"So Tenzo," Katsuro smiled, "this is my wife, Tsunade, and her assistant, Shizune."
The boy quickly bowed his head and Tsunade laughed, gently patting his head.
"How old are you, Tenzo," Shizune asked.
"I am 10 years old, Lady Shizune."
"Around three years younger than Kakashi," Tsunade murmured, smiling.
"We can introduce you to the rest of the clan, as well as the Uzumaki clan, a sister clan to us, but I'll show you who and where you will be staying with," Katsuro guided Tenzo out of his own home, and through the courtyard to a house that looked similar to the other houses around the compound, however waiting outside, was a Senju couple very familiar with Katsuro.
"This is Mr Hoshi and Mrs Kaori, they were both incredibly welcoming to me a while back, and like the rest of the clan, are always amazingly kind and caring people. Furthermore, they have been wanting a child to take care of as their own, so they immediately hoped that you would want to be taken care of by them as your new parents, now and forever." Katsuro smiled. He hoped Tenzo would agree, considering how Mr Hoshi and Mrs Kaori were so enthusiastic to take care of a child to call their own.
"Tenzo, it is your decision, my dear. Katsuro is right, we would be honoured to call you our child, but only if that's something you want." Mrs Kaori smiled.
"That's right, my boy, don't feel any pressure from us," Mr Hoshi added, patting Tenzo's arm.
Tenzo looked at the two figures before him. They seemed to radiate a natural honesty and warmth, something so familiar to him, that made him feel safe. While he wasn't completely ready to become the child of two people he had never met before, he looked back up to the tall white haired man he got a weird sense of trust.
Katsuro saw his look and spoke
"How about, I leave you here for the day, and see how you feel? Then you can decide. Of course you're more than welcome to come find me whatever you decide, I'm sure I can at least help you with your wood style." Katsuro offered.
Tenzo nodded, still acting more like a brainwashed zombie rather than a trial as he hastily walked over to the couple. The sight caused sympathetic looks from all the adults around them, and the couple seemed to firm themselves before nodding at Katsuro. It was a signal they would shower the boy with as much love as they would their own child. To make up for all he had missed.
Seeing their determination Katsuro smiled. Both in relief of Tenzo's life as well as the fact he had led his clan the right way.
I hope he likes them, I mean we have other families who he can stay with, but I feel like this couple would be a perfect match for him. He needs someone he can rely on and help him decide what he wants to do with his life. With them now retired from Shinobi work and instead volunteering to work in our shops, they bring a much needed stability and support system to his life. The poor kid deserves some light in his life. And hopefully he will be able to open up in time, it seems like his trauma has locked away portions of his own mind.
—
"Enter!" Minato called out, answering the knock at the door. Katsuro stepped into the office, peering around.
"Looks like you've made a few changes around here," he said looking around.
"Oh yeah, I just felt like it was a bit dysfunctional, that's all. As my advisor, maybe you should tell me what could be improved about it," Minato smiled.
"I don't think that's that sort of thing I should be advising you about," Katsuro raised an eyebrow, "how have the rest of your plans gone so far- The Anbu restructuring, the separation of the Interrogation Squad and the new Hokage squad?"
"All of that's going fine. Of course it was a longer process with the Anbu, but either way I've slowly started making changes, so that there isn't upset within the Anbu, and Ibiki seems like a very well suited leader for the Interrogation squad. As for the new Hokage Guard platoon, I'm still looking, but to me, the right choices seem to be Genma Shiranui, Raidō Namiashi and Iwashi Tatami. They're only about 2 years younger than me, but they're all very qualified. Whoever it is, I think I'll teach them Flying Raijin so they can teleport to me as soon as I need them."
"I see," Katsuro nodded, "the rest of the clans seemed to accept what you said very smoothly, that's a good sign."
"I hope so," Minato sighed, "I just want things inside and outside the village to calm down, especially since the issue with the Hidden Mist, straight after the war."
"I don't think there will be any more issues in the near future," Katsuro reassured him, "but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be prepared for anything of the sort."
Minato nodded. Everyone wanted to believe that after another Ninja war, there would be a period of peace, however there was a lingering feeling that there was still more to come, since the kidnapping of Rin, which was unsuccessful, but hinted at something sinister, and Orochimaru turned rogue.
"Anyways," Katsuro continued, "I've decided to take a break, to train."
"To train?" Minato frowned, "how come? At this point who can touch you?"
Katsuro smiled, "It was hidden from me before, but I can see it now… the peak of the mountain. Satisfaction is the death of desire, the enemy of progress… I will not be satisfied until I can stand before my ancestors in death and tell them, I stood not only at the top of my era, but all of the eras before me."
Minato stared at Katsuro as his eyes seemed to look well past him into the distance. Frankly, he had no idea what Katsuro was really talking about and shook his head with a sigh. He knew he couldn't change his teacher's mind once it was already set.
"Where will you go? And what will you do?"
"Hmm, the Shikkotsu Forest probably. I've used it before for my wood style, but there's more I can still do. Not to mention I've been putting off this one thing for far too long and recently got reminded of it. I'll live it up to the God of Shinobi's name but it's incredibly difficult and time consuming, which is why only barely few people have been able to at least learn and barely use it."
"Senjutsu huh…" Minato murmured
"Yeah, but not like Jiraiya's half baked sage mode, no mine will be akin to Lord First's by the time I'm done." Katsuro spoke with confidence.
Minato grinned suddenly, "Finally, it seems there's at least one thing I'm ahead in."
Katsuro looked at him somewhat confused with a raised eyebrow.
Minato's smile only widened more, "Yeah, before I became Hokage I already started to learn Mt Myoboku's Sage Mode."
Minato looked carefully for Katsuro's reaction, trying to discern any sign of annoyance. But to the contrary, Katsuro smiled too. "Heh, so you only started, I'll still learn it before you."
Before Minato could protest Katsuro explained mockingly, "Don't forget I am a true Wood style user, which quite literally makes me more attuned to nature. Not to mention you're gonna be busy Hokage-san."
But while mocking him externally, internally Katsuro thought If Minato learns Sage mode, he'll be an even more incredible shinobi than he already is, only second to me.
"But I'll be gone for a while, maybe even a year or longer."
"What? Seriously? What happened to it being easy for you?" Minato questioned.
"I'll take this time to really train properly. Fully learning Sage Mode, Senjutsu and creating many techniques that combine them and what I already have. It will take time, and certainly won't be easy. Likely the hardest thing I've done yet… I might even take Tsuna with me, we haven't really had a proper honeymoon after all."
Minato nodded along until the last bit, "Please don't mention that to Kushina." He pleaded.
Katsuro laughed boisterously at how whipped his little sister had the Hokage.
"When will you leave?" Minato asked, hoping the answer wouldn't be too soon.
"In about a month or so, I'll have to stick around for a while to help you in this transition, as I am the official advisor of the youngest Hokage, of course," Katsuro laughed, as Minato sighed, relieved.
AN: Hi everyone, it's 50 POWERSTONES for the next BONUS chapter. As always, if you would like to view up to 20 more bonus chapters on all my fics so far including this one, and would also like to support me, please visit my P@TR30N, at pa tr eon.com / GhidorahWriter (remove the spaces). Enjoy the chapter!