The home of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Asuma still refuses to come out?"
Wearing his Hokage robes and looking nothing like the old man from the original timeline, Hiruzen Sarutobi—still in his prime—took a slow puff from his pipe and asked in a calm voice.
"I don't know what's wrong with him. The moment he came home today, he locked himself in his room. He won't eat, and he won't come out either."
His wife, Biwako Sarutobi, sighed helplessly.
"I see. I'll go take a look."
Fatigue showed clearly on Hiruzen's face. He had just returned from the Hokage Tower after finishing his work for the day.
As both the Third Hokage and Asuma's father, he had already received a report from the Chunin teacher of the elite class as soon as today's lessons ended.
Inside Asuma's room—
"D-Damn it… how could I…?"
Asuma had buried himself completely under the blanket, his body trembling nonstop, terror filling his eyes.
His mind replayed the events in the classroom again and again.
The moment Youyu's gaze locked onto him, it had felt as though a demon had targeted him.
There had been nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
And then—
Though he still didn't understand what had happened, that sense of death had been so real that even now, remembering it made his whole body shake.
Knock. Knock.
The sound of knocking made Asuma's body jerk violently. Sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.
"W-Who is it?!"
He sounded like a startled rabbit, even his voice becoming thin and sharp.
"Asuma, it's me."
Hearing his father's voice, Asuma slowly calmed down.
Click.
"F-Father…"
The moment he saw Hiruzen's face, relief washed over him.
But that relief was quickly replaced by shame, and he lowered his head.
Normally, Asuma was rebellious to a fault.
But right now, he actually felt too ashamed to face his father.
As the son of the Third Hokage, Asuma hated when people looked at him through that title.
But at the same time, deep down, that身份 had given him pride.
Yet against Youyu, someone born to no great clan, he hadn't even had the courage to face him properly.
Youyu's blade had never even left the sheath, and Asuma had already collapsed in terror.
He had completely disgraced himself in front of everyone.
As a boy born into one of Konoha's great families, Asuma found that impossible to accept.
"Asuma, why won't you come eat?"
Hiruzen, who was usually rather strict with his son, softened visibly when he saw the panic in Asuma's eyes.
He asked the question gently.
"F-Father, I…"
Asuma stammered, unable to explain properly.
The more he tried to remember, the deeper the fear in his eyes became.
"Come. Sit down and tell me slowly."
Hiruzen placed a hand lightly on Asuma's shoulder and gave it a reassuring pat.
"Mm…"
For once, the rebellious Asuma obediently sat down.
Under Hiruzen's calm guidance, he gradually steadied himself and began recounting what had happened in class that day.
"…Haa. Youyu, huh?"
Hiruzen slowly exhaled a ring of smoke, and a complicated look entered his eyes.
It was a look full of memory… and sorrow.
After a while, he hid that expression again and began comforting Asuma.
Who was Hiruzen Sarutobi?
He was the Third Hokage.
While his strength might not compare evenly to some of the other Hokage, when it came to politics and leadership, he was arguably the best of them all.
His "Will of Fire" rhetoric alone had inspired and manipulated generations of Konoha's youth.
After just a few words, Asuma's spirit slowly began to recover.
But the fear buried deep in his heart?
That would not disappear so easily.
"Go eat now. Don't make your mother worry."
Though Asuma looked better on the surface, Hiruzen could still see the lingering fear hidden deep in his son's eyes.
He let out a silent sigh.
"…Okay."
Thinking of his mother, Asuma nodded and slowly walked out of the room.
Then Hiruzen moved to the window and looked up at the dark night sky, his expression deeply complicated.
"Yuuto… you really left behind quite a son."
His expression held traces of remembrance, relief… and grief.
Saiki Yuuto had once been one of Hiruzen's most capable subordinates.
An elite Jonin, and one of the best Konoha had to offer even in the current era.
Hiruzen had admired him greatly.
Even the name "Youyu" had been personally chosen by Hiruzen.
But unfortunately, during a secret mission, a mistake in Hiruzen's judgment had led to Yuuto's death.
At the time, Youyu's mother had still been pregnant.
When she heard the news, the grief had been too much.
She suffered severe bleeding during childbirth.
Not long after giving birth to Youyu, she died as well.
And so Youyu, the son of an elite Jonin, had become an orphan.
Because of that, Hiruzen had always felt a deep sense of guilt toward him.
That was why he had been quietly watching over Youyu's growth all this time.
When he first discovered Youyu had started drinking, he had even disguised himself with a transformation jutsu to try and warn him off it.
Unfortunately, it hadn't worked at all.
But later, Hiruzen found that Youyu's constitution was extraordinarily unusual.
Alcohol didn't harm his body in the slightest.
If anything, it actually helped increase his chakra.
So in the end, Hiruzen had stopped interfering with his drinking.
That was also the reason Youyu had been allowed into the Academy in the first place.
Otherwise, the drinking alone would have been enough to disqualify him from enrollment.
And when Youyu had severely injured a teacher back then, it had been Hiruzen who quietly suppressed the matter.
That was the only reason Youyu had come through it unpunished.
"Yuuto… if you could see Youyu now, would you feel pride… or something else?"
Hiruzen silently smoked, staring into the dark sky for a long time without speaking.
…
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