Shin-chan pulled the last sweet potato from the fire and divided it into three portions.
"This sweet potato is called the 'Future Dream Sweet Potato.'" He handed two portions to Hashirama and Tobirama, keeping the smallest one for himself. "After eating it, you have to think of something you want to do."
"There's no such sweet potato."
Shin-chan raised his portion. "There is now."
Hashirama took a bite. "I've decided. I want every shop on the food street to create its own signature dish. We'll hold a competition once a year, and the winner won't have to pay rent for an entire year."
"That's a good idea." Shin-chan strongly approved.
Tobirama took a bite of his sweet potato and chewed for a long time. "Then... I'll build a fishing platform behind the mountain."
"A fishing platform?"
"A place specifically for fishing." Tobirama looked at the sweet potato in his hand. "It doesn't have to be large. Just enough space for two or three people to sit."
As they continued talking, Shin-chan and Hashirama once again began planning the food street.
Hashirama confidently ran off to request a budget.
Shin-chan covered the ground with crooked route diagrams.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm calculating the ideal density of shops." Shin-chan did not raise his head. "If they're too close together, the dango shops will steal one another's business. If they're too far apart, people won't be able to find somewhere to eat when they get hungry. In our era, this is called 'Food Economics.'"
Tobirama had already given up correcting the names of Shin-chan's self-invented academic fields.
Shin-chan drew for a while, then suddenly put down his brush.
"Uncle Tobirama."
"Mm?"
"I miss home a little."
Tobirama's hand paused slightly as he held his teacup.
This was the first time since arriving in this era that Shin-chan had said he missed home.
"You... want to return to Konoha Year Forty-Six?"
"Mm." Shin-chan looked up at the sky. "I want to eat Misae's cooking."
He paused.
"And I'll miss all of you too."
Tobirama was silent for a while. "You'll miss us?"
"Of course." Shin-chan turned and looked at him. "Once I go back, I'll never be able to see you again."
Tobirama said nothing.
The Dragon Vein's power would eventually fade. At some point, space would regain its balance. Shin-chan did not belong to this era, so sooner or later, he would have to return.
Tobirama simply had not expected to feel something so difficult to describe upon hearing those words.
It felt as though something had been taken away before it was time.
"Uncle Tobirama." Shin-chan leaned closer. "You aren't crying, are you?"
"I am not."
"But your eyes are a little red."
"The wind."
"There's no wind today."
Tobirama was silent for a second. "Then I didn't sleep well last night."
Shin-chan took the final chocolate stick from his pocket and broke it in half.
"Here. You can have half."
"Keep it."
Shin-chan insisted on stuffing half into his hand. "In our era, chocolate sticks must be shared with your closest friends. It's called the 'Chocolate Stick Law of Friendship.'"
"How many strange rules does your era have?"
"Too many to count." Shin-chan bit into his half. "But this one is a real rule. I didn't make it up."
Tobirama lowered his head and looked at the half chocolate stick in his hand.
Its surface was glossy, and it had made a crisp snap when broken. It was the same sweetness he had tasted countless times before.
But somehow, this one seemed sweeter than all the others.
He placed it in his mouth.
"Uncle Tobirama."
"What now?"
"After I go back, will you remember me?"
Tobirama chewed the chocolate stick. "I couldn't forget you even if I tried."
"That's good." Shin-chan smiled. "I don't want you to forget me either."
"I've often wondered what kind of ninja you'll become once you grow up."
"Probably the same as I am now."
"What do you mean?"
"Well... if I see someone hungry, I'll share my chocolate sticks. If I see people fighting, I'll wonder whether ramen can solve it. And if someone is unhappy, I'll make a funny face."
Shin-chan suddenly stopped.
Tobirama noticed the change in him. "What is it?"
Shin-chan lowered his head and looked at his hands.
His fingertips were glowing.
"I think... I'm about to go back."
Tobirama immediately grabbed Shin-chan's arm and examined him carefully.
"Space-time is regaining its balance."
He had experienced countless farewells, but none had ever felt like this.
It was not a separation caused by life and death, yet somehow, it left him even more at a loss.
"Uncle Tobirama, you still owe me twelve chocolate sticks."
Tobirama froze.
"And you only gave me one of the three bowls of ramen." Shin-chan counted on his glowing fingers. "And there are still two dango left."
"...You're still calculating that at a time like this?"
"Of course." Shin-chan spoke seriously. "Our accounts aren't settled yet. People whose accounts aren't settled have to meet again."
Tobirama fell silent.
He had created countless ninjutsu and solved countless difficult problems, yet faced with a child being carried away by the power of space-time, he could not find a single thing he could do.
"Uncle Tobirama, tell Uncle Hashirama something for me." Shin-chan's voice began to sound distant. "He can't give up on the food street. I already marked the location of every shop on the planning map."
"Come back and tell him yourself."
"I'll try." Shin-chan's voice grew softer. "And the kitchen auntie still hasn't perfected the chocolate-stick recipe. The amount of honey needs to be adjusted a little more..."
Tobirama listened as he rambled on about these trivial matters.
Not one of them concerned the great affairs of the ninja world or the village's strategies. They were all insignificant details of everyday life.
Yet those trivial things were precisely what made Tobirama's throat tighten.
"Nohara Shinnosuke."
Tobirama released Shin-chan's wrist and took a step back.
Shin-chan froze.
This was the first time since arriving in this era that Tobirama had called him by his full name.
"Once you return to the future, take a look at Konoha for me," Tobirama said. "See whether those ramen shops are still there. See whether children still become friends over chocolate sticks."
"And then?"
"Then decide for yourself. Decide whether our generation did the right thing."
Shin-chan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but the light around his body suddenly erupted.
A dazzling pillar of light spiralled upward from the courtyard of the Senju residence.
It shot into the sky and pierced through the clouds, visible from every corner of Konoha Village.
Hashirama abruptly raised his head and looked at the pillar of light soaring outside the window.
"So he's leaving."
The light in the courtyard gradually contracted. The chakra escaping from Shin-chan's body seemed to be gathered back by an invisible hand.
Then everything became quiet.
All that remained in the courtyard was a circle of flattened grass and an overturned teacup on the table.
...
Konoha Village, the Hokage's office.
The Third Hokage stood by the window, gazing at the two faces carved into the distant Hokage Rock.
The sculptor had been extremely skilled, perfectly recreating the First Hokage's smile and the Second Hokage's stern expression.
But something about them felt slightly different.
"Old man, what are you looking at?" Jiraiya asked.
"The statues." The Third Hokage took a puff from his pipe. "For some reason, Teacher Tobirama's expression seems different from before."
"How is it different?"
"I can't quite explain it." The Third Hokage narrowed his eyes. "He seems... a little less serious."
Jiraiya followed his gaze.
On the Hokage Rock, the statue of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, stood silently.
But the curve at the corner of his mouth seemed just slightly greater than before.