Chapter 5: Dreams

Chapter 5: Dreams

"Minato, Minato!"

Hearing Kushina's call from the living room, Minato, who was holding a frying pan in one hand and a spatula in the other, poked his head out and looked towards Kushina, who was sitting on the couch, and said:

"I'm here."

"Minato, today several ninjas from the Uchiha clan have sent us congratulations for our wedding."

Kushina was checking the camera in her hands, looking at the congratulatory messages from the Uchiha ninjas with a smile she couldn't hide.

However, the smiles of the Uchihas seemed forced, as if someone had threatened them while filming.

"Sniff, sniff."

Suddenly, Kushina smelled the smoke of frying food in the air. She looked up and saw Minato Namikaze next to her, watching the camera screen.

Seeing the spatula still dripping oil, Kushina patted the couch with a bit of concern.

"Be careful, the couch is new."

"Huh? Sorry."

Minato realized his mistake and ran back to the kitchen, leaving the spatula and apron in place before returning to Kushina's side to continue watching.

In the camera, there were not only congratulations from village ninjas but also from ninjas of other villages, even from the Hidden Cloud Village, with which Konoha had not yet signed a peace agreement and was still in a small-scale war.

"Minato."

At that moment, Kushina put one hand around Minato's shoulder while stroking her growing belly with the other and asked:

"The other day I heard Mikoto say that the internal conflicts of her clan are increasing and that the members are becoming more difficult to manage. At the last clan meeting, someone even suggested that the leader divorce and pursue the leader of the Senju clan."

Huh?

Minato looked at his wife in surprise, remembering the loving image of Fugaku and his wife. He quickly asked:

"Why?"

"Sigh!"

Kushina put the camera aside with an exasperated expression.

"It's about the position of Hokage. Since Mikoto married Fugaku, she has been almost pushed to the limit by her clan. Every day, clan members insist on reminding her of the past.

For example: when the village was founded, the First Hokage told Madara Uchiha that he wanted to pass the position of Second Hokage to him. Then, the Second Hokage told Kagami Uchiha that he was the most likely Uchiha to inherit the position of Third Hokage. Later, the Third Hokage told Fugaku that if he stopped the enemy's advance, his name would be on the list of Hokage candidates.

Minato, as the Fourth Hokage, it's your responsibility to maintain the village's stability, and the Uchiha clan is the largest family in Konoha."

Seeing his wife's expression, Minato thought of the Senju clan leader she had mentioned.

Is she trying to get me to intervene? That would be a disaster with Tsunade-sama!

Remembering how his master had been beaten by Tsunade until he was hospitalized, Minato shook his head vigorously, murmuring to himself:

"No way, Tsunade-sama would kill Jiraiya-sensei."

Huh?

Kushina looked at Minato in disbelief. She didn't understand how he had reached that conclusion while they were talking about the Uchiha clan's internal conflicts and their possible impact on the village.

"Idiot!"

Kushina climbed onto Minato's lap, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him.

"Why don't you reassign the ninja who suggested Mikoto's divorce? If he can't attend clan meetings, he won't be able to make suggestions."

"Reassign him where?"

Seeing Kushina's hair standing on end, Minato raised his hands in surrender, with a conciliatory smile.

"Got it, got it. Recently, a group of ANBU has requested to return to the regular ninja ranks, leaving many positions vacant. Soon, ANBU will invite outstanding ninjas from the village."

"And in the meantime?"

"Well, in the meantime..."

Minato, not knowing what to say, looked at his angry wife, patting her back to calm her down while stroking his chin with the other hand, showing a loving expression.

"Recently, some academy students have requested early graduation. If that ninja has no psychological issues, he could be a temporary teacher."

"Kushina, what's the name of that Uchiha clan ninja? I'll review his files."

"That's better."

Kushina picked up the camera and, after a moment of searching, pointed to one of the congratulations on the screen.

"It's him, Tobio Uchiha, a jōnin from the Uchiha clan, a very versatile ninja. It's said that even when he was a chūnin, he already had the strength of a jōnin. Now he is a jōnin, but his exact strength is unknown."

"I see, it's him."

Following Kushina's direction, Minato saw the familiar figure on the camera screen.

Recalling Tobio Uchiha, Minato fell silent, remembering the Third Ninja War and Tobio's data.

"Kushina, is there any problem with him?"

"No, not really."

Minato shook his head, recalling scenes from the war and Tobio's data, and slowly said:

"His story is similar to Tsunade-sama's, but he is one of the few combat ninjas who also masters and excels in medical techniques. According to the data, the Third Ninja War took away all his companions. Despite his medical skills, he could only feel his companions' lives fading away without being able to prolong them. After that, he denied his own medical skills and never used them again."

Really?

Hearing this, Kushina fell silent. Due to her condition, she didn't participate in the Third Ninja War, but she remembered that during that time, Konoha was filled with mourning.

"Alright!"

Seeing Kushina saddened, Minato gently stroked her belly and said:

"Tomorrow I'll assign him to a team."

At that moment, Tobio Uchiha was sitting in his chair, looking at his empty room, feeling a bit of regret.

That old woman is cunning. When I bought, she gave me a 10% discount, but when I sold, she deducted 30%. In the end, without doing anything, I've lost almost a third of my assets.

"Sigh!"

Sighing deeply, he spat a chicken bone on the ground, then looked at the orange cat sleeping on the table. Looking at the fat cat, he pushed it and said:

"Wake up, it's time to deliver a letter."

Feeling someone pushing it, the orange cat slowly opened its eyes, stretching. Noticing it had a letter tied to its waist, it suddenly froze.

After a while, it looked at the recipient's address and then at Tobio, with a human-like expression of resignation, murmuring in a girl's voice:

"I don't want to deliver letters to widows, it brings bad luck. Besides, the Senju and Uchiha are ancestral enemies."

"Bah!"

Tobio spat on the ground and looked towards the Senju territory, saying:

"They are almost extinct now, only one woman left. What's the point of continuing that enmity? When the Senju were at their peak, the Uchiha clan argued with them. But now that they are almost extinct, why continue that?"

The orange cat looked at Tobio, opened the letter, and began to read:

"To the leader of the Senju clan, Senju Tsunade:

With the end of the Third Ninja War, the ninja world has finally found a temporary peace. Although this is only temporary, as the leader of the Uchiha clan, I wish to discuss with you the future of our clans, the future of the village, and the future of the ninja world. —— Uchiha Fugaku"

Plop!

At the end of the letter, a 100,000 ryō bill fell out of the envelope.

The orange cat picked up the bill, looked at it, and exclaimed:

"Tobio, have you gotten rich? Why did you put a 100,000 ryō bill in the envelope?"

"Without money, Tsunade would never respond to us."

"Why are you trying so hard?"

Plop!

Tobio gave the cat a light pat on the head, saying:

"I just want to live a peaceful and safe life. Violence always involves danger, and if it can be resolved peacefully, then it should be resolved peacefully."

(End of the chapter)

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