A soft spring breeze drifted through Konoha early that morning.
The sunlight wasn't too hot yet. Birds chirped lazily from the trees, and the entire village carried one of those rare peaceful moods where absolutely nobody felt like working.
Or at least… peaceful on the surface.
Because lately, one particular topic had begun silently terrorizing the women around Shiki.
Fishing.
It started after Shiki casually mentioned one evening that he wanted to spend a few relaxing days by the river outside the village.
"A quiet place, some wine, grilled fish… sounds nice," he had said lazily while leaning against the engawa.
And somehow...
Those simple words immediately turned into a full-scale operation.
Which was exactly why Kushina suddenly kicked open Shiki's door.
"LET'S GO FISHING!"
"…Why are you yelling first thing in the morning?" Shiki muttered, half-buried under his blanket.
"Because today feels perfect for it!" Kushina declared proudly.
Behind her stood Rin, Kurenai, and Yugito.
Rin looked embarrassed for some reason.
Kurenai looked sleepy.
Yugito, on the other hand, looked just as fired up as Kushina.
Kushina had nearly called everyone Shiki knew just to make this plan more successful.
"Fishing…" Shiki repeated lazily, glancing outside.
The weather really was nice.
"…Fine."
The moment he agreed, Kushina pumped her fist into the air victoriously.
"Yes!"
An hour later, the group arrived near a quiet river outside Konoha.
The water shimmered beautifully beneath the sunlight while tree branches swayed gently overhead.
It was comfortably peaceful.
Tsunade had somehow joined midway too, carrying alcohol like a completely functioning adult.
There was no way she was going to let the perfect opportunity to leave the paperwork behind slip away. Even if someone complained, she could just hit them with, "You guys are having fun without calling me? That's basically isolating me."
"Lady Tsunade… you brought sake to a fishing trip?" Kurenai asked.
"What?" Tsunade frowned. "You think fish taste better with water?"
"…That is not the issue."
As soon as the fishing began...
Kushina immediately declared herself the "Ultimate Fishing Master," despite clearly having no idea what she was doing.
Within five minutes, her fishing hook got stuck in a tree.
Ten minutes later, she somehow hooked her own bra, nearly showing everything. Luckily, she stopped it in time with a red face.
Although Shiki still saw everything in that moment, he didn't think much of it besides...
"The tips are really red, just like her hair..."
Meanwhile, Rin nervously sat beside Shiki while trying very hard to act natural.
So hard that she nearly threw herself into the river while casting her fishing rod.
"Wah—?!"
Shiki casually grabbed the back of her shirt before she fell face-first into the water.
"…Careful."
"Y-Yes…"
Rin's face instantly turned bright red again.
Kushina, who was fishing but actually paying attention to them for some reason, immediately narrowed her eyes.
"…Look at her."
"She's hopeless."
Fishing itself turned out to be far more chaotic than relaxing.
Mostly because nobody here actually knew how to fish properly.
Aside from Kushina, who had almost made a fool of herself and would've probably become the first person in history to get naked because of her own fishing rod... the others weren't exactly doing much better either.
After all, they had decided to do this naturally without cheating, meaning no chakra or other little tricks were allowed.
Kurenai, for one, tried seriously.
She was probably the most normal out of all of them. At least her first cast landed steadily in the water.
Although even after several long minutes, she still hadn't caught anything.
But after changing her position again and again, she finally managed to pull one out of the river.
A bright smile immediately appeared on her face as she proudly looked toward Shiki.
"Shiki-nii, look. I caught one..."
"Not bad..."
Tsunade was already getting anxious, and after hearing Kurenai's words, she became even more restless because she had caught absolutely nothing for almost two hours.
Eventually, she declared the river itself was "clearly biased."
And Yugito–
"…Why are you using chakra?"
"What?" Yugito blinked innocently while a fish suspiciously launched itself directly toward her hands. "It came willingly."
"That is NOT fishing!"
Tsunade finally couldn't hold it back.
Seeing someone cheating, she immediately felt the urge to do something.
Then an idea formed in her mind, and she instantly put it into practice.
"I'm putting fifty thousand ryō on Shiki catching the biggest fish."
Shizune, who had been the quietest the entire time, nearly fainted.
