"This… is tough."
I could only nod in agreement as I helped my 'little brother' into getting through the Tree Climbing exercise. Hanzou had shown interest in becoming a Shinobi and had already joined the Academy to start his career in the corps, but there was something that he couldn't learn right now due to how 'young' he was. As far as I was concerned, Tree Climbing and Water Walking were both abilities that were essential for a Ninja to learn through the Academy, so I was more than glad to help him 'getting the edge' over the others. It wasn't much, if I have to be honest, and Hanzou was a bit disappointed it wasn't anything flashy, but he still decided to learn both important techniques when I mentioned that it would have helped him immensely by the time he started to learn serious ninjutsus. Both abilities were advanced versions of the Leaf Exercise after all and better chakra control meant an easier time getting a new technique down to work as quickly as possible. I would offer him some examples through the first exercise, and then he would go for it until he understood how to do it as flawlessly as possible. I told him what to be more careful about and… he still had to get through two steps as he tended to fall a lot.
"How about we take a small break? The key of the exercise is patience, so it wouldn't do you any good if you get too worked up about it."
He remained quiet, still lying on the grass and staring in annoyance at the tree for some time before nodding and accepting my offer. I helped him stand up as we walked back to the spent bonfire right where a tiny Kurama had been sleeping near to, a cool breeze keeping us from getting too heated up about today's particularly high temperature. We sat down and we quietly took a moment to silently look around our surroundings. We were the only ones in that field and I knew we just had two or so hours before we would need to leave as others had requested for this training ground later today. I didn't have any reason to not be calm, especially when things were going so smoothly for me and I was improving steadily with my studies over Seals. I was still focusing on expanding my physical and chakra-related abilities, but Seals were definitely something I was growing quite fond of. At first I was worried that due to the endless potential I had before me I would have just forsaken the need to train the rest of 'me', but I was pleasantly surprised when it just became a part of what I am as a shinobi, a strong but not an absolute one at that.
With projects between expanding what I had of the farming here in Konoha and finalizing some flaws to the seals I planned to introduce to Suna, I was pretty much set to merely train while I waited for the Hokage to come up with a decision over what to do with my proposal. I couldn't pressure Hashirama, not without appearing too vehement about it and giving off a sense of suspicious urgency on the matter. I knew he wanted his wife to check on the Seals and make sure that I had done a fine job before giving me a clear answer, and I knew that a thorough analysis needed time, something that Mito didn't have as much as I did due to her roles and duties. Both as the Hokage's wife and the mother of twins.
The kids were adorable. They were already crawling around, with Orime being the most active of the duo as she displayed an early inquisitive nature with how eager to see and learn she was. Kazuhiko was also moving around, but he seemed to know from a look at his own mother that he had to pause and remain put. I had the chance to babysit them for a while, together with Yoshiko. The girl was, as expected, all coy and cuddly when it came to dealing with her cousins, but I could tell the children were just partially happy about that attitude. One thing that I knew about toddlers and puppies was that they might love the affection, but they were rather quick to have some trouble handling too much of it. So, by being the more moderate between the two, I wasn't that surprised that the twins seemed to prefer me as a nice 'place' to nap on whenever they felt the need to rest. Or 'talk'. Or even playing when it came to catch them while they are crawling around. Not the calmest visits, but I wasn't even keen to complain from what I expected to find from two toddlers. They were loud, but not enough to make me want to plunge two kunais into my ears.
Just as I finished that brief musing, I found my attention stolen by Hanzou as the younger boy decided to ask me something that caught me off-guard.
"So… are you ever going to let mom try to have another husband?" He inquired with a cautious tone.
"...Are you referring to Madara?
"She likes him-"
"As an outstanding Shinobi and person. She knows he is my good sensei and that isn't as arrogant as 'rumors' say he is."
"She loves him," Hanzou repeated strongly. "I read her diary and-"
"You what?" I interjected fiercely, shocked by the stretch he went for this. And because of how he learned about this. "Wait, mom has a diary?"
"It's more of a 'thinking book'. She puts her thoughts there, not regularly but… she wrote so much about him. At first it was like you said but now she does think of that possibility."
