When people got old, their memories usually blurred at the edges.
Mito Uzumaki clearly wasn't in that category.
As a sealing master, she seemed able to preserve her memories the way you'd seal something away, fresh and intact, keeping every little detail of the people she'd cared about tucked safely in her mind.
Maybe that was how she fought off the Nine-Tails' constant erosion, too. A weapon of the spirit.
So when Hiruzen Sarutobi slid his question in at just the right moment, Mito's mind snapped back to a certain white-haired man who shall remain unnamed.
Back then, Tobirama Senju had always circled around questions like this, trying to pry answers out of her the same way.
And Hashirama, for his part, had always warned her not to tell Tobirama too much, or he'd end up causing trouble.
His little brother was great in every way, except his courage was way too big.
Things that sounded impossible, that felt like pure fantasy, somehow became real if Tobirama got his hands on them.
"Danzō," Mito said, voice teasing, "since when do you ask about things like this?"
Then she waved a hand, smiling wider. "No, I get it. You read your teacher's research notes, didn't you? Honestly, I've always been curious about his notebooks too."
Her eyes narrowed with amusement. "Someone like him only left traces because of research. Tell me, did he curse me out in there?"
Hiruzen put on a look like his soul had drifted halfway out the window. "Oh, of course not, Mito-sama. My teacher's notes are all about research…"
So her memory really was that sharp. He'd let his tail show, just a little.
Mito shook her head, half amused, half exasperated. "You really are Tobirama's student. Even now, you're still protecting his privacy."
Even if she demanded to see Tobirama's notes, Hiruzen's whole soft, slippery way of deflecting made it obvious he wouldn't agree.
Because research notes weren't just numbers and breakthroughs. It was normal to scribble a few complaints in the margins, too.
And on that point, the Hokage very much agreed.
Forget that he'd read Tobirama's notes at all. Even in his previous life, if his closest friends or family wanted to check his browsing history or favorites… absolutely not.
"Mito-sama, it's like this," Hiruzen said, turning sincere.
"My teacher's notes include some concepts for reconnecting severed limbs. For shinobi injured on the battlefield, that kind of technique would be priceless."
He kept his face earnest. "In the notes, I saw he got stuck on the 'materials' problem. But for some reason, he only wrote your name and didn't include where his thinking went after that."
Was it true?
It was true.
Reconstructing limb-regrowth tech had always been part of his long-term plan. It just happened to serve another purpose too.
So in Hiruzen's mind, it wasn't lying. It was simply not saying everything.
"You know," he added, leaning into his usual self-deprecation, "this monkey isn't that capable, but I've always been steady…"
This time, he was spending his own credibility.
Mito considered him for a moment, then her expression softened.
Hiruzen was no Tobirama.
He'd always been dependable, cautious to a fault, never the type to lunge forward with reckless ambition.
And lately, he'd finally shown some spine. Confidence, for once. A real kind of care toward her, too.
He'd come to apologize. He'd promised support for the Uzumaki Clan. He'd brought her Yamato. He'd even decided to set the Nine-Tails aside, at least for now.
A good kid like that had to have some sense of what he was doing.
"Honestly," Mito said with a light laugh, "I tease you twice and you take it so seriously."
She stood and went into the inner room. When she returned, she handed Hiruzen a scroll and three pendants.
"These are…?" Hiruzen asked, respectful.
"Living with that fox, I have to find things to keep myself busy," Mito said. "Some of these are little things I made myself. Some are things Hashirama left for me."
She lifted the deep green pendant in the middle and motioned for him to come closer.
"This one was Hashirama's," she said, and then, without hesitation, she placed it around Hiruzen's neck. "I'm giving it to you, monkey."
Her fingers lingered briefly as she adjusted it. "Keeping it on me all the time just makes me sad. I'd only take it out now and then to look at it."
She glanced toward the room where Yamato was. "Now I have Yamato with me. I don't need to cling to it like that anymore."
Hiruzen nodded obediently.
