Two days after the tragic event, Hokage’s Residence.
Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned back heavily in his chair, completely exhausted.
It had been an incredibly tense couple of days.
There was so much to do, so much to settle.
He had to calm down the clan heads, negotiate compensation for the Uchiha, and project an image of a leader deeply concerned for the victims…
The Third desperately wanted to drop everything right now and go on a mission…
a D-rank mission!
Oh yes.
No intrigue, no murders, no hypocrisy—just pulling weeds in a garden.
Why did Genin complain so much about those assignments?
It sounded like absolute paradise right now!
But his biggest headache by far was the Jinchuriki.
Not just the fact that the boy had intervened, but how it all conveniently lined up.
Hiruzen wasn’t blind; he saw the pattern clearly.
Of all the places and all the times, they just had to bump into each other in that park?
And then, to make matters infinitely worse, the boy decided to let the Fox’s chakra erupt like a geyser!
If only he knew how excruciatingly difficult it had been to cover that up so no one else noticed!
Hiruzen shuddered, imagining for a moment what would have happened if someone other than the grateful Uchiha had witnessed it.
He couldn’t even fully comprehend the absolute shitstorm the clan heads would have raised, but the mere thought of it had been starring in his nightmares for a solid two days!
The demands his old friends—now the village elders—would have made, however, were terrifyingly clear to him.
And he hated that prospect.
He also didn’t like the fact that someone else had been actively helping him cover up Naruto’s tracks, while remaining completely in the shadows.
It was only by stepping back and looking at the entire picture that Hiruzen realized his Anbu had essentially been working side-by-side with another faction.
And he knew exactly who was behind that faction.
Meanwhile, underground.
Danzo was incredibly tired.
He was literally dreaming of two things: a solid ten hours of healthy sleep, and a mission where he could just relax…
oh yes, a D-rank mission!
It seemed the Second Hokage’s personal method for relieving stress had sunk deep into his student’s soul.
Danzo vividly remembered the shock they had all felt when they finally realized what exactly Tobirama was doing out there.
Danzo smiled, picturing the faces of the current clan heads if they saw him on a weed-pulling mission.
A quiet chuckle filled his office.
Yes, that would be a brilliant joke.
Probably his last, though, since he would immediately be forcefully retired as a senile old fool.
Danzo also wanted to strangle a certain Jinchuriki…
gently, lovingly, but definitely strangle him!
Oh, the sheer volume of problems that redheaded devil had caused him!
And it wasn’t even the fact that he’d ruined Danzo’s brilliant plan to cripple the Uchiha’s power, or that he’d forced the remnants of the clan into his debt.
No, the experimental conditioning on Itachi hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but the immediate result had been within expected parameters: he had genuinely snapped and gone to slaughter his clan.
The plan was for Danzo’s men to sweep in halfway through the massacre, “saving” the remnants of the clan and placing them permanently in Danzo’s debt.
But no!
First, the Jinchuriki took a massive dump on his perfect plan.
And then, some one-eyed psychopath completely turned his flawless scheme into fertilizer by arriving from the exact direction his “rescue” squad was stationed, effortlessly slaughtering them before moving on to the massacre.
But even that could have been salvaged.
He could have launched alternative operations.
But instead, he’d had to divert a significant portion of his operatives to covering up and erasing the lingering traces of Kyuubi chakra…
in the middle of the village!
In a way, Danzo was almost pleased.
The fact that the village’s weapon could already manipulate the Fox’s chakra at his age exponentially increased the boy’s value!
And the last Uzumaki had seemingly maintained his sanity in that state, which was simply fantastic.
But the timing could not have been worse!
It had caused Danzo a monumental headache.
What truly amused Shimura, however, was the fact that, for his own reasons, Hiruzen had also been desperately trying to cover up the incident alongside him.
And they both knew that the other knew.
Yet, by silent agreement, neither of them brought it up.
Not now.
