Gonna end this arc here, otherwise we'll be stuck at this party for at least another two or so chapters lmao. We got three lemons down for now, and they'll be more in the near future.
Next arc, not sure if it should start out with Naruto, Boruto, Kaneki, or what lol. Probably gonna do Naruto, we'll see.
Anyway, the author's notes are at the bottom. Please enjoy!
After what had happened between the two of them, Boruto and Sarada were extremely quiet when it came time for them to be called back into the backyard when dusk finally settled in. Sitting close to one another, Boruto and Sarada attempted to look normal to shade suspicion, but otherwise they didn't really engage with the outdoor hangout session, and remained to themselves while sitting on the outdoor sectional couch beneath the awning everyone else was gathered around.
With small bulbous lights wrapped around the edges of the awning above, along with various torches and lanterns within the backyard, and especially Kushina's garden, everyone who was taking space in the porch had plenty of light to see one another, all without it being too overbearing. Everyone who hadn't already eaten at that point had a plate of food on their lap, and those who weren't eating were joining in on the conversation.
Not much to Haise's surprise, Fugaku had been eyeing him down from across the backyard porch, and made sure that his family kept their distance from him and from Kaneki. While Haise already knew that he wasn't going to be very much liked by his boss and his family, what Haise wasn't expecting was to see Naruto occasionally side-eyeing him with a bewildered look in his blue eyes, every now and again when Haise felt himself staring off at the blond shinobi's direction.
'… Why do I keep having the feeling like I know who he is, even though I've never met the guy before?' Haise wondered silently to himself, as Jiraiya and Tsunade were reminiscing about their past, and how much the world had changed since they 'saved the world' from Madara with Minato, Fugaku, and a few others who didn't survive the 'crusade'. 'This familiarity I'm feeling… It's so strange… Maybe it's something with Tamamo? But… I don't know if that would be a possible explanation either…'
'Oi, Kurama… That guy over there, why do you keep making me look over at em? He probably thinks I'm weird, or something…' Naruto thought to himself and to his fox demon, as he once again did his best to ignore the itching feeling of needing to look over at Haise yet again.
Continuing with his story, Jiraiya only stopped when he noticed the look of confusion on Kaneki's face. "Ah, you look confused there, kid. Got a question for the old guys?" Jiraiya asked playfully while referring to himself, Minato, Fugaku, and Tsunade— who wasn't very fond of being called an 'old guy'.
"Jiraiya, watch it," Tsunade said with a glaring scowl on her face, before looking away from Jiraiya's amused face to turn over to Haise and Kaneki, who she chose to sit between with her arms resting behind their backs. "I'm not even that old— he's just exaggerating, is all," Tsunade said reassuringly to both of them with an uneasy smile on her face, while trying to avoid admitting to the fact that she was fifty-five years old.
"… That thought never crossed my mind," Kaneki said with an uncomfortable chuckle, while trying to scoot away from Tsunade, only to be immediately pulled back toward her large-voluptuous body. "Anyway… My question was in regards to 'Zetsu'… What was that thing exactly, and why did it try betraying Madara before he tried attacking you and Hokage Namikaze?"
Furrowing his white brows, Jiraiya let out a soft chuckle before shrugging. "Honestly kid, I couldn't tell you for sure. All we know is that Zetsu was, uhhh… How do I put this shortly, for someone who doesn't know the biblical contexts of Ninsū…?" Jiraiya asked aloud to himself, and raised his chin up while trying to think of what to say next.
Wanting to jump in, Minato helped his mentor by asking Kaneki, "You know who Kaguya is, right? Goddess of the Moon, Rabbit Goddess, pretty much the most benevolent goddess we believe in, who sacrificed herself to protect us from the rest of her evil clan, right? The Ōtsutsuki clan?"
Nodding his head, Kaneki replied with, "Yes, I'm aware of the folklo— history, behind your religion. Is Zetsu somehow tied to Her, or her family?" Kaneki asked, to which Minato smiled and nodded at— appreciating that Kaneki had enough respect in him to correct himself, after he had almost called their religion to be 'folklore'.
