Konoha Year 48, November 10th. A month had passed since the end of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox Rebellion, and the village was gradually returning to peace. When people mentioned the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox during their leisure time, their faces were no longer filled with fear, but rather a sense of calm, thinking, 'With the Fourth Hokage here, there's nothing to fear.'
For the past month, Naruto had completely gotten used to his current state. He would wake up every day to eat, and after eating his fill, he would stare around with his big eyes, listening to his parents talk about all sorts of things, or being forced to endure the teasing of a certain unscrupulous mother, while his handsome father watched the mother and son play, smiling happily.
Kushina would also often take Naruto out to buy groceries. Along the way, she would always receive pointing and whispering from the Konoha villagers. Of course, they weren't saying bad things, mostly admiration and praise. Naruto would always hear words like "amazing" and "hero." Well, overhearing people gossiping behind their backs was a passive skill of the Konoha residents, and saying good things was no exception. Kushina didn't pay much attention to these things, walking along on her own, stopping to greet acquaintances with a smile.
Gradually, Naruto got to know the wives of the Nara and Akimichi families, as well as Mikoto Uchiha, his Old Mom's close friend. Unfortunately, he didn't see Sasuke. He only caught a glimpse of a child who looked like Sasuke at the memorial service, being held by a five or six-year-old boy, probably Itachi.
Naruto originally thought that with Kushina's personality, Minato would definitely be the one responsible for cooking at home. He didn't expect that Kushina, who seemed so carefree and even a bit brash on the surface, was surprisingly a virtuous wife and good mother at home. She would prepare breakfast every day before Minato washed up, and would help him straighten his collar before he left for work. When Minato came home from work, she would gently say, "Welcome back," and then put the food on the table while Minato smiled and patted Naruto's Dog Head.
The only thing that could be considered remotely related to being tough was one day before dinner when she grabbed 14-year-old Kakashi from the window and threw him into the living room, then ordered him to wash his hands and eat. Naruto watched with great interest, Kakashi's bewildered expression was quite cute.
Of course, Kakashi wasn't the kind of person who would just do whatever you told him to do. He couldn't just come in and eat just because you told him to. Didn't he have any pride? So the next day, when Kushina grabbed him, he tried to struggle, and then… he was tied up into a dumpling with golden chains.
On the third day, Kakashi got smarter. If he couldn't afford to provoke her, couldn't he just hide? It was perfectly normal for him, an Anbu, to hide himself while carrying out a mission, right? Then he saw Kushina close her eyes and sense for a moment, and still jumped out of the window to accurately find Kakashi and drag him back.
The fourth day, the fifth day… Kakashi resisted many times without success, and finally had no choice but to knock on the door and enter the house himself when it was time for dinner.
As for pride, what pride did he need when he was already wearing a mask… On the contrary, as soon as he saw his Master's Wife's Red Hair, he couldn't help but want to give her some face. 'Speaking of which, Master's Wife's cooking is quite delicious,' Kakashi thought resignedly.
Of course, this matter was instructed by Minato for Kushina to do. Minato felt that letting Kakashi continue to stay in Anbu would only fuel the darkness in Kakashi's heart. Perhaps only Obito's carefree and optimistic personality could gradually infect Kakashi. Kushina was very suitable for this, and another child named Might Guy seemed suitable as well… In short, for now, he would start by inviting Kakashi to come home for dinner every day.
Sometimes Kushina would also go out, supposedly to help the Barrier Team improve the Konoha Barrier, and would ask Biwako Sarutobi or Tian Lu to take care of Naruto. Naruto understood this. When it came to things like Barriers and Sealing, Kushina was basically the strongest in Konoha. Whether it was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Professor of Ninjutsu who claimed to be proficient in all of Konoha's Ninjutsu, or Danzo Shimura, who sealed half a bridge in a fit of anger, they all had to step aside.
Naruto had no complaints about his current life. After all, in his previous life, he was just a salted fish, only thinking about getting an ordinary job and living an ordinary life after graduation. But now he was an infant, with no worries about food or drink, just occasionally feeling bored.
For the past month, Naruto had also consciously tried to see the Nine Tails, but had never succeeded. Perhaps the Sealing was too strong. Now Naruto's only wish was to grow up quickly and then become strong, as he really lacked a sense of security in this world.
The peaceful days passed by like this, day after day. The atmosphere at home was warm and beautiful, and even the always cool Kakashi had unknowingly changed a little. At least he would occasionally take the initiative to say a few words at the dinner table, and sometimes he would curiously look at Naruto in his swaddling clothes and pinch Naruto's face.
