Soon, with Asuma knocked to the ground, Kakuzu freed up his hands and—without even glancing at the other three Konoha shinobis—began stitching Hidan's head back onto his body.
His needle and thread weaved through Hidan's neck, movements as practiced as an old tailor mending clothes, not even lifting an eyelid.
Hidan's head was pressed against the ground, eyes wide and round, mouth opening and closing as he muttered something, but Kakuzu didn't care to listen.
"Your fights and your complaining seem to go on forever. Just like your ceremonies," Kakuzu complained. "Take care of the one with the bounty on his head."
Hearing that, Hidan adjusted to his recovering body and then turned his head to look at the fallen Asuma.
"I'll pay him back in spades," Hidan readily agreed with Kakuzu's arrangement.
"Because it wouldn't do to violate the commandment."
"That again? Well, never mind. I'll handle the other three."
With that, Kakuzu charged toward Izumo and the others, quickly engaging them in combat.
"Well now, Kakuzu seems to be finishing up pretty soon."
"I should get started too. Otherwise, I'll soon be hearing about how my ceremonies "go on forever"."
As he spoke, Hidan lifted his foot and slowly walked toward Asuma's prone body.
When he got close to Asuma's seemingly lifeless "corpse," he slowly raised his long blade, it's sharp tip glinting in the sunlight.
Then—"So long!"
But just as Hidan bid him farewell and was about to make the killing blow, Asuma, who had been playing dead on the ground, suddenly lunged upward.
At some point, he had already coated his Chakra Blades with Wind Release Chakra, aiming for Hidan's throat—
Unfortunately, Hidan, who was already on guard, dodged instantly. Then under Shikamaru's pained gaze, Hidan swung his scythe around Asuma and drove it straight toward his back.
"Asuma!!" Shikamaru roared.
Puchi—!!
The sound of the blade piercing flesh rang out.
Thanks to Shikamaru's warning, Asuma had avoided the strike to his back.
But—
He stumbled and collapsed to the ground anyway.
Only then did the viewers across the various timelines realized; Hidan had somehow already positioned himself within the ritual circle again.
Under Asuma's disbelieving gaze, blood slowly spilled from his mouth as he slumped to his knees on the ground.
[Sarutobi Asuma thus makes his exit. And his five dying wishes influenced his disciples deeply.]
[Among them, his expectation for Ino was to take good care of her teammates and not lose to Sakura in Ninjutsu or romance; for Choji, he hoped he would be more confident and lose weight; for Shikamaru, he believed he could become Hokage.]
[Speaking of which, the first two seemed simpler, yet they weren't really achieved. In the end, Ino's Ninjutsu lagged far behind Sakura's, and as for her husband—not to mention it—it was the difference between a bootleg and the original.]
[Choji did become confident, but he didn't really succeed in losing weight. The only one who actually achieved the goal was Shikamaru becoming Hokage, which one has to admit is a bit of a cold joke.]
[Of course, he also entrusted Shikamaru with protecting Kurenai and the unborn child. And Shikamaru did a great job with this; Sarutobi Mirai even became Naruto's Hokage guard. The only strange thing is that his daughter really looks too much like Uchiha Shisui; which is quite bizarre.]
[Finally, as a veteran smoker, Asuma was unable to finish his last cigarette, which must be considered quite a regret.]
---
[Konoha, Year 60. Team 10's location]
The image on the Sky Screen slowly froze on Asuma kneeling to the ground, blood dripping from his mouth and staining the earth. The three young members of Team 10 stood frozen, as if nailed to the spot.
Asuma himself was the first to break the silence.
He took a final drag from his nearly finished cigarette, then fished another from his pocket, lit it, took a deep puff, and exhaled a ring of smoke.
"That's right—I'd definitely regret that," he said with a light laugh to his three students.
Ino's eyes reddened again, desperately trying to keep her tears from falling. Choji was more direct, tears streaming down his face, while Shikamaru remained expressionless, hands shoved in his pockets, suppressing his emotions with effort.
Asuma's gaze swept over them one by one as he said seriously, "Ino, you've got to work hard… you can't really lose to Sakura, you know. It's fine if you fall behind a little in ninjutsu, but don't lose in love."
Ino's tears finally spilled over, and she turned her head away, her voice choking, "Asuma-sensei, you're still making jokes…"
"This isn't a joke, though." Asuma flicked ash from his cigarette, his tone unusually serious. "I mean it."
He then turned to look at Chōji: "And you really need to work on losing weight… otherwise, how are you going to get married?"
Chōji sniffled and nodded vigorously: "I-I'll do it!"
Asuma sized him up, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth, "You've got the confidence, as for the weight... keep at it. You'd look great if you slimmed down."
Finally, he looked at Shikamaru and gave a helpless smile. "Shikamaru, you'll definitely be fine… way better than me—you even became Hokage."
Shikamaru opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but found his throat terribly dry.
"Don't make those faces…" Asuma reached out and ruffled Ino's hair, patted Chōji's shoulder, and then crouched in front of Shikamaru to meet his eyes. "Even if that fate comes true, my will is passed on, isn't it?"
He paused, a hint of tenderness flickering in his eyes. "Sarutobi Mirai… my daughter… that's wonderful, isn't it?"
Asuma then glanced at the image of himself kneeling on the screen and smiled. "Not being able to finish that last cigarette is really a shame, though. But as long as I've smoked enough while I'm alive, that's what matters."
---
[Hokage Office]
Hiruzen sat in his chair, pipe in hand, his eyes fixed on the fallen figure on the screen.
Asuma… his troublesome youngest son—and the only child he had left.
"Asuma was always stubborn as a kid. Tell him not to do something, and he'd go and do it anyway—like smoking. I told him not to, and he did anyway." He paused. "But… it looks like he didn't disgrace himself in the end."
Tsunade said softly, "Old man, the screen is showing the future. We can still change it."
Hiruzen nodded. "I know. But hearing about 'Mirai'… I'm still happy."
Just then, an image flashed across the screen: a young female kunoichi with short hair, a sharp, heroic face, and piercing eyes.
And there was indeed something in her features that faintly resembled Uchiha Shisui.
Hiruzen was stunned for a moment, then he laughed: "She really does look like him."
*****
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