[A/N: Last chapter of the week and probably the last chapter of the fic! Maybe I will write an epilogue, maybe not, I don't feel like it is necessary.
Anyway, enjoy!]
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*Tsunade's POV*
*sigh*
"This one won't do either." I let out as I was trying on a few different clothes but none were piquing my interest
'Maybe I should wear black... Urgh, Tsugumi will complain about how depressive the color is but it's his favorite one...' I thought as I saw an old black robe I wore once or twice when Yuichi and myself went out on dates
It's been slightly more than 15 years since Yuichi disappeared, and though most of the world remembered that day as a Miracle, it was hard for me to think of it as only that when it is the day I essentially lost my husband...
Looking around my bedroom, my eyes locked on my nightstand as I began to move toward it before opening the drawer, revealing a not-yet-closed envelope with a letter in it.
While the day of the Miracle became a once-a-year worldwide celebration, today was for me as well as a few others a more important day... It was Yuichi's birthday, a day we began to celebrate without him since he disappeared with only those most acquainted with him participating.
And for the last 14 years, I have been writing letters telling him what happened since he left, sending them on the Moon thanks to Kaguya in the hope that he would one day pass by and open them.
I even started to speak with the flower he left behind of the content of these letters, it's a way for me to cope with the fact that he's away...
Kaguya wasn't as affected as me about Yuichi's whereabouts, firstly because she knew and told us that he would come back but probably because 15 years for her isn't that much, and working at Konoha's Orphanage also occupied her a lot... As for Konan, well, if it weren't for the child she gave birth to 14 years ago, she would've probably lost it.
That girl, Kumichi, had the same cold facade as Konan and Yuichi, though she was extremely sweet otherwise.
She had the same beautiful dark-blue hair as Konan, though she let it grow longer and it ended up being grey at the end, as for her eyes, she inherited Yuichi's Sharingan, just like Yushiro, though the ability she ended up having wasn't like Yuichi's right eye but a semblance of Yuichi's left eye ability.
She wanted to become a shinobi after idolizing her father once she learned everything he did to make the world better, and she actually became a Jōnin this year... She never had the chance to meet Yuichi since she was born after he left, sometimes making me think he planned for his departure in advance and made sure Konan wouldn't do something stupid.
In fact, I was sure that he knew he would leave someday because he left Shiromari behind with Yushiro and the little chameleon told us to open a storage room inside of him that Yuichi specially prepared in case he was gone...
Yuichi had a lot of business around the shinobi continent, and now that he as well as his several clones were gone, they needed new directors.
First of all, I became what Yuichi called the 'CEO' of most hospitals around the continent, though I still worked at Konoha's hospital, many were built with better equipment at hand since he left.
My parents both helped in the hospital since both were revived by Yuichi and decided to retire from their shinobi life, thankfully both had good enough basics to be taught quickly how to perform.
As for Hashirama and Mito, they also left their shinobi life behind and traveled around the world, staying a few months or years somewhere before moving again.
Nevertheless, my motto was to provide healing without paying for it, but Yuichi's letter meant for me told me that it was impossible to sustain in the long run, as such, since he was also the founder of 'Midas Bank', a place where anyone could leave their money and be sure that it wouldn't be stolen by anyone, he created something called a 'health insurance', and anyone coming to the hospital, for whatever reason, would have to pay but later be reimbursed by the Midas Bank fully, essentially making it 'free', though they paid for the insurance.
Konan worked as my secretary, and she was of great help since I was far from being good with paperwork, unlike her.
Tobirama exclusively stayed on the Ancor Vantian, becoming the one to take care of 99% of Yuichi's business, with the help of his secretary, Pakura, who I knew had a more deep relationship with him as years passed...
Yuichi also left behind the blueprint for the 'gates' to Tobirama as well as all passwords of the Ancor Vantian, knowing in advance that he was the best candidate to take over such a heavy business.
These gates truly changed how people around the world traveled, allowing one to travel from one land to another in less than five minutes...
All gates led to the Ancor Vantian, no matter where you took it, and once on the flying fortress, you could take any other gate, essentially making it a hub where many stopped by because of how many interesting things Yuichi built on it.
