"Enough!"
Tsunade furiously walks towards them.
Hmph…
Onoki and A stop in their tracks. They snort at each other and greet Tsunade.
"Princess Tsunade! Iwagakure is here to extend its regards!"
Onoki waves his hand and the shinobi beside him carries boxes of gifts towards Fugaku.
"Yōkoso"
Fugaku greets them and signals his men to carry the gifts.
"Hmph! Kumo won't also fall behind!"
A also signals his men to pass the gifts.
"This is a small gift from the Kumogakure to show our regards!"
Fugaku receives the gift with an awkward expression, but he maintains his calm demeanor.
He leads the group of Iwa and Kumo inside the venue.
Onoki and A turns towards each other with a frown.
The wedding ceremony is just an excuse. Their real aim is to test the waters. With their spies weeded out of the Konoha, they have no intel on the current strength of Konoha.
Back in the venue,
Kakashi is in a black kimono as he stands with Guy, Asuma, Yamato, Kurenai, Shizune, and Anko.
"Kakashi! What are you going to gif the couple?" Asuma and Kurenai walk towards him.
Asuma just arrived with the Sarutobi clan. With the death of Hiruzen, the responsibilities of the clan have fallen on his shoulders. His elder brother would help him with the clan matters from time to time.
"I am going to gift them Honeymoon tickets to Land of Noodles." Kakashi takes out an envelope from his pocket.
"That's so like you, Kakashi!" Kurenai and the rest of the group chuckle.
"Then what about you, Asuna? What is your gift? You are representing your clan so your gift will represent the prestige of your clan." Kakashi shakes his head as he is slightly displeased with the bothersome clan matters.
"My gift is the Monkey Fruit Wine from Mount Huaguo. This wine is specially brewed by the Monkey Sage and I got some courtesy of Monkey King Enma!"
Asuma fishes out a transparent gourd with a crystal clear wine.
Hmm…
"That sure is an extravagant gift!" Kakashi nods his head.
"What about you guy? Thought of any gift!" Kakashi and the rest of the group curiously stare at Guy.
"Of course! It took me a while to think of a gift that will symbolize the fiery passion of youth. Here it is!" Guy points towards a large gift box.
"Oh!" The rest of the group notices the giant box.
"What's inside of the box? What's your gift, Guy?" Shizune asks him.
"Hehe… First, I thought of gifting a pair of dumbbells and weights to Izuna. But given his fitness, I thought it wasn't enough since he must train quite hard to maintain his prowess. So, I bought the entire training set for him.
It cost me a hefty sum of money!"
Guy tearfully takes out a wallet from his pocket.
Eh!
The expression of the group turns strange as they stare at Guy.
"Looks like I have to hunt some wild animals for the rest of the month!" Guy bites his lips.
"…"
The rest of the group sweat drops at Guy's antics.
'Well! We can't expect more from this guy!" They shake their head and turn to Shizune.
"What's your gift, Shizune?" Kurenai curiously asks her.
"This!"
Shizune takes out a small bottle from her bag.
"And this is?"
"This is a special lotion from the Land of Medicine. I spent quite a lot of time there with lady Tsunade learning medicine. It is a special paste made of various rare herbs from the gardens of Land of the Medicine.
It will help one maintain a youthful appearance and nourish the skin!" Shizune hesitates for a while as she pockets the bottle.
'This is the only bottle I got from there. I could not think of a better gift, but still!'
She bites her lips in frustration.
"Anko! What's your gift?" Asuma turns towards Anko.
"Let me guess, it's a box of Dango!" Kurenai makes a guess.
"H… How?! How do you know? Am I that easy to read?" Anko has a shocked expression.
"…"
"Is there anything else besides Dango that comes to your mind?" Kurenai shakes her head.
"But Dango is the best!" Anko argues.
She has a box wrapped in gift packing in her hand.
"These are the Kamo Mitarashi Chayo Dango from the Land of Honey! I especially ordered them to be delivered here!"
Gulp…
Anko gulps her saliva as drool leaks from her mouth.
'I want a bite! Just one!'
"This foodie!"
The group shakes their head and turns to Kurenai.
"Kurenai? What's your gift?" Shizune curiously asks her.
Up till now, most of the gifts reflect the personality of the person gifting them. So, she is curious to see Kurenai's gift.
"My gift! It's nothing fancy! It's a matching pair of Kimonos for the couples that I commissioned in Land of Bear!"
"Oh! That came as a surprise. But it matches with your personality!" Shizune smiles and teases her.
"Oh! Looks like you folks came prepared!" Kushina walks towards the group.
"Kushina Sensei!" The group straightens up.
Haha…
"There is no need to be formal with me!" She chuckles.
"Izuna is the youngest among your generation, but he is the first one to get settled! What about you lot? You guys have any plan for marriage!" Kushina teases the group.
Emm…
The faces of the group turn red from embarrassment.
"Asuma, Kurenai! How long are you guys going to be secretive about your relationship? Just marry already!" Kushina turns towards Kurenai.
"Eh! Kushina-Sensei! It's not like this. We just…" Kurenai is flustered to hear Kushina.
Haha…
"Alright! Alright! I got it!" Kushina then turns to Kakashi.
"All of you have hidden your relationship pretty well! But not as well as Kakashi!" Kushina chuckles.
"Kakashi!" The rest of the group turns to Kakashi.
"Me!" Kakashi points towards himself.
"Who else?!" Kushina rolls her eyes.
She takes out a picture and passes it to the rest of the group.
"Look! This is the dream girl of Kakashi! The secret lover affair of Kakashi!"
"That picture!" Kakashi is shocked to see the picture. He hurriedly inspects his pockets and storage.
"It's not there!" He sighs helplessly.
"Izuna-kun is the one who gave this picture to me and talked about Kakashi's secret love story." Kushina flashes the picture of a girl.
"She is Hanare from the Land of Keys. Such long-distance love!" Kushina shakes her head.
"If not a certain someone afraid of political incidents, this girl would be present here attending this marriage ceremony with us!"
"It's not like that Kushina Nii-san! Let me explain!" Kakashi tries to sort the situation.
"Let it be!" Kushina waves her hand.
"I don't want to hear any of your excuses!"
"Broom-haired Nii-san is a bad guy! He breaks the heart of a poor girl!" Ayaka tip-toes to them.
"Yes, my Ayaka-chan is right!"
Kushina pulls Ayaka into her embrace and bear hugs her.
"Kushina-san!" Hanna walks over with Hanabi in tow.
"Oh, Hanna-san! Let's talk about Naruto and Hinata!" She pulls Hanna and walks towards another corner.
"Hmph… Broom-hair Nii-san, you baddy!" Ayaka snorts and dashes away.
Sigh…
Kakashi has a bitter expression on his face as he stares at the back of Ayaka, unable to express his emotions.
Pfft…
The rest of the group burst out in laughter.
"You deserved it for what you did, Kakashi!" Guy pats his shoulder.
Haah…
'How can I explain to this bunch? Anything I would say will be useless!" Kakashi shakes his head in melancholy.
-------------
Inside the dressing room,
"It's about time!" Aiko enters the room and signals to Izuna and Mei.
Mei is dressed in a white 'uchihkake' with a blue floral pattern. There is a white headdress on her head. She is holding a small folding fan with the Terumi clan symbol imprinted on it.
Izuna is dressed in a black kimono with the white Uchiha symbol embroidered on it.
He is staring out of the window at the vast patch of sky.
'This is the happiest moment of my two short lives!"
"Let's go!"
Mei clasps his hand.
"Everyone is waiting for us!" She has a brilliant smile on her face.
"Yes, let's take our first step towards a new future!"