Two weeks have passed since the old man’s death. We had to leave Mizukawa two days later, and we continued our journey.
For the old man’s funeral, many people appeared.
My mother, just like at my father’s funeral, held an incense stick while performing the Kitō (prayer, supplication).
This time, unlike what happened with my father, although everything was done in a hurry, we still managed to organize things properly. After all, we had been seen by Captain Kurogane Tetsu and his superior, Takahashi Renji, who had made direct contact with us.
Despite our disguises, the unique characteristics of the Uzumaki and Tsukishiro clans are impossible to hide.
We, the Tsukishiro clan, have white hair and golden eyes.
The Uzumaki clan has crimson red hair and violet eyes.
Although we dyed our hair, the unique characteristics of our eyes remained the same. Identifying us would be as easy as calculating one plus one.
We did not want any more problems, so we had to leave Mizukawa as quickly as possible.
This time, although we were still in a hurry, we had enough time to perform a traditional ceremony worthy of him, and we did not have to skip important steps like we did in my father’s case.
We performed:
**Tsūya** – the wake, held on the night before the funeral.
**Sōshiki** – the main funeral ceremony. (There was a monk who had grown up alongside the old man, Kensuke.)
**Kokubetsushiki** – the public farewell ceremony, where friends and family paid their final respects.
**Kasō** – the cremation.
**Kotsuage** – the ritual of collecting the bones after cremation.
And in the end, we were able to perform **Inori** (prayer) and **Mokutō**, a moment of silence and prayer in respect for the deceased.
We created two altars.
One was left at the old man’s former house, in case his granddaughter, Temuri Mei, ever returned.
I guaranteed that I would come back from time to time to check.
If, by any chance, the house had been sold or rented without the consent of the old man’s only remaining family member, the police would pay a visit, just as happened recently at Mukade’s leader’s mansion.
I paid a good amount of money to a widow struggling with her young children so that she could clean the old man’s house from time to time.
I deposited money in the bank and gave her enough funds to survive for at least five years.
After all, the wealth of the Momoshi family and Mukade’s leader was enough for me to live a comfortable life.
Fortunately, Rui is a universal currency, and we have enough Ryō for a life of luxury.
We have the wealth we brought from our clans, Tsukishiro and Uzumaki, as well as the wealth from the Momoshi family and the Mukade group.
So, honestly, we are ridiculously rich.
I guaranteed that sooner or later Temuri Mei would return.
I only regretted the fact that I had not created a bond with her.
After some time, I remembered who Temuri Mei was.
At first, I thought the name sounded familiar, but I could not identify her.
Until I remembered.
She is the most beautiful and talented woman in the entire ninja world.
A woman with two Kekkei Genkai.
The fantasy of every otaku after Tsunade, who only won because she appeared first and had a large chest.
She is...
(I’ll leave it to the readers who do not remember to search for themselves.)
I had just shown them an S-Rank technique “created by me.”
Nobody can prove otherwise.
And if someone appears claiming that this technique is ancient, created by some Second Hokage, I, Tsukishiro Ren, am only 12 years old.
I never met him.
I grew up in the forests.
And techniques are simply a language of chakra.
Anyone can decipher them as long as they know how to decode them.
The fact that someone created it before me does not mean they are the true owner of the idea.
Who guarantees that, in the past, there was not another ninja who used the same technique, but after their death, it was lost in the rivers of history?
Looking at the village ahead, the scenery was almost identical to all the others.
On the roads, there were many refugees, people begging for money, and taxes increasing at an alarming rate due to the consequences of the war.
The ones who paid the price were ordinary people.
I thought about the Land of Rain and wondered if Jiraiya had already found Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan.
Had they already started the Akatsuki?
Then I remembered the conversation we had on the day the old man died.
The old man’s body was covered.
Nobody wanted to leave the room.
Daishi remained sitting on the floor, hugging his knees.
His eyes were red from crying.
Hikari kept her head lowered.
