Afternoon.
Shinji stood with the members of the Hyuga clan on Konoha's main road, waiting alongside all the villagers.
People lined both sides of the street. Villagers had spontaneously hung banners with slogans like "Welcome Home, Heroes."
Children who didn't understand the situation tried to run into the center of the street but were firmly held back by their parents.
A group of ninja academy students stood in the middle of the road, each holding flower bouquets, their little faces tense as their teachers comforted them nearby.
The environment was somewhat noisy. Shinji could hear commotion, some quiet sobbing, and more laughter and cheers, as if everyone was happy about the victory in the war.
After waiting for a long time, they finally heard a ninja at the village gate shout in the distance.
"They're back! They're back!"
The band that had been prepared began playing immediately, their music festive and high-spirited.
But the music was ordered to stop after just a few seconds, puzzling many villagers.
A procession passed through Konoha's main gate. Leading it was not the Third Hokage, but a cart covered with black cloth.
Then came another cart. Someone stretched their neck to look toward the distance outside the village and saw a long, seemingly endless line of carts, each carrying numerous bodies covered with black cloth.
The entire street fell deathly silent, though the previously suppressed sobbing now became distinctly clear.
Some people rushed out from the sides of the street like madmen, throwing themselves at the procession to search for their loved ones.
The procession continued forward, approaching the children holding flower bouquets.
These ninja academy students had originally planned to present flowers to the Hokage. Even the person in charge of arranging this event hadn't expected that the first to enter the village would be the bodies of the fallen.
The teacher hurried forward to call the children back, not wanting them to block the heroes' path.
But one small boy voluntarily walked up to a cart and placed his bouquet on a body covered with black cloth.
Seeing this, two other children spontaneously followed his example.
Sunflowers, lilies, chrysanthemums, and carnations.
Victory, homeland, gratitude.
The ninjas driving the carts silently stopped, waiting for the children to finish placing their flowers.
This gesture brought tears to the eyes of nearby villagers. Crying spread uncontrollably, and sorrow diffused like ink spreading through water.
Only after all the carts had entered the village did they see the Third Hokage following behind with many Konoha ninjas.
But their faces were heavy with grief, many were wounded, making them look as if they were returning from defeat.
Konoha had won, but the price of victory was too devastating.
"Lord Hokage!" someone shouted from the crowd.
"Lord Hokage!"
"Lord Hokage!"
More voices joined in as everyone looked eagerly at the Third Hokage, hoping to hear him say something.
Hiruzen stopped, watching the procession moving farther away, then looked at the expectant faces around him.
The weather today was very clear, without a cloud in sight.
"Everyone!" Hiruzen took a deep breath and called out loudly.
"We are victorious!"
With these words, the emotions throughout the street ignited instantly. Overwhelming cheers erupted, some people danced with joy, others screamed like madmen, and some covered their faces and sobbed loudly. The atmosphere reached its peak in that moment.
Shinji saw Orochimaru and Minato behind the Third Hokage.
Seemingly sensing Shinji's gaze, Orochimaru glanced in his direction with an indecipherable look.
"They're back! They're back!"
Shinji heard Ayari's excited voice beside him as she spotted Hiashi among the procession.
Ayano also couldn't contain her excitement, while Hizashi's expression was somewhat complex.
Hiashi and other Hyuga clan members in the procession waved toward Shinji's position, but there were too few of them.
Shinji remembered that nearly the entire Hyuga clan had gone to the front lines, over a hundred people, but now only twenty or thirty remained.
"Shinji." Shinji heard Natsu's voice beside him.
"Have you seen Iruha?"
Shinji froze momentarily, his gaze scanning all the Hyuga clan members in the procession.
He turned to look at Natsu and saw her eyes were red, her lips pressed together in silence.
In Shinji's mind appeared the image of that straightforward, cheerful boy who had specifically come to say goodbye before leaving.
Though Shinji didn't consider their relationship particularly close, perhaps influenced by the emotions of those around him, he now felt a tightness in his chest.
After the entire procession had entered the village, supply wagons brought up the rear.
The crowd left the street and followed the Hokage to the plaza below the Hokage Tower, where the Third Hokage would address the villagers.
The Hyuga family members all went there too, but Shinji quietly slipped away alone.
He didn't go home, nor did he know where he wanted to go.
All the streets were empty.
He wandered aimlessly by himself and finally sat down on a bench by the roadside.
Suddenly, cheers erupted from the villagers in the distance, clearly audible even from far away. Perhaps the Hokage had said something inspiring at the plaza.
Shinji lay alone on the bench, quietly looking at the sky.
After some time, the horizon turned slightly red, and Shinji heard footsteps in the distance. It seemed the crowd was dispersing.
"Lying like that shows poor manners."
A voice suddenly sounded beside him.
Hearing this, Shinji immediately sat up. He recognized the person speaking, Kakashi Hatake, the one who had rescued him at the front lines.
"Sorry," Shinji moved over, making room for Kakashi on half of the bench.
Kakashi seemed somewhat tired.
After sitting down, he took out his water bottle and turned his face away to drink.
Shinji glanced over and saw that Kakashi had pulled down his mask to drink, but before he could get a clear look at his profile, Kakashi had pulled the mask back up.
"Why are you here?" Shinji asked after some consideration.
"Things wrapped up over there," Kakashi said flatly, sitting on the bench with nothing else to do, just leaning there with his gaze fixed on the distance.
Shinji was curious why Kakashi had specifically come to this bench.
He showed no intention of talking, and if he wanted to rest, wouldn't going home be better?
Neither of them spoke again.
They sat together for a while until Kakashi got up and left without a word of farewell.
Shortly after Kakashi left, as Shinji was about to leave, another familiar figure walked toward him.
It was Rin.
"Shinji?" Rin seemed quite surprised to see him.
"Rin."
Shinji's informal address, calling her directly by name without honorifics, surprised Rin even more.
She thought their relationship wasn't that close.
"What a coincidence."
"Yes," Rin smiled.
"What brings you here?" Shinji asked.
"Nothing really, just wanted to sit here for a while."
Sit for a while... Shinji looked at the bench beside him.
"Does this place have some special meaning?"
"Huh?"
"Kakashi was just here too."
Rin paused upon hearing this, then murmured to herself, "So he came already."
Then, noticing Shinji watching her, she hesitated before saying, "...A friend of mine used to like coming here."
Shinji nodded. "I see. I won't disturb you then."
Rin wanted to say he wasn't disturbing her; she felt it would be rude to make someone leave because of something like this.
But Shinji continued, "I was about to leave anyway."
They said goodbye.
Shinji thought there would probably be many people visiting the Memorial Stone today, which must be why these two had come here.
When he was some distance away, he looked back. Rin sat alone on the bench, the evening sunlight falling on her shoulders, her solitary shadow stretching long across the ground.