Life nevertheless continued.
"Three. THREE. THREE!" Minato yelled, his fist smashing into the desk that had served the three Hokage before him, and then he began to furiously pace around his office. "I have no solid proof—nothing to initiate a war over. But I know it was them. They tried with Kushina, so of course they'd try their hand at getting Naruko, as well," he said, his hands beginning to run through his hair. "There were three attempts on her life in just last month! How is this happening, Sensei? How do they keep doing this? I've tightened security up immensely, how do they keep slipping in!?" he asked, planting his hands on his desk and looking through his bangs to stare at Jiraiya, who was sitting on the windowsill of the window that was behind the Hokage's seat.
"It's all attempts to get at you, of course," stated the white haired Super Pervert, also known as the gallant Toad Sage of Myoboku-zan. "Iwa's tried their hand at her, what, sixteen times now?"
"Seventeen. Itachi-kun intercepted an assassin trying to give her a poisoned apple at the market," Minato said, gruffly. "I dont know what to do. I don't know how to protect her. Should I seal her up in the mansion, never let her out where she could be hurt? I can't do that to her… that would be even worse than being in constant danger," he said, knowing how being holed up inside of the Hokage tower with no ability to go out made HIM feel, and he was an adult!
"Anyway, they're probably trying to provoke you into doing something rash. It's clearly fodder they don't mind losing. Infiltrating into somewhere is a lot easier when you aren't worried about keeping an exit route. But they've got the ball on their court, as of now. Going to war is not an option. We're not in condition to fight a war, and they're bound to have developed some form of countermeasure to you by this point. We can't even rely on using the threat of war, since they know Konoha took way more damage than it should have in the last war," Jiraiya said, sounding just as he most likely felt, rather angry at the entire situation. He clicked his tongue, as if to show his displeasure at the world. "maybe it's about time you began training her?"
"What are you suggesting? The academy starts for her in a year. She's not ready yet, physically or mentally, to handle that kind of strain… Plus, it has to be her choice whether she wants to be a shinobi or not. I won't force this on her," he said, gesturing towards the dozens of papers that littered his desk. "I… I don't think I want her to be a Shinobi, Sensei—"
"Don't be dumb, Minato. You knew the life you condemned her to when you sealed the fox in her!" Jiraiya said, hotly. "Besides… It's her. I know it's her. It has to be. She will be the one, Minato, but in order to achiever her destiny, she has to be strong!"
"Screw destiny!" Minato yelled back, hotly.
Jiraiya sighed. "If nothing else, Minato, at least get someone to teach her how to defend herself. Mikoto's thinking about beginning her second child's training. I've been hearing rumors about a second prodigy at the Uchiha family head's household. Maybe you can ask her to take Naruko too, and in return allow her to use the time she'd normally be guarding Naruko in to also teach her brat?"
"I can't ask such a thing, Jiraiya… that's her family business and—"
"Well, that's not a problem. I already asked her, and she already said yes," Jiraiya said, smirking.
"What the—" Minato began protesting, but was soon cut off when his teacher moved with speed that was not proper for a man of fifty years and threw an arm around his shoulders, almost knocking Minato off balance by the sheer weight of Jiraiya's muscles.
"Why, you sound almost as if you can't believe thay your teacher, who knows you inside-out, wouldn't know what's been bothering you! You didn't think that I'd come here without a solution prepared, right?" Jiraiya asked.
"That's incredibly presumptuous of you," said Minato, deadpan.
"Why yes, yes it is. Now stop being such an uptight little brat, relax and think about looking for a new mother for Naruko-cha—"
Jiraiya was singing soprano for a week, as Minato never, ever, took kindly to his reminders that he ought to be looking for a new wife.
To be fair, he was a lot harsher on Jiraiya than he was on anyone else who suggested finding a replacement for Kushina. He had never been able to look at another woman without comparing them with his wife and finding them horribly… lacking, by comparison.
"Will you at least relax a bit? You know what today is, don't you? You ought to at least enjoy the festivities a little…" Jiraiya said. "Come on, join your old teacher on a tour of the village. I even got my own teacher to join us. It'll be an S-Rank only casino night! Tsunade-hime even came around, since there's a high stakes game in your honor that a gentleman might have offered to host," Jiraiya said with a wink.
At this, Minato sighed. "Okay, but just for a short time. I promised Naruko I'd be coming home tonight, and I'm on thin ice with her as is…"
"Awesome! You won't regret listening to your wise teacher, I swear!"
***
Meanwhile, back at the Namikaze mansion…
"Mikoto-obachan, did I do it right?" Naruko asked, looking over her work with a critical eye, while at the same time tightening the crude bandages that she'd made around her fingers. Mikoto smiled warmly, looking at the spread Naruko had made.
