Never Entrust Your Safety to Others

Did that mean the fox smell on Kushina was too strong, so her identity as a Jinchuriki had been exposed?

What smell did foxes have?

Body odor, of course!

After imagining it all to herself, the Nine-Tails exploded.

It roared madly that it would eat Chiyue.

The Nine-Tails' struggle sent waves of hot, stabbing pain through Kushina's lower abdomen, making her little face scrunch up.

"You go ahead and deal with that."

Chiyue knew the Nine-Tails was acting up, so he made it clear that he was in no rush.

"Great Fox, behave yourself!!"

Kushina was angry too.

What was all this fuss for?

"I'm going to eat that brat! He dared say I have body odor."

"..."

Are you an idiot?

Or just insane?

Inside her mindscape, Kushina's eyes widened. She found it ridiculous and utterly unbelievable.

When had Chiyue ever said the Nine-Tails had body odor?

You stinking fox, all you know is how to spout nonsense.

"Roar!!"

The continuously roaring Nine-Tails suddenly let out a howl.

With her hands on her hips, Kushina furiously controlled the Adamantine Sealing Chains and gave the Nine-Tails a whipping, using the chains as a whip.

"Stinking brat, I'm going to eat you, eat you!!"

Uzumaki Mito had never whipped it with Adamantine Sealing Chains during the decades it had been sealed.

Yet now, Kushina was whipping it?

The Nine-Tails was enraged.

"Hmph!"

Kushina did not care. With a flick of the Adamantine Sealing Chains, she tied the Nine-Tails' mouth shut.

It made the Nine-Tails look exactly like one of those captive-bred crocodiles with tape wrapped around its snout.

Its front and hind paws were bound behind its back by the Adamantine Sealing Chains as well.

Whenever the Nine-Tails moved, Kushina would pull up its tail, bringing its rear closer and closer to its own head.

Only able to make muffled whimpering noises, the Nine-Tails stared wide-eyed as its rear drew closer and closer to its head. In the end, it yielded.

If its rear ended up pressed against its head, the other tailed beasts would laugh it to death once word got out.

It had finally settled down.

Apparently, this method worked on the Nine-Tails. Kushina memorized it before leaving her mindscape in satisfaction.

"All done. Let's continue."

Kushina clapped her hands and said with a smile.

Poor Nine-Tails. Chiyue observed three seconds of silence for it in his heart, then lowered his voice.

"Kushina, ever since the war began, there have been far fewer Anbu ninja around you.

"For the next few years, don't move out of the Senju Ancestral Home lightly. Find a way to dig out a resting space beneath your room."

"Whenever you sleep from now on, leave a Shadow Clone upstairs and rest below yourself. Do you understand?"

"Huh?"

Did sleeping really require all this trouble?

Was someone trying to make a move against her?

But this was Konoha. Could something really happen in the village, even with Anbu ninja watching over her?

"Remember, never entrust your safety to someone else."

Chiyue's expression was stern.

"During wartime, quite a few Anbu ninja have gone to the front lines to gather important intelligence. There aren't many left in the village.

"If someone targets you, it will be very dangerous."

"As for the news that you're a Jinchuriki, you may be able to hide it from others, but you can't hide it from spies from the other ninja villages.

"As long as they learn you live at the Senju Residence and know you are from the Uzumaki Clan, they can be certain that you are the new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."

As long as one was not brain-dead, they could figure out Konoha's Jinchuriki identity.

The Uzumaki Clan, red hair, and an enormous amount of Chakra—confirming those three points was enough.

On top of that, Kushina had been brought back to Konoha from the Land of Eddies. There was no way to keep the news hidden.

Chiyue was certain that Kushina's information had long since been filed away in the records of the other villages.

Otherwise, how could one explain Kumogakure taking advantage of Konoha's war with Amegakure and Sunagakure to send people into Konoha and capture Kushina?

They had seized the opportunity perfectly and had even taken her all the way to the Land of Fire's border.

If Minato had not suddenly appeared, Kushina would either have become Kumogakure's captive, or Kumogakure would have extracted and transferred the Nine-Tails. In that case, she would have died early.

At critical moments, neither the Anbu nor Root could be relied on at all.

Konoha was currently fighting Amegakure, causing the village's defenses to drop by several levels.

If people from other villages secretly infiltrated, Kushina would be in danger.

She was strong?

She had plenty of Chakra?

What use would that be?

With careful planning against an unsuspecting target, there were countless ways to take her down and abduct her.

"I understand. I'll make preparations."

Kushina knew this was not something to joke about.

In Konoha, although her freedom was restricted and she could not leave the village, she could at least live in peace. No one publicized her identity as a Jinchuriki.

Nor did anyone discriminate against her. That was all thanks to Uzumaki Mito.

If she were captured and taken to another village, she would be imprisoned without question. They might want the Nine-Tails as well as Uzumaki bloodline, leaving her unable to live or die.

"I won't tell anyone about what we discussed today, not even Sister Tsunade. This is our secret!"

Before Chiyue could remind her, Kushina mischievously blinked and gave him a sweet smile.

"..."

What the hell...

Was she flirting with me?

The children in the Naruto world are frighteningly mature when it comes to relationships.

Chiyue was completely defeated.

If it had been Mikoto, he could have counterattacked directly. But the person before him was Kushina, so Chiyue could not mess around.

Otherwise, the Anbu ninja would immediately run off to report him.

"Let's go. You should head back and prepare. Make thorough preparations as soon as possible, just in case."

"Okay."

Kushina got up and obediently followed Chiyue out of the park, heading toward the Senju Clan Grounds.

Although the Senju Clan had been assimilated into the civilian population, leaving only Senju Hashirama's line, the Senju Clan Grounds were still preserved within the village.

Unfortunately, no matter how substantial the family fortune was, it could not withstand the reckless spending of the ninja world's biggest cash cow.

Within a few years, the entire Senju Clan Grounds would be reduced to only the Senju Ancestral Home. Everything else would be used to settle debts.

The Third Hokage helped repay the debts, and in the process divided up the Senju Clan Grounds and sold them off.

Kushina trusted Chiyue. She believed he would not deceive her, much less harm her, even though he knew she was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

So she obediently followed Chiyue's instructions.