Spring, Year 31 of Konoha.
As spring deepened and all things stirred back to life, Konoha brimmed with vitality in the season's warmth.
For Uchiha Shinichi, this was undoubtedly one of his favorite times of year.
Ever since he had taken the initiative to decentralize the clan head's authority, handing most of the tedious work over to his advisory council and various management teams, Shinichi had finally escaped the "quagmire of administrative affairs" and returned to the laid-back life he had long desired.
These days, his daily routine was slow and pleasant, centered on "slacking off, tending flowers, and walking dogs." His most important business amounted to just three things-
Teasing Tsunade, training Minato, and looking after that little rascal Nawaki along the way.
In the faint morning light, he would leisurely cradle a cup of tea and wait in the courtyard of the Senju Main Residence to "happen upon" Tsunade. While appraising her hair and clothes, he would toss out a few cheeky remarks. "Not bad today. A little less tacky than yesterday."
At first, Tsunade had rewarded him with a punch. Now, she merely rolled her eyes to the heavens, though the curve of her lips grew harder and harder to hide-she had grown used to Shinichi's presence, and to this daily teasing.
In the afternoon, Shinichi would take Minato and Nawaki to his private training ground in the hills behind the Uchiha Clan Compound.
Minato was exceptionally gifted, levelheaded, and a remarkably quick learner; Nawaki, meanwhile, was full of mischievous ideas, and training occasionally devolved into roughhousing. Still, both boys respected Shinichi wholeheartedly.
"Minato, your Body Flicker Technique is pretty good already, but if I threw a shuriken at your forehead from here, could you react in time?" Shinichi drawled with a lazy yawn. Chakra had already