It was over.
...
"Who said you could graduate?!"
"Do you have any idea how dangerous the battlefield is?"
"One Nawaki is already enough to keep me up at night—now you want me to worry about the both of you?!"
As soon as Yukika stepped back onto Senju Clan grounds, a blur of motion surged toward him like the wind. In the courtyard, a figure darted forward, immediately starting to check Yukika from head to toe for injuries.
Her face, though seemingly filled with anger, carried deep concern and care.
Tsunade.
She was back.
From that first reaction alone, anyone else might've thought she was about to beat him senseless.
But Yukika understood. She was simply worried. Maybe she had heard who was overseeing the test—Orochimaru—and feared he'd go too far. Or maybe… it was the war.
"Sis, why are you back?" Nawaki, who had returned alongside Yukika, asked curiously. "Weren't you helping with command coordination on the front lines?"
With Jiraiya and Orochimaru both back in the village, Hatake Sakumo already felt shorthanded. If Tsunade returned too—
"I snuck back. That old man is losing it. If Jiraiya and Orochimaru can come back, why can't I?" Tsunade said calmly.
Yep, that's our Tsunade.
Nawaki rolled his eyes.
"And you! What were you trying to prove by graduating? If you weren't going to graduate, then just don't! Why push yourself like that?"
She glared at Yukika, frustration spilling from her every word.
These two little brothers—one was more trouble than the other. Couldn't they give her a break?
In times of war, not graduating early was a good thing!
She had seen first-hand what those newly graduated genin would be sent off to do.
Cannon fodder.
Sacrificial pawns of war.
Yukika didn't bother to explain. He simply leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Tsunade, resting his head against her and closing his eyes.
"I'm tired, Tsunade-nee."
Some things… just weren't meant to be said to her right now. Saying them would only worry her.
Starting tomorrow, he would convene the Senju Clan's council.
He would officially become the clan leader of the Senju.
There was still so much to do.
These past two weeks of intense training had worn him down.
Right now, all he wanted was to enjoy the warmth only family could give.
Even if Yukika knew that warmth wouldn't last forever.
But it was enough.
That warmth reminded Yukika that everything he had done was worth it.
And it gave him the strength to stand tall, to hold up a new sky for those he cared about.