"Tsunade-sama, please stop turning normal activities into gambling!"
"Relax. This is called investment."
Meanwhile, Rin finally managed to catch something.
"Shiki-sama! Look!"
She proudly held up a tiny fish barely larger than her palm.
The entire group fell silent.
"…It's cute," Kurenai said carefully.
"…That fish is smaller than a spoon," Kushina added.
Rin froze.
Critical damage.
"W-Well, at least I caught something!"
"True," Yugito nodded seriously before tilting her chin meaningfully toward Tsunade. "Unlike a certain someone who started gambling midway through."
"…You are one to talk, you cheating cat."
Naturally, things only became worse from there.
At one point, Kushina suddenly shouted:
"OH! I GOT ONE!"
Everyone turned just in time to see her yank the fishing rod backward with full force—
—and accidentally launch the fish directly into Shiki's face.
He had completely lowered his guard for once, simply relaxing his mind and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.
Smack.
Dead silence fell over the riverbank.
For a moment, everyone felt like they could hear their own heartbeats.
The fish slowly slid down Shiki's cheek.
Rin looked horrified.
Kurenai immediately turned away because she already knew laughing right now was dangerous.
Tsunade failed instantly.
"HAHAHAHAHA—!"
Even Yugito nearly burst out laughing, but quickly covered her mouth with both hands until her cheeks turned red.
Kushina laughed nervously.
"…Technically, I still caught it?"
Shiki slowly removed the fish from his face.
"…Amazing technique."
"Thank you."
"..."
Shiki narrowed his eyes but didn't act immediately.
Kushina gave a somewhat uneasy laugh and returned to fishing, but...
Then suddenly...
Splash!
Everyone instantly turned toward the river.
Kushina emerged from the water completely soaked, looking confused and baffled.
"…The fish pushed me."
"…Kushina-san," Rin said carefully.
"Yes?"
"…Fish can't push people."
Kushina stubbornly crossed her arms before narrowing her eyes at Shiki.
"That fish definitely pushed me with its tail... or maybe I slipped."
Shiki gave her a small smile before turning his head away, instantly making her grit her teeth.
"…What a vengeful guy."
By evening, the atmosphere finally settled down properly.
The fish they managed to catch were grilled over a small fire while the sunset painted the river orange.
At one point, Rin nervously approached while carrying a grilled fish she had spent nearly thirty minutes preparing.
"S-Shiki-sama… I made this for you."
Shiki took a bite.
Rin stared at him so intensely that she looked seconds away from passing out.
"…It's good," Shiki said honestly.
Rin instantly looked happier than someone who had just achieved world peace.
Kurenai quietly prepared her own fish as well, clearly intending to hand it to Shiki next.
Yugito had already tied her hair back like a professional chef, looking completely ready to unveil some "ultimate cooking technique" she apparently had been saving until now.
Meanwhile, a drunk Tsunade had somehow ended up beside Shiki at some point, leaning against his shoulder while mumbling about how much she wanted to live freely like this every day instead of rotting away inside the Hokage office.
She even told Shiki he should just become Hokage himself already.
Shiki's mouth twitched slightly.
He simply patted her hair.
As for becoming Hokage...
He honestly had no interest in it.
And regarding a future successor, he hadn't thought that far ahead yet either.
Tsunade was doing a damn good job already.
Maybe after a few years, he might throw the position toward Shikaku instead.
Who knew?
The future was still far away.
Kushina, who saw Rin return to her side, immediately started teasing her again.
"So~" Kushina grinned mischievously while nudging her. "Did you enjoy sitting next to Shiki all day?"
"I-I was just fishing!"
"Mhm."
"You were smiling the entire time and squirming around like a fish yourself."
"Kushina-san!"
And just like that, under the warm sunset and the sound of everyone laughing by the river, that peaceful day slowly came to an end.
For Shiki, it was nothing more than one ordinary fishing trip.
For the others, however, it became one of those memories they would remember for a long time.
Days like that continued quietly.
Sometimes noisy. Sometimes troublesome. Sometimes peaceful enough to make even Tsunade forget about the Hokage's office for a while.
And before anyone realized it...
Days turned into weeks.
Weeks turned into months.
Then, like leaves carried away by the changing seasons...
years slipped by.
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