Five months later, Shiraishi Eisawa was dead.
He used the Cocoon Binding Technique right in front of Shiraishi Gisei and killed himself.
A lot of people came to the house.
Gisei just stared them down, cold as ice.
Because Shiraishi Eisawa had lost his ninja status, his name couldn't even be carved onto the Memorial Stone.
So Gisei set up a cenotaph for him outside the village.
After Eisawa died, Gisei summoned Eisawa's butterfly species. The butterfly, now a ninja familiar, stood before him just like his uncle always had.
He knew deep in his heart this thing wasn't truly Eisawa, but he just kept staring anyway.
His feelings for his uncle were stronger than for his parents. When he was a kid, his dad was always working, and his mom had her own stuff going on.
Only Eisawa had nothing better to do, and played with him at home every day.
Gisei used to ride on Eisawa's back all the time, making him haul him everywhere. Sometimes, if he was really feeling mischievous, he'd pee right on Eisawa's neck, just to see that dark, pissed-off face that wanted to smack him but wouldn't.
Whenever that happened, Eisawa would ignore him for days, but as long as Gisei went and apologized, he'd forgive him and play with him again.
After his parents were gone, Gisei never blamed Eisawa at all.
The problem was Eisawa himself—too sensitive, too scared to actually face him.
Their relationship had gotten a little better in recent years, but he could never get back the way things used to be.
The old Eisawa felt more like a big brother; later, he just became an elder.
It started to rain.
Gisei grabbed an umbrella and walked to the lonely grave just outside the village.
He left the umbrella resting against the tombstone, then stood in the rain himself.
"Back then you always kept the rain off me. Now it's my turn. You used to say death isn't the end, but I think dead is dead."
"I won't accept any bullshit about a ninja butterfly being family, especially when it calls me 'Master.' No way."
"I'm the only one left in this clan. You wanted me to look after the rest, but honestly, I don't care about them at all."
"But I'll try. If you ever held out hope for me, don't expect too much. I'm always selfish."
After rambling for a while, Gisei fell quiet.
Mourning the dead is pointless anyway. He knew that.
Whether the clan went downhill because of conspiracies or politics, it was probably fate.
Honestly, this was what would happen to all ninja clans in Konoha sooner or later.
The Will of Fire would burn away all the old, rotten leaves under the tree. New buds would grow after that.
Konoha would stay Konoha.
Walking back along the little path, he didn't want to go home. He headed to the Memorial Stone instead.
There was already someone there.
Gisei stepped up and just stood beside him, shoulder to shoulder.
Nobody spoke.
Gisei stared at the familiar names etched into the stone and said nothing.
After a while, a rough voice sounded beside him.
"I heard someone in your family died."
Gisei didn't answer and turned to leave.
"You know it's the fate of ninja. Everyone's got their path. Are you sure you picked the right one?"
"I hear you've been playing caretaker for years now. Is that kind of pointless work really how you want to live?"
Gisei sighed and, without turning back, replied, "Orochimaru, I'm a caregiver, not a ninja. Just because something seems pointless doesn't mean it actually is."
"As for fate, I trust myself, not destiny. You're getting more boring by the day, to the point where I actually find it funny."
...
Gisei took a long leave, over half a year, but now he was back working at the hospital.
Dressed in those ridiculous clan clothes, a cigarette dangling from his lips, he strolled down the street, blowing out slow, lazy streams of smoke and ignoring all the weird looks.
He didn't care one bit.
He wanted to wear his clan's colors. Nobody made him. He'd probably wear them forever.
And smoking? In his last life, he smoked all the time. Why stop now? He was alone, free, and nobody could get in his way.
He took another drag, letting the smoke curl up around him like a shield.
At the hospital, people stared at him just as much. He shrugged it off. Of course he knew why.
From the outside, he was just a ten-year-old kid. Dressed like a girl, too. With a cigarette.
Smoke drifting from his mouth in thin, defiant ribbons. The whole image was just… too much to process.
Down the hall, Rumi Kawaru tugged on Anna Takemoto.
"Sis Anna, how did that guy get so damn weird? He used to look normal. Now he's just crazy."
Anna gritted her teeth. "How would I know what a crazy person's thinking?"
Gisei cleaned his ears. "Could you maybe hold off on the trash talk until I'm gone?"
"And you, Rumi—do you even get to talk shit about me? Have you looked in the mirror lately?"
Rumi started grinding her teeth. Anna pulled her back. "This is a hospital. We're working. Don't make a scene."
Rumi huffed and stormed off.
Anna walked two steps forward. "Could you quit smoking?"
Gisei flicked his cigarette on the ground, making Anna frown.
"I know you're upset about Uncle Eisawa, but you don't have to act out like this, do you?"
Gisei didn't reply. Instead, he spun around a few times. "Am I good-looking?"
A tic appeared on Anna's forehead. She gritted her teeth. "You're beautiful. More than me."
Gisei nodded. "Glad you know your place. Anyway, that's just how it is. People need to look forward. You gotta learn to adapt."
"Don't use your own standards trying to figure me out. The guy I was yesterday isn't the me I am right now. Tomorrow, I'll be someone else entirely."
"But am I not me? I'm here. You might not get what I'm saying now, but you've got plenty of time to figure me out."
"I'm telling you, people are fickle. Maybe you think I'm wrong today. Tomorrow, you might decide I'm right."
"People are pretty boring."
After that speech, Gisei went back to his office.
Anna stood there, completely lost, her face pale and stunned. She remembered her grandfather's words about marrying Gisei.
Being with this kind of person? Forget marriage—she felt on edge just hanging around him for a few minutes.
She was starting to feel like she'd lose her mind too.
Gisei started using medical ninjutsu at the hospital.
Pretty soon, it caused a commotion.
And then he got called up.
In the Hokage's office, the four top officials watched Gisei stand there with his cigarette, looking like he didn't care at all. They just stared at him in complete silence.
After a while, with nobody else talking, Gisei lost patience.
"Lord Hokage, Advisors, Danzo—if you have nothing for me, I'm leaving. I could've read a book while you were all being silent."
"Wasting someone's time is basically wasting their life. I'm out."
He was blunt—maybe too blunt—but he didn't care how they looked at him.
He'd been annoyed for days, being stared at like a circus act. If these weren't the biggest names in Konoha, he'd have cursed them out already.
Hell, he'd already lost his temper at the hospital more than once. His fuse was short.
When Gisei really got up to leave, the Third snapped out of it.
First, he gave his condolences for Eisawa's death, then he asked about the medical ninjutsu.
Gisei just tossed them a scroll.
Medical ninjutsu wasn't special. If he could figure it out, so could anyone else.
Really, if your chakra control was good enough, this kind of technique was nothing.
When the Third saw Gisei just throw him a scroll, his mouth twitched. "Gisei, that's not what I meant."
"What I mean is, would you consider joining Anbu? Actually, there are quite a few people in Anbu who know this stuff."
Gisei didn't look surprised.
He'd always found it weird that medical ninjas never seemed to exist in Konoha, at least on the surface.
Now it was clear—the Third was just keeping them hidden as special assets.
They'd pop up, one by one, when Tsunade finally decided to push medical ninjutsu for real in the future.
He didn't bother talking to them much, and ignored the Third's hints.
"I'm just a doctor. Not even a certified ninja. Anbu is way above my pay grade. I'd probably just break my leg there."
The Third's face was full of black lines. He remembered the last time he'd met Gisei, and then looked at the impatient kid in front of him.
If it wasn't for the familiar face, he'd think they were two different people.
It was obvious—Eisawa's death had hit Gisei hard.