The girl was not skilled in the least in the art of housekeeping. To be fair, neither was Mikoto. That was what they had Kakashi for, most of the time, Yugao if he wasn't available. Itachi was a last resort, as even he was more skilled than his mother in the kitchen. But Kakashi had departed halfway through, having to get ready for a deployment to border patrol near the Iwa border, especifically acting on a lead they'd obtained from one of Naruko's routine assassins. Yugao would actually be taking the night shift this day, guarding the Namikaze house as the owners slept, and Itachi was actually with Kakashi on that assignment.
Mikoto smiled, internally, when she remembered how well her son had taken to his godmother's last wish. Who'd have thought that such a short meeting would leave such a strong, lasting impression? Ah, but she was getting lost in memories.
Still, they'd worked as best as they could from Kakashi's instructions and, through a lot of shared effort, mostly Naruko's since she refused to let Mikoto do anything for her entirely. They were finished, now, and while the dishes they had made were far from an extravagant affair, Mikoto had no problems telling Naruko that she had done very well for her first time cooking, better than Mikoto usually did, in fact, and should be proud of the meal she had prepared.
One might wonder why Naruko was cooking, particularly given that she was but a seven and a half years old girl, who could hardly reach the stove, let alone cook.
The very simple reason that Naruko's hands had been cut, stabbed and burned that night, despite Mikoto's best efforts to keep them pristine, was that she had been preparing a home made deal to receive her father, on his birthday, with, after he came home from work. Naruko felt that her father worked way, way too hard, and she knew very well that he did it for her sake. Because he loved her very much, he worked hard so he could give her everything she ever wanted. And so she wanted to reward him for his hard work.
With painstakingly slow, methodic and methiculous work, Naruko set the table, arranging everything so it was just perfect, putting everything in such a way that her father would be presented with a relaxing atmosphere so that he would only need to sit down and rest while she did everything for one night. That was the least she could do, just one day in which she did something for herself instead of relying on her servant staff, but her auntie had told her that this would make Minato very happy.
And finally, after everything was ready, Naruko sat to wait. Her father was running late, as usual, already by thirty minutes, but she had expected such a delay. He tended to overwork himself, and came home late and exhausted.
Still, Naruko sat, dutifully, without moving a muscle, on the table she had set. Mikoto had left shortly after the meal was done, explaining that she had to get home to eat with her own family, because this was a private moment that Naruko should have with her father, and so Naruko was alone in the gigantic mansion, though of course she was perfectly safe, as she knew her father had reworked everything from the ground up to make it airtight against the usual violent psychopaths that tried to assassinate her for being the famous Yellow Flash's daughter.
The minutes passed, as Naruko worried that the food might get cold, but she refused to move from her spot. She had to receive her father with a kind smile, it was intrinsic to the entire plan to get him relaxed so he could forget about work for a few hours. And so she continued to sit, stilling even her mind.
The minutes soon turned to an entire hour, and Naruko's tummy rumbled its disapproval at being empty, but she quietend it with a slap. The food was for her daddy first, then she'd eat, but daddy had to eat first so he'd have all he needed to be healthy.
Her tummy continued to protest through the night, but there she'd wait, still, until the first few rays of the morning soon began to peek through the night sky.
Only then had she heard her father as he stumbled past the front door, and in her haste, she had forgotten that standing still in the position she had for so long had made her legs fall asleep, even if the rest of her hadn't. When she had tried to rush to her feet, in order to show her enthusiasm and greet him properly, she had stumbled, tripping forward and landing, chin first, on the table that contained the meal she'd painstakingly prepared for her father.
Unfortunately, Naruko was stronger than she looked, or acted, at any given time, and when she had tripped, she had hit the table so hard that she caused it to be tipped over. Furthermore, this caused all of the plates and trays that she had used to place the food she had prepared, much of which was rice, different cuts and styles of cooked fish as well as sauces to dip them in, to come crashing down on top of her.
The plates crashing to pieces on her hurt, but for a moment, she was glad that the food was cold.
That was until she heard the door to the dinning room creaking open, as her father came in, possibly guided by the loud crashing noise that she had created by destroying the plates.
Naruko's eyes went upwards, and she saw her father wince as he walked into the brightly lit room. He was bleary eyed, and his entire frame spoke of incredible exhaustion.
"Huh. What a mess," he commented, idly.
Naruko, for a moment, felt horrible. She'd ruined everything!
However, then bloodloss and sleep deprivation took over and she merely fell unconscious, and she felt no more.
***
Naruko looked around herself, at the children in the academy, with a smirk, before her eyes came upon her hated rival, who regarded her cooly.
Had someone been paying attention, they would've seen the bolts of lightning flying between the eyes of Namikaze Naruko and Uchiha Satsuki.
For Naruko, it was only natural to be at the top of her class.
She was, after all, the daughter of the widely feared Yellow Flash!