"Trust me, Kaneki, I used to not be a believer in Ninsū either; that was more so my wife who came from a lineage of devout followers— I was more of a guy who believed in science, if I'm being honest… Still do, but I'm open minded now," Minato admitted. "However, with Zetsu… It's hard to tell a definitive answer, because some people believe in him to be a combination of Kaguya's chakra and lingering dark will, while others argue that Zetsu might have been the lingering will of the brother who She killed, after he and her came to our world to culminate the 'God Tree' long ago…"
"… But, uh… Guess that doesn't really matter now. Madara had fully trusted Zetsu, who from what I remember and from what I heard had led him on into believing that he was the next messiah, or something like that… Zetsu's plan would have worked too, had it not been for Madara's servant stopping it when he did," Minato explained, while slowly appearing distracted as he talked more about his past with the two god-like beings.
Having a servant of his own, Haise couldn't help but to get really invested with what Minato was saying. So, before he could think to wait until an appropriate moment to ask his question, Haise blurted out, "Wait, what was Madara's servant? Did either of them say who they were?" Haise asked, and ignored the looks he had gotten from asking that question— which immediately made Fugaku even more suspicious of him.
"… Madara referred to him as 'Archer', but the arrogant blond bastard called himself 'Gilgamesh'," Fugaku interrupted, as he scowled bitterly at Haise. "Your brother didn't know enough about Ninsū to know about Zetsu or the Ōtsutsuki clan in detail, yet somehow you immediately knew what a servant was… Why is that, Sasaki? Because, in my experience, the only people who know about servants are those who either fought them, or can summon them."
Although what her husband had pointed out made everyone out on the porch immediately stare over at Haise and Kaneki with various looks directed at them, Mikoto wanted to correct her husband's aggressive behavior, even though she too found truth behind his accusing words. "Now, Fugaku, that's no way of speaking to him… This isn't the prescient, this is a friendly environment— one where we don't antagonize others."
"I wasn't antagonizing him, honey, I was merely asking a fellow man of the law an honest question," Fugaku argued with a calm yet firm tone to his wife, and smiled at her reassuringly before frowning the moment he turned his head back over to Haise's direction. "So go ahead Sasaki: explain why you know what a servant is, even though I have never put you on a case that involves meddling in such dark arts."
Holding his chin while smiling still, Haise forced a chuckle out while immediately thinking of a lie. "Ah, of course! No need to make things tense here, Chief— I'll tell you why!" Haise said reassuringly with a disarming amount of charisma to get almost everyone in the room off of his metaphorical back. "My parents, you know of them: they're from Amegakure, and are extremely successful from their tech corporation…"
"… My father, Arima, had always been fascinated in the occult, but was never serious enough to delve into any sort of sorcery himself. With his wealth, he's acquired some artifacts from around the world, as well as collected testaments of what 'servants', the 'throne', 'summoners', and what the class roles are and what they mean. Needless to say, as a child, I've taken a peek at his collection, and that's why I knew what you were talking about," Haise explained, which did little to make Fugaku any less suspicious of him.
Sensing the tension between his old rival and his house guest, Minato cleared his throat before moving on with his story. "But yeah, like how Uchiha was saying, Gilgamesh was this guy in golden armor who was even more cocky than Madara was… Gilgamesh and him were working together to create their perfect world, and… And had it not been for me mastering the 'Flying Thunder God Technique' when I did, then… Then I wouldn't have gotten as lucky as I did."
Nodding at what his solemn student had said, Jiraiya tried lightening the mood by nervously adding, "Wish I could have been there to see ya kick their asses Minato— too bad I was too busy being dead to see it for myself," Jiraiya said with a laugh, which immediately upset Tsunade, who had been there to see the aftermath of what happened to him over twenty years ago.
"You didn't die, Jiraiya— you suffered cardiac arrest after losing too much blood," Tsunade argued, while appearing still sore about having to think about the way she found Jiraiya laying face down in a pool of his own blood all that time ago.
Shrugging, Jiraiya reached up and pointed a finger at one of the many scars he had that were located at the base of his neck. "Hard to tell, really. After that Gilgamesh guy sent a shitload of knives through my body, it really felt like I was done for…" Jiraiya explained while showcasing his healed scars to Haise and Kaneki, before sighing while taking a sip from his cup of iced water. "Weirdest thing though: Gilgamesh had this pocket dimension where he could pull whatever treasures or artifacts he had, and I'll tell you something, he pulled out some weird shit that I've never seen anywhere else on this planet; and I've traveled all over the place too."
