The two chatted a while longer, then the topic shifted to how many girlfriends Aoba actually had.
Aoba could clearly feel the change in the way Kushina and Rin looked at him.
Even with his thick skin, he couldn't help feeling a little uneasy.
"Karin, you really have to work hard."
Kushina patted Karin's shoulder encouragingly.
Karin, as if inspired, clenched her fist, "I'll try my best, I'll win Aoba-nii soon."
Aoba's mouth twitched; he was right there, was it appropriate to be talking about this stuff in front of him, the person concerned?
But the two were clearly carried away and even lost track of time.
Rin sat on Aoba's other side, but kept some distance. Evidently the conversation between Karin and Kushina had affected her a bit.
"Is something the matter, Rin-senpai?"
"Aoba… can I work at Konoha Hospital?"
"Huh?", Aoba looked at her, somewhat surprised.
"Mainly, if I'm going to stay in the living world, I'd still like to find something to do."
Rin explained her reason, she probably couldn't take commissions like before, but didn't want to sit idle at home either.
"I used to be a medical-nin. I can work as an ordinary caregiver."
"I'll mention it to the teacher. It should be fine."
It wasn't a big deal; Aoba nodded and agreed.
"Thank you, Aoba."
"Also, just call me Rin from now on. Being called 'senpai' by someone my age feels weird," Rin gave an embarrassed smile.
"Okay."
———
"I'm back… huh? Karin, do we have guests?"
Uzumaki Kasui had just opened the door when she saw several pairs of shoes in the entryway.
She was bending down to take off her shoes when her eyes caught a slightly imperfect pair of beautiful feet, ten toes neatly aligned, the instep and ankle gleaming milky-smooth.
The only flaw was a few vein-like lines across them.
Instinctively, Kasui looked up and saw a face familiar yet somewhat strange.
"You—"
Before she could finish, Kushina stepped forward and hugged her.
"Kasui-neesan, you're still alive, that's wonderful!"
Kasui was stunned; memories of the years she had thought lost suddenly rushed back, and having seen photos of the Fourth Hokage and his wife, she recognized Kushina's later appearance, "You... aren't you Kushina?"
"It's me! It's me!"
Kushina cried out excitedly, "I didn't expect you'd recognize me."
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?", Kasui exclaimed.
"That's a long story, I'm kind of still dead myself," Kushina replied sheepishly.
Kasui separated Kushina from herself and studied her face, noticing a few differences.
There were many crack-like lines on the face, and the iris was pure black.
"What on earth is going on?"
"Aunt Kasui, sit down first. I'll explain slowly," Aoba appeared at the doorway as well.
"Aoba?", Kasui blankly followed Aoba into the living room and found another girl who looked much like Kushina sitting on the sofa, and Naruto was there too.
After exchanging greetings, Aoba gave Kasui a rough explanation.
Kasui immediately understood, "Aoba, of course it's you."
Although such things would seem absurd on others, when it came to Aoba, Kasui only felt it made perfect sense.
"This jutsu was developed by the Second Hokage; I'm only a user."
Aoba spoke modestly, then added, "Aunt Kasui, you stay and chat with Kushina. I'll prepare dinner, I'll call you when it's ready."
With that he rose and headed outside.
"I'll help too!"
Karin quickly followed, she'd said everything she wanted to say.
"I—", Naruto had also wanted to follow since sitting there was boring, but as soon as he stood up, Kushina pulled him back, "Naruto, you stay and keep Mom company."
Naruto could only stay with a sour face.
Fortunately, dinner time came quickly. Tsunade and Shizune also arrived, and the atmosphere was cheerful.
Although Kushina and Rin couldn't eat, Tsunade and Kasui kept chatting with them so they wouldn't feel lonely.
———
[The Next Day]
Information about Black Zetsu, and Uchiha Madara's plans, spread to the other four great ninja villages.
"Hah! Uchiha Madara? What trick is Konoha trying to pull this time?"
"Using the name of someone dead for decades to scare us?", The Fourth Raikage snorted and slammed the intelligence report from Konoha onto his desk.
He still bore resentment toward Konoha for earlier threats that had forced him to abandon people like Yugito and the others; he had no good feelings toward them.
If not for Konoha having formed an alliance with Kirigakure and Sunagakure, he would've gone to war with Konoha.
And then there was the unstable factor of Iwagakure, that bastard Onoki. Even now, he still dangled aloof, 'Isn't he afraid that once the Konoha-Kiri-Suna alliance stabilizes, they'll turn on Iwa next?'
"Raikage-sama, this intel wasn't just received by us. Iwa, Kiri, and Suna got it too."
Cee reminded him gently, implying the intelligence was likely genuine, Konoha had no reason to lie over something so important.
"Hmph!"
The Fourth Raikage could hear the implication in Cee's words but still snorted, "Why would Konoha give us such important information? What's their purpose?"
Cee guessed, "It might be due to the efforts of Yugito and Samui."
BANG!
Before he finished speaking, the Raikage's desk had already split into pieces.
Cee could only sigh silently. Lately, the office had needed a new desk every day; luckily the supply held out, otherwise they'd be out.
Their village's secretary suddenly becoming someone else had filled Iwagakure's upper ranks with resentment.
They were used to being the ones to raid others, being raided themselves was a first.
Of course, neither the Raikage nor Cee believed the two had truly betrayed the village, but the fact that they had become the Hokage's secretaries stood. For most villagers, they were already considered traitors.
There's no going back.
After a period of awkward silence, the Fourth Raikage sat back down and waved his hand weakly.
"Send a reminder to B, and strengthen the village's defenses. Keep watch for that Black Zetsu fellow at all times."
"Yes!"
On the other side, Onoki had also received Konoha's intelligence from Kitsuchi.
After thinking for a moment, he looked at Kitsuchi.
"What's Kurotsuchi's current situation?"