It was extremely amusing to see that even after my sensei all but confirmed the old bastards words as being true nobody seemed to realize that my strength was not "just" at S rank. Not to brag or anything but I was probably the most powerful person in the world at the moment judging by how strong my sensei and Jiraiya was. They were considered on par with the Fourth Raikage who was considered top five in the power rankings of the world. Meanwhile I could flat out dominate my sensei in a fight with ease at this point.-
My physical strength was unrivaled, my elemental jutsu capable of mass destruction on a village wide scale and my chakra nigh bottomless. I even possessed an extremely powerful dojutsu capable of horrific things. No one in the entire village, not even my sensei truly understood exactly how powerful I was and I intended to keep it that way. I was not warlike or had any inclination towards conquest so I wanted to remain in the background as far as the world was concerned so no wars started over my existence.-
Make no mistake however, if something were to threaten my peace I had no qualms at all crushing that thing mercilessly. The old bastard was not such a thing but more a joke for thinking he knew anything worth blackmailing me over. Still the guy served as an excellent example and the people doggedly trying to get the Kakashi treatment stopped abruptly. I was a hermit, not a soft target like they thought. Still my newfound peace was quickly disturbed again as Karin decided that since I wasn't working on anything that my free time was hers.-
"I thought you were focusing on medical jutsu at the moment?" I asked the redhead snuggling up to me in my lap.
"Lady Tsunade said that all I needed was to solidify my basics and then improve on them to be considered an expert Iryonin so I have a lot of free time now." she said smiling happily.
"I see. And you choose to use your time doing... this?" I asked with a twitch in my eyebrow.
"You don't have a leg to stand on mister self isolation." she shot back and I couldn't really argue that I had some bad social habits.
"Fine then." I said scooping the girl up and standing up.
She was startled by the sudden change and looked up at me quizzically but I didn't say anything. Instead I flickered us both out of my house and through the village before shooting into the forest of death.
"It's so beautiful!" she exclaimed when we reached my destination.
It was a small grove with a spring fed pond that was easily one of the most beautiful places in the land of fire in my opinion as the sun shone down through the trees at just the right angle to make the water sparkle while the colorful fish living within it added much color to the scene.-
The fish were toxic as all hell to eat but were absolutely a treat for the eyes with their long flowing fins and shiny colorful scales. I had randomly came across this place a few years ago when I was living in this forest and had kept it a secret till now. I occasionally brought some of my special chakra beast supplements to feed the fish so even after I arrived the things weren't disturbed as they recognized and trusted me.-
"As much as I love the place why are we here?" Karin asked confused.
I just smiled and opened a storage scroll that with a poof of smoke revealed to contain a whole feast of foods and a soft blanket. "I figured I'd take you on a picnic. Had this planned for a few days in truth." I said and she smiled brightly.
"I love it!" she said happily as she helped me set up the blanket and food.
There wasn't much talking as we just sat together and ate. Even when the smell of the food drew some animals to us we remained relaxed and Karin even shared some food with them and the fish with a content look. -
Obviously the animals weren't that trusting but I used some of my sagely awesomeness to get them to play along. Karin probably knew this but wasn't willing to point it out as she was having a good time. All good things come to an end though and when Kuma lumbered into the area scaring off all the normal animals immediately while kicking dust unto us and the food due to his sheer size. We weren't mad or anything like that as it was getting late and the giant bear didn't do it intentionally.-
Still we packed up our stuff and rode on his back as he carried us out of the forest happy to be helpful. He was a silly lazy thing but cared if nothing else so I let him slide even though he crashed my date.-
"That was fun, we should do it again sometime." Karin said was we walked home hand in hand.
"Just no interruptions from Kuma next time I hope." I said with a smile and she laughed and nodded.
It was a good time and I was satisfied until the day it changed.
The morning was little different than any other for me as I woke up and make breakfast for Karin and I before she went to the Hospital for work as she does regularly. It was while we were eating that I sensed someone approaching my house before knocking at the door, an anbu. I sighed at this and walked over to the door and opened it.
"What is the problem?" i asked directly.
The owl masked anbu was taken back at first but quickly shrugged it off and answered.
"Lady Hokage has requested your presence in her office as soon as possible." they said and I nodded.
"Give me a moment to prepare and tidy up." I said before shutting the door.
"Is something big happening?" Karin asked concerned.
"I hope not but it's possible another war is on the horizon. It's been about two decades since the last and the other villages might be itching for it now that we show signs of growing beyond what they are comfortable with." I said honestly.