Nodding his head, Minato crossed his arms over chest while thinking back to his battle with Madara and Gilgamesh. "He called it the 'Gate of Babylon,' and used it to pull this… Weird, lance-like sword, which he claimed wasn't even a sword, but more like a wand, or something else… Told me it was called 'Ea', which couldn't be blocked no matter what you used against it. So fighting that, alongside Madara inside of his Perfect Susanoo while he had the Rinne Sharingan… It was a living hell."
Taking a moment to relieve the fear he felt all those years ago, the color from Minato's face seemed to fade as he silently recalled needing to constantly bend time-and-space, just to avoid being hit by hellfire of asteroids, golden chakra-knives, all while two god-tier warriors were pursuing him while ripping through the fabrics of their reality. Seeing how her husband was getting overwhelmed with the past trauma he had never fully recovered from, Kushina wrapped her arm around his body and pulled him closer to her so that his head was resting on her shoulder.
Smiling gently at her husband, Kushina kissed the top of his head full of long-blond hair before letting out a sigh. "… What's important now is that we're all here, and the world is a much better place than it would have been had it not been for them…" Kushina said aloud, while somehow being able to let everyone out on the porch know that she wanted the conversation to change. Turning her gray-eyes over to Kaneki, Kushina smiled appreciatively at the black-haired young man. "Thanks again Kaneki for taking time out of your schedule to speak on behalf of my boys— I don't think I can thank you enough for what you've done for my family."
"Ah, of course Uzumaki-San… It was the right thing to do, after all; especially since Naruto was the one who protected me from that white-suit thug," Kaneki said with a gentle smile, before licking his lips as a methodical expression came over his face. "… Speaking of which, my brother's been looking into that, and was able to connect 'Naki' to 'Shousei Idera'… He believes that their recent activity has connection to Yamoori's release."
Having not expected for his brother to suddenly bring his own private investigation into the light, especially considering that they were in the presence of the Chief of Police and the Hokage, Haise appeared shocked as Kushina turned to look over at him. "… I heard about that earlier; gnarly stuff, if you ask me… You're an investigator, aren't you? Are you able to discuss your findings to us, Sasaki? Or, is that like, off limits for you?" Kushina asked playfully.
Before Haise could get a word in, Fugaku stood up from his seat and glared angrily at him. "… I didn't permit you to open up your own investigation into this, Sasaki. Last I checked, and correct if I'm wrong, but I hired you with the intention of you handling the paper aspect of our department's investigation team— you're a secretary, not an actual cop."
Furrowing his brows at his boss, Haise crossed one leg over his other knee, and frowned back at Fugaku. "I've completed the necessary courses, gotten my credentials, and was hired under the position of 'investigator'. Nowhere did that application mention that I would be dealing solely with the clerical side of your investigation department— which hasn't been able to discover the reason behind the increased rise of missing persons cases, might I add," Haise added, while having quickly come to terms that he was about to get fired— the feeling of standing up to the boss who had been the reason behind his ostracization felt too good to shy away from, especially if it meant calling him out in front of his peers.
Pointing a finger at the disobedient young man sitting in the arm of Konoha's Director of Medical Jujutsu, Fugaku shouted, "That's it, Sasaki! I've covered your ass long enough! You want to bite the hand that feeds, then so be it— you're fired! Don't bother coming in on Monday to clear your office— I'm throwing all your useless shit away in the trash!"
Almost immediately, Minato had snapped out of his trance-like state and stood up before marching over toward Fugaku to bump chests with his old rival. "I'm not going to tell you how to do your job, Fugaku, but I'm not going to sit there and pretend that I'm okay with the way you're treating my house guest. Save it for later, and leave him alone."
Taking the way Minato was standing to him as a challenge to his leadership and masculinity, Fugaku remained steadfast in his decision to speak to Haise the way he wanted to. "Stay in your lane, Namikaze— Hokage's are meant to assign missions to aspiring young-wannabe ninjas, they don't stick their noses in the business of real men. Sasaki is, 'was', an officer of the law that falls underneath my jurisdiction, and I know that supersedes any sort of household formalities."
