Loud and cheerful humming could be heard through the kitchen windows and open door of the repaired Ishi-Uchiha home, making passerby clan members smile slightly, satisfied that with all the recent events, the clan leader's daughter-in-law was still very happy. Though the smell of burnt food made them walk faster.
Itachi poked his head in through the door and his smile faltered, wondering if he would be forced to eat whatever she was making. As if she could read his mind, she turned from her pots and pans and smirked, putting her free hand on her hip. "No, I'm not going to shove this down your throat."
He then remembered the telepathy they had evolved. He must have been thinking it pretty hard for her to have picked it up. "What are you making?" He asked, walking through the door.
"I'm trying to make ramen…" She trailed off, looking over at the boiling (burning) noodles and the frying (burning) vegetables and meat that would be put in it.
"Amejisuto, I'm sorry for saying this, but," Itachi took a deep breath. "Even Naruto-kun wouldn't eat this."
His wife looked at her food and sighed. "Well at least this time I didn't burn the water or almost set the house on fire."
"The house fire might still happen," the sharingan master replied, pointing at the burnt toppings that were now on fire.
"Oh no!" The brunette quickly shaped her hands into seals. "Fire extinguisher jutsu!"
Once the fire was out, Ameji turned around, ready to sulk. "You know, there is a better way to not set fire on food," Itachi said.
"Like what?"
"Stay away from microwaves, ovens, toasters, toaster ovens, stoves, barbeques and all other electronic cooking devices. You should try making things that don't require any of that, like cereal or…" he drifted off, thinking of what else could be made without using anything that could set the house on fire.
"Or?" The brunette repeated, hopeful that there would be something else she could try.
"You know what, just let me continue cooking our meals," Itachi chuckled. "Why do you want to cook so badly anyways?" He watched as his spouse looked down, blushing and shuffling her feet slightly. She mumbled something so quietly he couldn't hear her. "Pardon?"
"What kind of wife would I be if I couldn't cook something for my husband?" She lifted up her head, speaking louder. Itachi's eyes softened at her insecurity. He walked forward, putting his hand on her shoulder and bringing her in for a hug.
"The kind of wife whose strengths lie everywhere else," he spoke quietly enough for her to barely hear him. "The kind of wife that doesn't let anyone help her if she can do things on her own. The kind that would make it an honour for her husband to do at least one thing for her every day."
The Uchiha heir let go of his heiress, looking into her dark purple eyes. "I love you," he whispered as he leaned down to lightly kiss her. "Even if you can't cook." He straightened up, and the mood went from serious to light once more. "By the way, what's with the fire extinguisher jutsu?"
"Yamato-san! Can you please help with our home too?"
The Konoha shinobi smiled down at two little girls that were tugging on his jonin vest. "Of course," he replied. He was starting to get exhausted with all the repairs in the village that he had helped with; the Uchiha clan was almost done, now it was just a few more houses here and there.
"Amako, Mikaro, come here and stop bothering Yamato-san," a middle-aged brunette rushed over to her children, shooing them away from the busy ninja with a soft smile.
Yamato waited a few more minutes, trying to replenish his chakra quickly, and then went to see the little girls' home. It only had a few chunks blown off of the roof. An easy fix. He formed a few hand seals, making wood appear out of thin air and merge with the roof and some of the wall.
He sighed with relief that his duties were almost finished. Only three more quick fixes to go.
"Tsunade-sama!" He called out as he noticed the Hokage walking by.
"Oh, Yamato-kun," she stopped and smiled. "You've done a good job on the village. Is there anything you would want in return? Money? A favour?"
The man smiled and shook his head. "I'm just doing my duty to the village."
"Come on," the woman leaned closer. "There must be something."
"Well... If you're offering…"
"I called you all here for a team re-arrangement," Tsunade looked up at the shinobi who entered her office. Yamato was standing still, though excitement could be seen blazing in his dark eyes. Kakashi was in his usual bored pose, reading Jiraiya's masterpieces. Sakura stood next to him, still in her nurse uniform; she had been called from the hospital.
Naruto and Sasuke were almost connected at the hip; the blond looked nervous, while Sasuke looked more annoyed than anything. Amejisuto and Itachi were there also, with the older Uchiha trying to figure out why he was called in. He had never been a part of the large team 7 and the woman looking excited for whatever was coming…
There was one missing. "Has anyone seen Sai-kun?" the Hokage inquired.
"I'm here, Tsunade-sama," everyone looked at the open window as the late ninja stepped through. "Oh, I'm late? I thought Kakashi-san would be the last one here."
"I called him to be here three hours ago," the blonde smirked. "That gave him enough time."
"I knew I was tricked," the copy nin flipped to the next page.
"So what team re-arranging do you want to do?" Sakura refocused the Hokage.
Tsunade watched Sai as he lined up with the others. "As you know, team Kakashi is huge. Most ninja teams have only four members, so I'm going to split you guys into teams Kakashi and Yamato."
"Why does Yamato-san have to be leader? I'm old enough and skilled enough to be a leader too!" Naruto interrupted.
"Shut up, baka. You aren't smart enough to be the leader," Sakura glared after punching her friend. "And besides, Yamato-san has experience on his side."
"She's right," the blonde sighed as Naruto continued grumbling. "Kakashi-kun, you will be the team leader of Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun as it was originally, Yamato-kun, you will lead Sai-kun, Amejisuto-chan and Itachi-kun."
"Excuse me, Hokage-sama, but I'm not interested in being in a normal ninja team," Itachi said, trying to be polite.
"I figured you wouldn't be," Tsunade smiled. "That's why your team is an ANBU team."
"WHAT?! No fair!" Naruto whined.
