"Here, this is what you wanted-take it."
Akira caught the sachet Mito threw at him. He glanced at it as he opened his palm and saw the Uzumaki clan emblem embroidered boldly across the fabric.
He had no doubt-whatever was inside, Mito was jealous about it.
"Feel sorry."
Akira stepped forward and wrapped Mito up in his arms, stroking her hair in slow circles.
"I made things hard for you."
Mito gave a low snort but didn't pull away from the contact. She leaned her head in against him and sighed.
"At least you realize it."
Akira smiled and tilted his mouth closer to her ear with barely concealed amusement. He squeezed tighter and started to whisper promises into her ear-empty or not, they felt right.
"I swear-when I come back, I'll make sure you're the mother of my child. One boy, one girl. The boy will take after me... the girl after you..."
Mito rolled her eyes with mock disgust but couldn't help biting back the smile tugging at her lips.
"Gross."
"I'm serious," Akira insisted. "I already picked names. If it's a boy-we'll call him Lemon. And if it's a girl-Angelica dahurica."
"Angelica dahurica? That's literally a medicinal root."
"Fine. Wangfei?"
"Even worse."
"Shui Shui? Hu Hu?"
"Pah. Those are terrible."
"They're cute."
Their voices faded into each other, but the moment was broken when the sachet slipped from Akira's fingers and dropped to the ground with the faintest sound.
Mito looked down-and caught sight of it again. The laugh died from her mouth.
"What about Madara's child?"
Akira froze. Cold sweat gathered under his collar. There wasn't any correct answer to that question. Talk and he was dead. Say nothing and he was dead harder. It felt like the girlfriend-or-mother drowning question-but worse.
He had no idea how to fix this-until-
Bang bang bang!
Someone knocked on the lab's door hard and fast.
Akira stiffened-at first thinking White Zetsu had come to kill him-but then remembered White Zetsu wouldn't announce himself before trying anything slick.
Tsunade's small but forceful shout rang from outside next.
"Grandma Mito! Open the door! Someone's here for you!"
Akira turned toward Mito with narrowed eyes.
"How'd Tsunade even know where this lab is?"
Mito didn't even glance back at him when she replied flatly.
"What-wasn't exactly hiding it from her."
She was pissed-and Akira could feel it in her tone alone.
Before he could say anything else, Tsunade kept banging on the door from outside again, her volume rising with each call.
"Grandma Mito! I know you're in there!"
Mito sighed in open frustration and stepped out of Akira's arms without warning.
"I'll go deal with her."
Akira tried to reach for one last word of reassurance but hesitated-the closer White Zetsu came, the slippier this window might get. If she chased him off now, everything would fall apart-including resurrection plans tied to Otsutsuki blood extraction.
He lowered his tone instead and said, "Don't bring anyone else down here for now. Seriously."
Mito stopped at the doorway and turned toward him sharply.
"What about me?"
"It'd be safer if you didn't show your face either-for bait purposes."
Her glare cut sharper than before. She stared at him hard-then stomped directly onto his instep with enough pressure to crack bone with clean force.
Crunch!
Akira winced but said nothing while watching her leave in stiff silence. He glanced down at his slowly resetting foot and sighed under his breath.
"Didn't deserve that... probably deserved that."
…
Back in the side hall of Akira's house, repair work was ongoing-leaving room limited and space tight, especially since only high-ranking ninja were granted formal presence inside.
Everyone else stood outside silently-waiting and unsure if they were supposed to kneel or run or beg just to be heard today.
Tsunade walked in behind Mito and immediately froze at the crowd's size. Clan leaders from every major faction stood shoulder to shoulder out front-all of whom smiled way too wide and looked way too eager to push their own agenda forward through whatever charm they thought they had left in them.
To Tsunade-they only looked like creeps grinning for no reason at some party she wasn't invited to attend, and she hid half behind Mito instinctively on sight alone.
Mito caught the motion and patted her hand gently-then turned forward again with icy calm ignoring every single fake smile tossed in her direction.
"What are you doing here?"
Her expression darkened with each syllable spoken-and shook visible confidence off faces as quickly as flame cuts fog. Every elder who'd been waiting for days to get close to Akira suddenly clenched up as if they'd been called out in class by name without having done their homework. They said nothing-but slowly turned toward Sarutobi Hiruzen anyway with silent expectation bleeding from every gaze.
"Why're you looking at me? I'm not volunteering," Hiruzen hissed under his breath before stepping forward reluctantly when no one else moved.
As Hokage now, he knew it rarely mattered whether he wanted attention or not-or whether he liked it when he had it.
"Mito-sama… we came to see Lord Akira."
At that-Mito tilted her chin slightly and glanced toward Tsunade handing out orders back by the wall-as if trying to decide how much trouble any one of them might be worth right now.
"Why?"
"There's tension rising along the border… we may be heading toward armed conflict soon… so-"
Before he could finish, Mito's eyes narrowed immediately. Her thoughts instantly darted back-to battles lost, to how Akira had died last time because of war-and how Lemon and Angelica dahurica had been just names in the end because of it.
Her jaw clenched-and she pointed directly at Hiruzen with no hesitation left in her tone now.
"All any of you ever think about is war-war, war, war-"
Her words snapped sharper than they should've-but none dared interrupt while she vented until she stopped on her own terms with breath running thin from uneased disdain alone clinging under every word she dropped into the floor between them.
Hiruzen waited until she cooled before trying again with slow care behind every word this time.
"Mito-sama… we didn't provoke anything-this time it's the other nations moving first. So we really just came… to ask for Lord Akira's insight."
Mito said nothing at first-but when she finally spoke again-her tone dropped colder than ever before across silent breaths too dense for comfort…
"He's dead."
"…What?"
Hiruzen staggered under those words like they knocked wind right out of him.
His thoughts raced-to that day years ago when Tobirama had been ambushed-and how even then Akira had seen through enemy plans without anyone else catching on until years later. If anyone could help now-it was him… which made this possibility feel far worse than death itself now that it stared back through someone else's mouth instead of just rumor...
"Did Lord Akira leave anything behind? Anything we could use-"
"Relics? That bastard even asked me to find Madara's relics next-"
She flared again-and this time chakra shot out hard enough to split wood beams ahead of her step alone as Nine-Tails' power rippled through the hall with explosive pressure lighting red hot above her back without restraint anymore-
Hiruzen only managed two steps backward before getting flung out bodily across the courtyard mid-sentence-
Thud!
His body made several koi in the pond splash sideways on impact-and cracked tiles where he splashed down among limp fins floating lifeless by impact alone…
Groaning in pain-he couldn't even lift himself out as dread filled his ribs deeper than water ever could-
Power gone… allies gone… no way out if four nations came next-
"Lord Akira… what am I supposed to do without you?"
His wail echoed down from waterlogged breath where koi shimmered next to stunned guards frozen by guilt they couldn't place properly among floating scales...
Inside-Mito crossed her arms slowly again...
"...Pervert bastard's even flirting with monkeys now?"
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