Chapter 28

"Do you feel ready Yuichi?" an aged voice asked behind me as I felt a hand on my shoulder

"I didn't expect to be more stressed than when I had hard battles..." I replied as I tied my clothes properly one last time looking in the mirror, in which I could see Tobirama to the side clothed with a kimono

I was clothed with the traditional black wedding kimono adorned by my family crest, the Senju Clan symbol, a pair of grey striped hakama trousers, and a haori overcoat.

Yes, Tsunade and I were going to be married today, both of us were 23 years old and we felt that it was the right moment to do so.

'It's better to do it before the future war'

While I was lost in thought I heard Tobirama said "If you are ready then it's time to join Tsunade."

"I'll be right behind you." I said smiling at him before moving out as Shuzo was waiting for us outside

'He grew up well'

The little boy who called me 'Aniki' all the time, and still does when we are between acquaintances, is now a young adult.

He's now around 1,80 meters (5'9 feet), he still has an effeminate face with his beautiful light green eyes, thin eyebrows, and a short and narrow chin. His light blond hair has a length rivaling mine, they are as spiky as ever giving them a thicker appearance but not as wild as Jiraiya.

His skin was far from tanned and he also had quite the chiseled body.

He honestly grew up as a handsome young man.

"You're looking good Aniki." told me Shuzo as he was looking at my attire

"Thanks." I shortly replied before Shuzo leads us inside the corridors to join the room Tsunade was in

In front of the door was Chizu waiting outside that bowed when she saw us.

'She too grew up well'

She's always strict with herself and never wants to cross this line out of respect she has for me.

Because of that, she stays formal all the time even when we are alone. In the end, I gave up and let her do what she wants nonetheless.

She currently hit 1,72 meters (~5'64 feet) which is quite a tall height for women in this world. She has the same beautiful light green eyes, thin eyebrows, and short and narrow chin.

What made her look different from her brother along with her height and personality is her neck-length light blond hair that is also thick for the same reason.

She's as chiseled and pale as her brother, and her chest was, according to Jiraiya, equivalent to a C-cup, making her a pretty and fit young woman.

Without saying a word, she moved slightly to the side of the door allowing us to enter.

Knockin' on heaven's door we heard a "Come in." from an aged feminine voice

Opening it, we were greeted by Grandma that wore a colorful kimono in front of us.

She smiled at me and moved to the side letting me see what was behind her.

I saw the silhouette of someone I know very well, and as Grandma moved to the left, Tsunade turned over when she noticed me and I became captivated by the woman in front of me.

She was wearing what was called a Shiromaku, which consist of a white furisode kimono with a trailing hem and a broad sash around the waist secured by a scarf. Over it, she has a second robe-like kimono known as an uchikake.

The interior of her sleeves was red and she had a flower embroidered on her left chest.

Finally, she had her hair tied with a bun behind her head, and another red and white flower tied.

[Here, did this horror you won't forget now]

"I don't mind you staring at me this much but how long do you want to stay like that?" a sweet voice making me come back to reality declared

As I stopped looking at her clothes I saw her smirk, so I approached her and asked "How did they do to hide most of your chest is what I'm wondering." before setting a finger on top of it

"It took the most time out of everything I had to do today." she said slightly bothered before adding "I'm not feeling uncomfortable, at least." as she touched them

"You're beautiful." I let out as I gently laid my hand on her right cheek

"So you think I'm not beautiful usually?" she replied while grinning to tease me

"Pft, you just want me to say 'it's not like that' while you know what I truly think." I said chuckling before leaning my head to her ear "You know I enjoy it better when you wear nothing." I whispered, successfully making her blush

'I won't lose a teasing battle'

*Cough cough*

"You should stop flirting like that in front of others, young people these days..." Grandma said surely because everyone here heard everything we just said

Looking at them I saw that Tobirama had his eyes closed as he crossed his arms while Shuzo and Chizu were simply embarrassed.

'Young adults are still kids in the end huh'

"You have the umbrella Shuzo?" asked Grandma changing the subject

"Yes ma'am!" he replied taking it out of a storage scroll

Shuzo will be the one following us to the shrine with the red umbrella to cover us.

