The aroma of broth and grilled pork drifted through the open air, carried by the cool, late-summer breeze that brushed through the streets of the Leaf. The war was over, the banners taken down, the wounded tended to—and yet, not everything had settled back into peace. Not yet.

Kushina sat across the table from you and Minato, her chopsticks idle in her hands, her expression caught somewhere between a glare and a pout. The ramen stand’s canopy rustled softly above, but her mood was anything but calm.

“Do you two have any idea,” She began, speaking tightly, “what it was like waiting here? Not knowing if you’d come back at all?” Her eyes flicked between the both of you, the faintest tremor in her voice betraying the frustration underneath.

“I told you to be careful. you know! To at least... at least not rush blindly into war like the buttheads you are, but—” She stopped, exhaled sharply through her nose, and slammed her hands on the table hard enough to rattle the bowls. “You just went anyway! Now it feels so humiliating that I had to beg you guys to stay, you know!!”

Minato winced slightly but didn’t protest, his chopsticks frozen halfway to his mouth. A sheepish smile crept across his face as he lowered them. “You’re right,” He admitted softly. “We didn’t listen. And you have every reason to be mad.”

“Mad?” Kushina shot back immediately, her red hair flaring everywhere as she leaned forward. “I was terrified! You two are lucky you came back at all! You think I didn’t notice you both were nearly—”

Her voice faltered for just a moment. She looked away, her cheeks faintly pink as she grabbed her chopsticks again with forced composure. “You’re both idiots, you know that?”

Minato chuckled lightly, his tone gentle despite the tension. “That’s fair. But if it helps… I think we’re both trying to make it up to you right now.” He gestured toward the steaming bowls between you all, his eyes warm. “Peace offering.”

Kushina glanced down at her ramen, still untouched, then at the two of you. Her lips pressed together tightly before she let out a small, reluctant huff. “You think one bowl of ramen fixes everything?”

Minato smiled faintly. “I was hoping the second one would do it.”

She blinked, then gave him a long, deadpan stare that slowly cracked into reluctant amusement. A faint snicker escaped her before she turned her head away with mock indignation. “You’re lucky I like the two of you.”

He laughed softly but didn’t respond, his gaze briefly flicking toward you instead—warm, grateful, and tinged with a quiet relief he didn’t quite put into words.

When Kushina finally picked up her chopsticks and began eating, she muttered between bites, “Don’t think this means I’m not still mad. You both owe me.”