CHAPTER 64: LIFE IS FULL OF SURPRISE

“It’s done.”

Riku turned his head to look at Kakashi who had just finished burying deep in the ground a Botib. In the meantime he had been putting his new spying seal on a rock. Yugao was on the lookout for any one coming their way.

“How many does it make now and how many more do we have to do?”

“67 and 33.” Yugao answered as she got down from the boulder she had been standing on.

They've been at it for months now. Extending the whole web of bases and seals all around the bordering countries of the Land of Fire. Team Yukari, which had been reformed, was one of the ten teams charged with the task. Ame and Kusa had been done quickly, those countries being small. They were now doing the Land of Waterfall that was twice the size of the two combines. It needed a lot more work.

That was on Iwa’s front, on Kumo’s front the Land of Hot Water was done too and so was the Land of Stairs. Waterfall was really the last country to be done. Afterward things would become more dangerous. The teams were supposed to infiltrate the land of Earth, Iwa’s own territory, and do the job. The teams East would have an easier time with the Land of Frost being between Hot Water and Kumo.

“Alright, let’s check if it works.”

Riku grabbed his teammates and flashed away inside the Botib Kakashi had just buried, arriving in the main room. He went to the table in the middle and activated the seal matrix. Instantly a 3D map appeared in an hologram floating in the air and represented a ten km radius area. Riku touched the hologram with one hand while channeling chakra in a seal on the table. The map zoomed in until it was in the perspective of someone. Turning his hand left, the display turned left. He did the same thing from the three other directions and was satisfied with the results he got.

“Echo-location is working fine.” he announced.

“...you loud and clear, Cove-01.” Yugao replied to the side using the modified Hiraishin seal to communicate with the T&I operative located in Konoha.

“Is everything in order, Team Yukari?”

Yugao gave a look at Riku who gave a thumbs up.

“Yes. Everything is working fine on our side.”

“Good. You have new orders from the top. You are to take a break and come back to Konoha. You’ve earned it.”

“Understood.”

“Advanced post LOF-W15 is currently free, you can arrive there, Team Yukari. See you soon.”

LOF-W15 was code meaning Land Of Fire West base 15. They were created to serve as a stop gap in case the enemy found a Botib and discovered how to use the Hiraishin. As such no teleportation was allowed from outside the village to inside of it for security reasons. It wouldn’t be good if the enemy arrived directly at the heart of Konoha.

Riku deactivated the map and put his hand on the seal on the left wall. He was joined by Kakashi and Yugao and each channeled a tiny bit of their chakra into it. A fraction of a second later and they arrived at their destination. Konoha was only an hour away by tree hopping.

“I’ll never stop being amazed by the whole system.” Commented Kakashi as he made his way outside.

“Want to go back to Anbu to enjoy it properly?” Riku asked amusedly.

“Nah, those days are behind me.”

“Yugao-chan?”

“Same. I’m very content to just be a regular jonin.”

“A regular jonin-sensei.” corrected the dirty blonde. The purple haired woman had finally taken the last step to become one and would soon get a team assigned to her in a couple months. “Already got your eyes on some young seeds?”

“One. He’s not exactly the best student but he’s dedicated to the sword. Should his team fail I may propose an apprenticeship to him.”

“I’m not sure I like the idea of another younger man in your life that’s not a bunshin of me.” Riku confessed with a fake pout making Kakashi snort.

“Don’t worry, you’d always been my favorite.” the kunoichi replied with an amused smile.

“I better.”

“Besides, I thought you’d be too busy with your fiancees. How many does that make now? Six?”

“More like Six thousand.” joked Kakashi.

“THREE! It’s three! Where the hell did you come up with that number from?” Riku protested looking at the fake cyclops.

“Pretty sure most of the female population from 12 to 40 is hoping to be the next.”

“Taicho is not wrong. I heard plenty of talks in some circles.”

“They’re all going to be disappointed.”

“A shame or maybe not. Too many mini-you would be catastrophic.”

“Oh yeah? What about you? Any mini-Kakashi in sight?”

“Mah~ Children are not in the cards for me. I’d have to start a serious relationship to begin with.”

“Like with Shizune?”

Yugao suddenly saying Riku’s senpai’s name made Kakashi almost miss the tree branch he landed on.

“Holy shit! Senpai and you?! How did that happen? No wait, I know! You met while buying the latest edition of Icha Icha, I bet!”

“They did.”

