Chapter 38

'Ugh, I didn't sleep as much as I thought I would'

"Nh...Morning already?" a voice mumbled to my side

It was Konan who was sleeping on my bed while hugging a pillow tightly between her arms.

'She knocked on my door last night and with some tears, she asked if she could sleep with me'

I think that sleeping in a bedroom for the first time since her parents died brought some undesirable memories.

'She's only five... Kushina was the same for a long time' I thought with a smirk as I had the little red-haired girl appear in my mind

But I knew that I shouldn't spoil her as I did with Kushina... She will be part of Origins and be my subordinate, unlike Kushina whom I consider as my daughter, more since she unconsciously let the word 'Dad' left her mouth, even Tsunade acted like a caring mother since Kushina lost the rest of her family.

I will count on Chizu to take care of Konan's education or I wouldn't help her case.

When she finally got out of her sleeping state I looked at her and said "Had a nice sleep?"

"Nh!" she replied with a smiling face as she rubbed her eyes groggily

"That's good then. We will move soon and, to be faster, I will carry you again if that's alright with you?" I suggested to which she replied "Are you going to use your wing?" with stars in her eyes

I chuckled and replied "It will be even faster if I do, so sure, why not."

We then ate a small breakfast and after changing ourselves we left the house which then vanished before I made my wing appear, it was still made of chakra but looked more and more physical, took Konan in a princess carry, and jumped high into the sky before propelling ourselves towards Konoha.

The clean weather and the feeling of the wind seemed to be affecting Konan positively as she was amazed by the view while sometimes taking few glances behind me.

'She likes my wing that much?' I thought as I remembered that later, she would be able to form two giant paper wings

She was called Angel by the villagers if I'm not wrong... I guess she liked that name since she was a child.

After some time, we arrived at the Senju Clan compound as I landed in front of my house.

Konan was disappointed when I let her on the ground but quickly tried to hide her expression as I knocked on the door.

I didn't have to open the door as someone did it from inside.

"You are back Yuichi-sama." Chizu said as she slightly bowed and made some space for us to enter

When she isn't working for Origins she asked, no, begged to serve me for some reason.

She doesn't want to be useless for me even for an instant, talk about loyalty.

Her personality was fitting for that kind of maid-like work, and she also helps Tsunade if she ever needs her.

When both Tsunade and I are busy she is the one who takes care of Kushina too.

Wike Konan was nervously looking at Chizu's chest I said "Konan, she is Chizu, a subordinate of mine who lives in the nearest house. Chizu, this is Konan, a young orphan I saved during my mission."

Chizu knew that it was a lie because she was the one who located Konan for me before but played along nonetheless "Nice to meet you Konan-san." she said while keeping a neutral face

Konan stopped ogling Chizu's chest and replied "N-nice to meet you too Chizu-senpai." as she looked relieved about something

"Chizu will be the one teaching you when I am not here... So listen to her well, alright?" I said as I ruffled Konan's hair

"Nh." she replied as she enjoyed the feeling of my hand on her head

I then looked at Chizu again and asked "Is Tsunade home?"

"Yes. She is currently working on a new antidote for a poison that Sakumo-san brought back from his mission." she replied as she was bringing us to Tsunade's medical room

'I will go and look for Sakumo later' I thought as we knocked on the door and heard a "Come in."

The smell of herbs was everywhere inside the room while Tsunade had a medical gown and many different flasks with some purple liquid inside.

I saw black circles under her eyes so I asked "Are you alright? Don't overwork yourself too much."

"I know... But one of Sakumo's teammates died because of this and judging by who inflicted the toxin, it should be used by more of their puppeteer." she replied while looking at me before shifting her gaze to the young blue-haired girl behind me

"Who is she?" Tsunade asked as she was now facing Konan, and crossed her arms making her breast rest on them

"She's an orphan I helped during my mission today, her name is Konan." I then looked at Konan and added "She's Tsunade, a wonderful medical-nin as well as my adorable wife."

Konan had a defeatist expression when she looked at Tsunade, even more than with Chizu for some reason.

'Is she worried about her chest size at her age already? Why the complex?' I thought, not understanding girls at all

"I'm not surprised anymore... But you wouldn't bring a random kid without any reason." Tsunade said as she massaged her temples at first before smiling

"Well, it was mostly luck... And she may also possess a Kekkei Genkai with great potential." I replied while flames were now visible inside Konan's eyes as she didn't seem to listen to all and made up her mind about something

'She needs to hide her emotions at least a little' I thought as I never saw someone show that many different expressions in so little time

Tsunade didn't miss why Konan reacted like that and decided to tease the young girl by doing more ample movements while she couldn't hide the small smirk that appeared on her face.

'I don't think anyone in this world can beat her in that department' I thought while chuckling a little

After some more talk, we agreed as to where Konan will stay.

While the Twins did live with us when they were still kids, they both got a house near each other and also not far from ours.

Our bedroom is quite isolated from the rest of the house, for obvious reason, while Konan's bedroom would be in the same corridor as Kushina's.

Not willing to bother Tsunade in her work, we left and started showing Konan the house and then the Clan compound with Chizu.

