[We aren't in the rankings. What a bummer. It's filled with Quan Yun 1000× reward push ups Harem reward fictions again.]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
---------------------
"Didn't expect you to leave like this." Garou said with a frown, looking at his father going through stuff while wearing a full body ninja gear and a wahizashi which is a slightly bigger knife than tanto on his back and a samurai sword tied to his hip.
'Is he acting like a Samurai or is he a Samurai like he was from Gintama? But this guy isn't exactly Gintoki from Gintama, so...' Garou thought.
"Already miss me?" Gintoki said while giving Garou a smirk.
"Will you be able to come out alive?" Garou asked and Gintoki just smiled at his concern for him.
"Zombie, I may not look like it but I could beat a hundred of you with my pinky finger." He replied with a puff of his chest, looking too proud.
"Really? And your genius lazy bum is using a harmless kid as a reference to showcase your ohh so mighty power?" Garou said with a deadpan.
"Well these days you have been deluding yourself being some kind of cosmic level this or planetary level that under your breath while posing like a mantis, and I am using your future self apparently as reference, which means I can beat you even in your delusions." Gintoki said.
"Sighhhh, scratch that, aren't you worried." Garou asked, a little more serious now.
Gintoki paused for a moment before smiling gently.
"If something can be solved, then no need to worry about it. If something can't be solved then it is usless to worry about. Worrying won't take away the troubles of tomorrow, but the peace of today." Gintoki calmly replied in a way that slightly surprised Garou.
His dad wasn't someone who got serious easily, or articulate to be exact, that was beyond his capabilities, so these kinds of talks with him for the first time felt a little weird.
"Then that means you don't care about me, and my mother?" Garou asked again with a frown.
"I care for you, that's why I go to war. This is how I show my love. I fight for it." Gintoki replied again with shadows hiding his eyes, his hands trembled a little when he went through some scrolls but Garou didn't notice that.
"You sure it's not for the village?" Garou asked again each time with a harsher tone.
"The village is precious because you guys live in it, enjoy your time in it, sleep peacefully in it... I am just going to war so that your happiness won't be disturbed." Gintoki replied with fondness.
"Other people can take the risk, so why you?" Garou asked.
"If I, an elite jonin and a clan head don't go, then why should another person go? Why should a nameless genin, chunin or jonin go and risk their lives? If I don't go and he/she doesn't go, all ignored everything just because it doesn't concern them or were afraid of the risks, then who will protect and care for what's precious? Isn't that how civilisations get destroyed? With ignorance and apathy?" Gintoki replied.
"..."
"Indifference is never cool,"
"..."
"This is my call of duty Garou... I am a man, a ninja, a husband, a clan head, and a father This is my responsibility. This is my will of fire and ninja way... kinda." Gintoki said with determination in his eyes while looking at his son.
"..."
*step step step*
Gintoki went forward Garou and held his shoulder firmly "The thing about life is; if it was easy, everyone would have it or have done it. It being hard is what gives it value, meaning, and what separates you from everyone else. You cannot live the ordinary and expect the extraordinary, especially in your case Garou. In a world where ordinary is a body with chakra, here you are, been given the chance to be extraordinary from the start. I don't know what's wrong with your body but I always feel it isn't normal, so work on it, maybe you will surprise both of us." He said with wisdom, meanwhile Garou just locked eyes with him without reaction.
Deep down Garou noted that his parents seem to have felt something out of place with him, though not much.
I mean, who wouldn't notice the obvious? True kids grow up fast here. 3 year olds act like 7 or 8, and 7 or 8 acting like 14 or 15.
But Garou's maturity is still considered out of place in this world.
What would be their reaction if they knew he wasn't a full human, but a ticking time bomb ready to explode if given the right trigger?
Sometimes he even feared himself waking up as a mindless monster someday and go nuts on the world.
"..."
"Tell me Garou, what do you want be like in the future?" Gintoki asked.
