"Minato! Minato!"
Hearing Kushina call from the living room, Namikaze Minato poked his head out of the kitchen—one hand gripping a frying pan, the other holding a spatula still dripping oil.
"I'm here."
"Minato, look! A bunch of Uchiha shinobi sent us wedding messages today."
Kushina flipped through the camcorder in her hands, unable to suppress the bright smile on her face as she watched the recorded blessings.Though… the Uchihas' smiles did look strangely stiff, like someone just off-camera was threatening them into it.
Probably exactly what happened.
A faint wave of cooking smoke drifted in. Kushina sniffed and looked up—Minato had somehow wandered to her side without her noticing, still holding a dangerously oily spatula.
"Hey! Careful! The sofa is new."
"Ah—sorry!"
Minato sprinted back into the kitchen, dropped the apron and spatula, then returned to sit beside her. Together they watched blessing after blessing—villagers, merchants, shinobi from allied clans, and even foreign-nin from villages that hadn't yet signed treaties.
Even the Cloud Nin sent one.Kumo. The same Kumo that was still picking fights on the border.
Konoha diplomacy was wild sometimes.
"Minato…"
Kushina leaned against him, one arm around his shoulder while the other gently rubbed her growing belly.
"When I talked to Mikoto the other day, she said the Uchiha clan is getting harder to manage. There's more internal conflict… and during their last clan meeting, someone even suggested the clan head divorce his wife and chase the Senju clan head."
Minato blinked.
Fugaku? Divorce?Why?
He asked exactly that.
Kushina sighed and set the camcorder down.
"It's all because of that stupid Hokage seat. Ever since Mikoto married Fugaku, the clan keeps dragging them into 'glory of the past' speeches. Things like… 'When the village was founded, the First Hokage told Madara he'd make the Second Hokage Uchiha.' Or how the Second told Kagami he'd inherit the Third. Or how the Third once told Fugaku he'd be a Hokage candidate if he held the line during the war."
Kushina shook her head.
"As Hokage, village stability is your responsibility. And the Uchiha are still the First Clan of Konoha…"
Minato's eyes widened.
She couldn't mean—She wasn't asking him to—
Matchmake Tsunade?
He instantly pictured Jiraiya being punched into a hospital wall by Tsunade, healed, then punched back into the wall for good measure.
"No. Absolutely not. Tsunade-sama would kill Jiraiya-sensei."
"???"
Kushina stared at him like he'd sprouted extra heads.
"I'm talking about clan conflict, and you're thinking about that?!"
"Idiot!"
She climbed onto his lap, grabbed his collar, and shook him like a misbehaving genin.
"Why don't you just transfer that troublemaking Uchiha out of their clan meetings?! If he can't attend, he can't spread his nonsense!"
"Transfer him where—?"
Seeing Kushina's hair beginning to rise like angry red chakra flames, Minato instantly surrendered.
"Okay, okay! Since some ANBU want to return to regular service, there'll be vacancies soon. In a while, ANBU will invite some elite shinobi to join."
"And right now? What about right now?!"
"R-right now…"
Minato rubbed her back with one hand, rubbing his chin with the other as he thought.
"There's a batch of Academy students applying for early graduation. If the Uchiha shinobi you're talking about is mentally stable enough, we could assign him as a temporary instructor."
"That's more like it."
Kushina scrolled through the camcorder until she found the clip she wanted and pointed at it.
"Him. Uchiha Tobika. Jonin. All-rounder. Apparently he already had jonin-level strength back when he was just a chunin."
Minato leaned closer, saw the familiar face, and froze.
"Ah… him."
His expression darkened.
Kushina nudged him anxiously. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not exactly…"
Minato slowly explained, recalling both battlefield reports and ANBU files.
"His situation is a bit like Tsunade-sama's. A combat medic—one of the extremely rare ones who mastered medical ninjutsu without sacrificing battle capability. But during the Third War, all his comrades died. His medical ninjutsu could sense their fading life force… but couldn't save a single one."
Kushina's breath caught.
She hadn't fought in the war, but she'd lived through its grief. Every household in Konoha had worn white at some point.
"He abandoned medical ninjutsu afterward," Minato finished softly. "He hasn't used it since."
"…I see."
Kushina bit her lip. The cheerful wedding mood suddenly felt too fragile.
Minato kissed her forehead and smiled.
"Don't worry. Tomorrow, I'll assign him to a squad."
Meanwhile…
I sat alone in my empty house, staring at the bare walls.
Cat Granny was a demon.When I bought gear, she gave me a 10 percent discount.When I sold it all back, she gave me… 70 percent value.
I lost a third of my entire net worth doing absolutely nothing.
I spat out a chicken bone onto the floor, glared at the fat orange cat sleeping on the table, and nudged it with my foot.
"Wake up. Delivery job."
The cat stretched lazily, then looked down at the envelope tied to its waist.Its whole body froze.
It checked the recipient, looked up at me, and sighed with deeply human resignation.
"I don't want to deliver letters to widows. It's unlucky. And the Senju were your clan's sworn enemies, weren't they?"
"Spit."
I clicked my tongue toward the Senju district.
"The clan is extinct, and the only survivor is a woman. What feud is there left? When they were alive, we argued. When they're dead, mocking them is pointless."
The cat opened the letter and read aloud:
"To the Clan Head of the Forest Senju — Senju Tsunade.With the Third Great Ninja War nearing its end, the shinobi world has a rare moment of peace. Temporary as it is, as clan head of the Uchiha, I wish to discuss the future of our two clans and the future of the village and the shinobi world.—Uchiha Fugaku"
A slip of paper fell out.
The cat picked it up—and yelped.
"Tobika! You're rich?! Why is there a ten-thousand-ryō bill inside?!"
"If I don't bribe her, Tsunade will never reply."
The cat narrowed its eyes.
"What's your goal?"
I flicked its forehead.
"My goal is to stay alive. Fighting equals danger. If I can solve problems peacefully, I will. Now get moving."
The cat muttered something obscene but jumped out the window anyway.
I exhaled.
Safe life. Stable life.
That was all I wanted.