AN: Hey ya guys. I'm back with another one of these chapters...I guess.

Honestly? Not sure how I feel about this one. The original was to jump back into the past but as I was writing my brain went, "Nope, fuck your plan. We're doing some drama!" And this thing was born.

Read, review, check out my other fics if they interest you and review them. You know how this goes.

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For about the next two weeks Mikoto brought Minato lunch when she could. He kept trying to say she didn't have to but she wouldn't have it. She insisted on him having a properly balanced meal. In the end he stopped resisting and just went with it. Not that he put up much of a fight anyway. Really, there probably wasn't a soul alive that could resist after having a bite of her cooking(the only reason he could at all was experience... Though that was when they were teens).

In reality, he was glad for the lunches for multiple reasons.

There were certain times of the year he hated being Hokage and this was one of them. The academy graduation was coming up. While it was usually a happy time, it meant that a whole lot of ninja would be working well into the night.

Especially Minato, seeing as he had to evaluate jonin, run the report by Shikaku (probably the only person who hated this time of year as much as Minato did) who then looked it over and ran it back with his thoughts. Then they both would have to talk to the academy staff and evaluate the graduating students in order to figure out which ones would make good teams. Not to mention they had to keep track of any special circumstances in the class that would affect the team placements (such as the Top student and dead last combo or Shikaku's own Ino-Shika-Cho formation). Running their teams by the teacher of the class that year for his/her input after that.

From there they had to reevaluate the jonin in order to determine which of the sensei candidates got which team. "Sensei-canidates" because they were usually too busy to all have a say in it. So the duo always picked a few extra names with some having the same teams just in case of the candidates flat out refused (and there were a lot of those). Minato and Shikaku took a "first come first serve" attitude in which ones they informed. The jonin knew of this and usually planned accordingly. If you wanted a team, you hung around the village and took it easy for a bit. If you didn't, you basically drowned yourself in missions.

All in all, the process sucked and drained the damn life out of him.

This was why he didn't even notice when Jiraiya came into his office with a mission request.

"Hey brat, there's something I need to check out. I would like to 'formally' request two jonin. You know, for precautions and such."

Minato replied in a bland tone that sounded like an office drone.

"Fill this form out and find Shikaku. He'll put your team together. Don't skip any details, he doesn't like that because it creates more work for us."

The blond hadn't even looked up from his other work. It was like it was muscle memory at this point. Jiraiya could only blankly stare for a moment before doing as he was instructed.

When the white haired man found the office he was looking for, he was reminded why he hated bureaucracy. The damn thing was a jungle, papers everywhere, a stray chunin suttering here and there. It was like he needed a safari guide to find the man he was looking for.

As he arrived at Shikaku's desk, he notice two things. One, the paperwork seemed to have taken on a pyramid formation of some kind (from the floor to just above the mans head). Two, the man had the same intensity vested in his work as Minato did.

Before Jiraiya could even say anything, a hand struck out like a viper. He recoiled a bit before giving the waiting hand the paper.

Shikaku didn't even put down the file he had in his had. He simply shifted his gaze to the request form. After a few seconds he shifted back to the file (a personnel file the toad sage noted) and yelled.

"Available jonin board!"

Jiraiya was confused until he heard a thud on a desk behind him. The board had pictures of all the jonin not currently on missions.

His second question was answered when two kunai flew past him and landed on the board. He turned in shock to see that the man still hadn't put the filed down.

Shikaku simply used his free hand to reach over his temple of paperwork and point in a seemingly random direction.

"You, office slaves, go find those two and tell them Jiraiya needs them."

Everyone in the office hated that nickname but carried out their orders nonetheless. Today wasn't any different as two chunin ran off.

Jiraiya took a quick glance at the board to know who would going with him, Kushina and Tsume. Saying he was scared would've been an understatement.

'My life is over'

"You may wait wherever within the tower. We'll find ya when they arrive."

Unknown to him, one of them was having her own issues but stubbornly refusing to admit them. No, it wasn't the dog user (she never hesitated, just punched whatever her problem was).

Ah yes, our favorite redhead was beginning to subconsciously think that she must have offended her husband somehow. The reason being that while the situation as a whole wasn't exactly uncommon, this particular instance had broken pattern and that wasn't sitting right in her mind. It had slipped her mind what time of year it was.

While she refused to see it, the other two definitely noticed. Especially Tsume, one of her closest friends. Jiraiya just passed it off as a personal issue that he shouldn't touch. Mainly because of his philosophy that those are better left alone by others unless they were asked for help, that or it got so bad they couldn't handle it themselves. From his perspective whatever her issue was, she had it under control.

Kushina wasn't as energetic as usual and was a sure sign of something in the dog user's mind. Letting it go wasn't an option. She just had to ask when they stopped for camp.

"Hey red, something up? You've been looking a little out of it."

"No, I'm fine."

She didn't buy it but she also knew her friend.

"Okay, but if you need to talk, I'm here, alright?"

"I said I'm fine alright!" and with that Kushina stormed off, mumbling she'd look for fire wood.

In Tsume's mind that cinched it, something was bothering her friend.

'Guess I'll jus have to wait till she's ready to say whatever's on her mind.'

A few days later they reached their destination. It was actually a fairly large city, the kind were lots of information traded hands.

