the ideal he had championed.

She even believed that if her second grandfather, who had always been hard-line and held no fondness whatsoever for the Uchiha, were still alive, he absolutely wouldn't have done the same.

Moreover, Tsunade knew that although the Uchiha bore some responsibility for reaching this point,

the greater problem was that Konoha High Command had deliberately suppressed them again and again, pushing the ever-proud Uchiha beyond what they could bear.

"This isn't something you should concern yourselves with. Just do what you're supposed to do!"

She said this to her two disciples, Shizune and Rikuto.

Tsunade, growing increasingly disgusted and impatient with Konoha High Command's actions, said nothing more, her face expressionless.

She took them to check on the condition of the Uchiha survivor.

A gentle green light glowed in her palm.

She placed it on Sasuke Uchiha's head.

Tsunade treated him briefly, then said calmly, "This kid has suffered a major psychological blow..."

"But it's not serious. He should wake up soon!"

Chapter 39: Farewell? Gifts?

Time flew by.

A week passed just like that.

As Konoha's foremost clan, the Uchiha had once been renowned throughout the Shinobi World, and their influence in every sphere had been immense.

The uproar caused by their annihilation continued to spread throughout the Shinobi World.

The Five Great Nations were shaken, and every major shinobi village was stirred.

No one had expected the Uchiha, once famous throughout the Shinobi World, to be wiped out just like that.

And the one who did it was one of their own, a thirteen-year-old kid.

It was almost unbelievable.

Meanwhile, in Konoha,

the Third Hokage and the other leaders naturally dared not lower their guard.

They dispatched more and more teams of the village's elite shinobi to patrol and guard the border, cutting down the agents the major shinobi villages kept sending into the Land of Fire to probe Konoha's strength.

They sought to deter the other restless shinobi villages with a show of force.

They sent the major nations the message that Konoha's strength would not be diminished by the loss of the Uchiha.

Clashes continued along the border.

Inevitably, the situation in the Shinobi World grew somewhat tense.

People in the village were also on edge. Civilians and low-ranking shinobi alike feared that war would break out again, bringing an end to the peace they had won with such difficulty after the brutal Third Shinobi World War.

As for all this,

it had nothing to do with Rikuto.

For Chiya Nao, whose strength had long since been exhausted and whose life had been sustained entirely by the special Chakra filled with powerful vitality that Chiya Rikuto supplied,

ultimately couldn't hold on and collapsed.

Three days ago, after giving Rikuto her final instructions,

the old woman passed away with a smile, leaving no regrets.

In a cemetery,

Rikuto, dressed in black,

gazed at Chiya Nao's headstone.

He stood there for a long time, saying nothing.

Chiya Nao had left without regrets.

He wasn't too grief-stricken. After all, everyone died eventually.

If he failed to break the shackles of life in the future, perhaps he too would be unable to escape the natural cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death.

He simply couldn't help feeling a little lost and reluctant to part with her.

In this world, he had lost another family member who truly cared about him.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

Feeling somewhat downcast, Rikuto

bowed deeply.

He bid his grandmother farewell.

With the help of elders such as Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka,

he had already taken care of the old woman's affairs and had nothing left to hold him back.

He was about to leave Konoha with his teacher, Tsunade.

"Rikuto..."

Kurenai Yuhi, dressed in black,

walked over, also holding a bouquet of white chrysanthemums.

She placed it in front of the old woman's headstone.

"Sister Kurenai..."

Rikuto looked at Kurenai Yuhi.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" Kurenai Yuhi asked.

"Yeah. Sister Tsunade has already waited a long time for my sake..." Rikuto nodded.

Kurenai Yuhi, who had long regarded him as her own little brother, stroked Rikuto's head and said reluctantly, "Then take good care of yourself!"

To be able to follow a renowned teacher like Tsunade,

traveling and broadening his horizons while he learned,

was undoubtedly a good thing.

"Yeah, I'll come back and visit often!"

Rikuto gazed at Kurenai Yuhi's beautiful face and said softly, "Sister Kurenai, I'll leave Grandma to you during the holidays!"

"Don't worry. I'll visit Granny Nao regularly, and I'll keep your house clean for you too. You don't need to worry!" Kurenai Yuhi said with a smile.

Rikuto nodded gently, saying little.

He trusted Sister Kurenai to take care of everything.

"Rikuto/Brother-"

In the distance,

Tenten and Ino came running over.

Each of them was also carrying a bouquet of flowers.

"It's your two little girlfriends, Rikuto!"

Kurenai Yuhi smiled broadly beside him.

She had seen the two of them more than once.

They often came to see Rikuto, and the three of them frequently trained together.

How could she not see what the two girls were thinking?

Not intending to be a third wheel, she left with a smile. "I'll be going, then, Rikuto!"

"See you later, Sister Kurenai!"

He watched Kurenai Yuhi leave.

Then he looked at the two girls as they jogged up to him.

His gloom dispelled and his mood much improved, Rikuto asked with a smile, "What brings you two here?"

"We came to see Grandma Nao!"

Ino said.

Tenten asked, "Rikuto, are you going to the hospital again today?"

"Sister Tsunade said I didn't need to..." Rikuto said with a smile. "You came at just the right time. I was going to go say goodbye to each of you!"

As he spoke,

he took two scrolls out of his pocket.

He handed one each to Ino and Tenten.

"These are gifts for you!"

The gift for Ino

was something he had taken the time to compile over the past few days:

his training insights on Chakra control and Chakra sensing.