Mother silently looked at the window.
I was the one who broke the silence.
— It seems that... good people always leave too soon.
Nobody answered.
Daishi wiped away his tears.
— Nii-san... why do people die?
I looked at him.
I did not know how to answer.
Looking carefully at the situation, he was just a child who had lost a father figure one week ago, met a grandfather, and lost him once again.
It was a simple question.
But perhaps it was the hardest one to answer.
Before I could speak, Mother answered calmly.
— Because life has an end.
Daishi shook his head.
— No... that’s not it.
— Why do people like grandfather die? Why did uncle die?
— Why are there wars?
Mother closed her eyes for a moment.
— Because human beings desire.
He frowned.
She continued.
— They desire power, wealth, land, revenge...
— And many times, they desire something so much... that they stop seeing the people standing in front of them.
The room became silent again.
Hikari spoke for the first time.
— Then... will war never end?
Mother took a few seconds before answering.
— As long as the human heart exists... conflict will exist.
I looked at my hands and then spoke.
— I think the problem is not desire.
Everyone looked at me.
— Desire is part of us. Without desire, nobody would dream, nobody would create, nobody would protect the people they love.
I took a deep breath.
— The problem begins when someone believes their own desire is worth more than the lives of others.
Mother nodded slightly.
I continued.
— There are people who think they are good. Others believe they are evil. But in the end... almost everyone believes they are right.
— That is why wars are so difficult to stop.
Daishi looked at me.
— Then... does nobody evil exist?
I thought for a few seconds.
— There are cruel people.
— There are monsters.
— But inside their own minds... almost all of them find a reason to do what they do.
Hikari lowered her gaze.
— That is frightening.
— It is.
I answered.
— Because it means defeating a person... does not defeat the idea that made them fight.
Silence returned.
Daishi looked at the old man’s body.
— Grandfather did not deserve this.
Nobody could answer.
After a few moments, he clenched his fists.
The tears returned.
— I hate this war.
He took a deep breath.
— I hate it.
His voice trembled.
— One day...
He raised his head.
— I will end it.
— I want to create a world where no child loses their parents.
— Where no grandfather has to search for his granddaughter for years.
— Where nobody cries.
Hikari smiled through her tears.
Mother approached and gently caressed his hair.
— It is a beautiful dream.
Daishi turned toward me.
— And you, nii-san?
I smiled.
— I hope you never give up on that dream.
— But remember what the old man from the Mukade group said before he died. This world devours people. Not everyone evil is born that way. Sometimes they simply react to life.
— But I support your dream.
He smiled back.
— Then will you help me?
I looked at him for several seconds.
Deep down, I knew that many people in the future would also try to change the world.
Some would believe peace could be born from fear.
Others from pain.
Others from absolute control.
All of them would fail because they tried to impose peace without understanding the human heart.
But Daishi...
He was still only a child.
And that was precisely why his dream had value.
I looked into his eyes.
— I will stand behind you.
His expression brightened.
I continued with a more serious tone.
— But remember one thing.
— Words alone do not change the world.
— Good intentions do not either.
Daishi listened carefully.
— In this world...
— Those who have no strength will see their ideals crushed by those who are stronger.
— As Valentina Allegra de Fontaine said in Thunderbolts, demanding justice without power is merely an opinion.
— If you want to protect what you believe in...
— You must first have enough power to prevent someone from destroying it.
Mother watched me silently.
Like the others, she had become used to the strange names I mentioned from time to time.
I had simply told them they were stories I was creating to sell books in the future.
Then she smiled slightly.
— Strength is necessary.
— But never allow it to become your goal.
I nodded.
— I agree.
I looked at Daishi again.
— Strength should exist to protect.
Daishi took a deep breath.
Then he looked at the sky through the window.
— Then...
— I will become strong.
— Strong enough... so that no family has to experience what we experienced.
None of us answered.
At that moment, that dream seemed impossible.
Even so...
None of us had the courage to destroy it.