Special Thanks to FlickHero (Writer of Naruto Hikikaeru), Frodo-san, Morijin321 and AkiHuiWriting for editing today's chapter
Author's Note -
Orange Spark has been changed to Orange bolt after a lot of deliberation and argument with my editors. The change has been reflected in the previous chapters as well.
The reason we have chosen Orange Bolt is that it is almost the same as flash with a cooler name and a sign of respect to Naruto's son in future. Bolt = Boruto in Japanese English (bolto)
Hidden Sand Village…
Rasa stared at the papers on his desk.
("These developments should keep everyone occupied for a while…") Rasa thought as he stared at the village development plans he had written down on the paper.
He walked over towards the window at his office and stared at the village.
His eyes shifted over to the light pillar that shined at a distance from the village.
"That's it!" Rasa shouted happily after he got an idea.
He walked over to the door and opened it.
"Get me Gaara!" Rasa announced.
"Yes, sir," A man who stood by the door responded as he set off at once immediately.
A few moments later…
*Knock!*
*Knock!*
*Knock!*
"Come in!" Rasa said.
Gaara opened the door and let himself in.
"Gaara, I am glad you are here,"
"I have a job for you," Rasa said.
"A job?" Gaara looked at his dad.
"Yup, if you do this, it will be a great opportunity for our village itself," Rasa said.
"An opportunity?" Gaara looked at his dad.
"Yes,"
"Now is the time for the village to grow,"
"And what better opportunity than the sports festival itself?" Rasa asked.
"…" Gaara stared silently.
Rasa looked at Gaara.
"I want you to build a huge coliseum out of sand."
"It should be able to accommodate about tens of thousands of people," Rasa said.
"…" Gaara's eyes widened.
"That huge?" Gaara asked.
"Yeah,"
"The Feudal Lord this time is quite the character,"
"As long as we can please him,"
"He promises to turn a blind eye to a few things in the village," Rasa said.
"I see…" Gaara said slowly as he tried to perceive the emotions and meaning behind the now spoken words.
"It's been about three days since the Chuunin Exam concluded, and there are quite a few matters to handle here,"
"As long as we can keep the event here, it might also be in a way beneficial to the Sand village,"
"It is an Opportunity for people to explore the new monument and to increase the interaction between the people of the two villages as well,"
"Not to mention, this might please the Feudal Lord and give him a home ground advantage of his position as he sits down for the event,"
"So far as I see, it is a win-win situation here," Rasa said.
"Mm!" Gaara nodded.
Even though Gaara was a bit slow on the emotional uptake, he was quite well versed with how the world operated politically.
"Gaara, how long do you think it will take?" Rasa asked.
"If I were to take care of everything personally and also strengthen it, it should take me about five days," Gaara said.
"Five days…" Rasa murmured as he thought back to Chiyo's words.
——FlashBack——
"I don't care what you intend to do in order to destroy the Leaf,"
"I will not even interfere with your plans because I am also counting on you to avenge both my son and daughter-in-law who were killed by the White Fang."
"However…." Chiyo paused.
"However…?" Rasa asked.
"You must take care of Gaara."
"You must make him understand the meaning of love once again." Chiyo insisted.
—-End of FlashBack-—
Rasa looked at Gaara who stood in front of him.
("This might be my chance to spend a Father and Son time…") Rasa thought.
"Gaara," Rasa called out.
"Mm?" Gaara looked at his dad.
"I'll help you out in the building process; hopefully, we should be able to shorten it down to three days at most…" Rasa said.
("Father working with me….") Gaara looked at Rasa.
"What do you say…?" Rasa asked.
"Mm!" Gaara nodded.
"It's settled then,"
"I'll send a messenger hawk to the leaf immediately and let them know,"
"The location has been changed to the newly established colosseum which will be located next to the Time Dome," Rasa said following which he sat down on his chair to write his message onto a scroll, meanwhile Gaara was staring at his dad, looking forward to working with him and rediscover the familial love that he had once lost…
Hidden Leaf Village, Hokage Office…
Kakashi stared at Hiruzen who held a report sent by Naruto.