“Can’t say you two perverts don’t fit well together.”

Kakashi’s lone visible eyes twitched and he went on the offensive.

“What about you Yugao? How is love life?”

Now it was Riku that nearly missed a tree branch. Ever since Hayate’s death six years ago, he had avoided that particular topic with his friend.

“I tried dating a bit but…” she let out a disappointed sigh and didn’t speak further.

“Who is dumb enough to mess up their chance with the prettiest kunoichi in the village? I want names!”

“So some poor shinobis would end up missing?” inquired Kakashi playfully.

“Yea- No! I mean no, of course not! I just want to… hm, know? Out of curiosity?”

Yugao chuckled at Riku selling himself out. It warmed her heart that he was ready to ‘disappear’ anyone who hurt her.

“How about you focus on your love life instead of mine? I remember that Karin is still waiting for you to ask her.” she reminded him.

Hinata’s proposal had been magical for her. A romantic dinner and some dancing in the Gazebo on top of the fake lake he had created and right under the light of a fake full moon had been quite the hit. So was the nightly activities afterwards, Riku had never seen Hinata so unhinged during sex. The moon princess that was love first sex second, had been quite aggressive when he gave her the ring, immediately dragging him to the bedroom to officialise their engagement between them. Saying that Riku had been shocked to see his now fiancee act like Ino usually did was an understatement. She expected a bit of stuttering and a few tears of happiness not to be ridden like a horse hours on end. He had nothing to complain about though, except Karin’s expectations, probably going through the roof and dropping hints that she wanted her turn to come soon. It’s been three months and Riku shuddered at what his redhead was going to say for making her wait so long.

“Everything is ready. I finished it last week.”

“Maybe you’d survive then. Sensei nearly got himself killed when he didn’t propose when Kushina-san expected him to.” Riku’s face paled as both his teammates snickered.

When they arrived at Konoha, they went straight to see Tsunade to give her their report.

“So all South-West and the West of Waterfall are covered.” the blonde woman mused.

“Yes, Hokage-sama. We still have to cover the North-West.”

“Alright. That makes Earth the last incursion. The team in charge of Frost began ten days ago. Good work. Until further notice you’re on standby.” That shocked them all. The operative they talked to had spoken about a break but not the end of the mission for them. Knowing they’d be confused, Tsunade explained herself. “Naruto is finally getting around some things and I decided to give him a bit of freedom. He’s still restricted to the village and with a Hiraishin tag on him but he can freely use chakra. I want you to get him back into the lifestyle slowly, Kakashi.”

“Understood, Hokage-sama.”

It’s been a harsh battle to make Naruto realize that Sasuke had never been a friend and that he shouldn’t stay hanged on him or his death. While under house arrest, plenty of friends visited him to spend time or just talk. The realization that the Uchiha wouldn’t have done it at all began to make him think.

“Yugao, T&I could use your expertise with the system, mainly to train others about how to operate it. It’s not an order, you’re free to return to your usual duties if you wish to. As for you, Riku, you're to go home and rest. Tomorrow there is a special project I want you to work on from now on.”

The young man in question raised an eyebrow out of curiosity but nodded. Tsunade dismissed them and each member of the team went their own way. Riku didn’t immediately go home. He went to see Karin and Hinata at the hospital since it was the closest to the Hokage Tower and was unfortunately told that they weren’t working today. His next destination was the Yamanaka flower shop. He met Noriko there and talked with her for a bit. To his disappointment his future mother-in-law told him that Ino wasn’t there either. A bit dejected, Riku made it home. It was too late for lunch but too early for dinner yet he was starving. Not wanting to go out again for food he went to the kitchen and was pleasantly surprised to see Hinata present and cooking something.

“Hinata!” he exclaimed and was on her before she could realize what was happening.

“Welcome home, Ri-kun.” she greeted him with a very happy and pleased smile. A bit amused too as her fiancee was burying his face into the crook of her neck.

“Hmm. I missed you, I missed this.”

“I can tell.”

Chuckling, she pulled his head away despite how good she felt from the kisses he had begun to rain on her neck. She gave him a heartfelt kiss and turned around to face him. He could see the mirth and happiness in her eyes.

“Did mom tell you I’d be coming home today?”

“She did not, no.”

“Then how come you’re here and cooking? Not that I dislike it, quite the contrary but I’m curious.”

“I live here. Since two weeks ago.”

He was gobsmacked at the news, why did his mother not tell him?