"Maybe so, maybe so. But I'm asking you as your friend to not make a scene in front of my guests here, that's all I'm asking of you," Minato countered, which caused Fugaku to scowl even harder before letting out a humorless chuckle.
"… And who the hell said we're still friends, Namikaze?" Fugaku said in a deep and bitter voice, which was enough to make Minato recoil for a moment and genuinely question whether or not his old rival actually meant what he said or not.
With tensions high and him wanting to break the focus away from the argument caused by Fugaku and Haise, Naruto stood up and cleared his throat to get everyone on the porch's attention. "Uhh… B-Before this all goes to crap and all, I-I just want to say something. It's… It's important— especially to you, dad," Naruto said with an anxious look on his face.
Breaking eye contact with Fugaku to watch as Sakura reached up to gently squeeze on Naruto's hand to comfort him, Minato almost immediately forgot his verbal altercation with the Chief of Police, who in turn was also caught off guard by the sight of seeing the pink haired kunoichi being affectionate with the Hokage's son.
Fugaku, interested in what Naruto had to say, sat back down to his very annoyed and disapproving wife, and watched as Minato swallowed back the lump in his throat as he turned to completely face toward his son's direction. "… Of course son, what did you… What did you want to talk to ALL of us about?" Minato asked, while silently dreading the possibility of his predicament being true, as he took a glance down to see Sakura smiling back at him as well.
With his dad put on the spot, Naruto figured that it was too late to question his own timing, and merely took in a deep breath before coming clean to his family, and more specifically, his father. "Umm… Earlier, Sakura and I were talking about what we were, and came to the conclusion that… Th-That we wanted to, uhh… Get married by the… E-End of the year…" Naruto whispered with an extremely nervous look on his face— his heart pounding as the look of shock on his father and everyone else's face made whatever confidence he had earlier melt away.
"… Oh shit," Jiraiya whispered with a nervous grin on his face, as he already could tell by the way his student was standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face that it wasn't news that Minato was finding to be good. Still, despite that, Jiraiya still wanted to show his support for his grandson. "We-Well that's great that you and Sakura feel so strongly about that decision together! Such young love is something else, ain't it… T-Tsunade?"
Having not expected to be called upon to speak, Tsunade became wide eyed and forced a smile on her face as her mind went rampant. "I… I want to say that congratulations are surely in order, are they not everyone?" Tsunade asked aloud, while staring at everyone in the room before clapping her hands together, which incited an awkward and confused round of applause from a group of people who weren't able to read the situation within their group. "Umm… W-What do you say, Kushina? Any words of advice to your son and his… Fiancé?"
Getting up from her seat, Kushina walked over to Naruto and clamped her hands down on his shoulders, before bringing him into a hug. "… Is this what you truly want, son? Is Sakura the woman you truly want to raise a family with?" Kushina asked calmly and nervously, while still trying to process the joy she felt from hearing that her son was on the track to giving her grandchildren.
Nodding while reaching around to awkwardly hug his mom's back and pat her on the shoulder, Naruto licked his lips and swallowed back the spit in his throat. "Um… Y-Yeah! Yeah, I… I really, uh… I've felt this way for a while, and so has Sakura. We've been beating around the bush for long enough, and… I want to make it official, you know?"
Nodding her head while smiling down at Sakura to meet her gaze, Kushina momentarily took a quick look at the pink haired kunochi's body to see whether or not she'd have the body to give birth to new Uzumaki children. Satisfied with Sakura's wide hips and muscular and healthy looking curvy body, Kushina gave the somewhat confused pink-haired girl an approving nod, before leaning up to kiss Naruto on the forehead.
"… You made the right choice, Naruto," Kushina whispered with a sigh of relief coming out of her mouth, before turning around to face her silent husband. "That's amazing, isn't it honey?! Our son's going to get married! So… W-Why the hell aren't you happy, Minato? You're giving all of us mixed signals here…" Kushina pointed out with a worried laugh, as she conveyed with her gray eyes for her husband to speak, rather than remaining there in silence.
