52. Fifth Hokage

A few days later.

"So, what's up?" Two Raven heads could be seen walking with dango sticks in hand.

"Kakashi-nii-san gave me an offer of joining ANBU and extended it to you too," the current Uchiha heir said.

"Hmm, and?" The girl beside him seemed to know that there was more to this than it appeared.

No way Kakashi could give them a deal that had a high chance of being rejected.

"He said we would be directly answerable to him and not to anybody else," Itachi answered.

"Hmm, that does make sense. Otherwise, he wouldn't have given us this offer. I still don't know how going to ANBU would help us. Maybe the missions? But don't Yukio always make us go on missions... which are questionable."

"Hmm, yeah, I considered that. But we have been under the protection of Nee-chan and Nii-chan on those missions, so we would get more freedom and independence. Also, we would be privy to more information about all things," Itachi was well-prepared for her questions, as it seemed he had done his research.

"Boring. I'm not interested in politics. Plus, knowing more intricate details about this village or other villages is pointless in the long run for me," Yumi said while throwing the dango-less stick into a trashcan behind them without looking.

"Right, I was expecting this answer. Still, I thought I would ask you," Itachi knew that Yumi's goal was to become strongest and coerce Yukio to revive her family.

She seemed to believe the latter could learn and improve reanimation to make it possible.

Anyway, time would tell if her belief was in the right place or not.

They arrived at a very familiar house.

Outside, four people were coming out from the front door.

"Nii-chan, from where are you coming?" Sasuke was one of the four people.

"I was just catching up with Yumi," Itachi didn't say the full truth.

He couldn't just say that he was having dango and didn't bring anything for him.

"Where are you guys going?" Yumi asked while looking at all of her housemates.

"Old Man Hokage called for everyone as he had an announcement to make at the Hokage Tower," Miyuki said mischievously, as it seemed that she knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Oh, Nee-chan, do you know why he called?" Itachi was surprised as he hadn't heard his father mentioning something like this to him.

"You will see when the time comes." With that, the duo decided to join the four people which contained a couple and two kids who liked to fight with each other all the time.

"You guys remind me of how Itachi and Yumi were when they were around your age," Miyuki suddenly said, catching the attention of the two kids, who stopped arguing and looked at her with wide eyes.

"Really? Nii-chan used to actually fight?" Sasuke was unable to believe that his calm brother could actually trash-talk others.

"No way, Yumi-nee-chan doesn't seem to be the kind of person to fight..." Naruto paused before completing his statement.

He himself realized that it was highly likely to happen.

"Oh, do you see me as a barbarian?" Naruto shivered as he heard a whisper from exactly behind. The air got chilled, and he could already imagine himself getting frozen in an ice block if he answered wrong.

"Nah, Itachi wasn't really like a barbarian. His way of retorting was subtle, and he always tended to avoid fights as much as he could," Yukio replied to Miyuki's earlier question, indirectly saying that he sees Yumi as a barbarian.

"Hehe, I have learned from the best," Yumi didn't rise to the bait. She wasn't a kid anymore.

"Oh, so you are telling me that Yumi was a barbarian?" Sasuke seemed to have instantly caught Yukio's unsaid message.

In the next instant, he found himself having a head bump.

"Ouch, what was that for?" He said while holding his head and demanding an answer from Yumi, who wasn't looking in his direction and was whistling.

Sasuke then looked at Miyuki to give him justice, but later just shrugged. "Sa-chan, you need to start learning what not to say when. It would be a crucial skill for you as a ninja."

Itachi nodded from the side, agreeing completely with her sensei.

"That's completely crap. Am I not cute enough now?" Sasuke instantly saw through the bullshit Miyuki had spouted on the spot.

He almost had tears in his eyes.

"Reality is harsh. Now feel the pain," Yukio shook his head.

Miyuki sent a glare to Yukio while hugging Sasuke.

"That's not true. It's just that I can't watch over you all the time now. You are not a baby anymore, Sasuke."

"And less cute than before," Yukio added.

