"Minato! Minato!"
Hearing Kushina calling from the living room, Minato Namikaze poked his head out of the kitchen, a wok in one hand and a spatula in the other.
"I'm here!"
"Minato, several Uchiha ninja sent us wedding congratulations today!"
Holding the camcorder in her hands, Kushina watched one recorded message after another, unable to hide the smile on her face.
Even so...
The smiles on the Uchiha's faces looked oddly stiff.
It was almost as if someone had been standing just off-camera, threatening them while they recorded.
Sniff... sniff...
Catching the aroma of stir-fried food, Kushina looked up.
At some point, Minato had already walked over and was standing beside her, watching the footage on the camcorder.
Seeing that oil was still dripping from the spatula in his hand, she patted the sofa beside her with a helpless smile.
"Be careful. The sofa's brand new."
"Ah... sorry!"
Minato finally realized he was still holding the spatula.
He hurried back into the kitchen to put away the wok, spatula, and apron before returning to sit beside Kushina.
Together, they continued watching the recordings.
There were congratulatory messages not only from Konoha's ninja, but even from shinobi of other villages.
Even Kumogakure—which hadn't yet signed a peace treaty with Konoha and was still engaged in small-scale border clashes—had sent its blessings.
---
"Minato."
Kushina wrapped one arm around his shoulders while gently rubbing her slowly growing belly with the other.
"The other day, Mikoto told me the Uchiha Clan's internal conflicts are getting worse."
"The elders are becoming harder and harder to manage."
"Apparently, someone even suggested at their last clan meeting that Fugaku should divorce Mikoto and pursue the head of the Senju Clan."
"...Huh?"
Minato blinked in confusion.
Thinking of how affectionate Fugaku and Mikoto always were together, he instinctively asked,
"Why?"
"Oh, come on!"
Kushina rolled her eyes.
"It's because of the Hokage position."
"Ever since Mikoto married Fugaku, she's practically been driven crazy by those elders."
"They keep dragging up old history."
"For example..."
"When the village was founded, they insist the First Hokage patted Madara on the shoulder and promised him the position of Second Hokage."
"Later, they claim the Second Hokage told Uchiha Kagami, 'You're different from the other Uchiha. You're the one most likely to become the Third Hokage.'"
"And afterward, the Third Hokage supposedly told Fugaku, 'If you stop the enemy's advance, you'll become one of the Hokage candidates.'"
She looked at Minato seriously.
"You're the Fourth Hokage now."
"It's your responsibility to maintain the village's stability."
"And the Uchiha are Konoha's strongest clan."
Seeing Kushina hesitate, Minato immediately remembered what she'd said about Tsunade.
Is she asking me to play matchmaker...?
Lady Tsunade would beat me to death...
His thoughts instantly drifted to Jiraiya.
He still remembered seeing his teacher punched into the hospital by Tsunade...
Only for her to heal him...
Then punch him straight back into the hospital.
Minato shook his head vigorously.
"No..."
"Lady Tsunade would kill Jiraiya-sensei."
"...?"
Kushina stared at him blankly.
She'd been talking about preventing conflict within the Uchiha.
How had his thoughts wandered all the way to Jiraiya?
"Idiot!"
She immediately climbed onto his lap, grabbed him by the collar, and shook him back and forth.
"Why don't you just transfer that Uchiha ninja who keeps telling Mikoto to get divorced?"
"If he can't attend clan meetings..."
"And can't keep offering ridiculous ideas..."
"Wouldn't that solve the problem?"
"Transfer him... where?"
Seeing Kushina's red hair beginning to stand on end, Minato immediately raised both hands in surrender.
"Okay, okay, I understand."
"A number of ANBU members recently requested transfers back to regular duty."
"There are plenty of vacancies."
"We'll be recruiting capable ninja soon."
"What about before then?"
"Well..."
Minato awkwardly scratched his cheek while secretly glancing at his increasingly angry wife.
As he gently rubbed her back to calm her down, he finally came up with an idea.
"Recently, several Ninja Academy students have applied for early graduation."
"If that Uchiha doesn't have any psychological issues..."
"He could temporarily work as an Academy instructor."
"Kushina..."