Turns out, Jiraiya was meeting with one of the "less than trusted" members of his network. Why he requested two regular jonin instead of ANBU was lost on the two women. He also ordered that they bring civilian clothes, but they also had to be practical.

His orders were simple.

"Okay the meeting is in a bar (que the suppressed laughter) yeah laugh it up you two. Anyways, it's going to take place over three days. Here's how this is going to go, one of you will enter before I do and look like a normal patron. You know, don't be tense, order a real drink..."

"Yeah we know, this isn't our first mission like this."

"Grrr...moving on. The other will float around outside and make sure no one hostile tries to come in. Try not to look like ninja, at all."

"So, that's why you chose an entertainment and shopping district. Who goes where?"

"Tsume, you outside. Kushina, you're in the bar."

The redhead couldn't resist getting a final word in.

"Okay but you're picking up my tab."

Tsume just burst out laughing. Jiraiya's eyebrow just twitched in annoyance. His response came out in a growl.

"Fine... Now get to your posts."

With that, they left. While it was anything special, the place itself wasn't half bad. Sure it was small, but it could've been worse. When Kushina sat down, the bartender was right there. She couldn't help but have a thought.

'Excellent customer service is a perk at small bars.'

The bartender seemed to be a woman in her mid thirties with white hair and black eyes. Her voiced told of a hard life.

"What'll it be?"

"A glass of whiskey."

The glass was in front of her in a heartbeat. She was honestly impressed at this point. Day one went on without incident, no hostilities or deceit. Day two was very much the same. Honestly, Kushina was a little disappointed.

Day three was a little more interesting though. It started when she noticed a happy couple sitting at the end of the bar. This naturally worsened the insecurities she was denying. Which caused her behavior and body langue to change. As unlikely as it seemed, this had the positive effect of the small suspicion that Jiraiya's contact had been getting about her. The bartender had also noticed.

"You get dumped or something?"

The redhead jumped a little. Had she actually not noticed the woman walk up to her?

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, other than the fact you're staring that those two? You've just finished your third glass when you'd normally be just starting your second. And finally, you've been in a sour mood since they walked in. So I ask again, you get dumped?"

Kushina just looked at the now empty glass and started tracing the rim. She shook her he'd with no verbal reply.

"So, that's it huh? You think you're going to get dumped."

Her finger stopped and her head shit up to look at the woman. She simply shrugged and took Kushina's glass.

"My advice even though you didn't ask? Just talk to the guy. Won't do yourself any good worrying."

She came back with a pitcher of beer and a beer glass. Leaving Kushina with only her thoughts. After a few, she decided the bartender was right, she'd just ask her husband if anything was wrong when they got back. Now, on to a mystery just as serious, why was Jiraiya being suspiciously not pervy?

Meanwhile, back in the village...

"How's your wife doing."

"Oh she's..."

Then a look of "oh crap" appeared on Minato's face. He then promptly smashed his face into his desk. Mikoto looked concerned.

"What is it?"

"I haven't been checking in like I normally due in these situations and she probably thinks I hate her now. I haven't been back to the house since that night."

"Oh... Ouch."

"Yeah. This is going to take a lot of explaining to fix. Shikaku's right, I can be a real idiot sometimes."

"I don't disagree, not this time."

"Smart move."

With that, he decided he should check in at least. One small problem, he couldn't find her anywhere. After about an hour of searching all her favorite places, he decided to just ask the jonin commander.

"Hey, Shikaku, have you seen my wife?"

"She's on that mission that Jiraiya requested like a week ago with Tsume."

"Wait, Jiraiya sensei requested a mission?"

And was just the thing needed to tear the Nara clan man from his work. After a moment of shock and silence, he spoke.

"I now reserve the right to call you a dumbass until they get back."

"Understood."

There was no changing the man's mind. Not that Minato would argue much in this situation. He totally mishandled this.

They wouldn't return until four days later. That left him enough time to think of what he was going to say. Unknown to him, his wife was doing the exact same thing on her way back.

Didn't feel like too long before she was standing in front of him in his office, giving the mission report. After that was done...let's just say awkward silence.

Minato spoke first.

"Sooo... I know you probably think I hate you or something. Truth is, I've just been really busy here with academy graduation coming up and all. He he, I really don't know what to say."

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I thought divorce or something."

"Hmhm, that's just like you, jumping to conclusions. I'd never do that."

"Hey! Don't laugh at me!" the barely restrained smile kinda nullified her words.

"Plus, I'll bet you wanna continue the story we left off. Am I right?"

Que starry eyes, giant smile, and hands clasped in front of her face.

"Ohmygod!Ohmygod!Ohmygod! Please!"

He couldn't help but chuckle, "Sure."

She fist pumped, "Yes! I'm going to go tell Miko!"

"Then just turn around."

"Eh? Ah! You scared me. What are you doing here anyways?"

Mikoto simply held up the meal she had prepared. Probably not the best move. Kushina looked between them for a bit then down. After a minute, a grin feared by all of Konoha appeared. It was the grin of the prankster queen. The other two sweat dropped and shared a thought.

'Oh crap. We're doomed.'

"Oh I see, that's why you never came back! You were too busy with your lunch dates."

And just with those few simple words, they were paid back in full for their littl joke from before.