In the vacant lot behind the house, a new grave was built. Considering that the deceased couple was married, Uchiha Tonan buried them together. Kabuto, who was recently given the Hatake family name, held the container in his arms and stood in front of the grave with Tonan.
He neither cried nor became hysterical. He stood quietly as if he was in a daze and also as if he was reminiscing. Tonan understood that everyone expressed emotions in different ways while grieving.
Some would cry, some would laugh, and some would remain silent and suppress all grief in their hearts. Perhaps, because of his genetic disease, Kabuto was much more sensible than his peers. Now, he has also had a younger brother who was not even developed yet.
He subconsciously had a sense of responsibility. Responsibility tends to make people’s minds grow rapidly and mature faster. After a long time, Tonan reached out and patted Kabuto’s shoulder. He said, “It’s better to kneel when worshiping your loved ones. That’s etiquette.”
Kabuto was stunned when he heard this. He nodded and put the container on the ground before he knelt. A long time later, Tonan took off a ninja bag from his waist and handed it over. “Don’t be too sad. Open this and take a look.”
“This is…” Kabuto opened the ninja bag and took out two lifelike wood carvings from it. The moment he saw them, his eyes turned red. It was said that seeing an object makes one think of its owner. Kabuto sobbed as tears fell from his eyes.
Tonan slowly squatted and caressed Kabuto’s hair. He said, “I was worried that because of your amnesia, you’ll forget what your parents looked like. So, I carved their sculptures last night. Like this, they can accompany you at all times. Watching you and your little brother grow up healthily together.”
At this moment, Kabuto was already crying. He plunged his head into Tonan’s arms and choked with sobs, “Thank you…, Tonan-sama.”
Ding! Gained Hatake Kabuto’s acknowledgment. Tonan stretched out his hand and patted Kabuto’s back. With a triumphant smile on his face, he said, “Using honorifics like sama makes us too distant. You and I will get along day and night hereafter. Just call me san.”
“Tonan-san…” After a long time, Kabuto stopped crying and left Tonan’s embrace. He calmed his expression and turned his head. Looking at the grave resolutely, he said, “I will be a good older brother and take care of Isan. You two have to be happy in the other world and not worry about us.”
Tonan smiled lightly, “As long as you two are healthy, they will be happy.” After speaking, he looked up at the sky and said, “Rest in the room for a while. I’ll take care of a trivial matter first and come pick you up later.”
……
The village where Kabuto lived was on the east side of the mountain chain. It had abundant rain and lush vegetation. On the west side was the Land of Wind territory. The mountain chain was a clear dividing line. The terrain and environment on the east and west sides were very different.
On the east side, there was a mountain forest, and on the west side, there was a desolate desert. Somewhere deep underground in the desert, someone had dug a wide laboratory. There was only one oil lamp burning in the lab, lighting up the entire space dimly.
There were various kinds of odd-shaped mechanism parts everywhere on the ground and a corpse that was dismembered and scorched in a special container. A red-haired boy was sitting on the ground, reconstructing the broken arms one by one. His movements were a bit impatient as if he was worried about something.
In the almost closed space, apart from the noise of assembling parts, there was only the sound of his breathing. After a long time, an arm was reconstructed. The red-haired boy then wiped the sweat on his forehead.
Suddenly, the red-haired boy’s ear tips moved and he immediately looked over.
Sa, sa, sa…. A sandworm crawled out from the wall. Sandworms were very common in the Land of Wind. They survive by devouring the micronutrients in the sand. The red-haired boy heaved a sigh of relief and muttered, “It seems that that man has had a great influence on me. Even with the early warning of the alarm devices buried on the surface, I feel frightened.”
The red-hair boy continued to bury his head in the modification of the next limb. For some reason, he seemed to be in a daze because of the interruption just now. The invincible figure he saw on the battlefield that day kept popping into his mind.
He mumbled while reconstructing the limb. “How great it would be if such a powerful ninja could be transformed into a puppet one day! He would become the greatest puppet in the world.”
While speaking, he felt that the puppet parts in his hands suddenly became less valuable. It seems the strongest Kazekage was also just this strong!
Huff huff… Transforming puppets was also a physical task. The red-haired boy wiped the sweat from his forehead and his breathing was a little short.
Huff, huff, huff… After the transformation was complete, the last step for activation was to inject chakra. The red-haired boy held the arm part and injected his chakra into it.
Clack, clack, clack… The puppet arm began to move according to the red-haired boy’s thoughts. With a satisfied smile on his face, he said, “Good.” Suddenly, his pupils shrunk and he felt as if someone had grabbed his heart tightly, an ominous feeling enveloping him.
“Someone is here!” He turned his head abruptly and spread his fingers, as several puppets appeared around to protect him. The oil lamp swayed gently, illuminating various parts and instruments placed everywhere in the dim laboratory.
Nothing had a trace of being moved. The red-haired boy frowned, “Strange… it feels strange, I can’t tell what’s wrong.”
“Where is the problem?” The boy scanned the laboratory several times but found nothing unusual. But the warning signs in his heart kept reminding him that something was wrong.
After a long time, the tense red-haired boy let out a long sigh and repeatedly told himself in his heart that there was no problem. He suppressed the warning signs. He then dispersed the puppets around him and turned around. He crouched down to transform the puppet again. But he had squatted just halfway when he was dumbfounded.
He raised his head and looked forward. In front of him, there was a laboratory wall, illuminated by the oil lamp. Then, he looked back. The oil lamp behind was still burning quietly. He took a deep breath and moved his gaze down.
There was no shadow below him! Only at this moment did he realize why he was feeling strange. There were so many parts in the laboratory but they all had one thing in common—even under the oil lamp’s light, they had no shadow.
At this time, a shadow spread from the red-haired boy’s back to his nape. It turned into a pair of hands and grabbed his neck.
