More than a year flew by.
Under the joint leadership of Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Minato, Konoha finally entered its golden age.
The Konoha 12 from the original story grew up and graduated from the Ninja Academy one after another. Of course, Shinichi's students, led by Naruto and Sasuke, had received all sorts of instruction early on, making them far stronger than their counterparts at the same point in the original story.
The Root organization Danzo had founded was long gone. In its place stood the Night Organization, jointly established by Itachi and Shisui, which worked alongside Kakashi's ANBU to protect the village's peace from the shadows.
Naruto enjoyed the happy family life he had always dreamed of, while Sasuke's family had never been torn apart. Though Sasuke was still somewhat prickly and proud, he smiled far more often than he had in the original story.
As for Karin and Haku, they had found careers they wanted to devote their lives to at Konoha Hospital and the Ninja Academy, respectively.
That inevitably brought up a certain hands-off principal who spent all day lazing around at home. Thanks to his endless manipulation, almost all the Ninja Academy's affairs over the past year or so had been handled by Uzuki Yugao and Haku. Aside from holding the title, he had barely shown his face at the school.
As far as the children were concerned, the Ninja Academy had only Yugao, its vice principal. The identity of the actual principal had become an unsolved mystery.
The afternoon sunlight was pleasantly mild, spilling over the table and chairs in the back courtyard.
A gentle smile lingered on Yakushi Nonō's breathtakingly beautiful face. Resting her chin in her hands, she gazed softly at the handsome man before her.
"You dumped all your work on Yugao and