"You're too careless to be in ANBU," the Hokage glared. "Besides, you're still just a Chunin. Maybe you would pass the Jonin exam if you stopped thinking only with your heart."
She dismissed Team Kakashi, letting Team Yamato stay. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama," Yamato beamed.
"With all your hard work, you earned it."
"I'm not part of ANBU yet though…" Ameji spoke up.
"Your skills have proven you worthy of being an ANBU member. All you need to do is take the test. I know you'll do great," Tsunade assured.
"Itachi-kun is the youngest person ever to enter ANBU, and he's your mentor and husband. You'll do great," Yamato encouraged.
The brunette turned to her husband. His eyes said it all; the faith he had in her, the confidence that she would pass and the excitement of working together again.
"Besides, if you don't pass, we'll sneak you on those missions anyways," Sai put his hand on her shoulder.
"Alright, I'll do it."
Kunai flew towards a small group of shinobi, separating them for a few moments before they regrouped.
"Did someone set off traps?" The leader called back. A grouped 'no' rang from the other ninja.
"I hope the other groups are alright," a kunoichi said with worry in her voice before taking out a fan and blowing the rest of the weapons that were heading at them away.
"They'll be fine," the leader replied. "We're almost there, just hold on a bit longer."
A clearing was up ahead where they would land. It was the entrance to Konohagakure. They landed and rushed through, ready to attack. Instead, they frightened away random citizens and visitors. The leader looked around; the village was fine. Where were the Akatsuki?
"I think they must've fought them off without us, Gaara," the kunoichi sighed, putting her fan away.
"What a waste. We ran as fast as we could for two days to attack an enemy that was already driven off," a man with purple paint on his face complained, sending his Sasori puppet back to storage.
Just then, another group jumped out from the trees with kunai, swords and other weapons ready to attack just as they had been. They looked around in confusion and spotted their leader. "Gaara-sama, what's going on?" the leader of that group asked.
"They did fine without us," the redhead explained quickly.
"It's a good thing we only have one other group," Temari rolled her eyes as four more shinobi appeared.
"Did we miss something?" they asked.
"Come on, let's just go talk to the Hokage," Kankuro mumbled, walking through the gate and waving to the guards.
The rest of the Sunagakure shinobi followed, tiredness from not sleeping in two days was catching up to them now that their adrenaline was gone. "You might as well visit friends you've made here," Gaara dismissed them. "Or find a hotel. We're staying the night to rest."
Only Temari, Kankuro and Baki, their old team leader, stayed. They continued their journey to the Hokage mansion, running into Kakashi and his team who were on their way out. "Gaara!" Naruto ran forward and hugged his friend. "What brings you guys to Konoha?"
"We should tell Tsunade-san first," Temari said. "You guys should come with if you wanna hear our excuse."
"I'll let you in then," Kakashi led them into the building and through the halls, back to where his team had just left. He could hear the Hokage still talking to Team Yamato. He smiled lightly at hearing that the temporary member of his team a year ago was going into ANBU.
Gaara knocked on the door before entering. The ninja in the room turned and smiled, greeting the visitors. "What brings the Kazekage to Konoha?" Tsunade asked, leaning back in her chair. Team Yamato stood to the side, whispering lightly amongst themselves.
"You sent us an emergency letter asking for help to defeat the Akatsuki," Kankuro explained for his brother.
"A new one was never sent?!" The Hokage leaned forward quickly, slamming her hands on her desk. "SHIZUNE!"
Shizune rushed in with Tonton in her arms, bowing to her leader. "Yes, Tsunade-hime?"
"Would you care to explain to the Kazekage and his entourage why a letter was never sent to tell them the Akatsuki were defeated?" The woman's voice was quivering; she was ready to lash out.
"It wasn't?" the assistant looked alarmed. "I thought I told Jiraiya-san to write one since I was in the hospital."
Tsunade looked at her in alarm. "You expected an idiot like him to do something important like that?!" She turned her attention back to Gaara. "I apologise for my old teammate's incompetence."
The Kazekage nodded. "Is it alright if we stay the night? There are eight more than us here and we travelled with two days without rest."
"Stay as long as you need," the Hokage dipped her head. "Again, I apologise. I will give Jiraiya a… Talking to…" The visitors left, as well as Team Kakashi and Team Yamato, who were finally dismissed. The blonde turned to her assistant. "And if you'll excuse me, I have an idiot to kill."
...
Across the village at the bathhouse, an old perverted sannin looked up from the view of the women's bath as a cold shiver ran up his spine.
He paused for a moment before shrugging and going back to his 'research'.
"Madara-sama, we alone are all that's left of the Akatsuki," Zetsu popped out of the ground, showing White Zetsu speaking. "Are you going to give up?"
"We will recruit a new Akatsuki and make it greater than before," the man growled. "Besides, I have seven of the tailed beasts. I still have most of the ten-tails' power. Also, stop calling me by that name. No need for charades now that there's no one left."
"Alright," the white half spoke before the black half took over. "Without the eight and nine tails, this ten tails is useless. The bests are getting restless and will make their escape soon. What will you do then, Obito?"
"I'm not sure yet. I'll figure that out when the time comes."
"Well that time is coming pretty soon; I can sense the one tail starting to make his escape. Even your greatest jutsu is no match for seven beasts."
Obito spat at the ground. "Then I'll use the destruction and chaos when they escape as an opportunity to take over some shinobi lands. Now go! You're making me frustrated."
Zetsu sank into the ground, emerging in a nearby field. "That man is going to kill himself with all this," White Zetsu sighed.
"Won't miss him," Black Zetsu scoffed. "If he falls, it's his fault. We aren't going to be a part of that any more. Let's go."