Chapter 3: Count Down (2)
"Normal Speech"
'Inside Thought'
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You can not fight against the future. Time is on our side.
-William E. Gladstone
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May 10th before Kyuubi Attack
Minato never felt this old. Last month, Minato got a suspicious scroll from Jiraiya. First glance, there was nothing unusual, only words were written so neatly inside. However, there was not any chakra residue of the sender.
'Either the sender is a Fuinjutsu master, or this is a new invention of sealing scroll,' surmised Minato.
Minato sighed a deep breath. As a Hokage, the village would always become his priority. However, the scroll came at a-bad-timing. He could do nothing, but to worry about his future family well-being.
A legendary shinobi, one of the founding father of Konoha, and an Uchiha who could control tailed-beast, Uchiha Madara.
'Trust it or not? It is too good to be a coincidence,'
Minato could only hope, things that said on the scroll would not happen. He and Kushina were longing to build a family for so long. After all, He just wanted the best things happened to his future family.
'Maybe, I can be selfish for once,' wished Minato.
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June 10th before Kyuubi Attack
For Tsunade, every day passed as a blur. Nights or days were the same things for Tsunade, as long as she could drink until drunk.
Bitterness was what Tsunade's feeling nowadays. She regretted so many things that she did in the past. She felt so useless not to prevent the demise of her loved one as if her strength that she gained was meaningless.
'Kawaki-kun, Dan-kun, I'm such a failure of sister and lover! I can not even help you!' Tsunade consumed her sixth bottle of sake sorrowfully.
"Oi, Hime! What I said about you can not blame yourself for things that you can not predict!"
Tsunade looked up at the source of the voice. She could see her former teammate's tired face.
"If it were about Konoha again, just fuck off Jiraiya! I'm enough of its bullshits!" huffed Tsunade.
Tsunade let her former teammate sat across her and stared at him sharply as if to figure what was Jiraiya's intent. Tsunade knew, whatever Jiraiya's doing here - brave enough to seek out her - it must be about village's fucking business.
"As the usual, always straight to the point. Well, it's half true and half false. Though, you must consider it. It is about your dear cousin's condition," said Jiraiya exasperated.
Tsunade knew how much Jiraiya loved the village, different from her - she hated it. However, hearing her third cousin twice removed's condition, you could say that Tsunade was a bit curious.
"Who is the lucky guy? He better takes care of her or else I will gut him, and then heal him repeatedly," said Tsunade with eyes that promising pain.
In the other place, Minato suddenly had goosebumps all over his body when he had his late dinner with his wife.
"Minato-kun, are you okay, dattebane?" said his wife with concern in her eyes.
"Hahaha! I'm okay! I just had a feeling that someone is talking about me," said Minato while rubbing his neck.
"You are silly sometimes, Minato-kun. Of course, there will be people talking about you. You are the Hokage,"
"Yes, that was silly of me. Let's continue our dinner, Honey!" said Minato warmly to his wife.
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"You know, it's my one and only apprentice, the blond one," informed Jiraiya. 'I'm sorry, Minato. I hope you have a long peaceful life after this,'
Jiraiya was sure, deep inside of Tsunade's heart, she still cared for Konoha especially because her only alive cousin still lived there.
"Hmmm, took him long enough to realize it," said Tsunade while sipping her sake.
"Yeah, it's better to realize it late, then never realize it, like someone I know," countered Jiraiya.
"Huh? You say something, Jiraiya. What is it again?"
"Just kidding, Hime. I want to live longer, you know," grimaced Jiraiya.
"Then be a good boy, Jiraiya. Also, I will try to consider it," huffed Tsunade.
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July 10th before Kyuubi Attack
Kushina walked through the Konoha hospital corridor, searching for a room number 203. Kushina slowly walked because the extra baggage she brought along. She entered the room and found her best friend sat in the waiting room.
"Good morning, Mikoto-chan," greeted Kushina.
The said woman looked up from her reading and smiled brightly at the red-head woman.
"Morning, Kushina-chan. Do you here for the check up too?"
"Yes. How about you? When is your due date, dattebane?" asked Kushina excitedly.
Kushina sat beside Mikoto and stroking Mikoto's belly softly.
"Woah, your baby is kicking. Is it a boy or a girl?"