My lips twitched in discomfort, frustrated by the idea that her denseness wasn't as powerful as I would have wanted and… I had to deal with this. Once and for all, from the looks of it.
"It would be a mistake for her. And for him."
"She deserves a chance to be happy. You told me that you were fine with it so… you wouldn't say no to other men?"
"If she is happy with those other candidates and they are not bad people, I wouldn't refuse," I admitted flatly, getting a frown out of him as he stood up.
"I see," He muttered with some annoyance and… I recognize both the degree of butthurt and the way he responded.
I closed my eyes and I felt a thin layer of chakra messing up with my senses. Irritation flashed on my face and I glared at the 'confused' Hanzou.
"How about you break the illusion at once? I thought you would have preferred to speak face to face, no trickery or mask in between," I flatly pointed out. "Sensei."
With the Genjutsu discovered, Madara didn't even bother keeping up any appearances as he dispelled the illusion and allowed me to spare a swift look around to see how much was altered. Hanzou had been put to sleep, he was resting for a while from the looks of it while Madara managed to replace him in his seat through the illusion.
"You really have a weak spot when you're distracted with your thoughts."
I almost felt ridiculed by that comment as I knew he was just raising that criticism to make less attention to himself. Before answering that, I spared a glance to Kurama and… realized that he had fallen asleep, thus why he had remained this much quiet. Guess I can't exactly rely on a Tailed Beast that loves to nap a lot nowadays.
Lazy fox.
"This is a training ground that has been checked thoroughly for any infiltration. The only thing to worry is for possible traitors," I remarked dryly, returning Madara his own dull gaze back at him. He didn't seem pleased, but I was far from done. "So, now you decided to read personal 'diaries'?"
"… I didn't."
"You just said that."
"An illusion can't be complete if the user doesn't know how to make the argumentation within it reasonably realistic. I just lied for the sake of making my acting the most convincing possible and… no, I would not be this forward with Mineko-chan."
My lips twitched in irritation at that infuriating honorific. First name basis, that's how he felt to be right now with mom.
"And yet you thought it would be a smart decision to interrogate me that way?" I asked, mildly-annoyed.
"If you were less stubborn, then I would have been more than happy to entertain a proper conversation. And yet I found out quite recently that my good student has a penchant for dodging discussions when it comes to this topic."
The sarcasm was so dry I could almost feel the salty taste tied to it. Sure, I might have taken the route of outright bailing the moment the argument was brought up by Madara, but I was within my rights to just rush away at a topic that I didn't like. And, at the same time, what he did was a dick move. I wasn't willing to forgive him with ease. But before I could say anything about it and get him to stop being this pushy, I was interrupted by Madara once more.
"After you're done with your brother. I wish to speak with you in private," The Head of the Uchiha Clan spoke solemnly. "We shall enjoy lunch together at the Akimichi Restaurant. I already got reservations and… I will hunt you down if you don't give it to me."
I scowled. "You really aren't going to let this go, aren't you?"
Much to my surprise, I was met with a surprisingly stern look. "Yes."
Standing up, Madara made his way out of the training field, leaving me to finally get Hanzou to wake up and… resume his training. Much to my relief, the child was quick to wake up and he didn't inquire much about what had happened to him after I said he just 'took a nap for how stressful the exercise was'. I decided to not tell him what happened with Madara, preferring to limit the number of people that were aware of this entire ordeal. With some energy back to him after that brief nap, we were quick to get back to his practicing session.
After seeing him fall after a couple of steps into the exercise for a few more minutes, I finally saw him finally make it to the top of the tree he had been exercising on for a while and complete the first few bits of this exercise. The road to get to the point where he would be ready for Water Walking was still quite long and I didn't plan to force him to rush it to even more failures in his attempt to make progress. The next parts were to have him gain confidence with the 'grasp on control' and the 'pace' behind the technique. The more he grew confident about it, the more he was going to build up his mental muscle to not take too long or too much attention to get working as intended.
With Hanzou done with training after he got to a 'satisfactory' point with it, I proceeded to leave him back home while I took Kurama to his spot, leaving him to laze about despite the fact how much he 'fought' to get to be around me for today. He wasn't really up to it, and I guess he just wasn't feeling it. Still, with these matters out of the way, only one remained and… I was indeed quite unsure how I was supposed to face him.
