Chapter 22.

"Oh, you're finally free?" - Madara-nii looked up from his documents. He was in the main office of the Police and probably came to sort remaining papers after a break.

"Yeah. Apparently, I'm a parent now." - I grinned as I made sure to engrave his shocked face into my memory forever.

"Hn..." - He sat down again and drank a few sips of water from the glass on his desk. - "That's unexpected... How come?"

"Yup, I'm surprised myself. I didn't think that the boy would agree to be adopted by someone who looks like a kid." - I nodded to myself and sat opposite to my Nii-san.

"And who is under your care?" - Tch, he had already gotten over the fact. That is a veteran shinobi for you. Even his aura was calm now with only a slight hint of curiosity mixed within.

"Namikaze Minato."

"Hn." - He nodded and continued to browse through reports on today's activities. I didn't interfere since it was one of his jobs and it also gave me time to think.

The news that I've brought, aren't happy ones...

"Alright." - He put down the last document and massaged his temples. - "It's definitely getting harder to see. I have to resort to Sharingan in many things now." - He complained, unaware of the pain in my chest those words caused.

I don't want to see their deaths.

I say that, but now I'll have to. It only clicked now, why was Izuna-nii-san a bit excited when I brought up the matter of adoption.

Just as I don't want to see their departure, they don't want to see me disappear again.

"I'm done. What did you want to tell me?" - he set aside his pen and leaned back on his chair crossing his arms. His pitch-black eyes met mine.

I inhaled deeply before I finally spill the beans.

"I found... Fúkushū" - The moment those words left my mouth, his aura overflowed with unexplainable emotions. I could only trace anger, happiness, and worry in that hazardous cocktail.

"Is... is that so?" - He kept his poker face but it was unnaturally stiff and devoid of colour. - "Where is he?"

He was still attached to his student even after so many years.

"He was in the Land of Demons in the cave where Kyuubi previously resided.

His location was found out by my clones a few days ago. The Land of Demons is situated very far from here, around 900-1000 kilometres from Konoha, so there was no way I would be able to track him with my sensor ability. Moreover, because he was in a place with a high concentration of Kurama's chakra, his own chakra wasn't detectable.

" My clones stumbled upon him by accident. No, actually, It appears that when I went into that cave," - he nodded, indicating that he understood what I implied, - "One of my clones managed to find Fukushū and wanted to report it immediately; however, it was dispersed by Zetsu and since I was cut away from them, I didn't receive any intelligence about his location." - There was a note left in the stone by my clone that indicated that it was she and the date she found the cave.

I sighed, drank a bit of water and continued.

"Fukushū is in a critical state." - I finally got to the main topic causing Madara to flinch. - "Three clones found him unconscious and deprived of any energy. I don't know what happened to him, but he looks even older than you!"

"Probably a side effect of using Izanagi..." - He muttered under his breath. - "Not all of us are daring or strong enough to use it, so it stayed a bit unresearched."

"I don't know." - I shrugged my shoulders. - "The only reason he was even alive was that he was connected to a giant statue that supplied him with chakra."

"What statue?..." - His voice trembled.

"Yes, Madara-nii, that statue." - I nodded to his unspoken guess. - "Fukushū awakened the Rinnegan and summoned Gedo Mazo. Kaguya's body."

He heaved a heavy sigh and leaned back on his chair.

"He was completely fooled, wasn't he?" - a light and sorrow chuckle slowly escaped his mouth.

"Indeed, " - I agreed. I'm still disgusted by Zetsu's plots and they still hunt us down! - "My clones abandoned their mission and are bringing him back. I think after a bit of rehabilitation and clearance from Genjutsu, he can go back and live here."

"Do you think he will be able to continue being a shinobi?"

"No. First of all, I'm taking the Rinnegan out. It's not something a person must possess. Secondly, he is damaged beyond full recovery. And lastly, I doubt that he will agree to even continue his existence." - I hid nothing. There was no need to since the person before me wasn't a kid.

"I understand." - He nodded. It was easier for him to comprehend what will be going on in Fūkushu's mind after he would be cured, and could predict this himself. However, I think he still hopes for the best and who am I to say anything? - "Thank you."

"I did nothing, Nii-san. Only my duty." - I replied while standing up and leaving for the door. Madara needed some time alone and I had to go back. I'm a freshly backed parent now. - "Try to get some sleep or I'll force you tomorrow."

"Hn..."

***

I got back by teleporting and headed upstairs to sleep. On my way, I posed by Minato's door and took a pick inside to make sure he was fine.

He had a nightmare.

I'm sure he had them before and I know how stressful it is to have the same dream repeat over and over again.

I walked in, patted him on the head, while using magic and shooed away the nasty thing. The child calmed down and continued to rest peacefully, while I quietly left.

The next morning came with a surprise in the face of a blond child cuddling on my bed.

'That is definitely an unexpected development.' - I looked at the window and saw that it was still dawn. I'm used to waking up this early since I spend most of my free time training Ninjutsu and Tai. I don't want to fall behind my students in the number of techniques I could use. Yet, now I was unable to leave the bed, as it would wake up Namikaze.

'I definitely think slower when I just woke up...' - I realised a few seconds later that I could easily replace myself with a clone by teleporting, went to the bathroom and the kitchen afterwards.

The boy came downstairs two hours later and I had the time to do some light training, clean the house (I don't like messes if they are not from books) and cook breakfast.

"Good morning, Minato-kun."

"Good morning, Malika-san." - He politely replied and sat down by the served table.

"You don't like it?" - I saw how he glanced at the plates and a breath hint of disappointment appeared in his eyes.

"No, it's delicious!" - he exclaimed but gave in at my probing gaze. - "I thought there would be fish... My mom would often cook it for breakfast."

"Ok! Next time I'll make it."

"You don't have to!" - He already started to regret his honesty.

"It's fine. I'm new to this, so it would help a lot of you tell me honestly what or who you like and dislike." - I smiled while taking a mental note to learn how to cook meat dishes. I wouldn't be able to eat them myself, but I don't have too. What's important is that Minato is happy and is distracted away from his loss.

"Minato-kun, what do you want to do?" - I wondered while the boy washed the dishes that he volunteered to do.

"I want to become a strong shinobi!" - He turned and faced me dead in the eyes.

"That's good and I'll support and train you if you want, but I was asking in general. Like, where do you want to go, see or eat? Maybe we could go to the playground..." - And I didn't have to ask anymore since he nodded with a lot of energy and scratched the back of his head.

And that is how my family life began without even getting married. As we were walking towards the kids' battlefield, I received an important bit of information from a few of my clones. They found some places where I could execute my plans. More specifically, free Kaguya Ootsutsuki.

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Hi! Sorry for long wait guys! The last month was super busy and I had to go on a forced break from my works. Also, I will soon return to regular updates, but not now. I want to finally finish my Russian fanfiction so that I could concentrate on my English works. It'll most probably take another week, but after that, I promise to come back!

(I put this note here since author's note couldn't fit everything I wanted to say to you) 😅