Then there were the actions of that Tsuru girl…
On one hand, it was commendable that she now had an anchor in the form of the child, giving Danzo undeniable leverage over her.
But butchering her own squadmates and intentionally making Danzo out to be the villain?
That was unpleasant, even if it wasn’t fatal.
Especially for Shimura’s own reputation—he was constantly painted as the villain anyway.
Pathetic idiots!
Why did almost no one understand that he did everything, absolutely everything, for the good of his village?!
Short-sighted fools.
Danzo rubbed his temples tiredly.
Maybe he really should take a D-rank mission…
just somewhere far away from the village.
Any change of pace would do at this point.
And then the Uchiha had to go and distinguish themselves.
Right at the moment when everyone and their mother had their eyes glued to them, they decided to publicly and blatantly “flirt with the Jinchuriki.” Heh, Inoichi and Shikaku’s heads were probably splitting in half trying to figure out that move by the red-eyed clan.
Speaking of the red-eyed clan, the awakening rate of the Sharingan among them had, for the first time in a very long time, reached nearly one hundred percent!
Now that was a true strengthening of the village.
They had shed the dead weight and retained only the pure combat core of the clan.
Most of them might only have a single tomoe, and they might spend the rest of their lives with just that, but in the event of an attack on the village, their contribution would be immense.
Sometime later, far removed from political intrigue.
Alright, so Strongman I increased the leveling speed of the STR stat by 10%.
And Resilient I did the same for VIT, while also reducing stamina consumption.
Excellent.
Now, what about Hitomi?
I only just got around to checking the log from that event in front of the Uchiha gates.
Hmm, a reputation bonus and “accepting her as she is”?
Well, I wouldn’t call it that.
It was more like basic self-preservation and a heavy dose of genuine gratitude on my part.
But triggering “maternal instincts” from her end was definitely worth it.
Though, honestly, I felt like those instincts had awakened a long time ago.
Had she just not realized it before?
Or was she just faking it?
No, faking it that well was practically impossible.
It was more likely she’d just had an epiphany and completely reshuffled her priorities.
Could I trust her now?
God, I wanted to say “yes.” Who knows?
There were very few people in this world I could genuinely trust.
Kiba and Shikamaru, based on their reputation levels with me, and that was about it.
Well, Sasuke and Itachi too, after recent events, but the latter—the bastard—had skipped town.
Shifting slightly, I elicited a synchronized, unhappy mumble from both sides.
Glancing at Saya and Aya, I just let out a long, sorrowful sigh.
How did it come to this?
No, nothing perverted happened.
Their mother just had a massive pile of paperwork and internal clan “debriefings” to handle at the clan head’s estate.
The girls didn’t trust their relatives, and absolutely refused to stay in the same house with the clan babysitters—the image of their cousin attacking them was burned too deeply into their minds.
But they had apparently placed an enormous amount of trust in me.
So right now, both of them were fast asleep in my bed, pinning me in from both sides.
It was a wide bed, but they had naturally gravitated toward me in their sleep.
Well, at least it had filled that last 10% on their third hearts.
Yeah, the System even took a lovely overhead screenshot of the bed to commemorate the moment.
I felt like a human dakimakura.
I was honestly only digging through the System to distract myself.
Heh, Hitomi really had darned my orange jumpsuit.
Yep, orange…
The moment I saw it in the clothing store window, I knew: it was love at first sight!
Why did everyone else hate it so much?
It was durable, comfortable, reliable, neither too hot nor too cold—and most importantly, it was orange!
[+150 Reputation with Kyuubi no Yoko for shared tastes.] …Well, that was unexpected.
It would be nice if the giant fur-rug actually spoke to me, though.
He hadn’t made a peep since that night, and I had no idea how to get into my mindscape to see him.
So it was quiet on that front.
Oh well, it would sort itself out eventually.
I had enough on my plate as it was.
With that thought, I drifted off to sleep without even realizing it.