I told her that the bedroom facing hers is occupied by Kushina, and explained that she too was an orphan not so long ago but her parents weren't on the kind side when they were alive.

Kushina wasn't here because she left the village along with her Team for her first mission outside.

They will meet each other later, I just hope that they will be on good terms.

After a while, I left Konan in Chizu's care and went outside to find Sakumo.

I went to Sakumo's house, where he should be resting if he came back from his last mission not too long ago.

I sensed him as well as someone else inside so I knocked on the door and Sakumo was the one opening it.

"Yuichi-san! I didn't see you when I came back from the border." Sakumo greeted me with a smile

"I was out of the village yesterday." I first said as he let me enter before adding "And I didn't expect you to come back at the same time."

When I entered, I saw a woman resting on a chair with a book in her hand, she had long light blonde hair, dark eyes, and wore a mask hiding half of her face.

She didn't seem tall but my attention was on the bulge that her belly had.

'Sakumo's wife? It's the first time we see each other and... She seems pregnant'

Sakumo closed the door behind us and when he joined me in the main room he said "Oh! It's the first time you two meet each other. Yuichi, she's Aiko, my wife." he said before shifting his gaze to her and add "Aiko, he's the young man I told you about, Yuichi Senju."

"Nice to meet you." we both said in unison

She wasn't a talkative person but I knew that she was from the ANBU and directly under Sakumo.

They fell in love at work which is quite something when you have such a job.

She wasn't a talkative person, be it because she is shy or professional I don't know but it doesn't matter much for me.

I then asked Sakumo what happened during his mission and he told me that he killed two famed puppeteers from Suna, one man with red hair and a woman with long dark brown hair.

Apparently, they were trespassing in the Land of Fire and kidnapped one of his teammates to extract information from him.

A fight between them broke out and the kidnapped Jōnin died, while another got poisoned.

Sakumo ended up winning against them and brought back with him his sick teammate as well as a part of the poisoned hidden blade.

'Now if they don't begin a war against us I would be surprised'

They also confirmed my doubt when he said that Aiko was pregnant.

The timing for a child isn't the best considering the upcoming war so she will be forced to stay at Konoha.

I know that Kakashi never met his mother so she should have died while giving birth... Because Sakumo is a friend I won't let his wife die just like that, at least not since I now know that she truly exists.

====================

*Some months later*

'I never saw him this thrilled' I thought as I was leaving the laboratory with Orochimaru

War isn't something that starts within a day... So even if Suna wished to, they couldn't just go and assault the Land of Fire without preparing themselves fully.

Because of that, both sides had time to organize and only some small skirmishes started around the Land of Rain which was the battlefield.

And Orochimaru's reaction was because he would be sent to the frontline along with Jiraiya and... Tsunade.

He waited for a war to happen for so long because of how many different corpses he could gather to experiment on them.

Now, I told him to not kill his allies, mostly Uchiha and Hyūga Clan members, and only take their corpses stealthily if they died.

I gave him something to store them without difficulties.

Only Chūnin and more would be fighting this war because we aren't in shortage of shinobi as the last war ended around twenty years ago.

This meant that Kushina will stay safely at Konoha as well as Konan.

Both got closer to each other and Chizu will stay in the village to protect them, albeit it shouldn't be needed but that's my fault for being overprotective.

Sakumo was sent to the frontline not long ago, only when Kakashi was safely born and thankfully his wife didn't die because Tsunade was the one who took care of it.

Because of my influence, Tsunade's ideas of including medical-nin to shinobi squads got accepted but the numbers were still limited as they had to learn new arrangements.

She can take care of herself I know that but... I still made a clone that will look over her if something unexpected happens.

I will not be sent to the frontline with them because I will be going to Kumo and Kiri while they are fighting Suna.

I will take the opportunity to acquire the chakra of the Two-Tails at Kumo and both Three-Tails and Six-Tails at Kiri.

That's if they are currently there of course.

Dai was staying at Konoha for now as a standby in case Iwa starts something or reinforcements are needed, which was helpful for him because he's alone to take care of Gai.

Shikuro came back from the mission I gave him and gathered every information I needed and could now take a well-deserved rest.

The place I sent him was the Land of the Sky which he first had to locate without the help of a map because they weren't on any.

Once he found them he had to infiltrate the place and gather information about Zero-Tails as well as what kind of armaments they had.

It took a long time but he also learned their plan to attack the five great shinobi villages at some point when we will conflict with each other.

He also left some of his insects there so he would know if the whole land flies toward Konoha.

The species he left were currently in chrysalis form and would only transform when they are nearing Shikuro's chakra signature.

I was interested in the Zero-Tails for sure, with my control over my emotions I could amplify the dark chakra it produces albeit risky but more importantly, I would get a new type of chakra which is always something nice because I enjoy discovering new stuff.

I would also be able to sense negative emotions or read the hearts of others which coupled with the Eye Mind Reading would be pretty good.

It could also boost my regeneration and lastly, I could create shadow arms of different sizes to add to my already delicate collection of vines and chakra tentacles.

Yes, I plan to become the Jinchūriki of the Zero-Tails.

But right now, it's time for me to pay a visit to Kumo and Kiri.

Let's start with Kumo, shall we?

[A/N: Please read the author's thoughts, thanks.]