A Morning of Peace (For Once)

Last night's sleep was a blessing.

For the first time in as long as I could remember, I actually let my guard down completely. No half awake meditation, No dreams filled with battlefield echoes, Just silence, Deep, warm, dreamless silence. Honestly? A miracle, And Mom even let me sleep in, A Luxury.

When I finally woke up, I didn't feel refreshed I felt like going right back to bed.

sigh.

Still, I dragged myself to the bath. The tub was already filled with hot water, probably thanks to Mom. These are the little things you miss when you're on the road for weeks hot water, a quiet room, and not having to sleep with a kunai under your pillow.

As I sank into the heat, I muttered under my breath, "Status window." Just in case Still nothing Guess that power up's gonna keep ghosting me.

I'm usually hardworking really but just for a day or two I think I deserve a break. Even if they assign me a mission, it's not like it'll be urgent. If I'm tracking things right, this is around the time the war officially ended and Team Minato gets sent on that "classified" mission.

Hopefully my report helped reduce the casualties. Maybe just maybe Rin and Obito survive this time. It's the only way I could think of helping without causing a timeline meltdown.

But enough lazing around I still had to meet up with my team. If I was late, Yuki Minazukin sensei was going to scream my ear off.

We hadn't seen each other since the mission split. We were ambushed by Iwa shinobi and forced to scatter. It was a clean break but dangerous. I knew Itachi would make it back fine. That kid's too sharp for his own good.

It was Shinko Inari I was worried about.

Not because she's weak she's not, But she's horrible with directions.

Like, "lost in her own street" bad.

Not quite Zoro from One Piece levels of bad but still, bad.And we're ninjas Direction is sort of our thing.

Anyway, I had no excuse to be late, so I got moving. I tied on my ninja headband, snug and steady. Threw on my black top with the proud Sarutobi clan emblem stitched across the back red and bold like always.

Strapped on my ninja pouch:

Kunai? Check.

Shuriken? Check.

Exploding tags? Always.

Ready.

I sprinted to the door, yelled, "MOM, I'M GOING TO PLAY WITH MY FRIENDS!" at the top of my lungs and bolted out of the house before she could yell anything back.

I know, I thought to myself as my sandals hit the dusty path, I'm a joy to live with.