"It will rain soon, so you may get soaked in water..." - Hiruzen

Eiji looked briefly at Hiruzen before returning his gaze towards the grave: "I don't really hate rain...anyway if you came here to cheer me up, you don't have to worry. I think I can keep my emotions in check enough to not do something braindead."

"Hmm, in truth I didn't come here to cheer you up. I just wanted to tell you something Hayate told me not so long ago when he nominated you for the chunin exams." - he paused there recalling that memory.

After a while, he formed a smile and continued: "He told me that the thing he was most proud of you isn't your kenjutsu talents or your efficiency in your training, but that you are just a good guy."

"Good guy?" - Eiji looked at him puzzled.

Sure Eiji wasn't evil or anything, but he never considered himself to be good.

In his eyes, he was just neutral.

When Hiruzen saw Eiji's unconvinced gaze, he started to laugh heartily: "HAHAHA...I also asked him what he meant by that, so Hayate explained: You aren't someone who tries to change the world or achieve world peace or anything like that. You are just looking out for yourself and your loved ones and if they are safe that's enough for you to be happy. You see, the ones who try to change the world for the better, are often the most troublemakers. How many people have to die before you can achieve your peace? After you achieved your goal, how can you be sure that you aren't a villain in the eyes of someone else, who will try to bring justice to you? That's why it was his wish, that you would continue to be a good guy."

"PFFF HAHAHA...did you go senile or something old man? Well, Hayate-sensei said sometimes cheesy things like that..."

Eiji continued to laugh, while Hiruzen watched him with a fatherly smile.

After Eiji's laughter continued to subside, Hiruzen walked towards the lunch-boxes and started to eat.

"Your mother's cooking is really great...especially the way she prepared the rice..."

"Actually it's not my mother's, it's Tenten's. But yeah, she really did improve greatly...I still remember how I almost died when she first started to cook. I had to skip classes, so she couldn't force me to eat that abomination."

"HAHAHA...it looked like you had a great time at the academy. Can you tell me more funny stuff from your time at the academy?"

Somehow Hiruzen's cheerful vibe unknowingly affected Eiji, so he started to talk and the hours flew by.

At some point, Konohamaru came here looking for Hiruzen and scolding him that he waited for hours.

"Sorry, looks like I have to leave already. I made my dear grandson waiting."

Hiruzen waved while starting to leave with Konohamaru.

'Didn't come to cheer me up to my ass!... Well, it kinda worked though, I certainly feel better...'

Eiji watched them leaving: Konohamaru was telling Hiruzen something energetically while pulling on his sleeve, while Hiruzen laughed heartily.

'But you and Hayate-sensei are wrong about one thing...I was actually an ass, not a good guy. I tried to save Hayate-sensei while ignoring others thinking how they are supposed to die and how I shouldn't change things too much. I guess I unconsciously still thought of people as characters instead of as actually living humans with real feelings. If I have future knowledge and the possibility of saving people, don't I have at least the responsibility of at least trying to save as many as I can?'

Seeing how Konohamaru and Hiruzen walked away happily, Eiji started to realize that he would miss Hiruzen if he died.

He now had a new goal: save the old man!

Anko was currently devouring a huge amount of Dango at Konoha's Dango shop.

Finally, her role at the Chunin exams were over and she could relax.

For her, the time at the exams felt way longer than they actually were.

So much stuff happened there: she ran into Orochimaru and fought him, some Konoha shinobis were found dead, but most importantly she always unlucky ran into the same annoying kid!

When she remembered this boy, Anko's face turned sour and she started to devour the Dango at a faster pace.

The humiliation she experienced because of him, was unthinkable.

'At least I don't have to see his annoying face again! And in the future when I somehow end up on the same mission with him, I will just change the mission!!'

Feeling better after cheering herself up, she ordered happily more Dango.

'Haaa, what a bliss...Dango and nothing to worry about...'

She closed her eyes out of satisfaction from eating to the fullest, she was currently as happy as she could be.

"Jo, what's up, Anko? What a coincidence meeting you here, you remember that you promised me that you would return me a favor?"

"..."

CrusadeAgainstFurries

Missed writing the interactions between Eiji and Anko. Anyway, the next chapter will be the start of Ryuchi Cave. I don't plan on using too many chapters for that, but some things will be really important for the story to come, so I hope I won't rush things too much.