Glancing around the room, Minato weighed his options of whether or not he wanted to reveal his objections to Naruto marrying Sakura. Had it not been for his dinner party already being ruined by Fugaku's argument with Haise, Minato would have waited to talk to Naruto in private. However, not being all there in the head after reliving the nightmares of his past in his head, along with almost getting into an actual fight with his rival, Minato figured that he might as well be transparent with those who were around him.
"… I love you son, and… I support whatever decision in life you make, I truly do. With that being said… For the beneficial sake of Konohagakure's future with Iwagakure, I would implore you to take a step back, and hold off on any hasty decision until you've read this," Minato said with guilty look washing over his face, as he used his technique to teleport an old-fashioned scroll that Konoha had stopped using decades ago.
"… What is this?" Naruto asked with a bewildered look in his blue eyes, as he hesitantly took the rolled up document from his father's hands before unrolling it to silently read the marriage proposal. "… Dad, why…? Wh-Why is the Tsuchikage wanting me to marry his daughter?" Naruto asked with a shocked and somewhat betrayed look on his face, before recoiling as the document was swiped out of his hands by his mother's grasp.
"What are you talking about….?" Kushina muttered with an intense look in her gray eyes, as she quickly read the contents of the marriage proposal before getting down to the bottom where only her son's signature was missing. "Minato?! Why the hell did you sign off on this?! You never brought this shit up to me— what the FUCK gives?!" Kushina shouted angrily with a look of betrayal on her face as well, as she crumbled up the document before throwing it on the floor— not noticing that a white envelope had fallen out of it.
Already regretting his own rash decision of outing himself for his secret agreement with Iwagakure's Tsuchikage, Minato took a moment to push past his own feelings to reply to his wife's question not as her husband, but as Konoha's Hokage. "… Iwagakure is the only hidden village that still has resentment for Konoha. Their citizens are extremely traditional, and aren't able to see past the casualties on their side that happened during the Third Shinobi War…"
"… It's my fault, really— I had gotten so fixated on finding Madara and stopping the Akatsuki that I… I am the one responsible for ending the lives of many of their sons and fathers. It's my responsibility as Hokage to right that wrong, and the best way for our two villages to start building that bridge if we're ever going to remain peaceful is to have Naruto marry Kurotsuchi. With how traditional the people of Iwagakure are, Onoki and I believe that their marriage will force even the most stubborn of his citizens to put aside their resentment, so that there's no future uprising or second 'Akatsuki' that forms to take vengeance on our village."
Shaking her head while letting out a frustrated and joyless laugh, Kushina looked up at the ceiling of their awning to avoid having to stare her guilty husband in his eyes. "Unbelievable… You were going to send my baby away, to get married to some random princess-bitch, just because you're paranoid of an uprising that more than likely will never happen…" Kushina muttered disapprovingly and loudly enough for everyone around her to hear clear as day. "… So. When were you going to bring this up to us? To him?"
"… When he turned eighteen," Minato answered back with a heavy heart, as he looked away from his wife to stare apologetically at his taken-aback son. "… I love you, son— I truly do. But… But I have to put that aside for the good of the village. It pains me to say this, but… If you chose to marry Sakura, then I cannot in good conscience allow you to become the next Hokage. If you refuse to marry Kurotsuchi, then that tells me that you'd rather put your own selfish desires before the good of the people… And if that's the case, then what good are you as a leader?"
Becoming taken aback by his father's reasoning for not letting him be the Hokage if he decided to go against the arranged marriage, Naruto furrowed his brow and gritted his teeth at Minato. "Selfish desires…? That's what you call me wanting to marry my childhood best friend?! 'Selfish desires'?!" Naruto repeated himself again, while silently cursing at himself for getting worked up and beginning to tear up as he glared bitterly at his father. "You know how important being Hokage is for me… But if it comes down to it dad, then fine! Go ahead! Shove that stupid proposal up your ass!" Naruto shouted, before immediately storming out of the porch and past his guests— making a beeline for his bedroom while everyone else around them stared at Kushina and Minato, who were proceeding to have a very heated argument about the entire ordeal.