"What's his name?"
"I'll look through his personnel file later."
"That's more like it."
Picking up the camcorder again, Kushina searched through the recordings before pointing at one of them.
"Him."
"Uchiha Asuka."
"One of the Uchiha Clan's jōnin."
"I've heard he's an extremely versatile shinobi."
"They say that even when he was still a chūnin, he already possessed jōnin-level combat ability."
"As for how strong he is now..."
"No one seems to know."
---
"So it's him..."
Following Kushina's finger, Minato looked at the familiar face on the screen.
After thinking for a moment...
His eyes suddenly widened.
A memory from the Third Shinobi World War surfaced.
He fell silent.
Seeing his expression darken, Kushina gently shook his shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"Is there something unusual about him?"
"No."
"Not exactly."
Minato slowly shook his head.
Recalling both Asuka's service record and the war itself, he quietly said,
"In some ways..."
"His past resembles Lady Tsunade's."
"He's one of the few combat-oriented ninja who also mastered medical ninjutsu."
"According to his records..."
"The Third Shinobi World War took every one of his comrades."
"The medical ninjutsu he spent years learning could do nothing except let him clearly feel their lives slipping away."
"He couldn't even prolong them."
"After that..."
"He abandoned medical ninjutsu entirely."
"He never used it again."
"I see..."
Kushina lowered her head.
Because she was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, she hadn't participated in the Third Shinobi World War.
But she still remembered that time.
Nearly every household in Konoha had flown white mourning banners.
The entire village had been grieving.
---
"Alright."
Seeing Kushina's mood sink, Minato gently rested a hand on her stomach.
"I'll assign him to a squad tomorrow."
---
Meanwhile...
Asuka sat alone in his house, looking around the now-empty room.
A trace of regret appeared on his face.
Cat Granny is ruthless.
When I buy things, she gives me a ten percent discount.
When I sell things, she cuts the price by thirty percent.
Without doing anything at all... I've already lost nearly a third of my family's savings.
"Sigh..."
He let out a long sigh.
After spitting a pile of chicken bones onto the floor, his gaze shifted to the enormous orange cat sleeping on the table.
The cat was unbelievably fat.
Asuka poked it twice.
"Stop sleeping."
"I need you to deliver a letter."
Feeling someone repeatedly poke its backside, the orange cat slowly opened its eyes.
It lazily stretched...
Then noticed the letter tied around its waist.
Its stretching motion froze.
After a long silence, it glanced at the recipient's name before looking back at Asuka with an unmistakably human expression of resignation.
Speaking in a surprisingly girlish voice, it muttered,
"I don't want to deliver letters to widows."
"It's bad luck."
"And besides..."
"The Senju and the Uchiha are sworn enemies."
"Pfft."
Asuka spat to one side before looking toward the abandoned Senju estate.
"The Senju Clan is gone."
"Only one woman is left."
"What sworn enemies are we talking about?"
"When the Senju still existed, the clans could fight all they wanted."
"But now?"
"Everyone on their side is dead."
"There's no point kicking someone while they're already down."
The orange cat looked at him for a long moment.
Then it casually opened the letter and began reading aloud.
«To Lady Tsunade, Head of the Senju Clan,
As the Third Shinobi World War draws to a close, the ninja world has finally entered a brief period of peace.
Though that peace may be temporary, as head of the Uchiha Clan, I hope this letter can begin a discussion about the future of our two clans, whose conflict has lasted for a thousand years...
...the future of Konoha...
...and the future of the ninja world.
—Uchiha Fugaku»
Thud.
As soon as it reached the signature, a folded piece of paper slipped out of the envelope.
The orange cat picked it up, unfolded it...
Then its eyes widened.
"Asuka!"
"Did you suddenly get rich?"
"Why is there a 100,000 ryō banknote in here?"
"If I don't include money..."
"It'll be a miracle if Tsunade even bothers replying."
The cat looked at him curiously.
"What are you working so hard for?"
Smack.
Asuka lightly flicked the cat on the head.
"I just want to live out the rest of my life in peace."
"Using force means taking risks."
"If something can be solved through peaceful means..."
"Then of course peaceful means are better."