"It is a boy. Fugaku-kun and I hoped it was a baby girl. But, fate said otherwise," laughed Mikoto softly. "The doctor also said I'm due on two weeks from now,"
"Well, Minato-kun and I choose you to be my daughter's god-mother if you want it," offered Kushina.
"Really? Thank you so much Kushina-chan," said Mikoto while trying to hug Kushina. However, the baby bumps prevented them from doing it.
"Hahaha, no problem. Since I'm already Ita-chan godmother, dattebane," said Kushina eagerly. "So, where is Ita-chan now?"
"My son is in the academy now, so he can not accompany me anymore." Mikoto looked past Kushina. "As a replacement, I had his cousin to accompany me,"
Kushina looked back and found a young boy a bit taller than Itachi with plastic groceries in his both hands walked towards her.
"Woah, who is this handsome young man, Mikoto-chan?"
The said young man blushed furiously at the thought of being called handsome.
"Kushina-chan, this is Uchiha Shisui. Shisui-kun, this is Uzumaki Kushina," introduced Mikoto.
"Nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san," Shisui introduced himself and bowed respectfully.
"Polite and handsome, what a good mix. Please call me Kushina, dattebane," said Kushina while ruffling Shisui's curly hair. "So, how old are you Shisui-chan? Are you in the academy?"
The boy flinched a bit, either from the compliment or the suffixed Kushina used on him.
"I'm nine years old and already a genin, Kushina-san," answered Shisui politely.
Kushina sighed a deep breath and gave Mikoto the stink eyes.
"Your clan and prodigies," said Kushina while shaking her head.
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August 10th before Kyuubi Attack
Sarutobi Hiruzen was old and knew it too well. That was one of many reasons why he retired as the Hokage. His best friend, Shimura Danzo also prompted him to step down as the Hokage against the village's protests.
Hiruzen had long hoped that Orochimaru would succeed him as the Hokage but, despite his best efforts, he could never convince him of the Will of Fire - that Konoha was a family that the Hokage had to risk everything to keep them safe.
From time to time, Hiruzen thought Orochimaru developed his own 'Will of Fire' in his twisted way. Hiruzen regretted the times when he did not stop Orochimaru thinking about immortality when he was a kid and led him on the better path.
Jiraiya, his other student, also refused to be the next Hokage because he thought he was not responsible enough for the duties. So, the last choice was Jiraiya's apprentice, Namikaze Minato.
'If it were Tsunade, the answer would be a big no,' thought Hiruzen.
That blond man also had proven himself in the strength and intelligence through third shinobi war. Namikaze Minato was a compassionate man who wore his Will of Fire on his sleeve.
'That was what an ideal Hokage should be,' Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed a deep breath and shook his head. 'What is in the past is in the past,'
"Hiruzen-sama, what do you think about the scroll?" said the blond man in front of him.
Hiruzen stepped out from his musing and looked at the inside of the scroll again. If Hiruzen were a Nara, he would already say 'troublesome' repeatedly.
"It looks real enough to be true and impossible enough to happen. Uchiha Madara was dead," said Hiruzen while waiting for the further explanation.
"I already cross-checked the data about Uchiha's who had been KIA or MIA. There are several possibilities. Either it was enemy's spy or, Konoha's former shinobi who pretends to be Madara and there are also other crazy possibilities that I do not want to talk about," said Minato with a grim face.
"I just want to build a proper family with Kushina-chan," Minato rubbed his face slowly and looked at Hiruzen right on the eyes. "So, I have a favor to ask you,"
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September 10th before Kyuubi Attack
Jiraiya was on speed on his way to Konoha. After convincing Tsunade to come back to Konoha, he traveled to Uzumaki's Clan Mask Storage Temple and searched for the real Shinigami Mask with Kushina's instruction on the mission scroll.
With the help of Fukasaku and Shima, Jiraiya found the real Shinigami Mask. As he quoted from his toads, 'only summons or a sage' who could know the real one.
Jiraiya was already near the gate of Konohagakure, but the suspicious chakra signature who followed him since from the temple made him stopped.
"I don't know who you are. But, you better come out now before you feel the wrath's of the Toad Sage," shouted Jiraiya sharply.
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"Shizune, pack your things now! We are going to continue our traveling," shouted Tsunade.
"Y-yes, Tsunade-sama!" said Shizune while putting all of her things in the storage scrolls. "Where to, ma'am?"
"We are going back to Konohagakure," said the woman with determined eyes.
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