*Konoha, Hokage's Office*
The sound of a fist slamming against aged wood echoed through the room.
"Damn bastard!" Danzo snarled, his face a mask of fury. The conference table vibrated under his hand. "Is this Hayashi Yuto even human? Does he have no shame, no bottom line? He deserves a traitor's death!"
Across from him, Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a weary sigh, not looking up from the report he was reading. "Danzo, calm down. They're just words. Cheap tricks. They're not worth getting so worked up over."
"Calm down? How can I be calm?" Danzo shot back, his voice dripping with venom. "He's making a mockery of me! How am I supposed to command respect from my operatives when they're probably snickering behind my back?"
"What would you have me do then?" Hiruzen finally looked up, spreading his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "Send a strongly worded letter? Besides enduring it, our options are limit_"
"Lord Hokage!" An ANBU knelt abruptly in the doorway, cutting him off.
Hiruzen pinched the bridge of his nose. "What is it now?"
"The Land of Waves... they've sent another batch of flyers," the ANBU said, his voice slightly strained, as if he were fighting the urge to laugh—or cry.
Danzo slammed the table again. "Again?! That insufferable—! There's no end to his audacity!"
Hiruzen ignored him, focusing on the ANBU. "What kind of flyers this time?"
The ANBU shifted uncomfortably. "It appears to be... a promotional preview. For a novel.""A novel?"
"Yes, sir. It's titled... 'The Hokage's Lover: The Bunny Girl Legend'..."
BANG.
The sudden impact made everyone jump. It was Hiruzen's turn to slam his palm on the table, shooting to his feet so fast his chair screeched back. His composed facade shattered.
"He WHAT? That depraved scoundrel! How dare he?! This is— This is moral bankruptcy! Utter degeneracy!" he spluttered, his face flushing a deep red.
Danzo slowly looked up, a faint, cruel smile playing on his lips. "Now, now, Hiruzen. Compose yourself," he drawled, echoing Hiruzen's earlier words perfectly. "They're just cheap tricks. Not worth getting worked up over, you know."
Hiruzen's eye twitched. He took a long, shuddering breath, looking like he'd just swallowed something extremely sour. "We must retaliate," he declared, his voice low and resolute. "We will retaliate."
"Oh? And how do you propose we do that?" Danzo asked, his tone laced with pure disdain.
"With the truth! We'll write our own articles! Publish exposè!" Hiruzen's fist clenched. "We will hammer on Yuto's... his fetish! His fixation on other people's mothers! We will attack that specific, perverse character flaw relentlessly!"
—
*The Main Office, Land of Waves*
Kushina blinked, lowering the newspaper she was reading. A grin spread across her face. "'The Untold Story of Hayashi Yuto and His Sixty Married Lovers'? Wow. You know, for a guy who's always so busy, you sure found the time for a harem huh?"
Yuto didn't look up from the small, tree he was tending on his desk. A faint, silvery energy shimmered around his fingertips as he touched its leaves. "Thats slander and you know it."
"But it says here you even went after your own sworn brother's mother," Kushina tapped the newspaper meaningfully. "Could that possibly be slander too?"
"Would I care about that?" Yuto said flatly.
"Right, of course. You have no shame, after all," Kushina put the newspaper down, wrapped her arms around his neck, and said, "So, when is this tree wife of yours actually going to grow up?"
"Technically speaking, it's already mature," Yuto chuckled. "It just prefers to stay like this."
During this time, the Life Tree (world tree) had not only absorbed the chakra of six Tailed Beasts (not the beast thing just some if their chakra) but also Yuto's specially provided spiritual pressure energy. Its growth had long been complete.
"It prefers to stay like this?" Kushina raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "Are you saying it actually has its own thoughts and consciousness?"
"Look."
Yuto extended a finger towards the Life Tree's branch. A vine immediately extended and wrapped around his fingertip, and the branches seemed to sway excitedly.
"That's amazing!" Kushina felt an itch of curiosity and copied him, extending her own finger.
Swish.
The Life Tree's branch instantly retracted at lightning speed.
"This thing actually discriminates against me!" Kushina gritted her teeth in anger and reached out to pluck the leaves from its branches.
"Little girl, I advise you not to act rashly," an ethereal voice suddenly spoke.
"???"
Kushina froze, her eyes wide.
Not just her, but Yuto and Mikoto too turned their gazes over, expressions of shock on their faces.
"The... the tree actually talked?!" Kushina stammered.
"A plant girl? For real?" Mikoto inhaled sharply.
"I am is not some 'plant girl'," the airy voice spoke again.
"Miss Life Tree, what should we call you?" Yuto asked tentatively.
"Husband," a blood-red eye visibly opened at the tip of the small branch, looking at Yuto. "I am named... Ōtsutsuki Kaguya."
"Holy crap!"
"No way?"
"You said your name is what?"
"Yes, I am Ōtsutsuki Kaguya!"
Hiss.
The entire office filled with the sound of sharply drawn breaths.
Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. The progenitor of chakra in the ninja world!
Her son, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, founded Ninshū and was revered as the Sage of Six Paths.
Yuto was just a bit confused. Wasn't she supposed to be sealed in the moon? How did she become his Life Tree (World tree)?
Wait!
Yuto realised something and said quietly, "Was it that day when I planted the tree? It somehow connected with your chakra in the moon? And just like that, you broke free?"
"More precisely, it was the higher-level energy within Husband's body that I found irresistibly attractive," Kaguya's voice was soft.
"So... that little rascal was actually proposing to you that day?" Kushina said, dumbfounded.
"Given time, I will be able to condense into a human form," Kaguya paused, seeming almost shy. "At that time, I will meet with Husband properly."
Swish.
As her words faded, the red eye also disappeared.
"This is troublesome" Kushina said in a low voice.
"Indeed," Mikoto nodded in agreement, sighing. "We've got an ancestor grandma in the mix now. Your position as the first wife is in jeopardy."
"No, that's not the trouble I'm talking about!" Kushina's eye twitched. "Without the final boss, how are we supposed to play the game? Are we really supposed to look forward to Boruto?"
"Looking at things now, will there even be a Boruto?" Mikoto glanced at her.
"Great. Now all the routes are blocked," Kushina laughed stiffly. "Game over, ahead of schedule."
Yuto ignored the two women's nonsense and booted up his computer to test a small game he'd been working on recently.
"You actually got this thing made?" Kushina looked at the red-haired character on the screen that looked just like her and blinked. "Did you think of a name for the game yet?"
"Ninja Alliance?" Yuto tilted his head.
"Doesn't sound good. How about Glory of the Canyon?" Kushina vetoed.
"Maybe just call it Valley of the End? It feels quite meaningful!" Mikoto chimed in.
"Report, Lord Yuto! Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizō from Sunagakure request an audience." The voice of Rina came through the intercom.
_____
_______
Show your support with Power Stones guys!
For every 30 Power Stones I'll drop 1 Bonus Chapter as Thank-You
Every 30 Power Stones =1 Bonus Chapter
[email protected]/Raven_scroll (30+ Advance Chapters)