As people gradually grow old, they become less and less fond of change. They always hope everything will continue along the paths they are familiar with. Stability is what gives them a sense of security.
In contrast, most young people long for change, because only through change can they feel the meaning of their own existence. Only through change do they have the opportunity to realize their ideas and gain the sense of achievement that comes from reshaping the world.
This is human nature. For those in positions of power, it is especially important.
Early in the morning, Minato stood atop the Hokage Building, somewhat lost in thought as he gazed at the familiar Konohagakure. The quiet, restrained figure before the village was utterly different from the Yellow Flash who had slaughtered enemies across the battlefield.
The war had already ended several months ago. Iwagakure signed the peace agreement at the end of last year, but Kumogakure still refused to admit defeat, stubbornly holding out and unwilling to negotiate.
As for Kirigakure, they were still "happily playing" with Sunagakure. However, according to intelligence reports, the intensity of the fighting had already decreased significantly, and the upper echelons of both sides seemed to have begun secret contact.
Only, Kirigakure had no communication whatsoever with Konohagakure. And the people of Konoha did not expect that group of lunatics to follow the usual rules. Peace agreements might have a slight binding force over the four great shinobi villages on the continent, but for Kirigakure, they were truly no different from toilet paper.
Konoha was still that same Konoha, gradually beginning to recover its former prosperity.
Aside from a few familiar faces that would never be seen again, Minato felt that, compared to before, Konoha had basically not changed much.
It seemed that, apart from having a newly appointed Hokage and one more stone-carved head added to the Hokage Rock, even the number of newly emerging buildings was very small.
Perhaps this was a good thing. Yet Minato always felt that the meaning of his own existence was somewhat vague.
All the major policy directions were still operating according to the rules of the Third's era. Because of his respect for the previous Hokage, as well as their teacher–student relationship, he could not be overly forceful. He could only strive little by little for greater say in matters, starting from the details.
...
Time flowed like water. In the blink of an eye, it was March.
Inside the ANBU base, after the three members of Makoto's team finished their preparations, they left silently to carry out a brand-new mission.
The direction in which they were heading was not the Hokage Building, but… the Fourth's home.
The entire month of February had felt like an internship period for new ANBU recruits. They only needed to work half a day, and could arrange the other half freely.
But now, that kind of benefit was gone. They had been promoted to office workers who left early and returned late.
At present, Genma's team was responsible for guarding Minato, while Makoto's team was tasked with protecting Kushina.
In addition, with another ANBU squad led by Kakashi, the three teams rotated with one another. The workload was not heavy, and each team had sufficient rest time.
Minato had fought for this from Hiruzen's hands, because Kushina did not like those old ANBU.
As for Danzō's people, she liked them even less. As a surviving remnant of the Uzumaki clan and the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, this onee-san's sensory ability was naturally not weak. The faint, intermittent malice from those ROOT bastards made her feel disgusted.
But Minato had no way around it. He could not command Danzō; the man always brushed him off with "Everything is for Konoha." What could he do?
So, after considering his wife's feelings, he persuaded the Third and had his own Hokage Guard take over the original ANBU's work. At the very least, Kushina liked these juniors a great deal.
Outside Minato's residence, after Makoto's three-man team arrived, they carried out a brief handoff with Kakashi's squad. Afterward, each of them slipped into the shadows, maintaining their attention on Kushina.
Nearby, Makoto sensed that two other accompanying squads were also changing shifts in secret. The chakra on them carried a gloomy aura.
No need to guess—those people were definitely ROOT ninja.
For the moment, everyone kept the peace, each carrying out their own mission; at the same time, they were also watching and guarding against one another.
The ROOT ninja did not trust this group of newly arrived brats, and Makoto's three-man team did not like those ROOT bastards either. Even though they were ninja of the same village, because of so-called differences in ideology, there was basically no damn comradely affection between them.
If their missions conflicted, neither side would hold back when they started cutting each other down—they would all fight to kill.
Inside the house, after Kushina finished breakfast and did the housework, she took out a stack of documents and began working. Partway through, she seemed to run into a difficulty. As she thought, she scratched her beautiful red hair into a chicken's nest.
Aside from her identity as a jinchūriki, Kushina, as a fūinjutsu master of the Uzumaki clan, naturally had work in Konoha.
