Kushina

Yemo lived in an ordinary residential district of Konoha. It was morning, and quite a few ninja wearing Konoha Forehead Protectors were with their worried families, preparing to head out on missions.

Ninja were a mysterious profession to the outside world, but also the most dangerous. Every mission came with danger, and survival was never certain. A ninja might die on a mission at any time. Yemo was no stranger to this sight.

Yemo arrived in front of a two-story house. Having only recently come to Konoha, he naturally couldn't have owned a house already. This was where Konoha had assigned him and his sister to live.

He pushed open the little courtyard gate, took off his shoes, and put on the slippers that had been set out for him. Standing up, he called, "Sis, I'm home."

As he called out, Yemo headed for the living room. Just as he reached the doorway, he heard food sizzling over a blazing flame and caught a faint, delicious aroma.

Yemo pushed open the partly closed door and heard a voice as pleasant as a songbird's coming from the kitchen. "Yemo, you're back. Wait a moment, I'm not done yet, but the milk should be almost warm."

"Okay, sis!"

After answering, Yemo walked over to the microwave nearby, opened it, and took out the milk. He unscrewed the lid and began gulping it down.

Just then, the kitchen door was pushed open, revealing a head of fiery red hair and an exceptionally beautiful face. The pretty young girl was Yemo's biological older sister, Kushina Uzumaki.

That was right: Kushina Uzumaki, the mother of Naruto Uzumaki, the protagonist of Naruto. Honestly, even though Yemo had been in the world of Naruto for quite some time now, he still thought it was pretty damn ridiculous whenever he remembered that.

He was Kushina's biological younger brother, which meant he would one day be Minato Namikaze's brother-in-law and Naruto Uzumaki's uncle. Just thinking about it left him speechless.

Yemo didn't know why he had come to the world of Naruto. He had wanted to experience the fiery excitement of Naruto for himself and meet Naruto, but he had never expected to become Naruto's uncle.

Yemo thought it was very strange that Kushina had a biological younger brother. After all, the character had never appeared in Naruto. Maybe Kishimoto had been too lazy to draw him. A lot of things hadn't been explained clearly, like the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan, which had only been mentioned in passing.

But that was getting off track. Ridiculous as it was, Yemo had to admit the truth: he really was Kushina's younger brother, her biological brother.

Kushina was only a few years older than Yemo and had yet to grow into the great beauty she was in the manga. Even so, she was already a pretty young girl, especially with her long, fiery red hair, which was vivid and full of charm.

Kushina emerged from the kitchen carrying a bento in each hand. She set them on the table, looked up, and called, "All right, Yemo, time to eat."

"Coming, sis!" Yemo called back.

He set the half-finished warm milk on top of the microwave and sat down at the table. Kushina untied her apron and sat down too.

Yemo picked up a slice of fish and wolfed it down. His sister had lived independently from a young age, but that hadn't improved her cooking. Her skills were only at an average person's level.

"Here." Kushina picked up a piece of beef from her own bento and placed it in Yemo's bowl. She had always cared deeply for her only biological younger brother. It wasn't just her responsibility as his sister, but also the bond of family, for blood was thicker than water.

Compared with Yemo, who was wolfing down his food, Kushina was much more graceful, chewing slowly and carefully. Suddenly, she asked, "Yemo, how has your training been going lately?"

Yemo answered as he ate, "My Taijutsu is about the same. I can only improve slowly through daily training."

He stopped eating, pressed his hands together with his chopsticks between them, and begged Kushina, "Sis, please agree to what I asked. Teach me a few powerful Ninjutsu."

Yemo had been in the world of Naruto for quite some time, but the Ninjutsu he learned and used were all commonplace basics, like the Substitution Technique and the Transformation Technique. Truly powerful, high-level Ninjutsu weren't things he could get his hands on so easily.

The Uzumaki Clan was a fairly well-known family in the world of Naruto, and its Sealing Jutsu could be considered the strongest. Even powerful Tailed Beasts had difficulty resisting the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu.

Without even thinking, Kushina shook her head and refused. "No. You're still young. Why do you need to learn such powerful Ninjutsu? What you need to do now is master the basic Ninjutsu I taught you. As for the others, we'll talk about them after you enter the Ninja Academy."

"What? You say I'm still young, but when you were my age, sis, weren't you learning the family's Sealing Jutsu, even offensive ones?" Yemo pouted in protest.