Seeing how it was now their cue to leave, Fugaku and Mikoto instructed their children to gather their belongings before having them follow up behind them— with the exception of Sasuke, who whispered to his dad that he was going to go after Karin, who was the second one to leave after getting triggered by all the screaming and heartache around them. With his father's approval, Sasuke ran upstairs to check on Karin, while Sarada asked if Boruto could come with them for the night, to which Mikoto approved of. Not wanting the young boy to be scarred by whatever argument was going to occur between the two married parents, Mikoto told Sarada to help Boruto pack up some clothes for the night.
Although Jiraiya was usually irresponsible and tried to be a fun person over anything else, his responsibility as the family's Godfather meant that he felt obligated to stay behind and oversee the argument, and to make sure that nothing was said that either one of them would regret saying. Although Sakura wanted to stay behind to comfort Naruto, Tsunade advised her that it wasn't the appropriate time to wedge herself into a family argument, and instead suggested that she go home that night and call Naruto once she was safe and sound.
Wanting to walk her student to her house since it was late outside, Tsunade took it upon herself to apologize on behalf of the Uzumaki clan about the discourse that occured that night to Haise and Kaneki. Escorting them out of the house with Sakura by her side, who had stuffed the envelope from the scroll into her black-shorts before anyone could see her take it from the ground, Tsunade smiled solemnly at the two brothers before giving them her information— telling Haise that she could give him find him work in one of her hospitals to help financially support him, now that he didn't have a job to go back to.
Walking down aimless with no real urgency to get back home, Haise and Kaneki wandered around the well-lit streets of the Uzumaki clan's surrounding neighborhood— the full moon rising and stars appearing above as dusk began to finally finish transitioning over to night. Feeling guilty for dragging Haise along with him, and subsequently causing his older brother to get fired from his dream job, Kaneki had his head hung low while staring down at the sidewalk beneath their shoes.
"Haise, I… I-I am so, so sorry that you lost your job tonight… None of this would have happened if I didn't make you come along with me… Should have known better than to think that we would belong there," Kaneki said, while beating himself over what he saw as his mistake— a sentiment that Haise was on the opposite end of the spectrum of.
"Hey, it was going to happen one-way or the other— at least this way I got to call the Chief out for his own faults in front of his family and friends, so that was satisfying on its own!" Haise said half-playfully, while still riding high on the fact that he got to make his boss look like an asshole. "… And besides, it wasn't all bad! We met some new people, and they were all friendly to us for the most part. And look at it this way Ken: at least we got to eat dinner, right?" Haise said aloud with a bit of sarcasm in his optimistic voice,
Now that there wasn't anybody around to hide herself from, Tamamo materialized next to Haise and let out a disappointed whine as she rubbed her aching stomach. "Speak for yourself… I haven't eaten since brunch! And that ramen wasn't very good when it was reheated…" The kitsune whined, as she instinctively reached down to grab a hold of Haise's hand. "Can we stop by somewhere to get something for me to eat, pleeeeasseee?! I was good the entire night— I didn't even come out when I saw my baby brother at the party! That deserves at least a pizza!" Tamamo insisted.
Putting the pieces together in his head, Haise furrowed his brow and turned his head over his shoulder to give Tamamo a perplexed look in his eyes. "Baby brother…? Are you trying to imply that Naruto is related to you?" Haise asked, finding the revelation that his life-long servant he had since he was born had a relative of her own.
Giving Haise an amused look, Tamamo snickered at him before shaking her head comedically. "No, Bozo, that little boy and I aren't related! How does that even make sense to you, Haise?!" Tamamo asked with a bewildered and slightly condescending look in her brown eyes, which earned Kaneki's attention as well as Haise's.
"Well, uh… If that's not the case, then what did you mean by 'baby brother', Tamamo? Was one of them a 'Summoner'? Was it… Wait. Wait, wait…" Kaneki trailed off, as he thought back to the giant orange nine-tailed fox that he had seen earlier that day— the same powerful demon who transformed into a little one-foot tall fox after it had defeated Naki. "… Is Kurama your younger brother?!"