It is used to draw off 'evil spirits' and keep the bride dry in case it rains during traditional weddings.

Looking back to Tsunade, I told her "We should go now, we have a lot of people waiting for us outside." as I took her by the hand, making her look back with a smile before walking side by side to leave the structure

Our wedding wasn't done in public and had slightly less than thirty guests.

'And quite the guests'

Obviously, there was Mito, Tobirama, and the twins.

We had our friends, consisting of Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Shikuro, Dai and Sakumo.

Then, there was Hiruzen along with his wife Biwako, and their first child, Konoyomi, which was a bit younger than us and works under Sakumo in the ANBU.

I invited Chikako, Hizashi, and Shibi who were now 12 years old, except for Chikako who was 15 years old.

They all became Chūnin this year actually and developed nicely.

Shibi was successfully trained physically by me and will be more buffed than he was supposed to be... He has a body type where you would see the muscle grow easily unlike Shikuro, who was also helping him with the Aburame Clan's Hiden Techniques.

Both Shikuro's and Shibi's parents came too.

Chikako awakened the third tomoe of her Sharingan and was trained in Fire and Wind Release, in which she has affinity, by me up to a level that would make most Uchiha of her age jealous.

She also came with her Grandmother, the only family she still has today.

And finally Hizashi... I know having a favorite with your students isn't professional but everyone always has one right?

I trained him more than anyone else I taught, mostly in secret from others too, because I want to recruit him into Origins.

In the end, he learned to not let his emotions take control of him, mostly because of his place within his clan, as well as how to think during battle and take advantage of his enemies.

He also discovered how to achieve the 'Two Hundred Fifty-Six Palms' but cannot perform it without falling unconscious right after.

Sadly for him, the worst part is right after because the last step would be to hit the 361 Tenketsu... And even though he 'only' has to add 105 consecutive strikes, it completely breaks the flow of the technique.

Just imagine being used to doubling the way you strike each time and suddenly try to use an odd number... At 256 strikes, your body just can't do it, and you also have to take into account the fact that he falls unconscious before.

As a future member of Origins, I will do my best so he can become even more powerful, and won't let him die in case he has to in the future, he will be under my 'to protect' list.

His father, Honoshi, and brother were here too because I had a lot of interaction with the Hyūga Clan lately.

Honoshi became curious when he saw Hizashi beat his brother, Hiashi, in a spar and when he learned that I was training his son he started pestering me to teach Hiashi too.

In the end, we became more than just acquaintances even if I keep refusing to teach Hiashi.

Last year, Tsunade also became a Team Leader which may be caused by my presence.

She led the current Team 10 composed of Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, and Chōza Akimichi which are 8 years old Genins.

So she invited them as well as one of their parents, the previous generation Ino-Shika-Chō.

As the sun's lights shined upon us when we got outside, we could see to the left and right of the road all the guests waiting without muttering anything, and we slowly walked in between them to join the shrine where a Shinto priest waits for us.

Right behind was Shuzo who covered us with the red umbrella, followed closely by Mito and Tobirama.

As we advanced, each people that waited to the side joined the line walking with us until we could enter the shrine.

Once inside, we stayed in the middle in front of the priest as everyone else gathered around.

A table full of offerings for 'God' was behind the priest.

'I don't know who will receive it, the one who reincarnated me or another one'

Once everyone was settled, the priest poured sake inside a small cup where Tsunade and I had to sip from it three times.

It was followed by a medium-sized and finally a large-sized cup also full of sake where we had to sip three times in each too.

This ritual was called the 'San-san kudo' and the purpose was to consume nine sips of sake because it is a lucky number, for couples only, as you cannot divide it equally in two, and three is a lucky number, thus the three times three.

Looking at Tsunade I saw her bite her lips as we had to let the rest of the sake in the cups.

'Can't change this habit' I thought chuckling inside my head

Once the ritual and the priest's speech were over, we could now exchange wedding rings, something that isn't in a traditional Japanese wedding but Kishimoto wrote this world and some western customs influenced his era's wedding style.