Each gate was guarded by automatons found dormant inside Shiromari, extremely advanced puppets that were now built by Sasori who stayed on the Ancor Vantian to produce them.
One of these things could stop more than a dozen of Jōnin alone...
And to travel through the gates, one needed a card imbued with the owner's chakra, with the owner's identity written on the card, if the chakra on the card didn't match the owner as they presented themselves in front of a gate, they wouldn't be able to go through, making it nearly impossible to steal someone else's identity.
As for the number of gates currently around the world, well, there was one in the capitals and the hidden villages of the Lands of Water, Lightning, Wind, Earth, and Fire.
Another one was in the Land of Wind, located in Rōran since the Queen, Sāra, was Hizashi's wife, both staying there while their 17 years old daughter was a Jōnin at Konoha.
There was only one in the capital of the Land of Iron, the gate leading to where the war took place being dismantled not too long after it ended.
One was in the capital of the Land of Snow since the Daimyō had a good relationship with Yuichi, and his daughter, a famous actress named Koyuki Kazahana, ended up in a relationship with Tenzō after he became her bodyguard for a long-term mission during her world tour.
The Lands of Demons and Swamps also had one gate each, the former wasn't simply Miruko's birthplace but her husband, Shuzo, became the Daimyō after the previous one died and left no descendant behind, while their daughter Chiaki became the current High Priestess, taught by her mother.
As for Shuzo's son, Seiji, he joined the ANBU and stayed almost exclusively in Konoha... The boy even became the boyfriend of Yukimi who herself became the Clan Leader of the Iburi Clan.
One of the most recently built gates was in Takigakure, internal warfare happened two years ago and the Five Great Shinobi Villages had to do something after their new leader declared war against Konoha for stealing their Tailed Beast... The battle against them was short and almost no blood was spilled aside from their village's head execution, all thanks to Fū who decided to become the new Village Head of Takigakure, making their villagers less hostile through a well-spoken speech.
Uzushiogakure was also completely built back and thus had a gate constructed, most of the Uzumaki Clan who stayed at Konoha relocated back there, and not only that but Kushina was still their Clan Head and Minato joined her after leaving his title of Fifth Hokage behind.
The Sixth and current Hokage was Shisui Uchiha, making him the first Uchiha to become Hokage which greatly pleased their Clan.
He was also my son-in-law since he married Tsugumi two years ago, and what made me even happier was that my daughter was four months pregnant... Meaning that I would become a grandmother, a designation making me wince a little.
Talking about the Uchiha, Madara became the leader of Yuichi's organization, Origins, and relocated it to Amegakure, a gate leading to this village as well.
His revived brother also followed him, mostly because he didn't want to stay at Konoha, at all.
Though Madara was definitely happy to see his brother back, there was someone else he was even happier to see despite not expressing it openly... It was Natsumi, his wife, and Yuichi's mother who died when she gave birth to him.
Father told me a lot about her and how great of a woman she was when we were young, I mean, winning the heart of someone like Madara was a feat like no other.
What broke my heart was that she was not even able to meet Yuichi even after her revival, and the other way around was true too.
The underground base Yuichi built below Konoha became a scientific laboratory led by Orochimaru since it no longer had any uses otherwise.
While there were also gates in the Land of the Moon, Frost, or Hot Water, the most recent gate was located on the other continent, at the city closest to the sea and the Land of Iron, though it would take more than six months on a boat to get to normally.
It was difficult to establish a proper relationship with another continent we never truly interacted with, though the fact that they were all alive again was thanks to Yuichi, it was full of political struggle and a pain to deal with for Tobirama and Shisui.
*Knock Knock*
"Mom, are you ready?" I heard my daughter's voice exclaim behind the door, taking me out of my thoughts and surprising me
"Give me five minutes and I will be." I replied as I decided to wear the black robe in the end
I was no longer used to someone knocking at the door of my bedroom, after all, most children in the house were gone, they had all grown up... Only Kumichi was here now.