She belonged to Konoha's Sealing Barrier Team, only she did not need to clock in at the sealing department to work. The sealing team would send over the difficult problems they encountered and let her solve them at home.
Working from home, with generous pay, living quite comfortably without needing a man to support her—properly a new-era independent woman.
After graduating, Kushina had also joined a normal squad and, under a jōnin's leadership, carried out quite a few missions.
But at some point, perhaps from before the Third War—after Minato, through countless missions, had carved out the Yellow Flash's reputation—she never went out again. She stayed within Konohagakure, and took up a position in the Sealing Team.
Besides her normal salary, solving Konoha's sealing barrier problems would also be converted into missions, ranging from B-rank to S-rank.
This was her life as Konoha's jinchūriki. Compared to the jinchūriki of other shinobi villages, her situation was still considered not bad. Other than not being able to casually leave Konoha right now, she did not run into any problems in daily life.
Because among Konoha's ordinary people, including mid- and low-level ninja, there were truly very few who knew her identity as the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
Unlike her poor son, who was regarded by everyone as the incarnation of a demon fox and met with the entire village's cold stares.
...
At around 10 a.m., a big orange cat appeared in everyone's field of view.
The other party's eyes were lively—clearly not those of an ordinary house pet. It was a ninja cat with intelligence.
But no one stopped it.
Before taking on this mission, Kakashi had introduced Kushina's social circle to the six members of the Hokage Guard. This was the Uchiha clan's messenger cat, the summoning partner of Uchiha Mikoto. It often came by.
As everyone knew, the two had a good relationship—basically close best friends.
The Nine-Tails' jinchūriki just so happened to have a close Uchiha friend. One had to wonder whether Konoha's F4 had nightmares at night.
Of ten orange cats, nine are fat—and the tenth is fat enough to collapse the bed.
But because ninja cats train their chakra and exercise a great deal, there are generally no fat ones among them.
Unfortunately, this one was an exception. Perhaps because Mikoto had retired from her ninja post and become a clan housewife, her summoning cat had followed suit and begun living a leisurely life. It had grown round like a ball, its belly nearly dragging on the ground.
Like a grand old lord, it ignored the gazes watching it from around, swaggered into Minato's house, chatted with Kushina for a few sentences, obtained a packet of its beloved dried small fish, and left satisfied.
If only that woman wouldn't use so much force every time she stroked it, that would have been even more perfect.
Makoto sensed that a ROOT ninja had quietly followed behind the ninja cat, only returning to his post some time later.
They were not targeting the ninja cat; they were confirming intelligence and recording it in the files. This was part of ROOT's routine duties—every contact between the jinchūriki and members of the Uchiha had to be documented.
Makoto and the others did not need to do that. Whoever Kushina chose to associate with was her own business.
At around eleven o'clock, after finishing her work, Kushina began preparing lunch.
But the ingredients she prepared today seemed to be a bit too much—more than enough for two people.
The problem was, there was no intelligence indicating that the Fourth's household would be receiving guests today.
The answer was revealed very quickly.
As soon as the noon break arrived, it was not long before Minato flashed into existence at the front door and knocked properly before entering.
Although Kushina was accustomed to her husband's flashing in and out, in order to make this warm little home appear normal, she had strictly required Minato to use the front door when returning—otherwise, no food for him.
Once all the dishes had been placed on the dining table, Kushina accurately waved toward several directions—that was where Makoto's three-man team was positioned.
Oh, as expected, the extra ingredients had been prepared for them.
From the shadows, Hayate made hand signs to ask: Captain, what do we do? Kakashi-senpai didn't say there would be something like this.
What else could they do? Of course they would go eat.
Makoto returned a hand signal. The three of them emerged from the shadows and entered Minato's house.
As for the ROOT ninja, let them gnaw on dry rations.
The ROOT ninja remained silent, cursing inwardly that these ANBU brats were unprofessional. Sure enough, Konoha's safety could only rely on them—only on Danzō-sama.
Someone took out a small notebook and fiercely recorded the situation.
Bastards—daring to get so close to the protected mission target. Tomorrow, Danzō-sama would hold you accountable. Just wait to be removed from your posts, brats.
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