The Konoha night was quiet. Streetlights cast long shadows as the crowds thinned.
Emiya Shirou took a slow, digestive stroll with Naruto Uzumaki, a strange sense of déjà vu washing over him. It felt just like walking with another little one, forty years ago.
Tap, tap, tap... Naruto kicked a loose pebble down the street.
From a safe distance, Hiruzen Sarutobi followed, a silent guardian angel. He knew Shirou meant no harm; he was simply looking after the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki.
"Who is that kid?" a woman's voice suddenly cut through the silence beside him.
Startled, Hiruzen spun around. His eyes widened. It was Tsunade, her fists clenched, with Jiraiya standing awkwardly beside her.
"What are you two doing back here?" Hiruzen asked, genuinely surprised.
"Didn't you send for us?" Tsunade shot back, equally surprised. "The message said he had returned to Konoha." She had rushed back the moment she heard, dragging Jiraiya along with her, only to find this scene.
A scene that was a painful, nostalgic echo of her own childhood.
"That's Minato's son, Naruto," Hiruzen explained, the words causing a flicker of astonishment on both Tsunade's and Jiraiya's faces. "He's also the village's jinchuriki..."
The connection between Shirou and the Nine-Tails wasn't exactly common knowledge, but Tsunade, who had grown up on the stories, knew. It was only natural that Shirou would show a special interest in Naruto.
"Minato's son?" A complex look crossed Jiraiya's face. He had been so consumed by his quest for the Child of Prophecy, as foretold by the Great Toad Sage, that he rarely had time to pay attention to the day-to-day happenings in Konoha.
"That's right," Hiruzen said, recounting the tragedy. "When Minato sacrificed himself, he sealed the Nine-Tails inside Naruto."
Just as the master and his disciples were reminiscing, Shirou, having walked Naruto home, slowly turned and looked directly at the three of them at the street corner.
Hiruzen felt a flush of embarrassment. So much for stealth.
"I think I saw him when I was a kid, too," Jiraiya muttered, but no one was listening.
Tsunade strode forward, her eyes fixed on Shirou. Her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides before she finally spoke. "Long time no see, Lord Emiya."
Even though she'd known this moment was coming, seeing him again after forty years sent her mind into a trance. It felt like a lifetime had passed.
His presence, the real, tangible man before her, unleashed a tidal wave of emotions that no memory could ever compare to.
This was her childhood.
The older she got, the more she yearned for those carefree days, a childhood so idyllic it seemed like a fairy tale.
"Has it been long?" Shirou asked, his brow furrowing slightly. To him, there were no waves of emotion. "It hasn't been that long since we last met."
"Forty years is a long time," Tsunade sighed. It was long enough for an innocent girl to become a mature woman.
"It hasn't been forty years," he corrected, unceremoniously poking at a sore spot. "The last time we met was in the Land of Hot Water. You were dead drunk in some tavern. I happened to be visiting Kakuzu's orphanage and was accompanying him to collect a debt from you."
"That time doesn't count!" Tsunade's forehead twitched, a blush of humiliation creeping up her neck.
Being caught in such an embarrassing state by a figure from her past, an elder she revered, was mortifying.
But he hadn't meant to blame her. He had even stroked her hair, just like he did when she was a child, a gesture of an elder accepting her, flaws and all. The memory only made her feel more ashamed.
He wasn't unreliable like her great-grandfather; he was a true elder, a man who led by example.
The moonlight brightened. Tsunade walked beside him, escorting him back to his quarters, the silence punctuated by her stories. "After you left, so many things happened. The Great Ninja War broke out, Sakumo-senpai committed suicide, my grandmother passed away, Nawaki died in the war... I met Katsuyu, and from her, I got the second crystal coffin you left behind."
"When I left Konoha, I thought Orochimaru was reliable enough, so I gave it to him to look after. I never expected that snake would actually steal it and use it to resurrect you."
Like a child who, after a storm, finally finds a safe harbor, Tsunade poured out all the fragile, painful memories she had suppressed for years. The heavy burden seemed to lift with each word.
Shirou's face, however, remained unchanged, as if her stories hadn't moved him at all. As if he had no feelings.
Only Jiraiya, eavesdropping, felt a pang in his heart. He knew her painful past; he'd lived through some of it with her. But he'd never really been there to listen.
He'd always seen her as strong, just like him.
But Shirou... why does he seem so emotionless? Do reanimated people not have feelings?
It was strange. Hiruzen and Tsunade seemed completely unfazed by his cold expression, despite their supposedly close relationship.
Shirou listened quietly, then his steps suddenly stopped. "The dessert shop should be closed by now. Ichiraku Ramen is still open. Shall we go get some food??"
Tsunade burst out laughing, the sound echoing with the memory of her childhood rewards. "I'm not a child anymore!"
"Then let's get BBQ," he nodded, as if acknowledging her adulthood.
"Okay... hahahaha," she was still laughing, but now, two lines of tears streamed down her cheeks. "Lord Emiya, you're still the same as before."
"But Tsunade is no longer the same," he said calmly, handing her a tissue.
He reached out and ruffled her hair, just as he used to. "Actually, there was one thing you didn't say. Tsunade has become the most excellent medical ninja in this world."
"Lord Emiya..." Her laughter turned into heart-wrenching sobs. In the quiet of the night, she cried with all her might, her hand gripping his arm.
She lowered her head, letting his hand cover her tear-streaked face, desperately trying to vent all the pain she had held in for so many years.
Jiraiya's eyes lowered slightly. Now he finally saw it: deep within the cold-faced man, there was a warmth that drew people in.
He finally understood why Tsunade had always missed him so much. Even he felt a bit like a child again.
Hiruzen held his pipe, a puff of smoke dissipating in the wind. He couldn't help but feel a wave of nostalgia for a time more than forty years ago, a time before the wars, when he could still be a boy, quietly listening to the teachings of a wise man.
A person like this... how could he possibly harm the ninja world? Madara's plan, if even Shirou approved of it, probably wasn't a danger to the world, right?