It's not a scene of expected goodbye, but it is definitely a situation of goodbye.

~~~~~~

"Please come in." A knock on the door woke up the winter night that had fallen into a long exam.

"How's the injury?" As he walked in slowly, he closed the door again.

"Well, I've been able to move around freely, thank you, Hokage-sama."

The time of the other party's visit happened to be the moment when Dongye was going to try to get up from the hospital bed.

Straightening his upper body, he sat on the edge of the hospital bed facing the window, and his feet touched the ground for the first time in a long time.

The soles of his feet touching the ground seemed to transmit an abrupt force to his whole body in an instant, so as if to prove what he said, he got up, and his weak body finally struggled to stand still after a bit of shaking.

Look! I'm standing. It's like a toddler who wants to show off, and on a winter night when he wants to take the opportunity to turn around, he just shows a bright smile, and his vision begins to change rapidly in an instant.

"Don't worry, get some rest."

An arm was firmly inserted between the shoulder and the back, and a soft, peaceful voice was heard.

The body changed the direction of the dump, and the field of vision that was getting closer and closer to the floor suddenly narrowed away, and when he reacted, he was already lying on the hospital bed.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, for bothering you."

"It's okay, I can understand that you want to regain your strength as soon as possible, but as a ninja, you should also take more care of your body."

A chair was placed by the window, and while talking to Winter Night, he also placed the Hokage hat on the table next to him, and sat down as a matter of course.

"Well, thank you Hokage-sama for your teachings."

Because it is inconvenient to lie down and talk, and it feels like it will give people an informal, rude performance, so Winter Night slightly exerts his upper body and lifts his back against the iron frame at the head of the bed.

The back hit the iron frame and made a slight trembling sound, because it was the result of a lot of force, so it was slightly tilted for the first time, and in order to adjust slightly, the muscles of the upper body were used in coordination.

Finally, after a burst of noise, the satisfied winter night seemed to recall the fact that Hokage-sama was present.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, for making you smile." Remorse engulfed the winter night, and he could barely maintain his face that was about to stiffen and deform.

"It's okay, I don't mind."

Perhaps it was the time that Winter Night had ignored him, consciously or unconsciously, and his face had the first smile on his face that was confined to this ward.

"Hokage-sama, are you here this time because of my mission this time?"

"That's right, I'm a little concerned about the specifics of your mission."

He frowned slightly, his expression seemed to have returned to the serious demeanor he had when he first entered the ward, and the smile he had before was completely like an illusion.

"Hokage-sama, has something happened?"

"If it's the specific situation of the mission, Hinata Snow should report to you when they return to the village, right?"

Whether it was the way the ape flew to the sun, or the unusual tone in which he spoke, it made the winter night full of unease.

"I'm sorry."

"I must tell you a fact first, the three-person team that took over the mission, so far, in addition to you, your two teammates, Hinata Yuki and Mitarai, have not returned to the village yet."

"And even if you're the only one who has returned to the village, you're seriously injured."

Only one member of the team who took over the task returned to the village with a serious injury, even if it was the Hokage, he had to pay attention to it, not to mention that the three of them were all new shinobi in the winter night, and they were the hope for the future of Konoha Village, which had great growth potential.

It wasn't until this time that Winter Night seemed to understand why the three generations of Hokage, who were busy with affairs, would deliberately take time out to meet an ordinary shinobi of his own.

But!

"What do you say? Haven't they come back yet?! ”

"Impossible, impossible."

"Why? Why? Why is that? ”

It seems that he is too shocked and anxious, so that the winter night has a momentary unkindness to the tone of the ape flying sun, but he obviously doesn't have time to care about the feeling of the ape flying sun, he seems to be in a daze, constantly repeating the words of self-denial and self-questioning, the continuous voice from high to low, the speed of speech from fast to slow, lasted for more than ten seconds before it completely quieted down, even so, he was still muttering in a low voice.

Because of the impact of unexpected reality, while the mood fluctuates violently, the face of the winter night, which is already pale due to injury, is much darker, giving people the feeling of shaking a candle that will be extinguished at any time in the wind.

"Calm down, I know very well that this reality has hit you hard, but you still have to calm down, I can't be sure what their specific situation is yet!"

"Both me, and the parents of the two children, want to find them as soon as possible, so I want you to recall the details of the mission, and I assure you in the name of the Hokage, I will definitely find them."

Appease!

Tried to appease!

The gentle voice spoke words that penetrated into the heart of a child who had lost his mind.

But.

It's brutal.

Cruel enough to make a twelve-year-old boy calm down from the pain of losing his dearest friend.

is cruel enough to use such a situation to try to maintain a teenager's last thinking ability with a hypocritical little hope, so that he can deeply recall the last side of his relationship with his friends.

It's cruel!

Brutal to the point of exploding!

But.

The heart of a teenager is really a wonderful thing.

Even if it's torn, even if there is still pain, even if it's so.

It will also recover, to be stronger, stronger, colder, and more iron-blooded.

That's what ninja is.

For the first time, he wanted to say what he thought with a smile.

~~~~~~

"We, we met Iwa Shinobi!"

Staccapto voice, of course, it's not because you have to lie, so while you are vague, you think about the lie in your head.

Rather, the long-term memory, the painful memory, the pain remembered by the body, everything is hindering, hindering the recovery of memory, so the sobbing teenager is telling about the past that is too real to be more real.

Until!

"You and the two of them went their separate ways, didn't you?"

"That's right!"

"Hinata Yuki is injured, and in order to cover them, I plan to divert most of the Iwa Shinobi by myself."

It's still true until here, but.

"Are you sure you did it alone?"

"Yes, because I'm stronger than them, I'm more likely to run away even if I'm alone, I thought at the time."

It was questioned, although it was not obvious, but the faint smell of suspicion was spreading, and it could be keenly felt on the winter night.

"And then, why are you so badly injured?"

"Iwa Shinobi has the presence of a Kamishinobi, and in the fight with him, I suffered almost fatal injuries."

"Shinobi?"

"Yes."

A twelve-year-old shinobi killed an experienced Shinobi of Iwa Ninja Village, and no one would believe it even if he said it, Winter Night was originally going to be questioned by the three generations, but the other party seemed to only hesitate for a while, and then he didn't care anymore.