And no, I'm not calling him dad!
Back in my previous life, I wasn't exactly an enthusiast when it came to Eastern BBQ food. I had my experience with the Western version, but I was quite certain what really enticed me to it was the presence of so many good meat-based dishes that made me salivate twice as usual by just looking at the menu. I mean, this was still some delicious food and I was a bit famished from training a bit earlier to when I started with Hanzou. I needed my carbs.
Having never liked the veggie menu if there wasn't a hint of meat or pasta mixed in, it had been some painful first days to get accustomed to that kind of cuisine, but now that I had the BBQ around and affordable, I could hope for a 'brighter future'. I was still preferring mom-made food, but I was definitely the meat-lover that I was in my previous life. But while previous visits to this establishment were jovial and fortuitous, this one was indeed a tense and particularly upsetting one for me. I wasn't sure what to expect from Madara as he silently munched at his fried chicken wings, barely giving me any vocal input as I sat right in front of him and gave a look at the first order I got out of this hopeful brief stay at the restaurant.
The Beef Tataki, which was a plate filled with seared cuts of rare beef, was surprisingly 'light' compared with what else was available to the place. I decided to not pick Fried Chicken Wings since I knew that I had already eaten more than enough to become a problem if I continued to keep to that same snack before eating something more substantial. As I took out the first two slices of well-cooked meat, I heard Madara speak and I listened to what he had to say about it.
"I don't wish to create any trouble to what exists between us- nor I want to create issues for your mother when it comes to my status, both in the good and bad way."
"Why do you think going through with it is worth all of this?" I asked with a flat tone, jumping straight at the core of this very issue.
The Uchiha man looked surprised at the suddenness of the question, but he didn't allow himself to remain too quiet about it as he sighed and replied.
"I love your mother-"
"Why?"
My swift but curt question was met with silence and I hummed, aiming to elaborate the question some more for him to understand.
"Why do you love Shimura Mineko, Uchiha Madara?" I inquired as seriously as possible. "How come someone of your rank, with a proud mindset and high standards, find my own mother, who isn't servile or even remotely tied to a strong clan, meant to fit with what you would need to secure a legitimately strong line of succession."
…
"Maybe I don't want her to be my trophy wife," He muttered quietly and I looked up at him with a frown. He gave me a dead serious look. "Maybe I genuinely find her a person I care and love."
I frowned harder. "Seriously?"
"As much as it might sound strange, even for me, I don't think your mother is weak. Quite the contrary as far as I have seen and heard from her," Madara argued with a tired tone. "While I had seen glimpses of her inner strength, I saw a full version of it when she started to send me messages where she wanted to know about your condition during the war."
That wasn't exactly something I was aware about but I could see mom doing it. Sure, she sent me letters, but those were limited and mostly 'cheerful' as much as she could be with the thought of her son serving in a big war. It didn't match with her general worry, and the idea she was shifting the letters to Madara, the one she knew that was going to keep tabs on me, I could tell that she did it so because she knew he was a reliable source of info about my conditions.
"At first I thought she was just partly strong due to her- your father no longer being around but-"
"She isn't just that," I admitted, interrupting the man on the spot on where he was going with this. "Mom is strong as a person when she feels like her family is being threatened. And even though you weren't the main cause of my leave-"
"I was the one that had to still keep track of you and, in her opinion, provide her with information on a weekly basis," He interrupted me back, leaving my scowling at the interjection yet still listening to what he was adding through his story. "When I asked her through a reply message what she would have done if I had refused due to the regulations I had to keep in mind for the conflict, she mentioned that she knew precisely where my bedroom was after talking with some Uchiha housewives and that Mito-sama was 'kind' to her by providing her with a seal which main purpose was to release a dark-purple colorant through a harmless explosion."
I stared harshly at him as I tried to make sense as to how this threat was to be considered a good enough reason to think of mom as a viable option as his future wife.
"And how does this connect with the love you feel for her?"
"If before I had doubts about her genuine lack of interest in pursuing a romance to better her life, the fact she was willing to threaten me, albeit childishly, and going as far as brag that she didn't care about being arrested if it meant 'teaching me a lesson about not keeping tabs on her son'."
