#mxtherslug

Minato was not squeamish. Absolutely not. On the contrary, he appreciated the speed and ease with which Tsunade-senpai’s summons healed his training wounds. 

Unspoken Meme || Accepting

A nearby creek had flooded. It was nothing serious, but theground was wet and stuck to the feet of everything it touched all around thechildren’s usual play area. Iruka thinks it might be time to rename the villagegiven the amount of mud he found everywhere.Every day this week he had forced the kids to wash up in the bathroom beforethey came into the classroom. He had even gone so far as to check each childindividually on Wednesday, and still there were mud smudges on the desks, theirworksheets, and their cubbies. Were they storing the mud in their belly buttonsnow?

Typically this would be his hour off, but the other instructorwas out sick and rather than pay someone else to do the job for a day, they simplyshunted the extra work to Iruka. He ignored the loud clamor, mischievouslaughter, and the unfortunate wet squishing sounds. The frightened shrieking iswhat brought Iruka over to the gaggle of children during lunch time.

A large puddle of mud is what has gathered the attention ofnearly one-third of his class, and the place looks like a nightmare. He can seethe outline of a young girl sprawled out into the thick mud at the edges of thepuddle, star-fished in what was undoubtedly a ‘mud angel’. Another young boyhas a displeased expression and some suspicious brown stains streaked aroundhis mouth that suggests he may have tried to eat his own mud pie. However, whatIruka found to be the most disturbing sight was the cluster of five clean children gathered in a circle,heavily sprinkled in snails and worms they had spent the last twenty minutes orso collecting and giggling about it.  

It is only then that Iruka located the injured child. Aikolooked mostly okay, a little tearful, but standing and among friends. He hadslipped while trying to beat his classmate in a race through a mud puddle and had crashed cheek-first into a rock. It wouldleave a nasty bruise, his clothes were ruined, and Iruka would need to informhis parents of the boy’s head injury in addition to having him checked out atthe hospital. Otherwise, Aiko seemed okay. He held out a hand for the young childto grab and walked him inside. The teacher is allowed to wipe the kid down andcarrying him in so as to avoid ruining a pair of slippers, though he refused tolet Iruka return the snail on his shoulder to its rightful home.

“It’s my friend,” Aiko insisted. Iruka just sighed.

mxtherslug

She had only been here for some time but the new world she had become to call home was nothing like the Village Hidden in the Whirlpool. In that village, it was the Uzumaki clan that dominated the island and while other people and clans were permitted, they kept to themselves save for trading with Konoha. There had been a push for more if the village to grow and spread, going around hills, rivers and such. The woods were never like the ones here. It seemed so easy to be swallowed up by the forest if Mito allowed it.

Her husband was busy...as he, Tobirama and the other clan heads often were. Mito’s handmaidens scurried around the home to take care of any tasks, leaving Mito mostly to her own devices. Yet all it really did was leave Mito to her own thoughts.

She was married to what still seemed to be a stranger to her. He was a nice man, there was no denying that. Many people would consider her so lucky to be married to the first Hokage, the very first Kage to ever exist anywhere. She agreed and yet she would need to learn more and more about the man each and every day. Yesterday had been unfortunate since one of the maidens had cooked something Hashirama absolutely hated to eat. He still put on a little smile, apologized and said he could skip dinner. Mito took it upon herself to try and make things better by making a snack he did enjoy. That had earned a smile, a thank you and a kiss on the cheek.

Still, Mito was not someone who would sit and wait to be done. She had her own studies to work on. Reading any news of the outside world was important for her, even if it was not of her home. But it was done soon enough. With most of the day still available, she could always return to her exercises or studies about seals, but she had another idea.

Her husband’s estate was modest for a modest man. Yet the backyard crept into the summer forest as she and a collection of her guards went in. One of them carried a scroll with them. It had been a gift to her and Hashirama during their wedding and Hashirama had entrusted the scroll to her. She knew it was for summoning and she thanked her husband for it. Perhaps she could learn new skills with this scroll.