Chapter 30: The wise old lady

With a final punch into the air that echoed, Yujin sat on the ground, sweaty and tired.

Reflecting on the past was difficult for Yujin. In a way, after that day, he escaped the war by isolating himself in the mountains, contradicting his ideals of helping people.

Today, he doesn’t believe he can be more like Naruto; positive and charismatic. He has become much more realistic, losing his dreams along the way.

Now, however, he realizes that he never told this story to Tsunade, and he never asked her about her dreams. Once, he had naive dreams of ending all wars, but nowadays, he lives differently.

He truly believed that one day the war would end, and people would understand each other. But at the same time, he believed it’s impossible to change everyone’s minds, no matter how charismatic you are.

It’s something that requires time and the passage of generations.

Maybe it’s possible in a storybook, a charismatic character gaining everyone’s sympathy and leading them to a better future, but real life is different; things are much more complicated.

That’s why he decided to wait for the day the war would end and he could return to the world. As a way to not only protect himself but also to protect the people.

His balance was already broken once; he couldn’t risk it happening again, so he decided to wait.

Wait for the day when all of this would end.

But what about Tsunade? What does she want? What is her dream?

He never asked her that.

While Yujin was trying to make peace with himself and move forward, leaving his past behind and embracing the future, Tsunade was having a private conversation with Mito.

Kushina and Shizune had gone somewhere to play, leaving the two alone.

Mito seemed occupied in recent days. For a few hours each day, the elderly woman refused visits and stayed alone in her room.

Tsunade assumes it has to do with the situation of the fox, perhaps resting to preserve herself, and decided not to ask, afraid of the answer. The truth is, the old woman is using this time to develop the technique to divide the fox.

She was running out of time but was not impatient.

The two were talking at this moment, Tsunade trying to ignore the grandmother’s future, and Mito assessing her granddaughter’s mood.

In recent days, she noticed that Tsunade has been more distracted, with a more complex mood. She can feel the deep sadness due to the circumstances, but there was something else that was worrying her. She couldn’t help but notice Yujin’s absence, who was previously constantly supporting her.

“Did you and Yujin have a quarrel by any chance?” Mito was curious about what was happening. Until a few days ago, they seemed very close. How did they seem to distance themselves so quickly?

“ ... No...”

Mito watched Tsunade closely, trying to understand the situation better. She smiled and commented slowly.

“You’re in a very fragile moment. Dan passed away, and now you have to say goodbye to this old lady. The death of the people you love is never easy, but when I saw you with Yujin, I was relieved.”

Tsunade lifted her face to hear Mito, not understanding what she meant by that. The old woman smiled again.

“I wonder what it would be like if you two had met at another time.”

She then put her finger on her chin, looking at the ceiling, imagining how it would be if they met before.

“If he were a village ninja, and you met at the academy. I’m sure it would be different in form, but not in result.”

She then chuckled softly, imagining a young Yujin and Tsunade at the ninja academy. At first, they would be strangers and hardly talk. But Tsunade, when she was younger, had a stronger and more lively temperament. Yujin would be calmer and more compassionate, easily adapting to her temperament.

Over time, they would end up in a relationship, given enough opportunity; she believed in that.

“Result?” Tsunade didn’t understand what was going on in Mito’s mind. It didn’t make much sense for her to imagine a completely different and younger Yujin.

“I just couldn’t help but notice how good you two are for each other.”

Mito laughed again, finding the whole situation amusing. It’s as if Yujin had fallen from the sky just to keep Tsunade company at her most difficult moment.

“Well, yes. Yujin has always been understanding and kind. Even when I constantly cried, he never minded. I don’t know if I could do that, honestly. If he cried so much in front of me, I would probably smack him on the head.”