Yushiro, after becoming the youngest Jōnin in history, now had his own house inside the Senju Clan Compound where he lived with his girlfriend, Hinata, a sweet and shy girl whose father teared up for hours when she left the house...
Unfortunately for Hiashi, his second daughter, Hanabi, was also going to leave his house this year to settle down with Toneri, once again in the Senju Clan Compound which was quite normal since we had a huge space and pretty much no occupants, not since the Uzumaki Clan relocated to Uzushiogakure.
Yugito left the house slightly after the war, though, unlike the others, she didn't settle down in our Clan's compound but went to Kakashi's house instead after marrying each other.
They even got a son together, Daishi, who recently turned 7 years old.
Jūgo left the village and became a Ninja Monk at the Fire Temple, turns out that helped him greatly with his predicament now that Yuichi was gone.
As for Kimimaro and Guren, both stayed most of the time on the Ancor Vantian, the former being hired by Tobirama to be a patrolling guard since the fortress attracted many people with nefarious intents, while the latter took care of Yuichi's jewelry business, as well as the Midas Bank.
Nevertheless, now that I was ready I opened the door and was greeted by Tsugumi as well as Konan and Kumichi who all waited for me in the living room, Kaguya already left to fetch those who were on the Ancor Vantian.
"A black robe? Seriously, Mom?" I heard Tsugumi exclaim which made me roll my eyes before replying "As far as I know I'm your mother, not the other way around."
"Right. You do you." Tsugumi let out before taking the flower pot holding the remnant of the God Tree with her since we always took it with us when we celebrated Yuichi's birthday, though she gave it to Konan quickly since we all knew she was quite clumsy.
"Let's go to Teuchi's place then, I know that we say to always keep the best for the last but they're all waiting for us." Tsugumi added before Kumichi exclaimed "I can't wait! Teuchi's food is the best!"
"I hope you will be able to eat Yuichi's food one day, he's great at cooking exotic dishes." Konan let out to which Tsugumi and myself nodded in agreement
He always told us that he didn't want to take credit for them by saying that he found the recipes in some old books, though I didn't believe any of that.
"I met both Dai and Shikuro this week so I know they will be here, but do you know if Jiraiya will be coming?" I then asked Tsugumi since she was the only one who left Konoha recently
Dai was a Taijutsu Teacher at the Academy while Shikuro was taking care of the Aburame's Insectarium so both didn't leave Konoha, at least not often.
But Jiraiya, well... He's surely the one who enjoyed the rejuvenating and healing effect of the Miracle Yuichi produced 15 years ago the most since he experienced a second youth and somehow won the heart of a certain girl renowned as the coldest woman of Konoha...
"I asked Chizu this morning and she told me that he was coming back tonight and staying in Konoha for a week or two." Tsugumi replied as we left the house and were on our way toward Teuchi's restaurant
That's right, the woman Jiraiya made me fall for him was none other than Chizu.
I didn't know the how and when, all I knew was that they were sent to missions together quite a lot, even when Yuichi was still the Hokage, so Shisui simply continued to do so.
At least, Jiraiya calmed down quite a lot... Granted, he was still a pervert, but Chizu had a tight leash on him, her senses were far beyond anyone else so if he ever did anything wrong she would make sure he wouldn't be able to do it ever again...
As we neared the restaurant, we saw Shisui waiting for us on the way, prompting Tsugumi to say "Shisui! You didn't wait for too long I hope?" as she abruptly jumped into his arms
"It's fine, though some of them already started to drink, and the appetizers are ready." Shisui replied before nodding his head to greet us silently while he was busy staying still after Tsugumi jumped at him with brute force
We then entered Teuchi's restaurant which was privatized for the night and needless to say that it was already quite lively...
I knew some couldn't come tonight because they were either on a mission, like Toneri, or too busy like Madara, and Guren, and because of that Kimimaro, but I was happy to see that we were more than a dozen here.