Minato was very pleased to see Kakashi's change, and Naruto, watching Kakashi's change… just wanted to spit on his face. 'Could you pinch a little lighter! You're even heavier-handed than my Old Mom!' Naruto thought indignantly. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but when Naruto widened his eyes and tried to glare Kakashi to death, he seemed to see Kakashi smile almost imperceptibly.
...
...
In the blink of an eye, another day passed. Naruto lay listlessly in his stroller, waiting for the adults to finish eating and come pinch his face, but the atmosphere at the dinner table today seemed a bit off.
Minato put his bowl on the table and said, "The village's situation hasn't been good lately. There have been more and more frictions on the Border with the Land of Lightning and the Land of Wind."
Kushina also stopped her movements and asked, "Why?"
"Such a big disturbance as the Nine Tails' rampage can't be hidden. After the Land of Wind and the Land of Lightning get the news, they will naturally want to test us and then infer the extent of Konoha's losses from Konoha's attitude." Minato's tone gradually became heavy, and he said, "The Land of Wind is okay. They suffered heavy losses in the last war, and they should be unable to start a war now. But with the Land of Lightning's style… it's hard to say."
"Land of Lightning…" Kushina had no good feelings for the Land of Lightning at all. After all, it was people from the Land of Lightning who kidnapped her when she was a child. If Minato hadn't rescued the beauty at a critical moment, she didn't know what would have happened to her.
Naruto, who was eavesdropping next to her, also had no good feelings for the Land of Lightning. When he watched anime in his previous life, he always felt that the author was alluding to a certain country: a mixed-race population of black and white people, advocating force, unreasonable, and having black technologies like Chakra cannons. If they took a fancy to any Bloodline Limit or Secret Technique, they would try to snatch it, just like a certain unnamed Eagle Sauce.
Kakashi, who had been silent all along, said, "Minato-sensei, let me go."
Minato reached out and rubbed Kakashi's hair, saying, "Don't worry, the village has decided to send Orochimaru-senpai to sit in the Border, nothing will happen. Let's eat first."
"Okay." Kushina and Kakashi responded, feeling slightly relieved.
But Naruto was stunned when he heard Orochimaru's name. Had Snake-Uncle not defected at this time? Thinking about it carefully, Orochimaru's defection in the original work happened after the Fourth Hokage's death, during the Third Hokage's re-administration. At that time, the Third Hokage personally led a team to raid Orochimaru's laboratory, seriously injuring Orochimaru, but in the end, he softened and let him go.
Then what Naruto didn't understand was that since he let him go, why did he send Kakashi, who was in Anbu at the time, to pursue him? Subsequently, Kakashi was intercepted by a Wood Release teenager sent by Danzo, and met this later honest man, Yamato. Could it be that the Third Hokage and Danzo were acting together?
After that, he didn't know the specific time, but Jiraiya tried to persuade Orochimaru to return on the way, but Orochimaru said, "I won't listen, I won't listen," and seriously injured Jiraiya. However, Orochimaru also softened and didn't kill Jiraiya.
Sigh, Naruto sighed inwardly. The people of Konoha were always so slow and inefficient when handling matters, and from time to time, they would come up with some incomprehensible strange moves. It was only because the First Hokage and Second Hokage had laid such a good foundation for Konoha that it could fight several enemies at once in every Shinobi World War and still not collapse. He hoped his Old Dad could break away from the influence of the Konoha F4 and become a wise and powerful Hokage.
This time, letting Orochimaru go to the border, it seemed Jiraiya was not in the village. He had clearly come to visit Kushina during her pregnancy and had even chatted with Minato about Naruto's name. It seemed that Jiraiya was either on a mission or traveling abroad, or, with his integrity, he might be on a night raid in some Widow Village...
There was a moment of silence at the dinner table, and Minato started a conversation, saying, "By the way, Kushina, in a few days I plan to visit Fugaku and his family. Let's take Naruto with us."
"Okay, I also want to chat with Mikoto, and I haven't had a good look at Sasuke yet," Kushina said with some joy.
"Sasuke, huh? He should be classmates with Naruto in the future," Minato recalled, remembering that Sasuke was also born this year.
"Yes, when I first saw Sasuke, I thought he was a girl. That child is just too cute," Kushina laughed.
"Hahaha..." Minato laughed along.
Uchiha, huh... Kakashi silently touched his left eye, remembering his "deceased" close friend, I'll go to the Memorial Stone in a few days...
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