After making her decision, Aino headed home to inform Raiden. Inside her house, she looked for Raiden but wasn't able to find him until she looked outside where she found him training his shuriken-Jutsu. Right now although Raiden was almost five he looked like he was seven years old and his body had lost a lot of baby fat and began showing his features, he would definitely grow to become a handsome young man.
"Raiden." Called Aino from inside the house. "Yeah, mom." He answered while turning his head to look at her. "Can you come inside?" He nodded and went inside the house. After sitting down his mother started by saying "I have decided to return to Konoha next week." He was stunned at first then said: "Why? weren't we supposed to go back three months from now when I turn five?"
Aino sighed again while holding her sadness for her friends "You remember my friend Kushina that I told you about." "Yeah" he answered puzzled what she had to do with this. "She is the wife of the Fourth Hokage, and they both died protecting the village from an attack." Aino could no longer hold her tears when she said that and started crying. Raiden was silent when he heard that and when he saw his mother crying he just hugged her and let her vent.
After she calmed down she finally said: "it wouldn't matter too much if we returned earlier by three months anyway, now please go pack your things." Raiden nodded and went to do just that.
In the following week, Aino sold the house and got herself and Raiden ready to travel to Konoha. Today was the day they would leave. While sitting in the carriage of one of the village merchants, Raiden looked back at the village, his home since he was born. 'Maybe I'll come back sometime.' he thought before looking ahead. His mother saw him look at the village and smiled.
Two days later, they were at the gates of Konoha. Raiden looked at the gates with wide eyes as it was his first time seeing them. His mother saw this and laughed then said: "It's been five and a half years since I was last here." Raiden stopped looking at the gate and looked at his mother who looked like she was reminiscing about her old days in Konoha.
When he looked ahead again they were already at the gates, where the guards stopped them and asked for identification. Aino took out her old headband that she had no use of right now alongside her Uchiha clan emblem that proves she is an Uchiha and said: "I am a retired shinobi of Konoha Uchiha Aino and this is my son Hitoshi Raiden." After introducing herself and Raiden she waited for an answer. The guards looked at each other, then one of them said: "Please stay here until we check." One of them disappeared for twenty minutes then came back with a smile "Welcome back to Konoha Uchiha-san, The Hokage gives his salutations and says to please drop by when you are free."
After entering Raiden looked at his mother looking like he wanted her to explain what happened. She smiled at him and said: "The village just lost the Hokage so they had to make sure nobody killed me and took my headband to infiltrate the village, so they had us scanned while confirming with the Hokage and Uchiha that there was a retired shinobi called Aino." He finally understood what that was about. "Now then forget about that welcome to Konoha." said his mother with a smile.
Raiden started looking around the buildings and was awed by the size of the village compared to his own old village. 'How is this called a village, it's more like a huge city.' Thought Raiden to himself. He looked to his mother to find her staring at him and smiling as if knowing what he was thinking. he blushed a bit then said: "Where do we go now, mom?" Aino looked at the sky and then said let's go to the center of the village first. After reaching the centre of the village they realised a lot of the buildings were either destroyed or under construction.
"What is going on mom? why are the buildings in the centre of the village destroyed?" Asked Raiden confused. "Because the nine-tailed demon fox was released in the centre of the village and attacked it." Said Aino having a pained look. "Don't ask, for now, let's go to the memorial stone."
After reaching the graveyard, they noticed a lot of people in it. 'There must have been a lot of casualties' Thought Aino feeling even more pain. Even if she had to leave she still loved Konoha. they headed to the highest point there, which was a huge rock with a smooth face shaped like a flame with a lot of names written on it. 'Why is her name not here?!!' Thought Aino after looking at the stone and not finding Kushina's name on it. 'Sigh. I can't even find your name, it looks like nobody knew you were married except for close friends and high-level officials. The villagers probably only knew that Minato-san was married, but didn't know to whom.' Thought Aino, sad that they didn't even put her name on the stone.
"Mom, why are we not looking for their graves?" Asked Raiden suddenly. "The Hokage and his wife are buried in the Hokage tombs." Answered Aino. "OOH." Replied Raiden then stopped talking. 'I'm sorry I wasn't here for you Kushina-san.' Thought Aino while offering a prayer to Kushina and Minato then leaving.
"Where are we headed to now?" Asked Raiden again. "To the Uchiha compound!" Answered Aino