Tsunade put on my right hand's ring finger a ring made with platinum and gold in an intertwined pattern.

[Here]

I was then the one who took her right hand and put on her ring finger a ring made of pink gold inlaid with black diamonds.

[Here]

It replaced the old ring I gave her when we were young that no longer fit her, and this ring is also 'modified' with some special abilities.

Thankfully, such rings usually cost a bunch of money but with my Crystal Release, it was quite easy to make them.

After that, each of the guests had to come and congratulate us as well as give a wedding gift, which could simply be money, with an odd number, if they don't know what to give.

This marked the end of the wedding ceremony and the start of our wedded days, both of us were extremely happy but had to keep it to ourselves until the end of the day.

The next and last event was the wedding reception where we will have the best food and drinks we could get.

Teuchi was one of the cooks that took care of the food and started extremely early today along with the others to prepare everything.

It was also the time where some groups of people talking together were happening, so Tsunade and I entertained our guests separately.

I could see Jiraiya sulking while he was accompanied by Orochimaru so I decided to move toward them to talk.

"What's his problem?" I asked Orochimaru as I pointed at the sulking Jiraiya

"He's sad because he cannot flirt with anyone at your wedding." Orochimaru replied to me as he raised his hands not understanding why Jiraiya was interested in this type of stuff

"Come on man, you didn't go where I said you could find fine women?" I said looking at the crouching grown man acting like a child

"Urgh... I couldn't go there yet..." he said emptying a whole glass of sake

'I want to help you get laid, that's the best gift I can do for you as a friend' I thought as I remembered the 'sage life' he had in the canon

"So about the ring, does she like it?" asked me Orochimaru as he sipped a bit from his glass

"She likes the design, but she doesn't know what it can do yet." I shortly replied

Her ring was made by me but some of its abilities were done along with Orochimaru, thus the reason for his questioning.

After chatting some more with them I moved away and saw the Aburame talk- I mean, mumbling between themselves.

I decided to let them alone for now and approached Honoshi who was talking with Hiruzen.

Both sensed me and Hiruzen said "Oh Yuichi! I was just saying that the food was extremely good!" as he had a half-empty plate in his hand

"I'm glad you appreciate it." I replied as we continued to chat

Both are the leaders of their respective clans and talked about stuff that should only be known while being a Konoha elder before I came in.

Honoshi didn't completely renounce having me train Hiashi but was no longer as annoying with it because, in his mind, the stronger Hizashi as a branch member is, the more the main branch will be protected.

When I was invited to the Hyūga Clan compound I truly realized how the inequality between the two was... And I know that nothing will change until at least Hiashi becomes the new leader.

Either way, I left them when their talk became too serious for this kind of event.

The last guest I approached before going to eat something was Sakumo that was currently taking some food from one of the tables.

"Is the food to your liking?" I asked Sakumo who turned around to face me

"If it tastes as it looks then it will be for sure." he replied with a plate full of food he had yet to taste

I could see that he was tired so I asked again "I hope my wedding served as a day off for you because you get overworked."

"That's nice of you." he replied as he closed his eyes and smiled

Sakumo has a wife, she's also an ANBU and couldn't come today... Now that I think about it I don't even know her name nor saw her once.

It's like she exists but only for Sakumo... Weird.

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

Our wedding was over, everyone left for their house and both Tsunade and I were drunk as we arrived in our bedroom.

"Urgh, my head..." Tsunade mumbled as I was supporting her

"The same goes for me..." I tiredly said because both of us didn't want to sober up by force tonight

We just wanted to sleep and will keep the honeymoon wild night for later.

So we took off our clothes and slipped into the bed cuddling each other ending the day with a peaceful night.

"Good night dear." I said as I embraced her even more

"Good night...Love you..." she replied with a voice getting weaker by the second as she was falling asleep

That was an enjoyable day for sure, I hope the rest of the year will be pretty much like this.

[A/N: Re-read and finished the chapter late tonight, so there is a chance of having some grammar issue like always.]