"Looks like things have been handled without a hitch…" Hiruzen said.
"As expected…" Kakashi responded.
"Well, they will probably take their time in coming, after all the grass village is pretty far away,"
"The only reason they were able to make it within half a day was because of the seriousness of the situation itself…" Hiruzen said.
"Hokage-sama…" Kakashi murmured.
"What is it, Kakashi?" Hiruzen asked.
"I'm having a bad feeling about this," Kakashi said.
"What?" Hiruzen was completely surprised.
"This is just a hunch on my part," Kakashi said.
("This is bad,")
("Whenever Kakashi has that feeling, it is always spot on,") Hiruzen stared at Kakashi for a moment silently.
"Well, Naruto is powerful enough to handle everything on his own, but we must keep an eye on the situation regardless," Hiruzen said.
"Mm!" Kakashi nodded.
"I'll have a chat with Minato later and let him know about the situation," Hiruzen said.
"Got it," Kakashi nodded, following which he left the office.
Soon Minato also got news of what happened and was happy that Naruto had managed to solve things without any problems…
*crk*
*crk*
*crk*
Crickets chirped about as they produced a shrill noise by rubbing their legs together which matched perfectly with the bright moon that shined in the sky.
(Whoosh!)
Sasuke arrived in the courtyard of his home.
"Welcome back, elder brother," Jūgo said.
"Jūgo,"
"It's good that you are here,"
"Today night we don't have to cook for dinner," Sasuke said.
"We don't have to cook?" Jūgo asked.
"Yeah,"
"We've been invited to a place to have dinner," Sasuke said.
"…" Jūgo's eyes shined.
"Let's go," Sasuke said.
"Okay," Jūgo nodded, following which the two left.
Before leaving the training field earlier that evening, Minato gave Sasuke the new address for his house, which Naruto did not have enough time to explain previously.
Sounds of footsteps echoed in the surrounding as Sasuke and Jūgo went walking along a street that led towards Naruto's house.
Sasuke looked at the unfamiliar building that was in front of him.
("So this is the place huh…?") Sasuke thought upon seeing the building.
*ding-dong*
Sasuke rang the doorbell.
*Sounds of muffled footsteps*
Minato opened the door.
"Sasuke-kun,"
"Jūgo-kun," Minato greeted in his pink apron.
Sasuke's eyes twitched upon seeing Minato in a pink apron.
("What is going on…") Sasuke thought.
"Mm?" Minato looked at Sasuke.
"Lord Fourth," Sasuke greeted up waking up from his daze meanwhile Jūgo remained silent.
"At this point, you can call me Minato-sensei," Minato smiled.
"Mm…" Sasuke nodded.
"Come in you two," Minato showed them into the house.
"Excuse me…" Sasuke murmured as he stepped into the house.
He swept his gaze across the house observing how things had changed since Naruto's times alone in his apartment.
Naruto and Minato lived in a studio apartment with two bedrooms, naturally, like a studio apartment, the kitchen and the living room was combined.
Sasuke's eyes went wide upon seeing the different covered pots that were on the platform.
"Sit down you two,"
"There's a lot to eat today," Minato said as he opened all the pots.
*gulp*
Sasuke and Jūgo gulped upon seeing and smelling the fragrant food.
Soon Sasuke, Jūgo and Minato sat at the table.
"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked.
"Naruto will come tomorrow,"
"Today was his first mission as a jōnin and a critical one," Minato said.
"What was the mission about?" Sasuke asked curiously.
"The mission…"
"It was to rescue Hinata and Kurenai-sensei, who were taken hostage by the Hidden Grass to exchange for the girl named Karin," Minato said.
"Huh?" Sasuke stared at Minato only to see that his gaze was serious.
"When did this happen?" Sasuke asked.
"It happened yesterday, and today morning we came to know about it,"
"Naruto was immediately dispatched along with Asuma, Kibkun, and Shino-kun," Minato said.