"Great! Everyone is here, Teuchi, you can serve the food!" I heard Jiraiya shout as he drank from a bottle of sake and was seemingly already drunk, making Chizu massage her temples though she wasn't going to stop him since he made today's event more lively, it was still a birthday after all, despite the main character not being here
"On it!" Teuchi replied while Konan went to the back of the restaurant to put down the flower
"I didn't expect to see you today, Orochimaru, I thought you had too much experiment to take care of?" I asked my old friend who rarely showed himself
"I do have a lot of work, but I felt like coming today, don't ask me why, even I don't know." Orochimaru replied as he wasn't drinking alcohol, just like Dai and Shikuro though Dai was already eating most of the appetizers
"Tsunade, dear, come sit with us." I heard Natsumi exclaim behind me, she was sitting around a table with Kaguya and Kushina, and the food and drinks on the table were still not used, surely because they waited for us
Konan also joined us at our table, while Tsugumi joined Yushiro and Hinata, Shisui joined Tobirama, and Kumichi joined Dai only because his table had the most food already served.
All tables weren't far from each other, it was just simpler to use multiple smaller round tables than only a massive one, it's not like we would be sitting all night.
"Your husbands couldn't come?" I couldn't help but ask both Kushina and Natsumi as I sat down next to the former
"I wish he did but he left Uzushiogakure for a mission two days ago..." Kushina replied before filling the cup of everyone on the table with alcohol
"As for me, Madara told me that there was no point in celebrating Yuichi's birthday without him, that we should either move on or celebrate with him once he comes back... If he does." Natsumi told me as she was saddened about her husband's way of thinking
When she said that, the mood around our table definitely became heavier... Kushina and I truly wanted to punch him in the face, while Kaguya and Konan definitely thought about more dangerous ideas.
"Don't resent him too much, he might be blunt and grumpy most of the time but he truly cares about Yuichi... He talks a lot about his son and I know how proud he is of him whenever he does so." Natsumi replied, her love for Madara was beyond my comprehension, seriously, this man didn't deserve her
Nevertheless, we began to enjoy our drinks and food, all until I heard Konan let out "He's doing it again..." prompting us to look toward the bar to see Jiraiya standing up on the chair with a filled cup of sake in his hand
Whenever Jiraiya participated, he always did a speech about Yuichi, though he was drunk every time he did so... Like now.
*ding ding ding*
Jiraiya used his cup of sake and slapped it against a metallic rod on the bar to take everyone's attention, the sake inside of his cup not spilling at all because he used chakra to prevent it from doing so.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as you all know, today is- uh? I think I drank too much?" Jiraiya started to declare but interrupted his speech shortly after it began while pointing toward the back of the restaurant
Everyone inside the restaurant shifted their attention to where Jiraiya was looking, and everyone was surprised to see the flower unnaturally grow in size while starting to shine in a light blue hue.
"You're not doing anything Tsugumi, are you?" I heard Yushiro ask since his sister inherited Wood Release from Yuichi
"No, I'm not." Tsugumi replied as most of us began to prepare ourselves in case something bad was going to happen, getting rid of the alcohol in our bodies was the first thing we did for those who drank some
"I know that a Miracle happened when the flower shone last time, however, it was the opposite when it grew in size..." Tobirama let out as he moved closer to the flower and was ready to send it away along with him via the Flying Thunder God Technique
"No, don't!" Kaguya shouted as she pushed Tobirama back, looking intensively at the flower which made me feel something I didn't feel for years now...
Hope, hope that whatever was happening was a miracle, and as selfish as it was, one that was mostly meant for me...
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*Yuichi's POV*
'I swear, if they threw the God Tree's sprout away or destroyed it I will need to have a serious discussion with them' I thought as I used it as an anchor to allow me to come back quickly and easily once everything was over, and mostly in case I lost my powers which thankfully didn't happen
I just didn't expect to be inside some blinding light for over a few seconds, makes me curse about my great eyesight sometimes.
Nevertheless, when the light dimmed out, I was face to face with... A wall, a wall I recognized as I said "Of all the places they could've put the flower it ended up being inside Teuchi's restaurant? A bit careless but it's better than a random person's garden."