"Ding, ding, ding! Survey says, you're right!" Tamamo replied back playfully with an impressed look on her face, as she leaned forward to look past Haise and stare up at Kaneki's surprised face. "You must have met him earlier then, I take it? Crazy how his presence is helluva lot more tolerated than mine! Well, it wasn't always like that…"
Having heard the story of 'Amaterasu', who was the 'Goddess of the Sun' according to the Ninsū religion's oldest testaments, both Haise and Kaneki knew how much Tamamo loved to toss around that she, at one point, was more powerful than Kaguya, and how if things were slightly different, people who be worshiping her a lot more than they did Kaguya. "… How old is Kurama, if he's considered to be your 'baby brother'?" Kaneki asked, to which slightly offended Tamamo.
"Hey, I'm not THAT old! I'm technically twenty-two in this avatar-form, so watch your tongue, Ken!" Tamamo warned with her ears cocked back, as she glared menacingly at Kaneki, before turning her nose slightly at him. "Anyway… He's barely only over a thousand-years old! Back when I was Amaterasu, I was over five-thousand years old! He's so tiny, even in his 'big form', he's still just a little baby…!" Tamamo said with a cooing tone in her voice, as if though she was getting mushy just talking about how small she saw Kurama as.
Shoving his free hand into his white trench-coat's pocket, Haise let out a soft chuckle while staring ahead at the road before them. "… Kurama, must have recognized you too— that would explain why Naruto kept looking back at me too… Speaking of which, is Kurama a servant?" Haise asked with an intrigued look in his gray eye, and thought about pulling his eyepatch off to let the skin beneath it breath while no one was around, but decided against it as he turned his attention back down to Tamamo.
"Not really, no. He's a tailed beast, like me, except he and the other 'chakra monsters' were created by Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki— Kaguya's son— while I was created by her before she had kids of her own… Kind of," Tamamo said, while catching herself accidentally simplying her creation. "I always existed from 'The Throne', which you know is basically kind of like Heaven for those who were legendary enough to be immortalized into new divine-spirits… All she did was summon me and place a seal on me that kept me here for all of eternity, much like herself…"
"… But to make a long story short, even though technically I'm not blood related to them, their creation was made possible through my existence, so because of that they all consider me to be their 'older sister'," Tamamo finished explaining, before once again remembering just how hungry she was the moment her stomach rumbled. "Okay, I told you my origin story and didn't make things a whole lot awkward by grabbing myself a plate back there, soooo… Pizza, right? I can get pizza now, yeah?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Kaneki couldn't help but to point out, "I don't even know if they serve actual pizza here, other than maybe mini-mart brand pizza slices? Not sure if that's what you were in the mood for though…"
"Eh, we'll take a look around town anyways! It's always fun to explore, and who knows? We might find some hidden pizza-joint somewhere?" Haise suggested, while trying to still be optimistic as he took Tsunade's contact card from his pocket to stare at the phone number and email listed on the small index card. "Might have to 'put out' for her if I want a decent job from her, but hey, we got enough to have a fun night out, so… I say we end this night on a high-note, and get Tamamo some food, and go find somewhere to have fun!" Haise suggested with an upbeat tone in his voice, as he stuck the contact information safely in his zipped-up breast pocket on his trench coat, before playfully nudging Kaneki in the ribs with an elbow.
Still feeling bothered with himself, but relieved that Haise never blamed him for anything that he himself saw as his fault, Kaneki couldn't help but smile from the infectious way his older brother was trying to rile him up. "It's not like Amagakure— not a lot of places are open twenty-four seven around here… But, yes, I'm down for having some fun," Kaneki said with a soft smile, while Tamamo simply licked her lips as she imagined the gooey cheese-pull from the slice of pizza that she saw in her future.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah— pizza first, fun later!" Tamamo said with a determined and silly voice, before grabbing a hold of Kaneki's hand— causing all of them to come to a halt as Tamamo formed a triangle with them. Taking a moment to look over her shoulder and all around them, Tamamo closed her eyes and quickly teleported all three of them out of the neighborhood and inside of a fancy and exotic restaurant.