“That’s great!”

“But you have a lot of questions.”

“You know me well.” he chuckled and rubbed his nose against hers.

“My clan is doing more than fine and I believe it was time for me to move in. Especially regarding the recent development.”

“If you mean our engagement it’s not really-”

His eyes grew wide in shock and he was struck speechless when Hinata took his hand and put it over her womb. She didn’t say anything, she just smiled from ear to ear at him and Riku couldn’t help himself but smiled back stupidly in return.

“Y-you.. We… Baby? For real?” he asked with enthusiasm and she nodded.

That was the last thing she did before she was picked up in the hair and swung around. She couldn’t help herself and giggled. Riku put her down and kissed her with every ounce of love he had for her. It was quite heated and soon, his hands began to explore her body, trying to remove her clothes.

“Not yet!” she said as she pulled away from his clutches. “Cooking, then dinner first.”

“B-but.”

“Nu-huh. Your mother will be home soon.”

“Does she know?”

“No. I wanted you to be the first I told.”

“We really made that night magical didn’t we?”

“That we did.”

“Come on. No cooking tonight, we’re celebrating.”

Riku created a kage bunshin who expressly began to pack everything Hianta had been doing and put it in the fridge. In the meantime he had removed Hinata’s apron and dragged her outside by the hand. He didn’t intend to have dinner outside but to get food on the take-out. They walked down the restaurant streets and Hinata looked at each menu presented in front of the establishment before setting her choice on one called ‘Konoha’s delights’. She took a simple omurice and of course cinnamon rolls for dessert. Riku for his part took two servings of Katsudon for himself and chicken breast for his mother. For both of them he took a kabocha squash pie for desserts. On their way home Riku stopped quickly at a store to buy something that he refused to show Hinata. When they got home, they were right behind Tsunade.

“Searching for someone?” he said and his mother turned around.

“The two of you, yes. I would have thought that you would have dragged her to your room.” she replied amusedly.

“I was denied because ‘my mother would be home soon’. We went to buy dinner instead.”

He raised his hand holding the bag with the food and Tsunade snatched it to see what was inside. Appreciative of the food selection, she went to the dining room, took a seat and began to distribute it. She was confused when she pulled out knitting needles and a ball of wool.

“It’s for you.” Riku said, biting his lip to not laugh at the unamused face Tsunade made.

“I’m way too young to begin knitting.”

“True but from what I heard, all grandmothers knit for their grandchildren.”

“Don’t call me gr-”

Her neurons connected and her eyebrows raised so high they almost disappeared into her hairline. The stupid happy faces of her son and her soon to be daughter-in-law, told her it wasn’t a joke. When realization dawned on her, she sported a stupid smile too and let out a huge squeal before rising from her chair and went to hug Hinata.

“Congratulations!”

“Thank you.” Replied the bluenette.

“That’s what the food is for? Celebrating?”

“You got it, mom.”

“Oooooh. I’ve been a mom for a bit more than a year and now I’m going to be a grandmother. I…”

She didn’t quite know what to say. She was so very happy that she began to cry and sob. If six years ago someone had told her that her life would change for the better she would have punched that person into orbit. But ever since she met Riku, life has been good to her. There have been some downs but mostly, it was all ups. And now? Now she was about to become a grandmother. The Senju clan wouldn’t go extinct but lived on. She couldn’t help but feel emotional about it.

“Tsunade-sama?”

Shizune had gotten home from the hospital at that moment and her eyes had caught Tsunade’s crying right out of the bat. She feared the worst at first but the happy smile everyone was sharing quickly dismissed her worries. It just left her confused.

“I’m going to be a grandmother, Shizune!”

The ravenette froze on the spot then, much like her sensei, squealed and went to hug her, then Hinata and finally Riku.

“I’m honestly surprised it took you so long to knock one of the girls up.” Shizune chidded her kohai by hitting him gently with an elbow.

“That’s exactly what I said to mom one time when she said to use protection when Hinata had her first sleepover.” Riku joked and made Tsunade snort. “I told her that If I didn’t you and I would have already had children all over the house.” he explained to the ones not in on the joke.

“Huh. We certainly would have.”

They sat down and ate, Riku giving his second portion of Katsudon to Shizune. They talked about many things which included baby names, wishes for the sex of the baby and how they would deal with the living arrangements. They didn’t talk way into the night but instead planned a reveal party with very close friends.