Water Runs Deep

"Eiooo, say aaaahhhhh!"

A graceful woman blessed with dark and long hair spoke with a smile as she moved around a spoon in a humorous manner.

Eio, who was trying to walk on his own stopped and turned back to look at the woman who had ambushed him for the sole purpose of feeding him.

He could only open his mouth and finish his food as he tried to walk again.

'The growth of the physical body in this world is amazing. Not even a year old and already developed the limbs to support my weight.'

Eio thought as he finally succeeded in standing up.

"Aaaahhhh! Very Good, Eio!"

Asuka laughed happily as she crouched behind him and videotaped him.

His small body and cute face were completely captured. Even his embarrassing falls when trying to stand were captured by this accursed camera.

"Your father would be laughing happily, too."

Asuka smiled like a child who was offered a tasty candy. Her eyes never left her son for even a minute as she allowed him to play on his own.

'Father, huh?'

Eio thought about his previous father.

Long spiky black hair with a big and goofy smile. His kind heart won over his enemies and he trained hard enough to protect everyone around him.

'But... no matter how strong his strength was, he still succumbed to his disease.'

Eio's eyes turned daze as he remained standing on the spot while Asuka thought that her kid was trying to figure out the method of walking.

***

Rain kept pouring as the whole house fell into a gloomy silence.

Inside a room, a man could be seen laid down on the bed with his eyes closed as a middle-aged dark-haired woman squatted and hugged the man and cried her eyes out.

Much like the endless downpour, her tears never stopped.

Beside him stood a small kid with the same face as the man on the bed, but short bowl-cut hair.

"Goku... sniff ... you can't... you can't..."

The woman kept on muttering as she cried. A blue-haired woman sat beside her and hugged her from the back.

All of the people inside the room looked extremely sad.

"Dad..."

Gohan, the bowl-cut kid, had a sour nose and his eyes were red. But he tried to control his tears. After all, there were still three men who did not cry at all.

His heart felt hurt and he silently clutched his chest.

"Dad... please... wake... up!"

Gohan thought silently and his tear-filled eye looked at his wailing mother.

"Tch! We can revive him using the dragon ball! What's the problem?"

Finally, one of the hard-ass men shouted and stunned the whole crowd.

"Don't tarnish Kakarot's name with your tears. He was a warrior determined to lay his life on the line during battles. You think crying will make him honoured?"

His shouts kept getting louder. His expression was completely ugly. But nobody spoke anything.

"He defeated Frieza for God's sake! He achieved the state of the legendary Super Saiyan!"

He walked near his body and looked at Goku's peaceful expression.

"After achieving so much! You want to simply die because of a friggin disease?"

Bang

His punch pierced the walls as the cold gusts of wind entered the room alongside slight rainwater.

"ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME!!!!!"

"Vegeta, enough!"

A green skinned man with pink muscles, covered in a white turban and white cape with wide shoulder blades shouted.

"Shit!"

Another bald man with six marks on his forehead shouted and looked extremely angry.

Rumble

Thunder roared and lightning crashed as the group fell silent.

***

'Father....'

Eio repeated this word inside his heart countless time as he looked at his small feet.

'Thank you for everything. I fought and did my best to protect my friends. After all, I had already lost my family before I could even grow stronger.'

'But... I don't have any regrets anymore.'

Meanwhile, Asuka didn't disturb her cutie pie. She looked at Eio with an expectant gaze.

Step

'Let this step forward mark the moment of me being free from my past.'

Gohan looked at his left leg that had been placed forward and felt a huge burden lifted from his heart.

***

"So? This is the list of possible suspects?"

Minato looked at the towering bundle of files placed on his desk.

He was studying the recent trend of the education system to reinforce the academy and create better shinobis, but his thoughts were disrupted.

The list in front of him contained the names of all the shinobis that have gone missing during their missions and also the shinobis who have actually died outside the village.

