Sphincter Destroyer, Little Flying Rods, Here They Come~

Yamanaka Kei strolled back to the gates of the clan compound.

He looked at the wisps of smoke rising from the direction of his home, then at the few clan elders grinning at him teasingly.

He could guess with his toes that Kushina was definitely inside his house right now.

He recalled what Namikaze Minato had told him when he left Konoha—what he had witnessed at the temporary Jonin Waiting Station.

Yamanaka Kei's scalp tingled a little.

Given Kushina's habit of running to the Jonin Waiting Station whenever she had nothing better to do...

There was no way those rumors hadn't reached her ears.

A loan had become engagement money, a bankbook had become ironclad proof of their relationship, and staying over for one night had become conclusive evidence that they were living together...

"Santian, come here."

Yamanaka Kei beckoned to Yamanaka Santian, who had just returned from outside carrying a basket of vegetables.

"Clan Uncle, what is it?"

Having just become a sixth-year student at the Ninja Academy this year, Yamanaka Santian still had the clear-eyed foolishness of youth in his gaze.

When he saw his clan uncle calling him, he eagerly ran over.

"While I was gone, did the heads of our Ino-Shika-Cho clans get beaten up?"

"Huh? Who would dare hit our clan heads?"

"...Do you know where the temporary Jonin Waiting Station is after the Jonin Waiting Station was destroyed?"

"I-I do."

"Was it torn down?"

"Huh? N-no."

"Please keep those clear eyes of yours. Go home early and have dinner."

Without the slightest stinginess, Yamanaka Kei pulled several two-hundred-ryo notes from his pocket and stuffed them into Yamanaka Santian's hand.

"Hehe~ Thanks, Clan Uncle!"

Yamanaka Santian flashed a toothy grin as he pocketed the money, then skipped happily toward home.

Just answering a few little questions had earned him so much spending money. Clan Uncle truly was the most generous man in the clan!

Yamanaka Kei had gotten the answer he wanted through a bit of indirect probing.

At once, his heart stopped racing, his face stopped flushing, his breath came easy, and even his stride gained a spring!

If Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, Akimichi Choza, and the other people who started the gossip hadn't been beaten up, it could only mean that Kushina hadn't vented her anger on them.

And if the temporary Jonin Waiting Station hadn't been torn down, it could only mean that Kushina had learned of those rumors beforehand.

Or rather, those rumors had only begun spreading with her approval.

He had no idea how Nara Shikaku and the others had communicated with Kushina.

But if Kushina had agreed to something like this, that meant she had come clean and stopped pretending!

She wanted to be with him!

Otherwise, what girl could possibly accept rumors like that?

Hehehe~ (ﾉ´▽｀)ﾉ♪

Should he be a little more proactive from now on?

She had already gone this far. As the man, he had to show enough sincerity and commitment.

After all, feelings went both ways.

He couldn't possibly let the girl beat him to confessing, could he?

With both hands in his pockets, Yamanaka Kei hummed a cheerful tune from his previous life and swaggered toward home with a completely unrestrained gait.

The few elders sitting at the entrance to the clan compound looked at one another.

"What's gotten into him?"

"No idea, but I saw him give that kid Santian some money. He probably got his answers."

"Has Lady Tsunade become that unthreatening?"

"I thought he'd bolt the moment he heard Lady Tsunade's name. Last time Lord Jiraiya offended Lady Tsunade, and that punch of hers..."

"My mom... cough, my wife just called me to eat. I'm heading back first."

"Same, same. It's already noon. Time for lunch."

"Right, right, right!"

The clan members gathered at the compound gates scattered like birds and beasts.

Before Yamanaka Kei even reached his doorstep,

More than a dozen sensory Ninjutsu with different Chakra signatures steadily fixed their detection ranges on the entrance to his home.

"???"

Yamanaka Kei frowned.

Seriously, were these Old Men missing arms or legs so bored they had nothing better to do?

Someone was just dating, and they had to gossip about it.

If the Sensory Barrier around his house hadn't been activated, would they have sensed straight into the house?

And those sensory Ninjutsu they thought were so well hidden.

One or two would have been fine.

Normally, not many people in Konoha could detect them.

But damn it, with eight of them mixed together, anyone would notice the feeling of being watched!

He raised a middle finger high toward the sky.

Yamanaka Kei made up his mind that he had to open the breakfast shop he had planned as soon as possible.

Weren't these Old Men bored out of their minds?

Grinding soybeans, making soy milk, steaming Buns, wrapping wontons, frying Fried dough sticks, cooking pancakes, pan-frying shrimp dumplings...

No rush. There was plenty of work waiting for them!

But for now, he still needed to make them settle down first.

"Demonic Illusion: Little Flying Rods, Here They Come~!"

Keeping his middle finger pointed skyward, Yamanaka Kei forcibly stuffed the Genjutsu-generated mental shock into those dozen-plus sensory Ninjutsu.

"Ow~ You little bastard! You hit us with a cheap shot!"

"Aah! My hemorrhoids!"

"Pah! You little bastard! Your old auntie was just looking at you, and you used such a vicious technique!"

"Honey! Come help me take a look~"

"You're not even fifty yet! You shit your pants? You, you, you..."

"Honey, listen to me..."

The previously quiet Yamanaka Clan compound instantly erupted with endless clamor.

Especially at the home of the clan uncle whose sphincter had gone out of control after being hit by Demonic Illusion: Little Flying Rods, Here They Come!

For quite a while, it was utter chaos.

Once Yamanaka Kei sensed that every last sensory Ninjutsu had disappeared, he nodded in satisfaction.

Standing before his front door, he took several deep breaths.

Only after composing himself did he turn the handle and push open the door.

"I'm back."

Yamanaka Kei's voice carried a gentleness it usually lacked.

But when he saw the blonde woman sitting boldly in the living room beyond the entryway, holding a bottle of sake with a drunken look on her face,

His smile froze instantly.

Fuck!

His toes had guessed wrong!

"Hm? You little bastard! I've been waiting a long time!"

Tsunade's hand holding the sake bottle paused slightly.

Her red lips parted, and an excited yet cruel smile spread across her pretty face. With one hand, she slapped the coffee table, then leaped from behind it like a tiger pouncing on prey.

Chakra gathered around her right fist, carrying a fierce gust of wind as it shot straight for Yamanaka Kei's face!

Damn it!

She was even using the Strength of a Hundred Healings?

Thanks to the Super-Speed Reaction ability granted by the Red Entry Zero Frame Startup, Yamanaka Kei clearly saw the dense Chakra concentrated around Tsunade's fist.

Forget taking that punch head-on—even getting grazed by it would make an ordinary jonin collapse on the spot!

She had blocked off every angle that would let him flee into the house, while the force gathered in her fist drove directly toward the front door.

Was she planning to punch him out of the house to avoid damaging it?

She had held back thirty percent of the force in her feet, keeping enough reserve strength to dodge at any moment. Was that to guard against his clan's secret techniques?

And the Mitotic Regeneration on her forehead had already changed from light blue to pitch-black, rhythmically releasing minute amounts of Chakra.

To guard against his Genjutsu?

Heh~

Girl, do you know what it means when someone changes after three days apart?

Water Release: Great Water Arm Technique!

Slap~

The muscles in Yamanaka Kei's arms bulged, and his strength surged throughout his body. Instead of retreating, he advanced, dropping into a bow stance and forcefully seizing Tsunade's wrist with his right hand.

Feeling the immense power coming from that seemingly slender arm,

He forcibly turned and used her momentum, throwing Tsunade over his back and out through his front door.