Short-lasting Peace [Part-65]
Minato sighed as his thoughts went back to the moments of peace and happiness. Don't get him wrong, he was thrilled to be able to live with his son, godson and his student but there were times he couldn't help but feel as though how different things would've been if he hadn't been the one to survive.
He remembered the first time Kushina had dragged him off to Ichiraku, and Teuchi had asked if they were on a date to which they both had turned as red as Kushina's hair. He remembered Saki and Mikoto laughing at him and Kushina when they both had the idea to make a surprise party for each other. After the war, the village, his home, his family and his friends had been at peace. Even if they could never forget the horrors of what they saw they were still happy with each other.
"Dad?"-Naruto
He snapped out of his thoughts as he looked at his bright son who looked at him worriedly.
*Pay attention to people that care. Who are always there. Who want better for you. They're your people.*
He was proud of Naruto for having manifested his Uzumaki kekkai genkai, he was able to sense emotions just like Uzumaki Mito, and Kushina would've been so proud of him if she were here.
"I'll be fine Naruto, I'm just reminiscing the past."-Minato
His face held a soft smile as his son hugged him once before going to train with Sasuke and Sakura. The Uchiha child's emotions were still concerning but he was doing much better than Minato thought.
"Hokage-sama, we've received reports of Orochimaru's snake summons being spotted around the village borders."-Genma
Minato nodded as easily slipped in the role of Hokage once again. He had a feeling he knew who exactly Orochimaru would want from the village, and he would die before he just sat there and let it happen.
And although he still had a lot to do, like figuring out why the two tails chakra was spotted at the most random of places and why Danzo always seemed to be on guard whenever Minato spotted him, he would still make sure to set his priorities straight. He had already made his children suffer so much, he wouldn't let them suffer anymore.
"Hokage-sama, the merchants have sent the paperwork again."-Genma
Unfortunately he would have to suffer from paperwork while protecting his children.
--- --- --- --- ---
Veronica smiled a bit when she received reports from her shadow clones. Makino's death had put her off the radar of the Akatsuki. And Matatabi was already causing chaos with her own fire clones.
She had to admit that it was quite fun watching Kumogakure go crazy over the appearances of Matatabi's chakra all over the land of lightning. Matatabi had even made an 'appearance' near the Kage's building in Kumo.
She walked around and inspected the place she would be staying at for about an year or two. Her plan had changed from going to Suna to taking care of two kids. But she would still somehow manage to do what she set out to.
The main building of the old and abandoned place had a wide dome like area, which was where Matatabi had rested mostly, and that was the place which was destroyed the most.
There were a lot of different rooms, mostly located in the small building in the corner which she guessed were from the time the main, powerful, clans had just been built and chose to stay near the tailed beasts. As Matatabi had explained, a lot of the grandchildren of Asura and Indra had stayed with the tailed beast for some time for guidance as the beasts had been revered by them as siblings of their great- something grandparents.
Although the whole area needed to be restored and rebuilt completely, it wouldn't be too hard to to finish it within 4 to 5 months. Until then they had the building with the many rooms to use, and they were only 3 children so they wouldn't need that much space.
She hummed as she listened to the quiet whispers of the children and the noises of the animals. It was quite peaceful. It had been a while since her mind was... At peace. A small smile lit her face as she gazed around the temple once again. Perhaps, this wouldn't be so bad.
The children were nice, and seemed to be growing on her even though she didn't want anything of the sort to happen, and there was no one here who would be going around killing her, playing mind games with her or torturing her for fun. She felt as though she should be able to relax here.
She sucked in a deep breath as she felt Matatabi's clone pop nearby.
[There was a ninja nearby. He seems to be following our scent.]-Matatabi
Matatabi sounded much too amused by this situation.
She really didn't like people disrupting her peace. She hardly ever got to feel so relaxed and now she may have to possibly fight again. Even if she chose to be a ninja, it didn't mean that she liked to kill and fight. She chose to be strong to protect herself.
'Just, put on the barriers again. I do not want deal with whatever this.'
[... No, I think I'd like to see what happens next.]-Matatabi
Slowly standing up, she started to search for a place the children could hide in for now. Finding two rooms, fairly close to each other, she began cleaning them out with her shadow clones. Although all of the temple's walls were protected with a layer of chakra, a lot of them had still fallen apart and rubble needed to be cleared out.
'I'll need a lot of supplies to fix these. And a lot of supplies means I'll need a lot of money to buy them.'
Even if she could survive on her own, she had two children to take care of. And she needed to take care of and get them to be at least familiar with a lot of things like how they could handle money, how to avoid scammers, how to scam people off their money, how to get rid of pesky ninjas and a lot more things they would need to know.
And there was also the fact that she couldn't just raise them in a temple, which had almost turned into a forest, and expect them to be comfortable when they stepped out of the normal world. And although they both were smart, they were still children. Too inexperienced and too trusting.
Her eyes changed again as her thoughts briefly wandered to Tobirama.
'I should get to work now.'
--- --- --- --- ---
Nita woke up and couldn't help but feel as though something was going to go wrong that day.
Obito, or rather Tobi, had annoyed him endlessly and Deidara had taken full advantage of his bad mood to piss him off even more. Even Sasori, who apparently didn't feel emotions, had made some snide remarks and although he gained some satisfaction when he saw Sasori being mad because of Deidara, he still would get his revenge on him later.
Itachi, who was the only calm person in the whole base also smirked at his misery.
"OI!!! WHY THE **** WOULD SOMEONE LEAVE THEIR ******* RING OVER ON A TABLE WHICH GETS BROKEN EVERY HOUR?!!!"-Nita
All in all, he made sure that every one of them had the worst missions possible for a whole week.