"People's lives don't end when they die, it ends when they lose faith."
— Itachi Uchiha, Naruto Shippuden
--
But when Konoha reinforcements arrived, led by Hiruzen himself, the scene that met their eyes was horrifying. The battlefield was silent except for the crackle of dying flames and the hiss of settling dust.
Hikari's squad had been annihilated. The earth was blackened, soaked with blood, the bodies of comrades strewn across the soil where they had fallen fighting to their last breath. And at the very center lay Hikari.
Hiruzen found her there, among her fallen squad, comrades who had fought until their very last breath. His heart stopped when he saw her chest, a hollow cavity where her heart should have been.
Her breaths were shallow, ragged, fleeting. Still, she lived. Still, she clung. Hiruzen dropped to his knees beside her, grasping her cold hand in both of his. His voice trembled as he leaned closer.
"Hikari… don't you dare close your eyes. Tsunade is coming, do you hear me? You're not going to die. You'll live. Just hold on."
But even as the words left his lips, Hiruzen knew they were lies, desperate words meant for comfort, not truth. He could feel her body growing colder and colder with each passing moment.
Beside them, the newborn twins, the children she had brought into this cruel world only hours ago, fought their own fragile battles. The medics struggled desperately, some tending to the infants, others kneeling in the blood-soaked dirt to save Hikari.
Hikari's breath rattled, blood staining the corners of her lips. Yet, despite the agony, a faint, tired smile touched her face as her gaze shifted past Hiruzen, toward the two tiny forms in the arms of the medical corps.
She whispered, her voice barely audible.
"The names… remember them… Otis… and…" her lips trembled, the rest lost in a whisper that Hiruzen strained to catch.
"Don't speak," Hiruzen urged, his grip tightening, though his voice cracked. "Save your strength. The medics will—"
Her tears streamed down, her chest rising and falling unevenly as she gasped for air. Her voice broke, words spilling out between sobs.
"I… I don't want to die…!"
Her weak fingers trembled as they tightened around Hiruzen's hand.
"I-I can't… I can't leave them—" her voice cracked, eyes darting toward the infants, "—not like this… not alone."
Her body shuddered, her breaths shallow. She cried harder, the sound raw and jagged.
"I want to see them grow up…!"
A sob tore out of her throat.
"I want to see them laugh… to walk… to be strong…"
The medical-nin were working desperately, their chakra glowing faintly in the dusk as they struggled to stabilize Hikari.
Her eyes locked on Hiruzen's, desperate, pleading.
"P-Please, Jiji… help me… don't let them grow up without me… please…"
Her voice trailed off into a scream that broke apart into nothing but hoarse gasps. Each word became quieter and quieter and quieter, until her lips barely formed the sound
"MY BAbies"
"AAaaaaaaaaaaaa"
"…my babies…"
"my …."
Hiruzen's tears blurred everything. He squeezed her hand tighter, as if sheer will could hold her here, as if his grip alone could chain her soul to her body. But her strength was fading. Her grip loosened as she lost all of her strength and her voice was gone.
And silence consumed the battlefield.
Hiruzen bowed his head, his forehead brushing against the back of her blood-stained hand.
"Forgive me, Hikari… forgive me for not being here sooner."
Her eyes fluttered once more, that faint smile never leaving her face as she looked at her children for the last time. And then… her hand went still in his grasp.
The Hokage did not move. For a long, heavy silence, he simply knelt there among the dead, holding the hand of his daughter he could not save, while the cries of two newborn children pierced the ruin of the battlefield.
Then, he gently closed her eyes, still fixed toward her children.
Every Konoha shinobi present bowed their heads. No one moved. No one spoke. They could only stand there as the life of one of Konoha's strongest shinobi was extinguished before their eyes.
By the time Tsunade arrived, Hikari had already taken her last breath. Hikari's chest no longer rose, her warmth already fading. The Sannin dropped to her knees beside her fallen friend, tears streaking her face, but there was no time to grieve. The two newborns were still clinging to life. Her healing chakra poured into the infants, who lay swaddled nearby, their tiny chests rising and falling weakly. Both were injured—both fading.
Tsunade's tears dripped onto their fragile skin as she worked.
"Please, please hold on…" she whispered to the infants, desperation leaking into her voice. She poured everything she had into her jutsu.
Even then, fate was cruel. One baby's heartbeat slowed and faded, his tiny hand slipping from his brother's. He died before her eyes, and Tsunade's teeth clenched as she fought to save the other. His heart had been damaged beyond natural repair, but the death of his brother offered one terrible choice—a transplant, the only hope.
When it was over, Tsunade's hands fell still. The surviving baby's chest rose shakily, his brother's heart now beating within him. The other lay silent, wrapped in bloodstained cloth.
Tsunade cradled the lone surviving infant, tears dripping onto his tiny face.
"I'm sorry… I couldn't save her. I couldn't save them both."
Tsunade's shoulders shook. She had lost a friend. She had lost a child. But at least one life remained.
And Hiruzen, kneeling in the blood, closed his eyes as grief and failure weighed on him heavier than the war itself. His eyes were empty, yet wet with tears. He had witnessed many horrors of war, but this would haunt him forever: the day Hikari died begging to see her children grow, and the day only one survived to carry her legacy.
***
Hikari was buried in the morning. Hiruzen stood before her grave. Around him, the shinobi of Konoha stood in silence, their heads bowed.
Tsunade stood at the edge, her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles had turned white. She did not cry this time—she had no tears left. She had wept them dry, trying to save Hikari, trying to save her children. She had failed her friend. She had failed her child.
Mikoto and Kushina were also there, but neither spoke a single word.
Hiruzen placed a hand on Tsunade's shoulder. His voice was soft, but heavy with responsibility.
"Tsunade… Hikari entrusted you with her children. She wanted you to watch over them if she ever… if she ever couldn't."
For a long moment, Tsunade didn't speak. The silence stretched between them. At last, she turned her face away, shame and grief etched into her features.
"I-I can't, Sensei," she whispered. "I couldn't even save her. I-I couldn't save one of her children. Don't ask me to raise the one who survived. I couldn't even save my brother… or her child. Don't ask me to fail her other child too."
Hiruzen could see it in her eyes—she was shattered, drowning in grief that no duty could anchor. He didn't press her further. He simply nodded, silently accepting the truth. He could not blame her. If he was being honest, she was in no state to carry such a burden.
"…I will look after him then," Hiruzen said quietly. "If you cannot, then I will."
Tsunade's eyes lingered on the small, swaddled infant, on the boy who carried both his mother's blood and his brother's heart. For a moment, she wanted to reach out, but her hands remained at her sides. Without another word, she turned and walked away.
Tsunade kept her distance, watching Otis only from afar, afraid that any step closer might bring a curse upon him. When the war finally ended, she quietly left the village, unable to confront the shadows and memories that clung to every street of Konoha.
Hiruzen knew the pain of losing a child, and he could not imagine the torment of failing to save one—first her brother, now...
And so it fell to him. Even if Tsunade would not, he would watch over Otis. For Hikari's sake.
--
(Pic)
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(A/N)
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