One Year Later…
Leaves swirl around Madara's feet as he finally returns to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He looks very different to how he did when he left in a hurry a year ago. His clothes are stained and worn, and his hair is about ten centimeters shorter. He had an accident a few weeks back and had to cut some of it off. The scroll the Hokage gave him is still tucked safely into the inside pocket of Madara's jacket. He gave it a lot of thought over the past year.
Madara already decided that before he does anything else, even before he sees Joe's Kids, he will go to the Hokage and give his answer. The sooner this mess is sorted out the better.
The gate guards are playing cards when Madara passes them. At first, they don't even see him, the slackers.
"Hey!" says one, seeing Madara. "Where did you come from?"
"Wait isn't that…" the other stares at Madara, slack jawed.
"No way!" says the first guard. "I thought he wasn't gonna come back!"
Madara ignores them and keeps walking.
Sazanka focuses hard on the test fish. Medical ninjutsu is harder than he thought it would be. Madoka makes it look so easy. But then again, Madoka is Lady Tsunade's top apprentice, and one of the best medical ninjas in the Leaf. Sazanka only started learning a couple of months ago. The medical chakra surrounding Saznaka's hands and the test fish hums quietly as the boy works. Then, the fish begins to flop.
"Madoka-sensei, I did it!" says Sazanka, looking up and grinning at Madoka, who is taking today's medical ninjutsu class at the Academy.
"Well done," says Madoka. "I knew you could do it."
Sazanka glows with happiness at the praise. It took him weeks to figure this out. Some of his classmates told him that he's a dunce at medical ninjutsu, and he'll never learn it, but Sazanka is determined to be a surgeon. If Rock Lee can go from kinda rubbish at taijutsu to second only to Might Guy, then Sazanka can go from kinda rubbish at medical ninjutsu to the best in the world.
Then Sazanka senses something, or rather someone. He leaps to his feet, knocking his chair over, and dashes for the window.
"Sazanka, where are you going?" asks Madoka.
"He's back!" says Sazanka, leaping out of the window.
Ajisai is waiting for something, she just doesn't know what. Her siblings are waiting too, but they know what they are waiting for - not that they ever talk about it. Ajisai does know one thing, however. "I want sammitch!" she demands, tugging Shisui's pants. Shisui lives in the house next door. He is Karasu's Papa. Ajisai doesn't have a Papa, or a Mamma. She wishes she did, though.
"It's not lunch time yet," says Shisui.
"I hungry!" insists Ajisai. She is playing with Karasu today. Karasu is Ajisai's friend. Playing with him makes Ajisai hungry.
"Fine," agrees Shisui. "I suppose we can have lunch early." He picks up Ajisai and puts her in her high chair. Then he grabs Karasu and puts him in his highchair.
Shisui makes them both a sandwich. While she waits, Ajisai wonders what she and her siblings are waiting for. It's a problem that has confused her for most of her life. At least, for as long as she can remember. Shisui puts a sandwich in front of Ajisai. Angry because she cannot remember what she's waiting for, Ajisai pushes the sandwich away. "Don't want it!"
Shisui rolls his eyes and takes her sandwich away.
Karasu eats his sandwich. Ajisai remembers that she is hungry. "Why take sammitch?"
"You said you didn't want it," says Shisui.
Ajisai starts crying. "But I hungry!"
"Do you want it or not?" demands Shisui.
Ajisai stiffens as a peculiar feeling washes over her. She feels like someone, or something, is coming that will be very unhappy about her behaviour. Ajisai is used to crying and screaming and making trouble for people because she is annoyed that she can't remember what she's waiting for. Maybe whatever is coming is what she is waiting for. "I want," says Ajisai, holding out her arms meekly. "Pweese."
Shisui gives her back the sandwich.
Yatsude throws his shuriken, and it hits the post with deadly accuracy.
"Good, Yatsude," says Iruka sensei. "I think you are ready to move to those targets." He points to the smaller targets hanging in the trees. At the end of the school year, Iruka's old class graduated. Now, he is teaching the new batch of first year ninja trainees. Yatsude is in his class, along with Sazanka. Sazanka is off with the medical ninjutsu class because this is the period of the day when everyone practices their specialties.
Yatsude doesn't have a specialty - not yet, anyway - so he's just practicing shuriken. He wishes Uncle Madara was here to teach him some cool moves. But Uncle Madara has been gone for a year now.
Yatsude starts throwing shuriken at the small target in the tree and reflects on the past year. After Madara left, the Hokage decided to let Yatsude and his siblings stay in their house and wait for Madara. No one thought he would be gone for so long, but, after a few weeks, the lady from the orphanage demanded to know how much longer Joe's Kids would live alone, only being checked in on every two or three days. After that, the Hokage did some legal fussing around (as he called it) and Shisui moved into the house next door with Karasu. Now Shisui keeps an eye on them - despite the fact he's blind like Tachibana.
Yatsude sighs. He knows that Madara promised, but he's almost given up hope that Madara will return. Yatsude used to think Madara was the most amazing man alive, but now he almost feels betrayed. Will Madara ever come back?
And then Yatsude senses what he's been longing to sense for the last year.
Yatsude drops his shuriken and takes off at a run.
Iruka sensei watches him go with a smile on his face. "Good, he came back."
Tachibana and Lucy hide in a tree, watching for their target. Nearby, their genin team mates hide, lying in wait.
"The target is approaching from the north," Burifu whispers into her headset. "Kimiko, he'll reach you first."
"Stay steady everyone," says Hana sensei. "And make sure the dogs keep down wind. Damn cat will go wild if he catches a wiff of my boys or Lucy."
"Yes sensei," says Tachibana. He can sense the cat named Tora closing in on Kimiko's position. Team Ebisu went after the cat last time, and they all agreed that it was a mission straight out of hell. Now, it's Tachibana's turn.
Kimiko jumps silently down from her hiding spot and hides a cat carrying case in a bush. Then she opens the case, shoves some catnip inside, hides again and waits. A few moments later, Tora appears, smells the cat nip and dives into the case. Kimiko shuts the door behind him, locks it fast and steps out of the bushes. "Target acquired, sensei!"
"Flawless," says Hana. "I don't know what the other teams were complaining about. Maybe they are all useless with animals."
Burifu giggles. "This mission is perfect for a team led by a vet, eh."
Tachibana crouches down in front of the cat case and sniffs carefully. "Smells like he had a bath in fancy shampoo before he ran away. I reckon he hated that."
"Oh definitely," says Hana.
Then Tachibana senses a chakra signature he hasn't sensed in what seems like an eternity. "I have to go!" Tachibana says, standing up. "Come on, Lucy!" Tachibana and Lucy run towards the village gates. Tachibana cannot decide if he should laugh or cry.
Sekitei chews the end of her pencil and wonders when the next big prank will be. Since Naruto keeps running off with Jiraiya, the Prankster Gang only does small scale pranks and individual tomfoolery. Sekitei wonders if she should prank her teacher now or after their lunch break.
Possibly after. That will give her more time to prepare.
Sekitei sighs listlessly. It's been a whole year now, and Uncle Madara is still not back. But Sekitei trusts him, so she believes that he will return - eventually.
And then Sekitei senses what she has been longing for. He's back.
She leaps up and makes a dash for the window.
"Hey!" her teacher yells, running after her. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"
"Uncle Madara is back!" yells Sekitei, overjoyed. "BYE!" she leaps out of the window and runs towards Uncle Madara's chakra signature.