Kushina said, "Things are different now from how they were back then. When I was your age, the Land of Whirlpools was at war. Living in wartime, I naturally had to learn powerful Ninjutsu to protect myself and the family. You're living in peacetime now, so why learn such powerful Ninjutsu?"

Kushina was thinking as an older sister. She had experienced that brutal war. When she was very young, she had to get up early every day, undergo rigorous training, and learn Ninjutsu, all so she would have enough strength to protect herself before going to the battlefield.

It was no exaggeration that children as young as five or six had to go to the battlefield. The ninja village of a small country like the Land of Whirlpools couldn't compare with Konoha. It had few ninja and few powerful fighters, so even a small war required the entire country to give its all. Children of five or six were young, but after learning Ninjutsu, they could easily deal with several adults.

In the end, though, Kushina never went to the battlefield. She was sent to Konoha as part of a trade, and in exchange, Konoha stepped in to resolve the crisis in the Land of Whirlpools, saving it from destruction.

Because she had experienced those things, Kushina didn't want her younger brother to live under the pressure of life and death from a young age as she had. She hoped he could spend his childhood carefree.

So Kushina had never taught Yemo any powerful Ninjutsu, only ordinary Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. She planned to wait until he formally entered the Ninja Academy before teaching him the Uzumaki Family's true Sealing Jutsu and Ninjutsu.

"I'll have to learn them eventually anyway, sis. Besides, if I learn them now, I can master powerful techniques sooner," Yemo said, unwilling to give up.

Kushina still shook her head. "No. Why do you need that kind of power now? Don't think having too much power is necessarily a good thing. You're still too young. Even if you were given that much power, you wouldn't be able to control it, and you'd very likely cause trouble."

Knowing his sister wouldn't budge, Yemo's face fell. What's this? She talks like she's an adult, but she's barely any older than me. The thought of being lectured by a kid in her early teens left him feeling helpless.

Still, Yemo didn't dare say any of that out loud. He didn't dare make his sister angry, or he might end up getting beaten again.

"All right, let's talk about something else," Kushina said, changing the subject. "I have something to do and will be out for the next two days, so I won't be home. Stay home and behave yourself while you're alone. Don't go out and cause trouble."

"Sis, you're leaving Konoha?" Yemo looked up in surprise.

Kushina had only just graduated from the Ninja Academy. Even if she had become a Genin and could take missions, Genin missions were generally inside the village.

"You can't really call it a mission," Kushina answered casually.

Yemo froze for a moment, then a suggestive smile appeared on his face. He teased, "Sis, if it's not a mission and you're leaving the village, what exactly are you going to do? Could you be going out to have fun with someone? Like that certain blond-haired someone?"

A flush flashed across Kushina's pretty face at Yemo's teasing. But who was Kushina? She was the famous Red Hot Habanero. The blush vanished in an instant, replaced by the indignation that followed her embarrassment.

Yemo was still grinning when he felt a sharp wave of killing intent rush toward him. His expression changed drastically. Seeing his sister's clenched fists and darkened face, he froze, not daring to breathe.

An astonishing aura radiated from Kushina. Her red hair whipped about without a breeze, and it was as though a blaze of scorching anger burned around her.

A devilish voice rang out. "Yemo, you've gotten bold, haven't you? You even dare to tease your own sister now?"

Gulp...

The quiet sound of swallowing seemed exceptionally loud at that moment. Yemo shrank back slightly, and anyone could see how frightened he was. He wanted to explain, but didn't know how to begin.

Yemo was already full of regret. Why had he teased his sister when he had nothing better to do? Now he had made her angry. He was done for.

"Um, sis, I'm finished eating. Uh, Shikaku came looking for me earlier, so I'll be going now." Of the thirty-six stratagems, fleeing was best. He had to get away before his sister completely exploded.

Before Kushina could speak, Yemo hurriedly put down his chopsticks and raced for the door, moving even faster than if he had used the Body Flicker Technique.

But it was already too late to run. Before Yemo could make it out the front door, darkness closed in from behind him, followed by a scream that shook heaven and earth and made ghosts and gods weep.

"Ah! Sis, spare me! Spare me!"

"Trying to run? If I don't teach you a proper lesson today, you won't respect your big sister anymore. You even dare to tease me!"

"Sis, I was wrong! Spare me! Sis, spare me!"