Skipping School in Progress

It took Toneri a long while to react.

When Kushina and Minato had first met, they hadn't been particularly close.

At the moment, Minato might have been the only one with feelings for Kushina. Kushina, meanwhile, thought Minato was pretty good-looking, but didn't seem all that reliable.

It wasn't until Kumo Ninja infiltrated Konoha, realized Kushina's chakra was unusual, and took the opportunity to kidnap her.

By then, they had nearly reached the border of the Land of Fire. No one could find Kushina after she disappeared. In the end, Minato had to play the hero and rescue the beauty before he could win her heart.

So, Kushina and Minato weren't especially close yet.

But Toneri had no intention of separating them.

Never mind whether Konoha's leadership would allow two Jinchūriki to get together.

Thinking about his own future, if Naruto wasn't around and his strength wasn't up to par, who would deal with the Otsutsuki?

Was he supposed to rely on the Harem Technique?

In fact, not only would Toneri avoid driving them apart, he might even help them get together, so they'd think more highly of him.

And honestly, Minato's girlfriend being Kushina probably had something to do with how he eventually defeated all the other big names and became the Fourth Hokage.

It was a bit like the partnership between A and B in Kumogakure.

Toneri did his best to approach Kushina naturally. He wasn't just trying to help the two of them; he had his own reasons, too.

I'm not trying to break them up. I'm trying to join them!

Ahem...

Everyone knew the Uzumaki Clan of Uzushio Village had both an exceptionally strong constitution and powerful Sealing Jutsu renowned throughout the Shinobi World.

"Ahem. Minato said your hair was beautiful. I didn't believe him at first, but now that I've seen it, I have to agree." Toneri casually paid her a compliment, doing his best to salvage the situation for Minato.

When Kushina had first arrived in Konoha, she'd been placed in Minato's class.

Having witnessed the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan, she'd been terrified. And after arriving in Konoha, she had no one to rely on.

Not wanting the others in class to look down on her, she'd introduced herself by declaring that she wanted to become a female Hokage.

But that only made her a target for ridicule. On top of that, because of her unusual red hair, they gave her the nickname "Tomato."

Kushina wasn't someone who could be pushed around, though. She beat up everyone who mocked her.

After that, her nickname became "Red-Hot-Blooded Habanero."

That was one of the main reasons she hated her red hair.

Kushina looked at Toneri. She had so much she wanted to say, so many questions she wanted to ask, but for some reason, she couldn't get the words out.

That sense of shared pain had her filling in all the answers herself before she even asked a question.

"By the way, are classes at the Ninja Academy always this boring?" Seeing Kushina looking so conflicted, Toneri could only start a conversation himself.

"Hm?"

Kushina didn't understand what Toneri meant.

Classes were pretty boring, sure, but the Ninja Academy was the only place where she didn't feel quite so lonely.

With her strength, she could have graduated early a long time ago. The only reason she hadn't was that the Third Hokage, that creepy old geezer, kept refusing to approve it.

Over time, Kushina had come to understand that Konoha wanted a stable Jinchūriki and a stable Nine-Tails. They didn't really need her to contribute anything else.

"Come with me!"

With that, Toneri jumped out of the nearby window.

Kushina didn't know what Toneri was planning, but it was break time anyway, so she didn't hesitate to jump out after him.

The two of them ran at full speed out of the school and quickly entered a sparsely populated forest.

"Toneri, where are you taking me? Class is going to start again soon."

At that, Toneri stopped and shrugged at Kushina. He knew that if he didn't explain himself, she might start thinking he was some kind of criminal.

He pressed his index and middle fingers together and crossed his hands in front of his chest. After a long pause, he finally managed to say:

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Two identical Toneris appeared in front of Kushina.

The Shadow Clone Technique still didn't come easily to him, but he was doing much better than the first time.

Then one of the "Toneris" formed another hand seal...

"Transformation Technique!"

He transformed into Kushina.

Now there were two Toneris and two Kushinas.

"That should do it. With your strength, Kushina, you don't need to pay attention to what they're teaching in class anyway, right?

"So... I'll leave it to you two."

"Toneri" and "Kushina" nodded and headed back toward the Ninja Academy.

Watching Toneri's slick little maneuver, how could Kushina not understand what he was up to? He was teaching her how to skip class in broad daylight.

Ever since she started at the Ninja Academy, Kushina had learned quickly and grown strong. But even though she wanted to become Hokage, she'd never skipped class before.

For some reason, a thrilling sense of novelty rose in her heart.

The two of them raced through the woods.

But after running for half an hour, Kushina realized something was wrong.

"Hey, Toneri, haven't we been here before? Where are you taking me?" Kushina couldn't help asking.

Toneri kept moving as he spoke. "How could we have been here before? We definitely haven't.

"I'm taking you to my training ground. There's no point learning things at the Ninja Academy unless you put them into practice and turn them into strength. And an old friend of mine is waiting for you at my training ground."

"An old friend?"

At the mention of an old friend, Kushina stopped worrying about whether Toneri was leading her in circles and started wondering who it could be.

But... after an hour, Kushina couldn't take it anymore.

They'd gone back and forth through the same place more than a dozen times. At this rate, she'd rather go back to class.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Toneri, that's enough. Just tell me roughly what the place you're trying to get to looks like. We might get there faster that way. We've already been around here dozens of times!"

The Anbu Ninja watching from the shadows really wanted to rush out, grab Kushina's hand, and say, "You're our savior! Please, take this kid off our hands. He makes us run around in circles every day!"

Since the Anbu Ninja took turns monitoring Toneri, in just over two weeks, an unwritten rule had sprung up in the Anbu: anyone who failed a mission had to monitor Toneri the next day, no exceptions.

Honestly, the success rate of Anbu missions had gone way up lately. Believe it or not!

"What's wrong? Kushina, are you doubting my sense of direction?! I'm telling you, my memory's famous throughout the entire Shinobi World. I clearly remember it's supposed to be around here..." Toneri's eyes widened as he looked at Kushina, as if she had no faith in him.

Kushina: "..."

But to be fair, Konoha really was huge. It took several hours just to run from the Nara Clan's compound to the training ground.

What Toneri didn't know was that the Anbu Ninja secretly watching him had already started drawing their own "Map of Konoha" by hand, trying to accurately mark every part of Konoha, especially its landmarks.

They planned to... secretly hand it over to Toneri.

They just couldn't take it anymore. Running back and forth without end, always seeing the same scenery, was worse than being sent on a particularly difficult assassination mission.

The difficulty didn't matter. They just didn't want to get lost.