After a quick wash, Torifu lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep. He thought he could still hear Minato practicing his ninjutsu in the yard, but sleepiness overcame him, and he didn't have the energy to tell him to come inside. The moment he closed his eyes, he fell into a dream.
He woke up the next morning at a little after nine. He had been woken up once by a system notification sound, but he had just gone back to sleep. He stretched as he got out of bed. Minato had already started practicing ninjutsu early that morning. Torifu sat on the edge of the bed for a moment to fully wake up, then went to the washroom to get ready. The cool water instantly made him completely alert.
He wiped the water from his face and walked outside.
"Practicing so early? Have you eaten yet?"
Minato shook his head. "No. I was planning to wait for you, Big Brother, but you weren't waking up, so I didn't go."
"Let's go get some ramen. Eating those ration pills for so many days has made me feel dizzy."
Minato followed Torifu out of the clan's compound. The two of them walked and chatted. "Have you been eating at home all these days?"
"No. Sometimes I go to the ramen shop. The owner is very nice to me and always gives me a lot of char siu."
Torifu smiled. That was natural. After all, Ichiraku Ramen was technically his own business, and he held a thirty percent stake in it.
Torifu didn't go to the office today. When he was woken up by the system, he had already sent out a puppet. He was too lazy to use his Concealment Jutsu, so he just walked into the ramen shop.
"Boss, two bowls of deluxe ramen."
Upon hearing Torifu's voice, the owner immediately turned around. "The Hokage is back! Then I have to give you an extra meal."
Teuchi said with a smile. In a moment, he brought out two bowls of ramen. Torifu's bowl had almost double the amount of all the ingredients. Torifu scratched his head. "You're too kind. Even if it's my own restaurant, this is a bit much."
Teuchi waved his hand nonchalantly. "Oh, don't worry about it, Hokage-sama. Just eat. You must not have had anything good to eat all this time, so you should treat yourself."
Torifu was already salivating. "Then I won't hold back."
The two brothers picked up their chopsticks and began to eat ravenously. People at the other tables all looked at them. But after realizing it was the Hokage, they all turned back and continued to eat.
After a feeding frenzy, Torifu finished the huge bowl of ramen. He could have eaten more, but it was better not to overdo it. Being about seventy percent full was enough. Minato also finished his last bite at almost the same time, though the portion in his bowl was much smaller than Torifu's.
After they finished eating, Torifu paid Teuchi for the two bowls of ramen. Business was business. The fact that he was a shareholder was separate from paying for his food. Teuchi didn't say anything and just accepted the money, because he knew what the Hokage's personality was like. Even if they argued for a long time, the result would be the same, so he might as well save his energy and focus on making ramen.
"Safe travels, Hokage-sama."
The other customers in the shop also greeted Torifu. Torifu responded to each of them and then left with Minato.
"Your jonin instructor just got back, so you probably won't be able to go on missions for a couple of days. You can either practice at the training grounds or at home."
The ninja of Konoha had just returned from the battle, so there weren't a lot of people on the streets of the village today. The ninja were all resting at home. After all, they had been on the move for so long, so it was impossible to throw them back into work right away. Because of this, Torifu had given them all a holiday, which was why he could openly walk on the streets. The Hokage office was also completely empty right now.
He hadn't been notified by Sakumo yet, but he figured he was just practicing on his own at home. Torifu thought the same thing. Minato's timing for graduating was very unfortunate. With the lockdown and then the war, Minato hadn't had much time to actually go on missions. If he hadn't been so innately talented, he might not have learned anything at all.
But all of that was in the past now. The war had ended, and Konoha should be at peace for a while. Minato could also calmly follow Sakumo and learn from him. And as long as Hanzō didn't jump out and court death, Torifu had no time to go looking for him. There was just too much to do right now.
After returning home, Minato continued to practice. His Flying Thunder God Jutsu had entered a bottleneck. But Minato wasn't scared. He could feel himself making progress with every step he took, even if it was very slow. Maybe if he had an epiphany, he could instantly master the Flying Thunder God Jutsu. If he didn't have that talent, he could still grind it out in a year or two.
Minato had always been very easy for Torifu to care for. He was much less trouble than Amado, at least. But both of them had their own strengths, so he couldn't say who was better. They were both Torifu's younger brothers. They were family.
At this moment, Torifu was lying on his bed, but he wasn't planning on sleeping. He was going to contact Kakuzu. He put his thoughts into a puppet, which then came out of Kakuzu's mark. He looked around and saw that it was still a cave, but there were no signs of water. It was very dry.
"Are you in the Land of Earth?"
Kakuzu nodded. "Yeah. We were closer to the Land of Earth at the time. What about you? Is the war over?"
"It's over. Hanzō escaped, and the Land of Rain was divided into three parts."
This was what Kakuzu had expected. Hanzō was very strong, but he wasn't stronger than the leader, and certainly not stronger than a joint army. He then asked, "Why are you contacting me?"
Torifu cleared his throat. "There are two main things. First, since the Land of Rain was divided into three parts, I've decided to let you manage the part that belongs to the Land of Fire. I want all the members of the organization who don't have a permanent base to set down roots there. It'll be the headquarters of the organization in the future."
This first thing completely stunned Kakuzu. It had been so many years! So many years! The leader had finally remembered his comrades! He was handing over a third of a country for them to manage. Even though the Land of Rain was small, it was more than enough!
"Great, great! I think the others will be very happy."
Torifu smiled. "Just don't hurt the civilians there. Take care of them."
Kakuzu nodded. "Of course. We're not mountain bandits."
"And second, I have a mission for you. Find two kids within the Land of Rain. They should be around five or six years old."
"The boy has orange-red hair, and the girl has purplish-blue hair. They're very easy to identify. They are both wanderers. Bring them to Konoha."
Kakuzu had no questions. He was used to it. Their leader didn't have many hobbies; he just liked collecting kids. He was only in his twenties and had already adopted two. We don't dare ask why, do we?