And so, while all factions prepared their own hidden cards and backup plans, silently waiting for the right moment to arrive, time slipped away through more than ten sunrises and sunsets.
Then, on a bright, sunny noon, Kushina Uzumaki, who was preparing lunch, suddenly clutched her heavily swollen belly. On her face, which had gradually gained a different kind of maternal softness due to the life growing inside her, an expression appeared that mixed pain and joy.
A new life was about to come into this world.
The several Anbu who had taken over Kakashi Hatake's duty of watching over Kushina immediately noticed the situation and responded swiftly.
Among them, the female Anbu selected specifically for this moment, who possessed a certain level of medical ninjutsu, appeared and stabilized Kushina Uzumaki's condition in time. The other Anbu rushed in different directions, bringing the news that the Fourth Hokage's wife was about to give birth to every Konoha higher-up paying attention to this matter.
After Hiruzen Sarutobi and the Hokage advisors received the news, they immediately began preparing to move the Jinchuriki outside the village for delivery.
To ensure the Jinchuriki's safety during childbirth, Hiruzen Sarutobi specially had his own wife serve as the midwife for Kushina Uzumaki this time. At the same time, he also included the last few experts he had taken over from Root into this security team, making what he considered thorough defensive preparations.
When Minato Namikaze received the news in the Hokage's office, he first shared his joy with Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, and the others who teased and congratulated him with smiles.
Then he temporarily transferred his work to Shikaku Nara to handle in his place, and impatiently rushed toward the Namikaze residence.
"Although he is already quite a mature and reliable Hokage, Minato is still a young man after all. He threw down his work and ran home in such a hurry. Honestly… do I look like such a convenient tool?"
Watching Minato Namikaze vanish in the blink of an eye, Shikaku Nara, who had temporarily been entrusted with heavy responsibility, first shook his head helplessly. Then he lit a cigarette while complaining to Inoichi Yamanaka, who happened to be in the Hokage's office and had witnessed the scene as well.
"There is no helping it. Kushina's identity is a little special. Minato cannot afford not to care."
Inoichi Yamanaka did not think there was anything wrong with Minato doing this.
"Although the Uzumaki clan's power has great advantages when controlling Tailed Beasts, the weakening of chakra during childbirth is still very dangerous… If the Nine-Tails goes berserk by accident, it may directly cause consequences even more terrible than the previous Third Shinobi World War."
"After all, this is Konoha's main village…"
Shikaku Nara slowly exhaled a breath of smoke. Restless, he looked at the blue sky above them, brilliant, sunny, and cloudless, yet somehow unable to put his heart at ease.
"Sigh. I do not know whether it is my imagination, but even though the Uchiha clan has not been causing much trouble outside recently, I still have this strange premonition that Konoha is being threatened by invisible undercurrents."
"It is probably the lingering aftereffect from that attack launched by the 'Root' organization against Konoha."
Inoichi Yamanaka also lit a cigarette and sighed.
"Large-scale war has clearly already ended, but the scars caused by war and the seeds of hatred it planted have begun slowly sprouting… Creating a peaceful era where Ino and the others can grow up safely is truly not easy."
"Who says otherwise?"
Shikaku Nara took a fierce drag from his cigarette in agreement. Then he pressed the remaining third of the cigarette into the ashtray on the desk and, rarely showing some motivation, said, "Still, overcoming difficulties where the children cannot see is originally something adults should do… Inoichi, do you mind accompanying me in doing some useless work? Let us temporarily create a plan based on the assumption that the Nine-Tails might go berserk, one that can mobilize most of the jonin staying in the village if something happens."
"…You make it sound so easy, you bastard."
Yamanaka Inoichi was stunned for a moment. Then he punched Shikaku Nara lightly in irritation.
"Do you know how much intelligence this will require, and how much energy it will consume? And with Minato, Lord Third, and Lord Jiraiya in the village, there is an extremely high chance this plan will end up being useless work. When you made this request, did you not feel it was a little too much?"
"Then what is your answer?"
"…The Ino-Shika-Cho have always advanced and retreated together. I will be an idiot with you this once."
…
On the other side, Jiraiya also received the intelligence delivered by Anbu directly under Minato Namikaze.
"It has finally come to this moment."
The white-haired middle-aged hero put away the playful, unruly expression on his face and let out a long breath.
Then he turned and disappeared from his room. With several consecutive Body Flickers, he appeared inside an open tavern. In an inconspicuous booth, he found Tsunade, who was sulking alone and drowning her frustration in alcohol because she had lost money gambling.
"…Drinking like this in broad daylight? Do not tell me you already gambled away all the deposit I gave you."
