Chapter 20.

I was strolling through the park after another training section with my students and resting.

They were geniuses and were improving at a rapid rate. As of now, they are the strongest team from their year in the village. Tsunade was getting more and more proficient with her element and wasn't neglecting her medical training. After half a year, she is already a C+ Med-nin. Orochimaru decided to focus his own Tai that was given to him by his summon - Snakes. Hiruko was further polishing himself as a Med-nin but, honestly, I think that soon he will become a researcher and Orochimaru would most likely join him.

And yes, my students signed summoning contracts behind my back. Jiraya and Tsunade did it under the guidance of their siblings, while Orochimaru and Hiruko... Performed a revers-summoning. Orochimaru ended up with snakes and Hiruko with Spiders. I'm not gonna lie, I wanted to strangle them as soon as they returned. I've never been in those worlds so I couldn't teleport there. I could've tracked the path IF I could feel chakra signatures of my stupid pupils, but there was none and I was stuck here, worried about their wellbeing.

They returned after a week and experienced my wrath alongside their summons. They tried to justify themselves but ended up in my dimension for a day defending from Magical Beasts. Those were a lot weaker than those that ANBU or my Nii-sans faced, but still posed a threat to infuriating teens. Jiraya and Tsunade accompanied them just in case. Preventive education is good sometimes.

I'd also built a training facility that I wanted. The building wasn't humongous since it was Danzo and Tobirama who were designing the structure, but still quite big. There was a lobby where shinobi were choosing the difficulty for their training, the storage with different equipment and the main hall - an arena that would become a solid illusion of the creatures from my space. They were a combination of Runes and Fuinjutsu, so it was possible and no one would be able to replicate it.

Moreover, Tobirama-nii and I hit the wall in our experiments. We couldn't upgrade our security any better. It was already almost impossible to fool but still had its weaknesses. For example, there are a few techniques in the world that could manipulate a person into doing something without any particular thoughts or emotions. We tested the barrier with Sharingan and yes, our test subjects weren't restrained by the security.

When that issue was found out, we immediately began to develop a new version and found ourselves being helpless. In my world, we never needed these kinds of stuff at all. Beasts were already very noticeable and didn't have the habit to sneak around. That is why, we had mostly put up barriers that would detect movement or forcefields as a protection against them, so I wasn't too well versed in the whole process. Tobirama explained thing to me and we moved on only to discover that Fuinjutsu and Runes couldn't properly interact with each other past already reached level, and if forced, would self-destruct.

In the end, we decided to abandon the thing altogether. The village has shinobi, so the extra patrolling and checking would fall on their shoulders.

And lastly, there is going to be an official announcement about the ceasefire. The War was about to end in a week, thus increasing the workload for everyone including me. There were a few other small stuff here and there, but those were a few major events.

So, yeah, this half-a-year was quite full of things which made me a bit exhausted. I needed a break and decided to give my students a holiday for a week.

Strolling through the village, enjoying the scenery from the top of the Hokage mountain and eating ice cream. That was my plan for today and yet...

"How did I end up here?" - I contemplated as I was standing in front of the gates of a new orphanage. Children were running around, playing or imitating training that they thought a shinobi would be doing. Shrugging my shoulders, I entered into the premises and sat on the bench in the shade.

Some children were stealing glances at my hitai-ate on the forearm but didn't pay all that much attention since their activities were a lot more fun to do.

"What can I do for you?" - A middle-aged woman with an apron and a long dress approached me with a smile. She was probably one of the caretakers here and a good kunoichi as well.

"Nothing much. I'm here just to look around." - I mirrored her smile and continued to observe the children.

A few of them were playing tag. Another group was drawing on the sand while some played hide-and-seek with a bright-yellow-haie=red boy being it. He was easily spotting his game mates and in the end, won the match.

"Just how do you always win!?" - One of the girls asked in exasperation. She was found first and had to become the seeking master.

"I don't know. Somehow?" - The blond kid answered confused, but I could feel that he was unconsciously using chakra to scan the place. A very gifted boy.

"I'm sorry, but you have to leave." - The lady next to me didn't leave and tried to politely send me away.

"Why?" - I don't think there should be any problems with me being here. If I remember correctly, the rules existing weren't applying to me.

She sighed and explained - "You see, the children from the orphanage cannot leave its yard but sometimes there are genins such as yourself that would help them slip away and it is very troubling for us. That is why there is a ban on all of the genins in the territory of any orphanage. Please leave now."

"But I'm not a genin." - I smirked. - "I'm already a Jounin."

"I find it difficult to believe." - She squinted her eyes. - "Could you show me the proof, please?" - Her aura was oozing with laughter as if she had caught me red-handed.

"Sure." - I took out a token from my pouch and showed it to her. She accepted it and as she was reading through it, her eyes became wide and she stared at me in shock.

"Malika? Like the real one?" - I nodded confused. Probably noticing a question mark above my head, she explained. - "I apologise. It's just, there were a few cases when genins would mimic your appearance as you look very... young, and find ways around the security. They never did anything bad, but a few pranks and runaway children would appear from time to time."

"Interesting... I understand. Thank you for keeping a close eye on children." - It would be troubling if children were lost somewhere.

She bid me a goodbye and left to take care of her duties and I returned my gaze to the children. Everything stayed the same, except that blond boy wasn't playing anymore, but reading. He was quietly sitting under the tree engrossed in the contents of the book and made me experience a massive Deja Vu.

I hopped from the bench and approached him.

"Hi." - I set down next to him and smiled. The boy around four or five years old looked at me with surprise written in his blue orbs and let go of his possession. His hair golden was long and spiky resembling a soft hedgehog.

"Hello?" - He awkwardly waved his hand and scratched the back of his head. He looked at me as if trying to understand and calculate me. Talented boy.

"My name is Malika. What's yours?"

He searched a caretaker with his eyes and seeing that she wasn't paying attention to me loosened up a little. He probably judged that I'm not a threat.

"Minato. Namikaze Minato."

Well... Isn't this a bit too much of a coincidence? The kid that reminds me of the younger self is also the last member of his clan?

"Nice to meet you."

We fell silent and just sat there. He stole a few glances at my hitai-ate and his aura showed that he steeled himself for something.

"Are you a kunoichi?" - He began from afar.

"As you can see." - I tapped the metal plate with a leaf symbol engraved on it. - "And a strong one as well."

He looked at me suspiciously. - "For a genin?"

"No. For a Jounin. Here." - I displayed him my token. It contained information about my rank, general occupation, gender and it had to have an age, but it was troubling in my case, so Nii-sans thought it would be fine to omit it.

Minato stared at the piece of round metal in his hands as if trying to put it into a Genjutsu and contemplated on something. His aura was overflowing with solemnity, but he looked too cute to be taken seriously on the outside.

I ruffled his hair, confirming their softness, and took away the token. He looked at me with displeasure and returned to reading of the dropped item.

I left soon after but made a mental note to come back. I like children and since I have a vacation, I'll fill it however I want.

"Should I bring ice cream for everyone? It's hot now..."