"I see…" Sasuke said slowly.
"The mission went well, Naruto and others will be back here tomorrow morning," Minato smiled.
"Mm," Sasuke nodded.
"What are you guys waiting for?"
"The food is going to get cold," Minato said.
Sasuke and Jūgo nodded and started to dig in.
Sasuke's eyes widened.
("His cooking is too good,")
("It's on par with how my mom used to do…") Sasuke thought back to his mom's cooking, only to get depressed over Itachi again.
"How's the food?" Minato asked.
"It's delicious," Sasuke said after a moment.
Minato also noticed Sasuke sighing over the food and realized that he might have triggered Sasuke's memories again…
Minato then looked towards Jūgo.
"Jūgo-kun,"
"You've been silent," Minato smiled at Jūgo.
"I don't talk so much," Jūgo said.
"Do you like this village?" Minato asked.
"I'll go wherever Elder brother goes…" Jūgo murmured.
"I see…" Minato said slowly.
Soon they were finished with their food.
*Sh!*
Minato was washing the pots and plates, while Sasuke stood beside him cleaning the washed utensils with a dry cloth.
"Minato-sensei," Sasuke called out.
"Hmm…?" Minato looked at Sasuke.
"You're a reanimation, aren't you…?" Sasuke asked slowly.
"Hehe,"
"I am…" Minato laughed in a manner of self-mockery.
"Is your time here limited?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah…"
"I'll probably be here until the fourth ninja war," Minato said as he handed over a plate to Sasuke.
"That's almost four years from now," Sasuke said.
"Yeah…" Minato nodded.
"Will your body last till then?" Sasuke asked as he placed the plate on a plate stand after cleaning it.
"Who knows?"
"This body of mine can regenerate almost unlimited number of times from any injury and has unlimited chakra,"
"Even though ninjas would kill for this type of a body, I don't feel like myself…" Minato sighed.
"I see…" Sasuke said slowly.
A few moments later, the two had finished up, following which Sasuke and Jūgo headed towards the door.
Minato followed the two towards the entrance.
"Sasuke,"
"I will come to the same training field tomorrow in the evening to see your progress,"
"We can also spar if you want," Minato said.
"Mm!" Sasuke nodded following which he stepped beside Jūgo.
The two bowed down together,
"Thank you for taking care of us," Sasuke and Jūgo said at the same time.
"Hehe,"
"Both of you should show up every day for dinner kay,"
"Also here are some leftovers which you can use for breakfast tomorrow," Minato said as he handed over two boxes.
("When did he…?") Sasuke was stunned beyond words.
("He's too good.") Jūgo thought.
Minato waved from the door as Sasuke and Jūgo left off together.
Hidden Rain…
Pain stood at the balcony of the tallest tower as he stared at the falling rain.
(Whoosh!)
A colossal bird flapped its way over.
"Damn this rain," Deidara cursed as he jumped off the bird's back and ran towards Pain to take cover under the roof of the balcony.
"Deidara," Pain called out.
"Hey, I am not heading out again until the rain stops," Deidara complained.
"In that case, you might have to stay here forever," Pain said emotionlessly.
"What?"
"You picking a fight or somethin?" Deidara stared at Pain as though he was an idiot.
"He's right," Konan said as she approached from the back.
"Huh?" Deidara had a question mark.
"It rains without stopping in the Hidden Rain; thus the name," Konan explained.
"What are you doing here?" Deidara stared at her.
"Here," Konan handed over a Crystal Ball.
"Huh?" Deidara stared at it.
"I need you to test that on your new friend," Pain said.
"What is this?" Deidara asked.
"It is something that happens to play a major part in Akatsuki's plans in the future,"
"Let's just say this is a harmless prototype," Pain said.
"Okay…" Deidara stared at Pain.
"Why should I test it on my friend?" Deidara asked.
"Don't worry. It won't harm your friend,"
"All you have to do is to report on what he/she sees," Pain said.
Deidara stared at the Crystal Ball in his hand.