"Yuichi?" I heard not just one but a lot of voices say in unison which prompted me to turn around as I replied "Yes?" and recognize most people in the room before getting tackled by way too many people at once, making me fall on my butt as I tried to hold them all
"You're back... You're finally back..." I heard Tsunade mutter as she began to tear up while Kaguya was holding my left side with a little bit too much strength, making Konan the only one who was careful not to hurt me accidentally as she was silently enjoying my presence again, a smile on her face and a tear building up under one of her eyes
I saw in the back Tobirama who silently smiled with his arms crossed, Tsugumi who had not only grown up a lot but was getting restrained by Shisui so she wouldn't jump at me carelessly, which is when I realized that she was pregnant... Thankfully, it looked like I was back before my grandchild's birth.
Something that almost made me chuckle was how Dai and Jiraiya were both crying loudly while holding each other, their face and clothes were a mess with all the tears and snot they let out.
"F-Father..?" I then heard a subtle feminine voice exclaim which was not Tsugumi so I looked to the side and saw a young girl with hair reminding me of Konan with a small mix of mine looking at me with both expectation and apprehension
Kaguya, Tsunade, and Konan stopped holding me when they heard her before Konan passed her arm around the young girl's shoulders while the other two helped me get up.
"You must be Kumichi, right?" I let out as I kneeled in front of the girl who was surprised that I knew her name despite never meeting once since she was born
Letting out a small chuckle at her surprised expression, I let out "Of course, I know who you are, I'm the one who decided your name before you were even born... Looking at you, I can see that you are growing well, and also that I was away for quite some time..." before laying a hand on her head and looking around the restaurant to see how the younger generation grew up
"You were gone for more than 15 years, Father." I heard Yushiro reveal when I looked at him, making me realize that I was gone for a bit longer than I expected
Shifting my head back toward my little girl, I decided to embrace her before saying "I'm sorry I wasn't there with you when you were growing up... I truly am..." making her embrace me in return before tearing up and barely being able to mutter "I *sob* I forgive you..."
Her answer made me smile, she was definitely more mature than Tsugumi was at her age... Must be because Konan's blood was running through her veins.
"You'll have a lot of explaining to do, although Kaguya-san told us what your intentions were, we need to hear the full story..." I heard Tobirama say so I answered "Of course, though it will take a long time, I believe it will be interesting enough."
Nevertheless, after hugging my second daughter for an unknown amount of time, I got up and looked the other way where a woman I only met once in my life was silently waiting for me to say something, a smile of pride and happiness was all I could see as our eyes met.
"Mom, I... I'm glad to meet you again." I let out which made her smile even wider before spreading her arms wide as well, prompting me to go and hug her
"I'm proud of you, my son..." I heard her mutter which made me feel guilty and let out "I'm sorry..." as I knew why she actually died in the first place
"It's not your fault, don't blame yourself for my death, you were just a newborn baby..." I heard her reply which made me hug her even more tightly since I knew it was definitely my responsibility
All for not wanting any parental attachment once I was reborn, how immature of the old me...
After a few minutes of awkward silence in the restaurant, I let go of my mother and looked around before saying "I apologize for leaving you all so abruptly and for so long... I... There were a lot of things I had to take care of to make sure we wouldn't see another Isshiki again."
"Well, I don't want to be impolite, Yuichi-san, but I believe we should hear your story later, after all, today's a bit special." I heard Orochimaru, looking as androgynous as he always did, say which made almost everyone around us mutter that he was right
"Yuichi." I heard Tsunade call my name before she grabbed me and made sure that I was facing everyone before saying "Welcome back, and..." but trailed off at the end until everyone exclaimed "Happy birthday!" at once which made me smile like never before because it definitely had a deeper meaning than usual
"Thank you, everyone... I'm back!" I replied with a beaming smile, a tear forming under one of my eyes as my emotions were in turmoil
I was delighted to be back... It was finally time for me to live my life to the fullest in this world I was reborn in.
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[A/N: And with this, it's over! An Afterwords Notice is what follows this chapter.
Thank you for reading my fanfiction until the end, I know the release rate was erratic and some mistakes were made on the way but I'm happy to say that this fanfiction is COMPLETED which, let's be honest, is a rare case on this website.]
Done. 4k3 words.
As always, if you find grammatical mistakes, please comment about them.
Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed it!