Having grown accustomed to the power that Tamamo had within her, even though she was purposefully weaker than her true self, Haise and Kaneki still found themselves second guessing themselves each time the kitsune unleashed a fraction of her power. Being immediately seated down at a nice table, underneath the dim light of the very aesthetically pleasing chandeliers above them within the villa-styled restaurant, neither Haise or Kaneki bothered to ask where they specifically were, and just enjoyed the traditional music playing as they looked over the menu options together.
And there we go! The Uzumaki family is currently having an internal conflict of interests, Haise just lost his job and was offered work by Tsunade, and Sakura has yet to open the not-so-mysterious envelope that was meant for Naruto, and not herself. Sasuke and Karin are probably going to be closer, now that Sasuke went out of his way to check on her. Gave a little backstory to Minato's adventures before he had Naruto, and showed that Minato and Fugaku still have things left unsaid. As for who didn't make it from their 'crusade', we have Sakumo Kakashi (Killed by Madara/Gilgamesh), Orochimaru (Killed by Nagato), Pakkun (Killed by Nagato, died protecting Tsunade).
Not much to go over the reviews that didn't already happen in this chapter, other than Boruto and Sarada kept quiet about their bedroom activity, simply because I didn't want to make even more drama with an already drama-packed chapter. That, and they're still shaken up about it and aren't sure what to do or say, since they're still processing the fact that Boruto finished inside of Sarada. Plus seeing what happened when Naurto admitted his status with Sakura, I'm sure Boruto will want to keep quiet about it for the time being. Irresponsible? Yes.
I'm sure Eren enjoyed when Mikasa made him have sex with her for the first time. How could he not? She's super- objectively- attractive, and with how muscular and dominant she is, Eren would have enjoyed getting taken by her. But thank you for the suggestion, I'll have Eren's hair by a man bun for now, and then he gets it cut to be shorter like how he had it earlier in the series. Like a reverse transformation. Mikasa will have her Bob-styled hair from the early series too, and Armin has his long hair before he cut it off.
Oooo maybe the next chapter should be Kaneki and Haise accidentally meeting up with Eto, and then going to Armin and Annie? That'll be good. Let's do that.
As far as Boruto not being sure whether or not he wanted to be Sarada's boyfriend wasn't because of anything in particular. His hesitation came from him trying to process everything still, and him being a little nervous about the aspect of having a girlfriend in general. But yeah, it has nothing to do with Sarada, and more so himself. But yeah, he'll come around to her just fine, especially since they can't go back to being just friends anymore. They do love each other.
Kushina would be glad knowing that her clan is expanding, and won't be facing extinction with both her sons giving her children, and the icing on the cake is that having her son marry Sarada would unite the Uzumaki clan and Uchiha clan together, which Minato would have appreciated too, had it not been for the fact that he can't have Boruto marry off to strengthen the bond between Konoha and Iwagakure.
Fugaku will be conflicted about the idea of Sarada getting with Boruto, but will come around to it, especially since his wife would be extremely supportive of the two being together. I doubt Mikoto would let Fugaku temporarily ban their youngest daughter off of the Uchiha compound, but he definitely would question his daughter's choices and would be extremely hard on Boruto. Once he learns that Sasuke is with Karin, while being assured that Itachi is with Izumi, I think at that point Fugaku sort of just gives up trying so hard to uphold their Uchiha family traditions of 'keeping the bloodline pure', and starts to lighten up more to nuance ideas.
Along with the other great ideas on what we could do with Boruto and Sarada, while having Naruto work harder to support himself and Sakura (Her parents would support them for sure, as would Jiraiya if he needed to), I love the future lemon idea of having Boruto and Sarada playing Street Fighter while he's on top of her and and having sex with her doggy style. That's a definite yes from me, especially if they're trying not to cum to 'win', and Sarada clenches and massages Boruto's cock with her pussy? Yas Queen, yassss.
Haise is going to be more like his canon self, so definitely won't be screwing every girl he sees. Might get around more than Kaneki, sure, but nowhere like how he was in the previous story. At least for now. And Boruto releasing sex games using Jiraiya's Icha Icha brand is a great idea, lol, especially if he and Sarada get to motion cap it all. And yeah, lol, Haise is looking for Hinami yet again lmao.
Okay, that about does it for now Boss. Have a good one! I'll post tomorrow night again, probably.