The sunlight lazily stretched across the grass as the children of Konoha Orphanage played and laughed under the care of their caregivers.
Though Kabuto had left just two days prior, children being children, they quickly regained their lively and playful nature. The sound of laughter and joy soon filled the orphanage once more.
Nono leaned against the window of her office, watching the children play outside, a gentle smile gracing her lips.
How she wished this moment could last forever.
"Director, are you really leaving?" A senior female caregiver approached from behind, clutching the hem of her apron, her face filled with worry.
That night, when Danzo had come, she had been there as the director's assistant.
"Yunai, after I leave, I'll be counting on you to take care of the children." Nono turned around with a perfectly composed smile.
The caregiver named Yunai sighed: "After all the effort it took to build the orphanage into what it is today…"
Much of the orphanage's funding came from Nono's own efforts… her mission rewards, as well as the earnings she, Urushi, and Kabuto had made by providing medical aid to Ninjas on the front lines.
After all, for Ninjas like them, aside from completing missions, there weren't many other ways to earn money.
Nono smiled reassuringly at Yunai: "Don't worry, it's only for two or three years. I'll be back before you know it."
"And... I'll find a way to bring Kabuto back too." Nono's thoughts lingered on that bright child.
After Yunai left, Nono turned back to the window, gazing at the children playing outside.
The sunlight bathed her face, as warm as her smile.
Suddenly, Nono noticed a lone child sitting under a distant tree, leaning against the trunk, holding something in his hands.
"Menma?" Nono had deep affection for this particular child. For some reason, as her departure drew near, she couldn't shake a faint sense of unease.
She climbed out through the window and slowly made her way toward Menma.
Under the shade of the tree, Menma's solitary figure stood in stark contrast to the lively, playing children in the distance.
"Menma, come join the game!" A caregiver called out to him, hands on her hips.
"I don't want to play." Menma replied flatly and continued to fiddle with the object in his hands.
The caregiver sighed in resignation after repeated rejections, 'There was simply no getting through to this child.'
She decided to let him be, as long as he didn't disappear from her sight.
Nono quietly approached Menma and finally got a clear look at what he was holding… a small, dark-red fox figure. However, the fox's head seemed wrapped in some kind of cloth, wearing a fox mask.
"Menma, you like this kind of doll? Have you given it a name?" Nono didn't press about where the doll had come from. It wasn't unusual for the orphanage to receive donations from villagers, including broken toys that the caregivers would often repair.
"Yeah." Menma held up the little fox with both hands, showing it to his foster mother, Nono.
He answered seriously, "The Nine Masked Beast… Tennyo."
Nono blinked in surprise at the strange doll. Its four paws were black, the tip of its tail was black, and its head was wrapped in what looked like cloth, with a white fox mask bearing the character for [Jewel].
Nono assumed the caregivers had stitched it together from two different dolls, so she didn't bother probing it with Chakra.
"Well then," Nono crouched down and asked Menma gently, "Do you have a dream, Menma?"
As her departure neared, she realized she knew the least about this youngest child of hers. She had never even heard him speak of any dreams.
"Dream?" Menma tucked the Nine Masked Beast away and lowered his head in thought.
In the past, he had wanted to return to the real world.
To achieve that, he did not hesitate to provoke the Fourth Great Ninja War, bringing pain to the Limited Tsukuyomi World in hopes of being rejected by it.
Now that he had returned… only to find himself a person who didn't exist in the original world.
If there was any pressure weighing on him, it might have been the oppressive presence looming from the sky above.
With the Black Nine-Tails sealed within him and now the development of the [Nine Masked Beast: Tennyo], he possessed a summoning beast rivaling an Elite Jonin. Ordinary Kage-level Ninja were no longer threats.
Only Madara, Nagato at his peak, and Itachi could still pose some threat to him.
Then there is Otsutsuki Kaguya, who is sealed in the moon.
And the Otsutsuki Clan that might descend upon them in twenty years.
Menma raised his head and looked at Nono, then he said seriously: "I want a peaceful world without war."
Only without war could the Ninja World unite its strength and progress.
In other words, to Menma, earthly conflicts were no longer enough… the true enemy awaited beyond the sky!
"A peaceful world without war..." Nono murmured.
She had thought Kabuto the most mature among the children, but now realized Menma might surpass even him.
…
Late that night, Nono finished packing her belongings and bid farewell to the caregivers who had worked alongside her for years.
They are all kind-hearted women. Some of them are also war orphans, while others are those with families in Konoha who volunteered their time.
But they all held deep respect for Konoha Orphanage's Director, Yakushi Nono.
Under their watchful eyes, she slipped out the orphanage's side door. Passing the children's dormitory, she glanced through the window at their sleeping faces.
Then vanished into the night.
No one knew when she might return.
What Nono didn't notice was that high above the orphanage, suspended in the starry sky, Menma floated silently, watching her departure.
A white, three-eyed fox mask covered his face.
Beside him hovered a female summoning beast clad in a long robe, also wearing a fox mask. She cradled the little Nine-Tails in her arms, drifting soundlessly as her ribbons rippled like waves in the night wind.
This was the [Nine Masked Beast: Tennyo], a technique Menma had developed using the Black Nine-Tails' Chakra.
Capable of flight, she fought using her flowing ribbons.
As Menma's signature technique, the Nine Masked Beasts could only be manifested with the Black Nine-Tails' Chakra.
The code names of the Nine Masked Beasts are arranged in the order of [Azure, White, Vermilion, Black, Void, South, North, Three, Jewel].
They corresponded to: [Seiryu, Byakko, Suzaku, Genbu, Kinja, Nanto Sennin, Hokuto Sennin, Shinigami, and Tennyo]. (T/N: It's actually their Kanji that has the same character as their codenames. The meaning of their names are: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Golden Snake, Southern Sage, Northern Sage, Death God, and Celestial Maiden.)
Their naming followed a pattern similar to the Akatsuki's arrangement, with each possessing unique abilities. Individually, their combat prowess rivaled Elite Jonin, but when fighting together, they could unleash power comparable to a Kage.
"It's time for me to move as well." Menma's whisper dissolved into the night wind.
Once Nono had completely disappeared into the darkness, he turned and flew toward Konoha's towering gates.