A New Normal

The day stretched out in front of the current Eikage as she meticulously stacked and sorted the never ending pile of papers. Despite her village's relatively secluded state, it's rise in power among the fall out of the Great Nations had been exponential. It was now commonplace to receive treaties from other smaller villages that looked to rise as well, and various contracts that hired out the services of Eigakure for a variety of missions. Thus the arrival of a Uzumaki clan splinter in the past few years had been welcomed, as the helped grow the village's population to cope with this increasing demand for Eigakure's manpower. It also helped that the village had established a rather fruitful alliance with Ryūsei, a hidden village headed by the Eikage's husband. Such was the busy life of the two that Aka found time to worry about the health and well-being of their two children as they adjusted to significant stretches of time without both of their parents.

Speaking of which, they were both to be deployed on a mission together in the near future. "I hope they look out for each other," Aka fretted, as she began work on felt like the hundredth paper of the day. "Maybe I should use shadow clones," Aka thought, not enthused about the mass of work that sat in front of her this day, particularly with the sun rising over the nearby ocean. She really felt an itch to go surfing, but knew as the respective leader of her village there was no time for that. "Hopefully I can finish this quickly," Aka stated as she went to signed the first document in the pile. The sun's rays from the window magnified the red of hair, making it appear as a living flame that danced around her golden eyes.