Cold Minato

Kushina's Sealing Space.

Anju had ignored Minato for three or four days now.

Though Minato felt that he should not have attacked Anju, he was also deeply opposed to Anju having the Uchiha start a war.

So he had no intention of reconciling with Anju.

The entire Small Wooden House was filled with an awkward atmosphere.

Minato would not speak first, and Anju would not take the initiative to communicate with him either. Most of the time, Anju simply returned to the Yin Nine-Tails Chakra to rest. Even when he wanted to move around, he went over to Kurama rather than wandering around Minato.

They were like two children sulking at each other, neither willing to speak.

Over these past few days, the little trust they had once shared had grown even more indistinct.

In truth, Minato himself had not realized how dependent he was on Anju.

Anju maintained his Chakra body. Attacking Anju would cause that body to gradually dissipate. Even if he was sealed away by Kushina, it would not replenish his Chakra. Once all of his Chakra was exhausted, he would disappear.

But Anju was different. Even if Minato sealed Anju again in the Sealing Space, once his Chakra body could no longer be maintained, the seal would gradually fade away as well, unless Minato could receive another supply of Chakra.

But how many people in the Ninja World could transfer Chakra to another ninja now?

Nagato Uzumaki?

The Sage of Six Paths?

Well, it was nearly impossible for anyone to transfer Chakra to Minato. Not to mention that Minato was merely a Chakra body now. If he absorbed someone else's Chakra and it caused the Chakra within him to become unstable, he would be the first one finished!

Only the Nine-Tails' attributeless Chakra could preserve Minato's life.

Minato was already dead. His Chakra body would not realize that its existence depended on Anju. Only after Anju vanished did he vaguely sense it.

After the Minato Chakra body, which lacked any survival instinct, noticed this, Minato merely felt some regret and unwillingness at losing Anju's support.

He regretted being unable to watch Naruto grow up, and was unwilling to miss seeing Konoha prosper.

Anju had also realized the subtle nature of Minato's current state. He was an inhuman existence, merely a dead man maintained by Anju's Chakra.

His emotions would not change with the passage of time, and his view of Anju was only that Anju was a Nine-Tails consciousness distinct from the real Nine-Tails.

In other words, Minato was now a thoroughly rational robot. He would make judgments and reactions according to his factory settings, but all his decisions followed Minato's original thoughts. He would not develop any new emotional changes.

It was like Minato's feelings for Kushina. Minato Namikaze in the Sealing Space would not see his feelings for Kushina change; they would neither increase nor diminish.

His feelings for Naruto would not increase or decrease either.

That was why, after Naruto was kidnapped, Minato would not place Naruto above the village and force Sarutobi Hiruzen to act.

Thus, Anju no longer wished to communicate much with Minato. At times, speaking directly with Kushina was more efficient than speaking with Minato.

Even making Minato become the Masked Man would not have happened if Kushina had not spoken up.

From beginning to end, the Minato Chakra body had made very few decisions on its own: helping Kushina complete her mission for the sake of the village, asking the Third Hokage to find Naruto out of paternal responsibility, and sealing Anju to prevent war from breaking out in the village.

See? None of those were his own decisions. They were all emotions that had already been decided before Minato was sealed away.

At that moment, in an ordinary town within the Land of the Moon.

A group of burly men chased after two women and a pet pig.

The leading woman wore green, with a large gambling character on her back. Her two golden ponytails swayed behind her.

The younger woman wore black, had short black hair, and held a pink pet pig in her arms.

They were clearly Tsunade and Shizune, planning to skip town after owing a large sum to a casino.

"Lady Tsunade, where are we going?"

As she ran, Shizune continued asking Tsunade about the next step of their plan.

"Of course, we're going to find some big sucker to settle all our debts."

Before long, Tsunade spotted Formidable Man at the other end of the street, his height clearly exceeding that of ordinary passersby.

Formidable Man had already noticed the commotion on this side.

With a Body Flicker, he appeared directly in front of Tsunade and Shizune, blocking their path.

"Ha ha! Good! Brother, stop those two women! We'll reward you handsomely!"

The exhausted casino thugs chasing behind them saw hope at once. They immediately picked up their pace, intending to surround Tsunade.

At that moment, several Kumogakure Ninja appeared on the street with Body Flickers, and the entire street fell silent.

"K-Kumogakure?" The lead casino thug saw the Kumogakure Ninja's attire and decisively dropped to his knees.

He had no choice but to kneel. Chasing Tsunade and the others had already exhausted them like dogs. They had finally seen hope when Tsunade and Shizune were stopped, then sped up again. Now, even turning around to run was difficult. If the Kumogakure Ninja made a move... he did not dare imagine it.

The appearance of a group of Kumogakure Ninja also made the ordinary civilians of the Land of the Moon worry about getting dragged into trouble, so no one spoke.

"Are you Konoha's Tsunade-hime?"

"Are you Raikage A?"

"Treat my younger brother."

"Fine!"

Tsunade's straightforward answer made Raikage A, who had been planning to threaten her, momentarily short-circuit.

Shizune softly said to Tsunade, "Lady Tsunade, they're from Kumogakure Village."

Raikage A added, "You'd better not deceive me, or all of you will—"

Before Raikage A could finish, Tsunade spread her hands. "You saw it yourself. I owe a small debt over there. If I save your man, you'll pay it off for me."

Raikage A listened, then waved his large hand before his female secretary, who was about to remind him of something, could speak. "No problem. Come with me."

After they had walked some distance, Raikage A's secretary quietly whispered into his ear exactly what sort of "small" debt Tsunade owed.

Raikage A's expression shifted repeatedly. It was obvious that he felt the pain of it.

At the opposite corner of the street, a white-haired ninja with the character for oil on his forehead watched Raikage A's group take Tsunade away. There was truly nothing he could do.

The money Tsunade owed was somewhat—no, slightly—no, severely beyond his budget.

He could not pay it off, but Raikage A's group should have no problem. Once they were done saving their man, he could find a chance to rescue Tsunade. In that case...

Would Tsunade, after being saved by such a heroic man as me, offer herself to me?

Jiraiya's lecherous grin grew increasingly bizarre.

Hehe.

After bringing Tsunade to the inn where they were staying, Tsunade finally saw Killer B, who was on the verge of death.

Killer B had no visible external injuries, but the Chakra within his body was in chaos. Tsunade did not hesitate and immediately began treatment.

With the Eight-Tails Gyūki's cooperation and Tsunade's medical skills, Killer B's recovery began to accelerate.

Tsunade skillfully forced out the green Chakra that had invaded Killer B's body. As the green Chakra grew scarcer, Gyūki's Chakra also began accelerating the expulsion.

"Done. He's basically healed. At most, he'll need three months of rest before making a full recovery."

"What? Three more months?"

Raikage A somewhat suspected that Tsunade had not treated him with all her strength.

"He can move around now, but he suffered such serious injuries. A large number of cells inside his body died. If you don't wait for them to grow back, there may be lasting complications."

"Hmph. Having you treat him was really expensive."

After saying that, Raikage A led the Kumogakure Ninja away, supporting Killer B between them.

Shizune asked softly, "What do we do now, Lady Tsunade?"

"Go ask the owner how many more days this room is booked for. We're sleeping here tonight."

Shizune: (●-●)