The moment Ren finished speaking, whatever fragile restraint Naruto had been holding onto completely shattered.
He didn't just cry.
He broke.
The boy's shoulders hitched violently as a sound tore out of his chest, raw, ugly, and loud. Tears poured down his face in thick streams, splashing straight into the untouched bowl of ramen in front of him. His hands curled into the fabric of his jacket, knuckles white, as if he was trying to hold himself together and failing miserably.
It was the kind of crying that came from years of being quiet.
Years of swallowing things he didn't understand.
Years of pretending he was fine.
For the first time, someone had said it out loud. Someone had seen it. And worse, someone had promised to fix it.
Naruto bawled so hard he forgot about the ramen entirely.
That alone said everything.
The sudden noise startled the shop. Teuchi nearly dropped the ladle he was holding, and Ayame was already halfway out from the back before he could even ask what happened.
"Naruto?!" Ayame rushed forward, eyes wide. "What's wrong? What happened?"
She shot Ren a sharp look, halfway accusing, halfway panicked, as if he'd just emotionally drop-kicked the kid.
Even the ANBU watching from the shadows stirred. Two presences surfaced near the entrance, chakra tightening, instinctively reacting to Naruto's emotional spike.
Ren didn't even look at them.
He lifted a hand and waved lazily.
"Back to hiding," he muttered.
The ANBU hesitated just a fraction of a second, but Ren's authority wasn't something they could ignore, not anymore. With Yoru backing him and his work over the past year, his word carried real weight in the ANBU. The shadows rippled, and the presences vanished again as if they'd never been there.
Ayame knelt beside Naruto, trying to rub his back gently. "Hey… hey, it's okay," she said softly. "You're okay. You're safe."
Naruto just cried harder.
His face scrunched up, mouth opening wide as another wail escaped, hands coming up to cover his eyes like he could block the world out if he just tried hard enough.
Ren watched quietly for a few seconds, expression unreadable.
Then he sighed.
"Oi," Ren said flatly. "Crybaby."
Naruto didn't respond.
Ren leaned forward slightly. "If you don't stop crying," he added calmly, "I'm taking your ramen."
The effect was immediate.
Naruto froze mid-sob.
His crying didn't stop entirely, but it derailed. The loud wailing cut off into sharp hiccupping gasps. His eyes snapped open, red and swollen, and he looked down in horror at his bowl.
Then, he grabbed the ramen.
He wrapped both arms around the ramen bowl like it was a priceless treasure, pulling it tight to his chest, still sniffing violently.
"N-NO!" he choked out. "M'ramen!"
Ren burst out laughing.
It wasn't a soft chuckle either. It was a full, unrestrained laugh that echoed through the shop.
Naruto looked up, betrayed.
"You- you-!" he tried to say something threatening, but all that came out was a garbled mix of sniffles and indignation.
Ren wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, still grinning. "That's better. You sound human again."
Naruto glared at him with all the fury a six-year-old could muster, cheeks streaked with tears, nose red, ramen bowl still clutched defensively.
"Y'jerk!" Naruto slurred.
Ren tilted his head. "Aww. That's not very nice."
Before Naruto could respond, Ren casually pulled a small camera from his storage belt.
Click.
The flash went off.
Naruto stared at him in stunned silence.
"You… YOU DIDN'T!" Naruto screeched.
"Oh, I absolutely did," Ren said cheerfully, inspecting the photo. "This is going straight into my collection."
Naruto's face turned red, whether from embarrassment, rage, or both was impossible to tell.
"DESTROY IT!" he yelled, abandoning all dignity as he launched himself straight at Ren.
Naruto latched onto Ren like an angry feral cat, arms flailing, teeth snapping dangerously close to Ren's head.
"I'LL BITE YOU!" Naruto shouted, trying his best to actually do it.
Ren didn't even budge.
He grabbed Naruto by the back of his jacket mid-leap and held him out at arm's length, effortlessly suspending him in the air.
Naruto kicked wildly, hands grasping at nothing, still trying to gnaw at Ren's hair like it had personally offended him.
"LET ME GO!" Naruto screamed.
Ren laughed harder. "Wow. You're really going for the kill."
Naruto snarled something incoherent that might've been a threat if it were intelligible.
Ayame and Teuchi stood off to the side, watching the scene unfold in disbelief.
Just moments ago, the atmosphere had been heavy enough to suffocate. Now…
Ayame rubbed the back of her neck. "They were… talking about something serious, right?"
Teuchi stared at Ren dangling Naruto like an angry fish. "I think so?"
Naruto made one last heroic attempt to bite Ren's head and failed spectacularly.
That did it.
Ayame snorted.
Then Teuchi chuckled.
And finally, both of them broke into laughter.
The tension shattered completely, replaced by something warm, loud, and unmistakably alive.
Ren set Naruto back down on his stool, ruffling his hair mercilessly. Naruto huffed, still angry, still sniffing, but no longer crying.
"Eat your ramen," Ren said. "Before I actually take it."
Naruto glared at him one last time… then picked up his chopsticks.
"…Thanks," he muttered, so quietly it almost didn't count.
Ren heard it anyway.
And he smiled.
