In the afternoon, Miki arrived at the Senju Clan's territory. The maid who had greeted her back then had become an older woman, still dressed in a kimono, but her waist had thickened.
Tōka had gone to an educational institution to teach children. She was once a close confidant of Hashirama.
She was a very powerful Genjutsu Shinobi, but in the end, she still chose to teach the children she disliked.
As for Mito, she looked like she hadn't changed at all.
She still had that young and beautiful face; time had not etched any marks upon it.
At this moment, Mito was sitting in the courtyard, watching a five or six-year-old child playing in the yard.
Miki walked onto the veranda, plopped down beside Mito, placed the yokan on the small tea table, and poured herself a cup of water.
"A souvenir."
Mito turned her head to look at Miki and said disdainfully, "What is this? Isn't this Kuri Kinton's yokan?!"
"And there are a lot of crabs," Miki said.
"You haven't come to see me in half a year…" Mito said faintly, "I thought you'd forgotten this old woman."
Miki ignored her, looked at the child, and softly called out, "Nawaki."
Hearing this, Nawaki, the child with chestnut-colored hair, turned around, his face flushed, and looked at Miki with a bitter expression.
"Come here," Miki said softly.
After thinking for a moment, Nawaki reluctantly shuffled over to Miki and said weakly, "Just you wait, when I become Hokage, I'll make you guard the gate!"
"That's good ambition," Miki said, sizing Nawaki up and down. "Will you still marry me?"
Nawaki shook his head frantically.
Miki patted Nawaki's shoulder and said, "I'll wait for you."
Nawaki turned his head, tears welling up in his eyes, and looked at Mito.
"Grandma, save me!"
Mito let out a soft gasp, "Oh, yokan! I haven't tasted it in a long time, it's really sweet."
Mito turned her head away.
Nawaki sniffled and forced a smile at Miki.
"I'm still young. When I grow up, you'll be old. We're not a good match!"
"You decide about this marriage," Miki said. "If I find out you've fallen for someone else, chocolate-flavored poop or poop-flavored chocolate, you pick one."
Nawaki pouted, sniffled, and tears welled up in his eyes.
"Future Hokage-sama, you're not going to cry, are you?" Miki asked.
The tears receded. Nawaki lowered his head, desperately wiped his face, and said, "I'm not crying!"
"Hmm, very Hokage-like aura, keep it up." Miki said, taking out her wallet, counting out a few bills for Nawaki, and said, "Here, Hokage-sama, I want some red bean mochi soup. Go run this errand for me."
"…" Holding the money, Nawaki didn't move.
"Shinobi, you get a commission for doing missions," Miki said. "The rest is Hokage-sama's travel expenses."
Hearing this, Nawaki asked, "Really?"
"Hurry up," Miki said.
Holding the money, Nawaki happily ran off quickly.
"Really, don't spoil him," Mito said, watching Nawaki's retreating figure. "Now he'll go buy soda from the vending machine again."
"Let him drink something good, he'll just throw it up anyway," Miki said. "I had nothing to do this afternoon, so I played with him."
"You're willing to be his teacher now?" Mito's eyes lit up.
"He's still a long way from graduating from the Ninja Academy. When the time comes, let Orochimaru teach him; he's part of the Hokage lineage after all," Miki said.
"Honestly…" Mito said, "I won't let that child become Hokage. Tsunade taking on that responsibility is enough."
"How biased," Miki said.
"How so? Nawaki is simply not suitable to be Hokage," Mito said. "And he doesn't have much talent."
"There's no harm in letting him mess around," Miki said. "You don't really think he can become Hokage, do you?"
"That's true," Mito nodded and said, "Only Tsunade would think that."
"She just wants to escape," Miki said. "You've spoiled her."
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