Minato rubbed his forehead and dismissed his secretary.

"Konoha Barrier didn't detect the entry of the culprit. This clue immediately narrows down the list of suspects."

"But it is all relative. Konoha lost too much during the Third Shinobi War and any of them could actually be the culprit."

He looked at the list in front of him thoughtfully.

"But the real question is the motive!"

"Why would he wanted to snatch Kyuubi?"

"Did he simply wanted to destroy Konoha, or did he have some other plans with Kyuubi?"

Minato always felt that if he could uncover these clues, he would be able to connect the dots and discover the identity of the culprit.

"But who would hate the village so much?"

This was another question he didn't understand.

Even if someone wanted to attack the village out of revenge, they would target specific areas or clans or shinobis to take their revenge on.

If Minato followed this train of thought, he could be sure that the culprit had another objective besides hatred.... a bigger objective.

Suddenly, he frowned and felt an uncomfortable feeling inside his abdomen.

He could only smile bitterly.

"It's already that time of the month."

Minato stood up.

His left calf was already replaced by a prosthetic counterpart.

Even though it wasn't as good as the real deal, it did help him in normal movements.

He looked at the addition of the towering files and felt happy that he could actually take a break.

After all, he had a reasonable excuse.

Not that he could tell anybody.

He performed a hand seal and spoke lightly.

"Multi Shadow Clones Jutsu."

Poof

Poof

Poof

Three puffs of smoke appeared around him as three identical copies of him emerged from the smoke.

Minato didn't say anything as he simply sat on the floor with cross-legged.

Meanwhile, the three clones performed another set of hand seals and slammed on the floor.

From the point of impact, a large spiderweb seal in black fonts emerged and intersected with other seals in harmony.

If Kushina saw this level of proficiency displayed by Minato, she would have her eyes bulged out.

After all, Kushina prided herself over the fact that her natural talent in sealing jutsu is absolutely high. But she did not know that the waters of her husband ran deep.

The intersected sealing marks suddenly formed an orange barrier around Minato that quickly disappeared.

Ssss~

Red and malevolent energy erupted out of Minato's body, but it did not spread out of a spherical area.

His skin started to corrode under such energy and his expression changed again and again.

Sometimes, he would laugh with a violent expression, sometimes he would cry in rage but most of the time he showed a lustful expression.

No voice could be heard as everything was blocked by the barrier.

As the red energy interacted with the sealing barrier, a part of the sealing marks placed on the floor started to corrode and let out a small sizzling sound.

***

Rawr!

A wild boar immediately shot out of the rustling bushes as it saw a weak prey.

Its body was thin and skin pale.

Perfect Prey.

Sshkk

Before it could even manage to reach its prey, a white snake shot out of the nearby bush and immediately strangled the wild boar.

"Hmm"

Orochimaru looked at the dense forest surrounding him and waited silently.

***

"Aaah! Why do we have to patrol this region every single week?"

A light-skinned man with a small scar on his chin spoke put with an exasperated sigh.

"Stop complaining! You always complain during the scouting missions."

A brown-haired woman with nice curves immediately shot him down with her words as she snorted coldly.

"Haha, stop fighting already. I think you should already marry and live a happy life like me. See this, and this, too. Oh, this one too."

A black haired man with purple eyes smiled and immediately started showing a bunch of pictures of a cute baby.

"Tch!"

The woman simply snorted as she did not have any boyfriend yet.

"Shit! Don't you dare gloat!"

The man shouted and showed a fierce expression.

Marriage? How? He would have been a pathetic virgin if it wouldn't be for Karma.

'Karma... ah... Karma! I will go to her place once again after the mission.'

The man made up his mind.

"Fine, your loss!"

Ryu simply shrugged.

"Shhh! There is something here!"

The man in front of them spoke out. He had light brown eyes, the same tone as his skin.

His black hair was tied into a ponytail and his eyes scanned the surroundings cautiously.