"Lord Hokage, the Land of Fire Whirlpool Sea Commissioner has sent an urgent message."
"Last night, a large number of Kirigakure shinobi landed on the coast of the Land of Whirlpools."
Early that morning, Shikaku Nara stumbled a little over his report to Yanbai, who was holding a bowl.
Yanbai looked utterly speechless.
Normally, even though Yanbai rose early, things were never this rushed. Everyone would enjoy breakfast at their leisure before starting work.
But today, even Shikaku Nara could barely stand it.
It wasn't that Shikaku Nara was particularly anxious.
Rather, the Hokage Office was packed with people.
This group had dragged him out first thing, making sure he spoke up during breakfast.
Muye and Silver Moon at home had long since learned to look after themselves. They could also call on the ghosts in the Princess Mausoleum, and the two old cats, Satsuki and Yumemizuki, could lend a hand.
The trees and animals around the Memorial Stone and in the Forest of Death were familiar with Muye and Silver Moon as well.
Failing all that, there was still Cherry Ink and its thousands upon thousands of descendants.
So Yanbai felt perfectly comfortable leaving both Kushina and Nagato in his two sons' care.
For precisely that reason, Yanbai often stayed at the Hokage Office without going home at all.
In the past, Yanbai had gone home every few days to see how much the children had changed, lest his long absences make them forget their monthly family meals.
Recently, he had been going back every day because Sasori had been housed in his Princess Mausoleum.
Then Sasori, that workaholic, complained that commuting between two places was too much trouble.
To get Sasori to work even harder, Yanbai took him to live at the Hokage Office and stopped going home