"You two, in my mind, you were always those two little children from back then. It's hard to believe that in the blink of an eye, you're getting married. Time really flies."
Yes, in the blink of an eye, more than two decades had passed.
"I don't have much more to say. I just wish you two lasting happiness. And remember to have a baby soon; your Sensei is always pestering me about that."
At that, the few people present all burst out laughing.
The whole scene was lighthearted and joyful. The blessing from every elder was sincere, completely free of any personal agenda. This was what true family was—simply hoping your life would turn out well.
"Thank you, Sensei. As for the matter of a baby, all we can say is, we'll try our best!"
"Haha, that's enough to hear!"
After chatting with the elders for a while, Torifu and Naori left, heading straight toward Kagami's table. That table was full of their friends: Uchiha Kagami, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Akimichi Torifu.
"Oh, Torifu and Naori are here! Come on, quickly, sit down!" Hiruzen immediately fussed over them, making room for the couple.
This entire group had been through so much together and were absolute best friends—people they could entrust their backs to.
Koharu looked at the couple's happiness, her face full of smiles. "Finally! You two are finally married. I was just talking about this recently. I suppose Torifu must have already started preparing for it back then."
Torifu wasn't sure exactly when Koharu had been talking about it. The entire wedding had been planned for about two or three months. It wasn't too long, all things considered.
"You two played together since you were small. Back then, I just thought you had a good relationship, but I never expected you'd actually end up marrying each other," Kagami said with a sense of helplessness.
An older brother often has a bit of a sister complex, and Kagami was no exception. If it had been any other man, he definitely would have scrutinized him strictly and repeatedly until the man backed off.
But with Torifu, he couldn't play the gatekeeper. First, the two of them were simply too close; they had worked together and gone on missions together since childhood. Kagami understood Torifu's character and personality very well. He knew Torifu was someone worthy of his sister's trust. Furthermore, they were deeply in love, so Kagami naturally had no reason to object.
Even now that they were married, Kagami was still slightly bewildered about why his little sister had gotten married so easily. It felt like he, as the older brother, hadn't played any role as a gatekeeper; he hadn't even symbolically tried to stop them. He had just handed his sister over to Torifu so readily.
But now it was too late to react; they were already husband and wife. Since that was the case, he could only offer his blessings to Torifu and Naori.
Everyone at the table was a friend, so the conversation flowed easily. Even if they hadn't been in contact for a while, the moment they started talking, they immediately recaptured that old feeling.
"Torifu and Naori, you two really need to hurry up! All of our kids are ten years old, and some of our second children are already toddling around," Hiruzen teased.
"Yes, yes, we're hurrying up! But did you ever consider that there's a ten-year age difference between us? You guys are thirty-seven or thirty-eight, and we're only in our twenties!"
Koharu couldn't hold back her laughter upon hearing that. "I don't know why, but even though that's a painful thing to hear, it makes me want to laugh."
Torifu's comment caught Hiruzen completely off guard, derailing his train of thought entirely. It caused him to speak haltingly afterward.
Danzō was the most composed of the group, but he also offered his most heartfelt blessings.
Torifu took all of his friends' blessings to heart. This was different from the elders; the elders offered more concern, while friends might roast you a little. But no matter what, Torifu was certain of one thing: these were his best friends, friends he would protect for a lifetime.
After leaving this table, Torifu and Naori visited many others—tables for Katō Auntie's family, Jiraiya and Orochimaru, the Hatake family, and so on.
Torifu and Naori visited every table with people Torifu was close to. As for the rest of the villagers, Torifu could only ask for their forgiveness, as he simply didn't have the energy to visit them all.
Making all those rounds took Torifu an hour. Thankfully, he had convinced Naori to wear a pair of flat shoes, or she would have been exhausted.
"Let's go. We'll head over to Amado's table."
The last table they visited was their own family's seating.
Seeing his older brother and sister-in-law approach, Minato immediately stood up and pulled out two chairs for them to sit down.
"Big Brother, Sister-in-Law, are you all finished?"
Torifu smiled. "Yes, we're all done. We can finally sit down and rest for a bit."
Neither of them had eaten much all afternoon. Naori spotted a piece of frozen cake on the table, cracked the outer layer of ice, and ate the cake inside.
"Whew, I feel alive again. I was starving."
Torifu smiled at her words. "You should have told me earlier! I have plenty of food in my ring. Do you want more?"
Naori waved her hand. "No need. One cake is enough. I'm honestly past the point of being terribly hungry now."
"Master and Mistress! You two looked so beautiful up on the stage!" Konan said, her face full of admiration.
[T/N: Fuck it! I am sick of Japanese words, No more Sensei or Aunt. Master and Master's Wife = Mistress. I am no longer changing it. I felt like throwing my laptop at a wall for 5 times now.]
Young girls naturally loved things like this, and she was already beginning to fantasize about her own wedding, though she hadn't yet figured out who the groom would be.
Hearing the word "Mistress," Naori felt a momentary flash of realization. She had always been the one calling Mito "Mistress," and now she had become a Mistress herself.
"If you like it, Konan, when you get married in the future, your Master will arrange one for you!"
"Yay! Thank you, Mistress!"
"Big Brother, I still don't get how the Cloud Palace can hold over thirty thousand people." Amado asked, perplexed.
He truly was an inventor; his focus was completely different from everyone else's. Today was Torifu's wedding, yet Amado seemed to have been thinking about the secret to the Cloud Palace's passenger capacity the entire time.
Torifu was helpless about his curiosity. "The core still requires Chakra to drive it, it's just completely undetectable from the outside. Furthermore, the core of the Cloud Palace can generate Chakra by absorbing clouds and mist."
"It possesses such a miraculous feature? That's truly incredible."
This was his Big Brother's secret, and Amado understood, so he didn't press for more details. After all, Minato and Yahiko weren't aware of it. And seeing the way his Big Brother acted, it seemed he didn't intend for them to know. In that case, Amado certainly wouldn't say anything further.
"Big Brother, when are we going down? We aren't going to stay up here for the whole day, are we?"
Torifu waved his hand upon hearing the question. "Of course not. In about another hour, the Cloud Palace will begin its descent gradually."
[T/N: The translation quality might fall a bit. There's more than 1000 of chapters left. I want to see if i can speed it up. It's become too slow paced or bland. I am not really fond of slice of life genre.]