bacchusnovels Chapter 284 This is what I want to protect with everything I have.
Chapter 284 This is what I want to protect with everything I have.
At the other end of the line, Danzo Shimura's expression remained as solemn as a statue on the Hokage Rock, ignoring all the flowers and cheers thrown at him.
His gaze, like the most precise ruler, sharply swept across the buildings on both sides of the street and over the jubilant crowd.
"The road surface needs to be repaved with the latest chakra concrete formula after the celebration, because it's not strong enough."
He whispered an order to a Root ninja beside him, his voice completely flat.
"Also, the problem of blind spots in defense on both sides of the gate still exists. After the celebration, have the design team submit a renovation plan to me overnight."
Uchiha Kagami shook his head helplessly, walked to Danzo's side, and without saying a word, hung a crookedly woven flower wreath, which was probably forced on him by some child, around Danzo's neck.
"Danzo, let's take a day off today and see everyone."
Danzo glanced down at the somewhat ridiculous flower wreath around his neck, but ultimately didn't remove it. He simply let out a cold snort, which was taken as tacit agreement.
Hiruzen Sarutobi walked at the very front of everyone.
He didn't look at the excited, incoherent executives, nor did he respond to their fanatical shouts.
His gaze swept through the crowd like that of a king inspecting his most precious treasure.
He saw it, in the formation of the ninja academy, that dazzling blond boy, as radiant as the sun.
Minato Namikaze.
He didn't scream or run around like the other children; he just stood there quietly, solemnly holding up a complex and perfect welcome knot carefully woven from straw rope.
When Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze swept over, the boy seemed to sense it, raising the welcoming knot in his hand even higher, a pure and radiant smile blooming on his face.
Hiruzen Sarutobi gave him a barely perceptible nod.
This tiny interaction, almost unnoticed by anyone, made the blond boy blush with excitement, and his body trembled slightly.
He also saw the new generation of the pig, deer, and butterfly races.
Nara Shikaku was lazily leaning against his father's lap, yawning, when Akimichi Choza, who was as big as a little bear, excitedly shook his shoulders, while Aburame Shirin waved her arms excitedly, her cheeks flushed.
He also saw the Hyuga clan's twins, Hiashi and Hizashi, whose relationship was closer than ever before, standing side by side.
In the ranks of the security forces, I saw the dashing Uchiha Fugaku and the smiling Uchiha Mikoto beside him.
In the crowd, Uchiha Yoru held his son high above his head so that he could see the beautiful scenery around him.
The child's short black hair was a bit messy, and he was pointing in the direction of the group while smiling; it was Obito.
He saw many faces, some familiar, some unfamiliar, some young, some weathered.
Every face radiated the same thing.
Happiness, and hope.
This is what he desperately wanted to protect.
This is the whole meaning of his living with Konoha.
Just as his emotions were churning and his chest was burning with excitement at the magnificent scene before him, the surging crowd suddenly stirred with some strange agitation.
The crowd parted as if gently by an invisible hand, making way for them.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze pierced through the passageway and froze.
At the end of the road, his wife, Sarutobi Biwako, stood quietly, holding Asuma in her arms.
She didn't shout excitedly like the others, nor did she wave her arms.
She simply stood there, a gentle smile on her face, her gaze piercing through the sea of people, quietly watching only him.
In that instant, all the noise in the world disappeared.
The deafening cheers, the fluttering ribbons, and the excited faces all became a blurred background.
Nara Shikanobu and the others stopped in unison, together with the higher-ups behind them, reserving this small space for their Hokage family.
"Old man!"
A clear, childlike shout, like a precise arrow, pierced through all the noise and reached the depths of Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart.
Asma waved excitedly in her mother's arms.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward.
With just one step, the distance between the battlefield and home was bridged.
He steadily and firmly held the struggling little one in his arms.
The child's familiar, faintly milky scent and soft, warm touch completely softened his heart, which was constantly tense from carrying the weight of the entire village on his shoulders.
Hiruzen Sarutobi held him tightly.
Then he stepped forward and gently embraced Biwako.
The familiar fragrance of his wife's hair lingered around his nose.
The last trace of weariness and dignity that belonged to the Third Hokage vanished completely in this embrace.
Biwako reached out, her fingertips calloused, and gently brushed a petal from his shoulder, then straightened his collar, which was slightly disheveled from the journey.
Her movements were slow and focused.
Welcome home.
They didn't ask about the cruelty of war, nor about the hardships of the journey.
There are only these four words.
All the words I wanted to say are contained in these four words.
Hiruzen Sarutobi held his son in his arms, and with his free hand he reached out and took his wife's hand, holding it tightly, very tightly.
No words are needed.
The surrounding cheers, like a tsunami, seemed to be isolated from another world at that moment.
He could only feel the heartbeat of his son in his arms and the warmth of his wife's body in his palm.
At this moment, everything he had protected, everything he had planned countless times in the future simulator and all the sleepless nights in the Hokage's office, took on the clearest and warmest form.
……
In the queue not far away, the lively atmosphere of fireworks is returning.
"Chief Windbringer! Did you see that? This is the spoils I was talking about! Absolutely delicious food!"
Inuzuka Tsubasa was still enthusiastically promoting his scorpions to Akimichi Torifu, spitting as he spoke, as if he had already started eating them.
Akimichi Torifu stared into the distance with a complicated expression, while Hatake Sakumo handed him a notebook with a cover titled "Preliminary Conception of Large-Scale Artificial Breeding and Ecological Closed-Loop Construction of Sand Scorpions."
His views on food are facing an unprecedented challenge.
Can this really be added to Akimichi BBQ's deluxe lunch? Can Akimichi's secret sauce handle this poisonous stuff?
These scenes of reunion after victory were filled with laughter and the most genuine emotions.