"You sound like this is your last will or testament, then die..." Garou said with a slight smirk which only made Gintoki smile and just waited for Garou's answer.
"I don't know... maybe I want to be confident?" Garou answered with a shrug.
"Then let me tell you this... real confidence isn't walking into a room feeling like you are better than everyone else. Real confidence is walking into a room knowing you don't have to prove that you are better than everyone else. Confidence is never about how others are to you but what you are to you." Gintoki said which amused Garou a little.
"It's weird seeing you talking like this," Garou said in a sarcastic tone. Quite funny that the ever lazy guy is trying hard to pull an Iroh. It's like listening to the class clown trying to cook something for once but fails and his position as an idiot solidifies more.
"I figured that I left a strong enough impression on you to not forget me years later in case I was gone, but I also figured I wasn't really that good of a father to you enough, so I thought, maybe I will also leave behind whatever wisdom I have accumulated so far to you in case you needed it, as a good father should." Gintoki said with eyes closed, face near mine, and hands resting on my shoulders.
"..."
"..."
"Pfft" Garou held his laugh while looking at his dramatic dad.
"Hmm? What? Why are you suppressing your laugh?" Gintoki asked in sudden annoyance as he looked at his son not taking this seriously.
"Hehe, well in that case, seeing you like this made me remember some words of wisdom I have accumulated too throughout my years of life. Hear me out..." Garou said and Gintoki's expression was already dead blank before Garou even opened his mouth again.
.
" The mouth is a gate
That brings about disaster,
And the tongue is
A blade than can kill.
Shut thy mouth and
Hide thy tongue-
Only then, your ass
Will be safe."
Garou said with his eyes closed, imitating his father, and ultimately, ruining the father-son moment.
"..."
.
"I have nothing more to teach you. This father of yours is as pure as a child, so he really cannot manage a son of a gun like you." Gintoki said with a blank face and dead eyes, then stood up, and finally left, burying this greatest embarrassment, failure, and memory in the deepest depths of his soul.
"Bwahahahaha!" Garou laughed with tears coming down his face while looking at the departing back of his father who had dramatic tears running down his face while leaving like a heart broken sophomore girl.
He really liked this dude. He was like a best friend he never had, so seeing him being serious and overly dramatic for the first time and calling him by his name couldn't help but make him laugh.
Though still, he was worried. The first ninja world war was getting to its climax and the big guns of this world are participating finally, that's why his dad got an immediate order from Tobirama to be back on the battlefield, so there's a high chance he will die.
"Don't die dad" Garou muttered in a sad tone.
___________________
Later that day/
"Hubby, I have prepared 7 days worth of food in there!" Ayaka said while handing a scroll to Gintoki who took it with a large smile and lunged at his wife to shower her with kisses and hugs.
"Stop" Garou said with annoyance while trying to suppress the vomit as he looked at this sight.
"Huh? Zombie, you jealous?" Gintoki asked with a smirk while still hugging his wife and savoring her scent.
"Believe me, I am unable to even if I wanted to. It looks disgusting, so please go already!" Garou said tiredly as he looked away from the intimacy his parents showed.
It didn't take long and it was time to say goodbye to Gintoki who was outside his house with Garou, Ayaka and some clan oldies all bidding farewell to him, but before he left, Garou spoke.
"Can you do me and my mother a favour?" He asked Gintoki with a frown.
"What's up?" Gintoki said with an eyebrow raised.
"When you came across a situation where you had to choose between the village and your family... Don't act like an over dramatic ass and just choose us, we clear?" Garou said ignoring the pinches his mother giving him to be more polite.
Gintoki just smiled and turned his back to leave while waving...
"I will try..."
*swoosh*
And he disappeared in a flash.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Tch, the dense fucker is finally gone, huh?" At that moment, a very old guy, with a long white facial hair said, his jaw jutted forward in displeasure.
The End.