~~~
Hokage Office
The soft click of the crystal ball's lid echoed faintly through the office as Hiruzen Sarutobi set it aside on his desk. The image within faded, the chakra dispersing like mist under sunlight. A small, almost imperceptible smile lingered on his face, one that hadn't appeared there in a long, long time.
Homura Mitokado noticed it immediately.
He was seated across from the Hokage, posture relaxed but eyes sharp, the way they always were when he was thinking too much. He raised a brow and spoke dryly,
"You look unusually pleased. Don't tell me you're smiling just because your plan went exactly as intended."
Hiruzen didn't answer right away.
He stood instead, hands resting lightly on the edge of his desk before he turned and walked toward the window. Outside, the village lights glowed softly in the approaching night. The Leaf looked calm, almost deceptively so.
"No," Hiruzen said at last, voice gentle. "That's not it."
Homura watched him carefully as the Third reached the window and rested a palm against the glass.
"I saw something… nice," Hiruzen continued. "Something simple. Amidst all this tension, it was good for the soul. A bit of relief."
Homura hummed noncommittally. He didn't press, he already had a guess what the old man had been watching but he shifted the topic just as easily.
"Now that the trial is over," Homura said, "and everything has been dragged into the light, it'll be impossible for us to keep our positions for long. The people won't forget this. The Daimyo certainly won't."
Hiruzen reached into his robes and pulled out his pipe. With a casual flick of his finger, a small spark of chakra ignited the tobacco. He took a slow pull, the familiar ritual steadying his thoughts.
"What good are positions," he replied calmly, "if you can't even keep your life?" He exhaled slowly. "And if you and I hadn't done what we did today, Danzo would have spoken eventually. When that happened, the damage would have been far worse. At least now the people know truth from our perspective. That matters, for survival, and for reputation."
He paused, smoke curling lazily upward.
"And besides," he added, "you, me, Koharu… none of us were ever going to keep our seats once young Ren stepped forward. Whether now or later hardly makes a difference."
Homura stood and joined him by the window, taking the pipe from Hiruzen's hand without ceremony and taking a measured puff himself.
"He was always reluctant," Homura said. "Ren never wanted the hat. I wonder what finally changed his mind."
Hiruzen smiled faintly, eyes distant.
"Did you forget the saying," he murmured. "Whenever the village faces a true crisis… a Senju rises."
Homura exhaled a thin stream of smoke. "The Senju, huh." He shook his head slightly. "History really does like repeating itself."
Then his expression grew heavier.
"It's just a pity about Koharu," he said quietly. "You'll be remembered as the Hokage who carried the village through war after war, who even put down his closest friend for the sake of the Leaf. I'll go down as the elder who acknowledged his mistakes and tried to correct them before it was too late."
He took another drag from the pipe.
"But Koharu…" He sighed. "She'll die as a power-hungry relic. That's how history will paint her."
Hiruzen took the pipe back gently and inhaled, eyes half-lidded. "Do you remember what Sensei used to say?" he asked. "A wise shinobi knows when to advance… and when to retreat."
He glanced sideways at Homura. "You warned her. More than once. But arrogance has a way of drowning those who refuse to let go. There's nothing more we could have done."
There was a trace of regret in his voice, soft and restrained, but also acceptance. Koharu's path had been her own choice.
For a moment, the room was quiet again.
Then Homura chuckled softly. "I do wonder what everyone thought," he said, "when you suddenly showed that… spark today."
Hiruzen's lips curved upward slightly.
"If I hadn't known better," Homura continued, eyes sharp with curiosity, "I might've believed it myself. Tell me honestly, was it real? Or just a performance?"
Hiruzen took a long, thoughtful puff and exhaled slowly.
The smoke didn't drift randomly this time. It coiled, shaped by habit and chakra alike, forming the kanji for fire before dissipating into the air.
"The village was entrusted to me by Sensei," Hiruzen said quietly. "He stayed behind and died so we could live. There was never a moment I would have truly harmed the Leaf."
He closed his eyes briefly.
"But I was wrong about many things," he admitted. "I fell prey to human weakness, love, attachment… even the addiction of authority. I convinced myself I was protecting the village, when in truth I was avoiding difficult choices."
His eyes opened again, clearer now.
"As I grow closer to the end," he continued, "I've begun to understand something important. I can't take my title, my power, or my regrets with me to the Pure Land. All that will remain… is how I chose to act at the end."
He looked out over the village again.
"If those who came before me are watching, Sensei, Hashirama-Sama, Minato, my fallen comrades, then I don't want them to see a man who clung to comfort and fear."
His voice hardened slightly, resolve settling in.
"Danzo was the last stone in my path. Ending things with him myself… painful as it is… will finally allow me to move forward. Tomorrow, I will do what I should have done long ago."
He took one final pull from the pipe.
"Only then will I be ready to face them… without shame."
Homura leaned back against the wall, studying the old Hokage with new eyes. After a moment, he shook his head and let out a quiet, almost fond laugh.
"You really are strong, Hiruzen," he said sincerely. "Truly strong."
~~~~~
{My word, Hiruzen, that crafty old fox.}
{It's quite interesting writing canon characters from my perspective, like, were they like this? Would they think like this? Act like this? Such things, in my opinion are quite necessary for the fanfics, or atleast my fic, where the mc is not a cold, unfeeling block of ice, and the people around him are real too.}