Sasuke munched on one of Kushina's excellent garlic naans, simultaneously chatting with her and Minato about various topics. The couple had invited him for lunch. The food was so good he didn't even feel too bad for ditching his mum.
Minato stood up, rubbing the back of his neck in apology.
"Sorry to bail, Sasuke, but I promised my team I'd be there for their D-rank." He pecked Kushina on the lips before rushing out the door. Kushina seemed only mildly annoyed. They were evidently a really healthy couple.
Later, he briefed her through the terrors of Madara and his extensive potential plans for finding and finishing Madara. Kushina went solemn.
"I think the most foolproof plan of yours is the time travel one," she muttered. He had to agree in the sense that the most dangerous plans were usually the best.
"Plus," she yawned, smirking, "It's the most interesting one." She finished her naan, gulping it down before speaking.
"So, if we can get the time seal that Hiruzen has, I may or may not be able to rework it to send you to the past. It's worth a try." Sasuke nodded along.
"Are we to steal the seal?" He asked, doubting that Hiruzen would just give it up. Kushina shrugged absentmindedly.
"Or we could just ask him." Sasuke frowned at her response. Either his perception of Hiruzen was biased, or Kushina had too much faith.
"If he says no, then we can't steal it because he'll be suspicious." As soon as he said that, he remembered something. He met her eyes, passing on the message.
"Iwagakure!" Kushina exclaimed, pointing her index fingers at him. They smirked slyly simultaneously.
"God, kid, you're a genius. I just hope you can draw!" Kushina marched off somewhere, probably to retrieve something. She returned a moment later, with an A3 sketchbook, a pencil and a rubber, handing him the items. The sketchbook was a quarter full with ugly doodles. Kushina wasn't an excellent artist, quite the opposite actually, but he appreciated the fact that she persisted at something she sucked at.
Sasuke called forth the memory of the time seal in Iwa, closing his eyes to analyse every intricacy. Pencil met paper as he dragged it across the page, drawing circles, lines, spirals to form one heavily detailed mandala. He didn't need the rubber. It took three hours to finish just a quarter of it: one page.
"Alright, you should take a break." Kushina carried teacups and a teapot on a tray, setting them down in front of him. While he drew, she took the hours to prepare a tasty treat - in the form of apple pie. He appreciated that. It wasn't often he had to do some laborious thing for hours on end and then someone rewarded him with dessert. He typically did something and then someone would try to kill him for it. Conversely, Kushina fed him to the brim.
He decided to leave the rest of the drawing for later today/tomorrow. Nabbing Kushina's art supplies and devouring the pie, he bid Kushina farewell, beginning the walk to his new house.
Half of the seal was done, it was edging towards midnight, and while Sasuke would've preferred to keep going, his eyelids drooped with tiredness and his body went sluggish. He dragged himself to bed, leaving the half finished seal lying on the table. He drifted off immediately.
When he awoke after a blissful ten hours, the first thing he did was resume the seal, somehow getting through three-quarters. It took an annoyingly long time to perfect. He had to get the various colours just right. It was quite nonsensical really: the idea of constructing a time seal and reconfiguring it to be able to go to the past and kill Madara. Then again, it may or may not be easier than finding Madara now and killing him.
Sasuke took a leisurely walk through the Uchiha district, waving at random Uchiha children and overall having a relaxing time.
"Sasuke-san," a tiny voice called out from behind him. It was Itachi. Sasuke brightened, letting the boy softly embrace him.
Itachi seemed to be in a good mood.
"I perfected my shuriken throwing, and I'm gonna go to the Ninja Academy!" Itachi mildly gesticulated all the things he had done. Mikoto popped up from somewhere, smiling at him kindly.
"Hello, Sasuke-kun," Mikoto approached him. Sasuke smiled in response. He didn't even mind the suffix too much.
"Just Sasuke will do," although he was too used to only crazed fangirls calling him that. Mikoto nodded politely.
"Alright, Sasuke. So, what brings you here?" She asked. Then she immediately recoiled in embarrassment.
"Oh God, that was a stupid question. You're an Uchiha. Of course you're here. Sorry!" Sasuke chuckled, slightly rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. He might've picked that up from Minato.
"I'm just taking a walk," he muttered. This was his idea of a break before resuming the seal. And it was nearly over.
"I'd love to stay and talk," he started, "But unfortunately, I'm busy." Mikoto seemed a bit disappointed, but nevertheless picked up Itachi, said goodbye and left. Sasuke Shunshined to his house again.
For another three hours, he filled in every detail of the mandala without pausing until the whole thing was complete. Sasuke overlooked a splendid pattern with an array of colours on four separate A3 pages. He stopped to admire his work. Drawing was excruciating, and some would say a waste of time, but it was fun in its own way.
Cue a knock on his front door: Kushina. She beamed at him, holding out a box of cupcakes or brownies or something and marching in.
"Have you finished it?" She asked, glancing around his house in admiration. Sasuke nodded.
"Just now," he gratefully accepted the box, setting it down on his kitchen table.
Kushina sauntered towards his bedroom and examined the set of seals. She sighed in exasperation.
"It's gonna take me a day to figure out the components and two weeks to be able to reconfigure it." That was alright with him. He expected it to take longer.
Tracing his work with a finger, she whistled teasingly.
"You're quite the artist," she commented off-handedly.
"Do you draw as a hobby?" He nodded. It wasn't something he did often, but he did enjoy it, and it could be useful for everyday ninja life, in the event that he'd have to capture an image. Art was a common skill among those with the Sharingan.
"Cool. Alright then," Kushina scooped up the art supplies and the book, ruffled his hair affectionately, and jumped off his balcony.
"Bye!" She called out. He stared at her retreating figure.
Sasuke fiddled with a Rubik's cube while Hiruzen stared at him, frustrated. Almost immediately after Kushina left, one of Hiruzen's shadow clones arrived to tell him to haul his ass towards the Hokage's office for a mission. He did want to just punch the clone and ignore it, but figured that would've been unwise.
It took maybe half a minute to solve the Rubik's cube, after which he set it aside to pay Hiruzen a little bit of attention. The man drummed his fingernails on his desk impatiently.
"Now that I have your undivided attention, these are the mission details," Hiruzen held a black piece of paper in between his middle and index fingers, reading the words.
"It's an A-rank, but more of a B-rank really. The Snow Daimyo wants a bodyguard for this party he's going to attend, but to get to the Land of Snow, you have to bypass Kumogakure." Great. Sasuke was stuck playing bodyguard to stupid, useless Daimyo who nibbled on hors d'oeuvres and sipped their port while a war was going on. His only consolation was that there'd be something to do while he waited for Kushina to finish the damn seal.
"Alright," he resigned himself to the fact. Did he really have a choice but to accept? The pay was a plus. He'd start his journey to the Land of Snow tomorrow.