He wasn't expecting the necklace to have some special function. Maybe it was like the one Tsunade had, something that made the mind clear and the spirit steady.
The real value was simpler.
It was proof that Mito Uzumaki recognized him.
"And these two," Mito continued, holding up the other pendants, "I made by copying Hashirama."
Her tone turned fond, almost indulgent. "That man… most days he was an idiot. But he was incredible."
She tapped one pendant lightly. "Compressing that much Chakra into a single point inside a material, and then letting it release slowly…"
"It sounds easy when you say it," she added, smiling. "It took me years just to find a direction."
Hiruzen blinked. "Then why didn't you ask back then how Hashirama-sama did it?"
The technique behind it was valuable beyond words.
You could even say this was the bottleneck for medical scroll technology: storing medical Chakra and releasing it gradually.
Mito laughed, genuinely amused. "Ask him? He didn't understand it himself. He'd just say things like, 'I don't know, I just did it, it's not hard.'"
She shook her head. "Back then, he really made me laugh out of sheer frustration. He was an unconventional shinobi."
Hiruzen nodded hard.
A monster of pure stats who also had technique. Impossible to make sense of.
Still, he didn't rush to bring up "medical scrolls" with Mito.
Some things had to be eaten one bite at a time. Ask too much too fast, and even a kind conversation started to feel like extraction.
When the time comes, let Tsunade ask, Hiruzen decided. That'll go over better.
"You want to take money from the nobles and turn it into benefits for the village," Mito said softly. "That's good."
She pushed the two pendants toward him. "These two might help you with the daimyo. If you need to use my name for the village, don't tiptoe around it."
Then she held up the scroll.
"And this… this is a sealing technique I've been working on lately. It can form an environment that encourages different sources of Chakra to fuse together."
Her eyes dimmed slightly. "I wanted to see if it could be used on the Nine-Tails, but it's too strong. It won't take."
"But for severed limbs," she said, voice thoughtful, "it should help."
Hiruzen felt a surge of gratitude so sharp it almost hurt.
People said having an elder in the house was like having a treasure. They weren't wrong.
Even if it wasn't a finished product, even if it was only a framework and a direction, it could still bring Konoha enormous benefit.
And this village really was a giant trove.
Dig a little, and it always surprised you.
"As for techniques," Mito added, "there is a village that has something similar."
"In the Uzumaki Clan records, there's a Land of Waterfalls secret technique called Earth Grudge Fear. It creates black threads inside the body. It's very useful for conducting Chakra and stitching flesh together."
She looked off into the distance, remembering. "There was once a young man who sparred with Hashirama. He was from Takigakure."
"I heard he later assassinated the village's upper ranks and obtained that secret technique. Hashirama even felt sorry for him."
Mito sighed. "What happened after that, I don't know."
She shook her head. "I've been in this village for too long."
Hiruzen carefully put away the two pendants and the scroll as if they were priceless. He held the green pendant against his chest, then bowed deeply again.
"Mito-sama… what you've done for this monkey, and for the village, I can't put into words."
"I won't fail you," he said, voice firm. "I'll do everything I can to make the village stronger, to solve the regrets left between Senju and Uchiha, and for the Uzumaki Clan."
Mito smiled, gentle and tired in the same breath. "Just do your best, Hiruzen…"
After Hiruzen left, a faint diamond-shaped mark seemed to reappear on Mito Uzumaki's forehead.
Inside her, the Nine-Tails sensed the change. It shifted irritably, then laughed coldly to itself.
It had heard part of their conversation.
And it was furious.
Furious that Hiruzen Sarutobi dared not value its power.
What did he mean, Mito Uzumaki mattered more than it did? Stupidity beyond measure.
But at the same time, the Nine-Tails remembered him.
The way Hiruzen was willing to set it aside just so Mito could live out her remaining years in peace…
It stirred something, faint but real.
There were humans like this?
The next day.
The Hokage Building.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath, eyes sharpening.
There was still so much to do…
"Summon Orochimaru and Hiruko," the Hokage ordered.