"It was only the reward for one or two S-rank missions. For a guy like you, that should only be a drop in the bucket, right?"
A slightly drunk Tsunade lifted her head from the table and stretched lazily without any regard for appearances.
Along with the sound of fabric being stretched close to tearing, Jiraiya's gaze was uncontrollably dragged toward those elastic spheres with tremendous gravitational force. He stared blankly at that breathtaking miracle for a while before violently shaking his head, waking himself from his indecent thoughts and beginning to speak about the serious matter that had brought him here.
"Tsunade, according to what we agreed on earlier, if nothing happens today, I will hand over the remaining payment besides the deposit to you. But if the thing I guessed unfortunately does happen, I hope you can summon as many clones of Lady Katsuyu as possible and have them protect the injured villagers… If it is only that, it should not trigger your hemophobia, right?"
"You really do trust this useless old woman, Jiraiya."
Tsunade showed her old friend an ugly smile.
"I can, more or less, share part of Lady Katsuyu's vision, you know? Maybe I will see injured people covered in blood and become so frightened that I cannot even maintain chakra output. Even so, you still want to place your trust in me?"
"Because the only friend I can trust who can also help is you, Tsunade."
Jiraiya scratched his head and spoke with half embarrassment, half awkwardness.
"Nagato is not a Konoha shinobi, after all, and he also has the transformation of the Akatsuki organization to keep him busy. Orochimaru has already left the village and vanished for a long time. Even if I did meet him, I probably could not get him to help. As for the other people I know who have this level of strength, they are either hostile to Konoha in terms of position, or they are someone like Rei Kaguya, where no one knows what he would do if he seized the opportunity…"
"So I became the person you only thought of asking for help after picking and choosing from so many candidates?"
Tsunade swirled the cup in her hand and met Jiraiya's gaze with an unreadable expression.
"Do you know what kind of result your stupid way of speaking will bring, Jiraiya?"
"If beating me up can help you perk up even a little, uh, then come on. I am prepared."
Jiraiya hesitated for a moment, then puffed out his chest. While putting on a fearless expression, he spoke in a somewhat ingratiating tone.
"But after you vent your anger, Tsunade, could you more or less treat me a little? That way, if something really happens, I can still participate as combat strength."
Tsunade took a deep breath, so angry that the chest of her loose clothes seemed to make a tearing sound from the strain.
Then she raised her fist and smashed it toward Jiraiya's face, which had already taken on a tragic expression all on its own. With a sharp wind, she roared at him in frustration.
"You idiot!"
"Gwah—"
Jiraiya spun as he flew backward, crashing into the tavern wall with a bang. Then he slowly slid down the wall, which had only gained a negligible little crack, and collapsed onto the floor like a puddle of mud, not getting up again.
"Huff, huff, huff…"
Tsunade, who had very carefully controlled her strength and avoided collapsing the entire tavern, sat back down in her seat angrily. Looking at Jiraiya lying on the floor like mud, her expression became slightly dejected as she muttered quietly to herself.
"To you, is Konoha truly so important that you are not even willing to say one pleasant word to coax me?"
"Because… Konoha… is… our… hometown… and memories."
The white puddle of mud on the floor struggled and gave off muffled bubbles, speaking in broken words.
"If Konoha… is protected… then no matter when… you become tired, Tsunade… there will still be… a hometown… you can return to… right?"
"But I am standing in front of you right now."
Tsunade changed her posture, resting her cheek on one hand. Looking down from above, she stared tightly at the white puddle of mud on the floor with a pair of red eyes Jiraiya had not seen on her in a very long time. Her voice trembled slightly as she questioned him.
"Even when the time has already come to speak directly from the heart, are you still going to keep twisting around and running away like this, Jiraiya!?"
"…I do not dare say it."
"Was the atmosphere just now created for you to run away!?"
"S-Sorry…"
Jiraiya, sprawled on the ground, shrank his head. He looked even more like a hopeless puddle of mud.
"Listen carefully, Jiraiya."
Tsunade took a deep breath and spoke word by word to the useless man on the floor, the one so disappointing that she could not help wanting to grind her teeth.
"I will give you one more chance. One chance to reorganize your words and properly explain the reason you came to bring me back to help, without the slightest falsehood… Say it loudly and clearly. Say it until I hear it. Do you understand?
"If you dare to speak nonsense again and dodge the point…
"I… I will move to the Land of Water and settle there. I will never have anything to do with you Konoha idiots again for the rest of my life!"
Join my Patreon to read public release chapters and get 1 chapter ahead for free. Paid members can read more advanced chapters.
Continue reading here
patreon.com/Inkveil_