"Phew."
"That's it for today."
The sun was setting.
Kiyoshi stretched his limbs, wrapping up the day's tasks by delegating adjustments and improvements of the Flying Thunder God teleportation seals to his wood clones.
Without any rush, he departed from the Root base.
"Hmm, Kurenai and Anko are both out on missions, they won't be back anytime soon."
"Tenten, Ino, Hinata, Tsunade, Shizune."
"Tonight. maybe..."
Over the past few days, Kurenai and Anko had become a famous duo in the Konoha.
Their mission success rate was incredibly high, and they were known to return unscathed from even the most dangerous S-rank assignments.
Yet, Kiyoshi still hadn't decided who he'd spend the evening with when he heard a loud voice nearby.
"Let go of me... Let go..."
A girl with tan skin and red hair, was struggling against the grasp of a tall figure in an Anbu uniform, face hidden behind an animal mask.
"Amaru?" Kiyoshi raised an eyebrow.
Uzumaki Amaru. Once a member of the Uzumaki clan wandering the shinobi world, she had been deceived by Shinno, who intended to use her as a vessel for sealing the Zero-Tails.
Rather than bringing her directly to the village, Kiyoshi had arranged for Kurenai to "accidentally" discover Root members escorting an unconscious Amaru to a hidden experimental base.
Sensing something suspicious, Kurenai immediately reported it to the Third Hokage.
Upon verifying her lineage as an Uzumaki, the Third Hokage took interest and, after negotiations with Danzo, brought Amaru into the village.
A subsequent investigation confirmed that she wasn't a spy, and her village had been destroyed by rogue shinobi.
Under Kurenai's suggestion, the young Uzumaki girl was entrusted to Uzumaki Keiko's care.
"Today's your third day at school." The tall Anbu figure said with a clear, pleasant voice.
"And yet, you've tried escaping the village every single day. This is the 32nd time you've been caught. Just give up, you're never going to succeed."
Given her unique circumstances as an outsider, it was understandable that she wanted to escape, so the Third Hokage had ordered the Anbu to ensure she remained unharmed.
"Damn it. I'll never give up." Amaru continued to struggle, but Yugao's hand held her as firmly as an iron shackle.
"Why do you keep wanting to go back? We already brought you there once."
Gazing at the young girl, Yugao asked, "Your village is gone, isn't it better for you to stay in Konoha?"
"Ugh..."
Amaru froze. Overcome with sorrow, she began to sob uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face. "Even if they're gone, I have to stay and protect them."
"Amaru, as a survivor of the Uzumaki clan, you possess a vast amount of chakra and a unique physical constitution.
People from all around would want to exploit you." Yugao said with a sigh.
"Staying alone there isn't safe. If someone finds you, you'd be in danger. Staying in Konoha is your best option."
This was, in fact, true.
The Konoha had once been allied with the Uzumaki clan, and the Third Hokage felt remorse for not having provided timely support when the Uzumaki were suddenly besieged by other nations. The Third aimed to let more Uzumaki bloodlines blend into Konoha, as the Senju had once done. But more importantly, he genuinely wished to protect the young Uzumaki girl.
"I believe Keiko may have mentioned her own hardships—wandering with her daughter, struggling to survive in Kusagakure."
"What's that matter to me?"
Amaru's emotions surged. Tears and resentment filled her voice as she shouted at Yugao, "If I die, so what? None of you have a say in it."
Thrown into a life with a gentle but unfamiliar woman, she couldn't simply adapt overnight.
Her parents had died when rogue shinobi attacked their village, and she'd barely known anything about the Uzumaki clan.
The man she had once admired—the skilled healer, always treating others with kindness, Shinno—turned out to be the mastermind who led the rogue shinobi attack, responsible for her parents' deaths.
And all the villagers, people she'd called family, were killed by those Land of Sky shinobis.
A few days ago, Konoha shinobis took her back to her village, where they respectfully buried the dead.
Then, they brought her back to the Leaf and told her to live here as if it were her home. It was all too much for a girl barely nine years old.
"Keiko-san…."
At that moment, another red-haired woman approached.
Recognizing her, Yugao realized it was Keiko, who had recently passed her medical examinations and joined the village's medical team.
Tasked by the Third Hokage, she was Amaru's appointed guardian—her foster mother.
"Sorry for the trouble," Keiko said with a small, polite bow.
"Keiko..."
Seeing her foster mother, Amaru's face reddened as she shyly wiped away her tears and sniffles.
Though she actually liked this gentle woman who cooked well and felt motherly, her heart still couldn't fully accept her.
"I understand." Keiko knelt down, wrapping her arms around the stiff, tearful Amaru, gently patting her head. "Amaru, I know it's painful to lose everything—family, home—all at once."
"Your parents knew that pain, and so have I," she whispered.
Gazing at the girl, so close in age to her own daughter, Karin, Keiko's face was filled with warmth and sorrow. Tears shimmered in her eyes, but she smiled.
"That's why we must cherish ourselves even more. We owe it to those who are gone to live well, not to give in to despair. Do you understand, Amaru?"
"Wah…. Uuu..."
Amaru could no longer hold back. She clung to Keiko, burying her face in her arms, clutching her clothes as she sobbed.
Holding the crying girl close, Keiko smiled softly and said, "Amaru, be my daughter."
"Huh?"
Amaru froze, staring at Keiko in disbelief.
"Be my daughter."
Stroking Amaru's hair, Keiko smiled again, sincerity shining in her expression. "If you became her sister, I'm sure Karin would be delighted."
Amaru's face flushed as she scrambled free from Keiko's embrace, pulling a face at her as she darted away. "I….. I don't want that."
But this time, she ran toward the village.
From afar, she called out without looking back, "I'm going home."
"Keiko-san, you really have a way with people."
Watching this, Kiyoshi emerged from the trees, chuckling as he approached. Turning to the masked Yugao, he greeted her, "Long time no see, Yugao-nee."
"Kiyoshi?"
Both Keiko and Yugao looked at him in surprise.
They hadn't expected Kiyoshi to have returned.
"Yes, I occasionally use the Flying Thunder God to come back directly. Kurenai-nee has already told me about this girl's situation."
"Flying Thunder God?"
Yugao's eyes widened.
The famed technique of the Fourth Hokage—the Flying Thunder God—had become Kiyoshi's silent achievement. An S-rank space-time ninjutsu.
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