"That's mom, yes," I confessed with a hint of amusement… before going back to the main topic. "Still, you're trying to tell me that you consider this a good reason to fall in love with her… because she threatened you?"
"Because she did so regardless of my status and my current privileges. And she did so to protect family and… If I want a wife, I want her to be someone that focuses first on the family rather than the pride or the image of the clan."
…
"Sensei-"
"Everyone expects my future wife to be someone 'fitting' within the clan. Maybe even a family member to 'preserve' the purity of the bloodline and I'm not having any of it," He replied sternly, not towards me, but more to himself. "Mineko never once tried to bring up the clan and always remained to me as an individual, in this case me being your teacher and instructor and… and that took me by surprise… and I found it amazing."
The last bit was delivered with a hint of dreamy voice and I was shocked by the mood swings the Clan Head was going through while I failed to fully wrap up what was going on inside his head. In the end, a single conclusion came out of it, and I wasn't sure I was happy with it. But still-
Holy fuck, he is really putty because mom cares for him as a person rather than the image he represents.
The entire concept left me baffled at the mere idea Madara would actually find that attractive. Actually, scratch that, I could see that being a thing considering how he looked at Hashirama and Mito's marriage with minor disgust. Not because he disliked the two, but rather because it was a combined one- something that was born from a degree of unwillingness to a certain point. And since he was someone that wasn't going to ever consider an arranged wedding as a solution out of celibacy, I knew that romantic love was the way for him to get what he wanted. And he genuinely seemed to love mom. And it was quite the terrifying thought to bear right now as I was done with my food and was hungry for more.
…
"So you really want to date mom."
"Yes."
"Even though it would make things weird and dangerous for my family."
"I would deploy loyal guards to protect her, your brother and you all the time," Madara answered readily, still leaving me perplexed on a minor part of that topic.
"Me too?"
"Why wouldn't I protect you as you would become my heir if we marry."
…
"Hold up, what?"
I was flabbergasted by that news. Aren't we going a bit too fast in that regard? He was just dating her and there was no marriage on sight… right?
"You would need to be more specific."
"You're just getting the permission to date her. If mom wants to marry you or not it's up to her. Don't you dare think I will decide for her that big step," I replied sternly and he nodded.
"I can agree to that, but from that I can tell you will accept any decision she will take."
My lips twitched at his smugness. "Yes. But only if that decision is done out of free-will."
The comeback had him scowling instantly at the implication I was raising with my words.
"I would never do that to a future wife of mine."
I didn't comment on it, but I kept on thinking about it. This was going to be a mess to accept and I knew that it was going to take a while to submit my murderous instincts when it comes to this matter but… I had a strong feeling Madara was going to do something stupid and I would get the reason to make things happen on him. I had to just bid my time in that regard and wait. The visit concluded with me lingering behind. Madara had other things to do and I just used the excuse I was more hungry to remain around some more by the restaurant. Scratching underneath my chin, which was still devoid of any beard, I tried to really put an end to the whole idea I had on this matter. It was futile to deny that what the man said was correct.
Mom was definitely going to consider, maybe give it a try and then, after some time had gone by and she got a genuine understanding of who Madara was, make her own decision about remarrying. It was going to be a mess to add more reasons for the first Hunter-Nins to come around and start hunting me down due to Iwa having a hate-bone on me. Yes, that was going to be a mess to handle for sure but… at least I received good news later that day.
The Hokage had accepted my plan and was keen to send me an envoy to get through the friendly offer to Suna. I knew it was going to take some convincing and help to get them to use the seals properly, but I knew that this was going to be the best way to cement them as our allies in future wars and other diplomatic endeavors. Of course, I didn't expect things to be any easy, especially since the trip to go there wasn't going to be as easy to manage compared to my 'holidays' in Iwa and Kumo. The heat, the sand… it was going to be quite unpleasant to face the desert at my current age but… it was doable. Once I was back home, I started to pack my things and prepare all the necessary things I needed to survive the trip and get done with the job at hand. It was going to be an S-Rank mission due to its importance and the reward was going to be handsome enough to propel more individual projects.
Ah, I sure love when being a good man brings back some good money out of it...