Miyuki looked at Yukio with a deadpan.

"Sad," Naruto said from the side nonchalantly.

"Where did you learn to say that word in such situations?" Itachi asked the blond-haired boy.

He looked at the sky like he was contemplating if he should disclose the source or not.

Miyuki finally let go of Sasuke, who looked sadly at the ground.

Growing up is not fun. The realization made Sasuke feel sad.

"It must have been Yumi or Yukio. These guys really are a bad influence on Naru-chan," Miyuki answered for Naruto.

The other two didn't have any words to defend themselves.

"Makes sense," Itachi agreed with her.

Yumi was about to say something to the Uchiha heir, but before that, Naruto spoke up.

"But Nee-chan, don't you use that phrase all the time?" Everyone paused for a second.

"I-I do?" Miyuki was embarrassed beyond belief.

She was left speechless about what to say next.

"I-" Yukio patted her shoulder. "Welcome to 'adults who are bad example' club. We now have three members."

"I technically am not an adult, so it should be two members only," Yumi defended herself.

"I meant Kakashi as the third. Never even mentioned you," Yukio smirked.

"Anyway, we are getting late, guys. Let's flicker." With that, Miyuki disappeared in blue lightning.

It was definitely not because she was embarrassed.

"Well, it would be a shame if we were late to witness it," Yukio said and disappeared in a body flicker.

"Well, brace yourself, you two. We are gonna flicker," Itachi said while grabbing Sasuke.

Before he could completely give his warning, Yumi had already grabbed Naruto and flickered, giving the poor guy a scare.

They arrived at the Hokage Tower, with a large crowd gathered already. They were lucky that the announcement hadn't started yet.

"Waaaa, why did you do that without warning? Why does everyone do that with me?" Naruto said while holding his head and moving around like a drunkard.

"Coz, it's too funny, duh," Yumi giggled while looking around.

"Tch, can't even take a body flicker," Sasuke, who arrived a few seconds later, said, who was not feeling dizzy.

"Hmph, Itachi-nii-chan is gentle with his body flicker. You haven't really been with Kakashi-nii-chan or Yumi-nee-chan in a body flicker."

"Let's go in the front. It seems it is reserved for high-ranking ninjas," Yumi said while motioning for the others to follow her.

They met up with the couple who had gone ahead.

"Oh, it's the toad guy," Naruto said while pointing his finger at a giant white-haired old man who was making a weird expression while looking in a certain direction.

The old guy looked away and now looked at Naruto. "Hmph, brat. I am not a random guy, but rather a sage." He pointed at a large scroll on his back.

"A toad sage."

"Yeah, a toad sage. I forgot," Naruto sheepishly rubbed his head.

Jiraiya looked away instantly as he was reminded of memories that he would rather forget at the moment.

He sighed and looked at the two familiar people looking at him.

"Didn't expect for you to show up," Yukio said while running his hand through his hair.

"The old man called me due to the interesting change that was happening," Jiraiya grinned.

At least he was not appointed as the next Hokage, so that was a win for him, however, you look at it.

"Still, didn't expect you guys to get stronger this quick," Jiraiya had sensed both of them before a few hours ago and was astonished by their growth.

He had thought that the Old Man had gone senile when he mentioned that Kakashi was going to be the next Hokage and had thought that even if it held some truth, Kakashi probably had just become a goalkeeper for S-rank.

But his expectations were shattered as he felt that Kakashi's power was not at the rank of S-rank but at a decent level in.

He could be considered a Kage.

He was also shocked that three more people in the village were at similar strength to him or higher than him, all not even hit their twenties properly yet.

"You are the only one who has not changed, old man, well apart from the book you released, which was some good material," Miyuki suddenly remembered the Icha-Icha series that Jiraiya had released recently.

"Hehe, didn't expect to meet a female fan. I have a brush for an autograph," Jiraiya summoned his brush. He had given Kakashi one in his book too.

It seems to be a Hokage, you need to be a pervert after all.

Miyuki summoned her book and got it signed by the master.

***

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