Catching the change in Mito Uzumaki's expression, Hiruzen Sarutobi moved closer on light feet. He stopped in front of her and carefully offered the swaddled bundle in his arms.
"Take a look," he said gently. "He's a strong little thing."
Mito accepted the baby.
She had lived through the Warring States Era, through the age when villages were still an idea you bled for. She'd seen children born into war and men die before they ever grew into themselves.
And yet, holding this infant, her eyes went distant for a moment, as if time had slipped.
Compared to the child she'd once had with Hashirama Senju, the presence on this baby felt even stronger, more direct. More… pure.
That didn't mean her own child had been lacking. A child carried parts of both parents, shaped by life after birth, and it wasn't rare at all for a son not to resemble his father.
But this was different.
This baby carried Hashirama Cells, untouched, unmistakable.
Mito's gaze stayed on the small face. "This child is…?"
Hiruzen nodded, his expression turning heavy. "It cost the lives of many Konoha shinobi. He's the only successful case."
Mito already knew the village had been researching Hashirama Cells, hoping to pass on Wood Style, hoping to gain the power to restrain tailed beasts and protect themselves.
For shinobi, that ambition wasn't hard to understand.
But Hiruzen was also telling her something else, without saying it outright.
This was the lone seedling.
And it might be the last.
Mito stared at the baby's face and murmured, almost to herself, "He looks a little like him…"
Then she huffed at herself and laughed softly. "What am I saying? I never saw him as a child. Ridiculous."
Hiruzen didn't interrupt. He simply listened.
An old woman who had given everything to the village, now at the end of her life, holding a child who carried the scent of someone long gone.
There was something strange about it, something quietly profound.
Beginnings and endings.
Memory, finding a body to live in again.
When Mito finally came back to herself, Hiruzen spoke in a steady voice.
"Mito-sama, I want to ask you to look after this child."
"He has successfully integrated Hashirama-sama's cells. There's a very high chance he inherited Wood Style."
Hiruzen bowed deeply. "In the entire village, you're the most qualified person to raise him. The one best suited to guide him."
"If you still have the strength," he added, voice firm, "then please, Mito-sama. Stand up again, and help the village carry this burden."
Mito shook her head, amused.
For someone who'd walked through endless battlefields, her expression was usually calm to the point of being unreadable. Now, a real smile surfaced, one that came from someplace warm.
Raising a child was hard, yes.
But for her?
Hiruzen wasn't really asking because he thought she'd struggle.
He'd seen through her.
He'd found the quiet ache underneath it all, the need to feel useful, to feel needed.
"You… you little monkey," Mito said, half laughing.
She held the baby with one arm and motioned for Hiruzen to sit with the other. "Since when did you get so good at saying things people want to hear?"
"I'm not trying to flatter you," Hiruzen said seriously. "Mito-sama, you are Konoha's pillar."
"This monkey still has many things to rely on you for."
He glanced at the baby in her arms. "For example, he doesn't have a name yet. I'd like to ask you to give him one."
Naming someone forged a bond. It was a small ceremony, a quiet declaration that this person mattered to you.
Mito clearly understood that, and she seemed pleased by it. After a moment of thought, she nodded.
"Then… Yamato."
Hiruzen's thumb popped up almost instantly.
"Good, good. That's an excellent name. It carries the meaning of peace, of growing up healthy and steady. Simple and strong, calm and upright. It sounds ordinary, but it has depth…"
Mito burst into laughter, eyes crinkling. "Stop bragging for me, monkey. I was thinking 'a plain name keeps a kid alive.' Where are you getting all that?"
Even after being exposed, Hiruzen put on an expression of sincere surprise. He kept his face straight and said, dead serious, "See? You're being modest again."
"I've heard Hashirama-sama and Tobirama-sama say since I was small that you were the most talented and wise kunoichi in the shinobi world."
He leaned in slightly, as if sharing a secret. "Even Madara Uchiha respected you."
At the name, Mito paused.
"Madara…" she echoed, her voice turning distant. "I haven't heard that name in a long time."
Then, with the strangest edge, she added, "Compared to me, he and Hashirama really did look like a pair of star-crossed lovers."
There was a sourness in it that had survived decades.
Hiruzen's eyes shifted, quick and curious. "Mito-sama, what do you mean?"
He pretended it was casual, then slid into what he'd really been wondering. "Actually… do you know where Madara's body is? I've been studying Tobirama-sama's notes recently…"
He couldn't help his curiosity.
Tobirama Senju had studied Izuna Uchiha's remains.
How could he not have studied Madara's?
And yet the notebook didn't mention it directly. Only hints, small traces that never formed a complete answer.
Mito let out a cold snort. "I don't know."
"Back then, Hashirama brought Madara's body back. Tobirama insisted he wanted to dissect it."
Her eyes sharpened as the memory rose. "Hashirama lost his temper so badly that his Chakra surged hard enough to make even the Nine-Tails tremble."
"The way he looked at Tobirama… you could call it killing intent."
Mito's pride flared, and the room's air tightened.
"He never did that for me."
The moment her Chakra slipped, Hiruzen's heart jumped.
Not only her Chakra, either.
A thread of Nine-Tails Chakra was braided through it, hot and heavy.
So people said she didn't have much time left.
They were wrong.
This old woman still had teeth.
"Where Hashirama buried Madara," Mito continued, voice clipped, "he didn't tell anyone. Not even me."
She caught herself then, tilted her head slightly, and the tailed-beast Chakra snapped back into her body like a leash being yanked.
"Ah, I lost composure, Hiruzen," she said, forcing a calmer tone. "I let you see something embarrassing."
"Not at all, Mito-sama," Hiruzen said quickly, clearing his throat. "And you shouldn't be angry. The Senju and Uchiha have always been like this."
He hesitated, then added with a careful shrug, "Look at Izuna Uchiha and my teacher. That situation was… strange too."
Mito nodded as if she'd been waiting for someone to say it. "Those two clans were never right."
"But it's all in the past," she said, and her gaze softened. "Still… I miss that time."
"We argued and fought and made noise every day, but we truly thought it would all end. That there wouldn't be another war between us."
She looked at him, and there was real hope in her eyes.
"Hiruzen, work hard. Maybe that thousand-year feud between Senju and Uchiha can finally be settled in your hands."
Hiruzen smiled to himself.
If she knew what he was really planning, she'd probably throw him into the same category as Tobirama.
Maybe even insist he sit at the same table.
After Hashirama died, one of his last wishes had been for Mito to keep a tight watch on Tobirama's research, to stop him from creating some forbidden technique that would make the world scream.
"I will do my best to mend the relationship between the village and the Uchiha," Hiruzen said, keeping his answer vague.
He did plan to "mend" it, yes.
How he planned to mend it was a separate matter, and nobody needed to ask.
"Mito-sama," he said smoothly, shifting the topic, "I'll leave Yamato to you."
From there, their conversation drifted into village affairs and everyday talk.
Hiruzen spoke about the Konoha Commissioner reform. About developing medicines. About ways to draw in the Hyuga Branch House. He emphasized, again and again, how much the village would value research going forward.
And he made a subtle promise.
When Konoha's finances had surplus again, the village would establish a fund for the Uzumaki Clan, dedicated to supporting Uzumaki orphans who joined the village in the future, helping them build homes quickly and live without fear.
Mito listened closely, nodding now and then.
And when the moment felt right, Hiruzen finally asked the question he'd been circling the entire time.
"Mito-sama… do you know of any secret technique that can help connect meridians?"
Mito's expression turned strange.
She looked at Hiruzen for a long beat, eyes deep and knowing, as if she could see exactly what he was hiding behind that polite tone.