"Hagoromo?"
Why did Hagoromo push things to such an extreme? Why was Hagoromo able to push things to such an extreme?
Kushina's reaction at this very moment was the reason and the value behind everything Hagoromo had done. Humans are inherently selfish; there is no such thing as acting without a reason or cause.
This is the very meaning of one person's existence to another.
Hagoromo's current appearance was neither fully human nor ghost, but Kushina could tell at a single glance that the person in front of her was him.
Besides her, could anyone else do that? No.
"As expected, I still get to see you one last time."
Kushina and Minato were sitting together, leaning against each other. Behind them was a wooden altar.
"Kushina, can you stand up?"
Perhaps there was a moment of silence, or perhaps Hagoromo spoke this sentence directly.
In his current state, he couldn't touch her. The more "solid" or "strong" an existence was, the fewer Lines of Death it had.
Through the fragmented vision of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Hagoromo couldn't see Kushina's appearance clearly at all.
She looked like a tangled ball of bright red threads.
He couldn't freely control these eyes yet, so he couldn't touch her.
So... what could Hagoromo say? What should Hagoromo say? What was Hagoromo allowed to say?
He didn't know.
"I'm sorry, Kushina. If only I could use medical ninjutsu..."
Kushina smiled. She probably smiled exactly the way she always did, but Hagoromo could only imagine what her smile looked like.
"Hagoromo, you should know this. A Jinchuriki who has had their Tailed Beast extracted is beyond the scope of what medical ninjutsu can heal. So... this is my end."
Did Hagoromo not know?
He wished he didn't. But knowing is knowing, and knowing with crystal clarity is exactly that.
"Your eyes?"
"These? Just a new jutsu..."
"Your face?"
"It will recover soon enough..."
"Is that so? That's good... You know, although I've never said it before, I always actually thought you looked a bit like a girl. But whatever it was, it's still much better than what you look like now."
"Yeah, I feel the same way."
"So... did you run into a powerful enemy?"
Kushina struggled immensely to raise her right hand. Hagoromo didn't know what she intended to do, but he still leaned down.
She wanted to help him pull out the black receiver still pierced through his left shoulder, a place he couldn't reach with his single good hand.
However, she couldn't do it anymore. She simply didn't have that kind of strength left.
"Just an average opponent. I took care of them easily."
Hagoromo wanted to return her smile, but even though he could precisely control every neural signal in his body, he couldn't force his facial muscles to lift the corners of his mouth even a fraction of a millimeter.
A person cannot defy their own will; what cannot be done, simply cannot be done.
"Is that so? That's good."
Given Hagoromo's current state and injuries, his enemy couldn't possibly have been an "average opponent." But to Kushina, Hagoromo was still alive, and so that was good enough.
"Hagoromo... when I first met you, you said there was something you wanted. What was it?"
"What I wanted... I've already found."
As he spoke, Hagoromo's gaze passed over the top of Kushina's head.
Kushina could sense it. Although Hagoromo didn't want to bring up the term "terminal lucidity"—that final, fleeting burst of life before death—that was exactly the state she was in right now.
So she smiled again, her tone even carrying a hint of mischief and disbelief, just like the girl he had first met.
"So you're saying you've always wanted a little boy or a little girl... Hagoromo, I never thought you were a dangerous person in that sense..."
To express a matter in words is to impart. When one person imparts a matter to another, it is called telling.
"If I had to say it, what I probably wanted was someone of my own kind."
"Not a companion, just someone of your own kind would do, Hagoromo...?"
Although Hagoromo looked no different from an ordinary person on the outside, he was actually different from everyone else. The closer one got to him, the more one could perceive this sense of detachment and incongruity.
After all, no matter how you put it, he was an "otherworlder," an "alien," an "esper," and in a certain sense, a "person from the future."
So Kushina's surprise faded. She could know Hagoromo's situation, she could understand it, and she could feel sorrow for it.
"Hagoromo... the world these new eyes see now, and will see in the future... what kind of world will it be?"
This was the question Kushina wanted to ask, rather than the origin of the eyes. To her, that was no longer important.
"...That refreshing breeze of Ihatov, the blue sky that appears cold even in summer, the city of Morioka adorned with beautiful forests, the outskirts with meadows shimmering with verdant brilliance... Then, I will search for familiar landscapes while recalling the tranquil Ihatov of that year..."
"Spouting nonsense again. Is it another one of your references? But... this is fine."
Kushina often didn't understand the words Hagoromo spoke, but she was crystal clear on the meaning behind them, which is why she said this was fine.
No matter what, Kamishiro Hagoromo's story would continue on.
"Hagoromo, what kind of world is the afterlife?"
"In your case, Kushina, you'll probably meet a god..."
"A god... I feel like he'd be an old man like the Third Hokage."
"No... if I had to guess, he'd be more of a pervert like Jiraiya."
"Hah, a god, but also a pervert?"
"Yeah... So Kushina, make sure you never leave Minato's side."
"Is that so... Come to think of it, this cherry blossom forest was where I first met Minato. It's a pity that it's summer right now."
The "met" Kushina spoke of was, naturally, that fateful meeting.
"From now on, every spring... I'll come here."
"Hagoromo, live on... Hagoromo, I'm leaving the rest to you..."
Leaving what to him? Hagoromo naturally knew.
Perhaps it was precisely to say this one sentence that Kushina had managed to hold on until now.
"I know."
So he only said that he knew.
Kushina's lips curved into a smile, but her voice was already imperceptible.
"Kushina, did you know?"
"There are thousands of beautiful colors in this world... but my life, will probably return to being as deep and dark as the abyss."
Hagoromo's gaze turned to the cherry blossom forest. In reality, only a tiny patch remained undestroyed by the battle.
To express feelings in words is to impart. When one person imparts certain feelings to another, it is called a confession. However, Hagoromo was exactly this kind of person: he absolutely wouldn't say things that shouldn't be said, even if there was no one left to hear them.
In some aspects, he only liked Kushina—it would never be less than that, nor should it ever be more than that. But the meaning of one person's existence to another goes far beyond that; it was the most insignificant part of the relationship between Hagoromo and Kushina.
"Did you know, Kushina..."
"There are regrets, and there is happiness. This is what we call life."
"It's a pity that my wish ultimately cannot continue."
"If it were spring, this place would probably be very beautiful. But that is last year's scenery... Even though we are so happy, humans are still so lonely."
We are born as a matter of course, and we die as a matter of course. Humanity is just that lonely.
Fate dictates a person's birth; fate dictates a person's death; fate gives a person a new life; fate makes people meet; fate gives a person hope; fate gives a person despair.
"My story will continue on from here, but..."
Kamishiro Hagoromo's story would continue on from here, but...
"So..."
To express departure in words is to impart. When one person imparts the intent to leave to another, it is called a farewell.
"So, Goodbye..."
"Sensei."
And so...
Uzumaki Kushina was gone forever.
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