Truancy in Progress [Seeking Recommendation Tickets]

Chapter 36: Truancy in Progress [Seeking Recommendation Tickets]

After a long while, Toneri finally reacted.

When Kushina and Minato first met, their relationship hadn't really reached a good level.

Right now, it was probably just Minato having one-sided feelings for Kushina, while Kushina felt that although Minato was good-looking, he seemed a bit unreliable.

It wasn't until later, when Kumo Ninja infiltrated Konoha and discovered Kushina's special chakra, that they took the opportunity to abduct her.

At that time, they were almost at the border of the Land of Fire, yet no one could find the missing Kushina. It was only when Minato staged a heroic rescue that he successfully captured Kushina's heart.

Therefore, Kushina and Minato's relationship was currently quite ordinary.

However, Toneri had no intention of breaking them up.

Putting aside whether Konoha's higher-ups would allow two Jinchūriki to be together.

For his own future, if there was no Naruto, and his own strength wasn't up to par, who would deal with the Otsutsuki?

Would he rely on the Harem Jutsu?

In fact, Toneri not only wouldn't break them up, but might even actively help them, increasing his own favorability in their hearts.

Moreover, to be fair, Minato's eventual success in defeating the great figures and becoming the Fourth Hokage was somewhat related to his girlfriend Kushina.

It was similar to the combination of A and B from Kumogakure.

Toneri tried his best to approach Kushina naturally, not purely to help them, but also for his own purposes.

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

Cough cough...

As everyone knows, the Uzumaki Clan of Uzushio Village not only possessed strong physiques but also powerful Sealing Jutsu renowned throughout the Shinobi World.

"Cough, cough, Minato said your hair looks good. I didn't believe him at first, but seeing it now, it's true." Toneri flattered her tactfully, while doing his best to salvage the situation for Minato.

When Kushina first arrived in Konoha, she transferred into Minato's class.

Having personally witnessed the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan, her heart was filled with fear. Upon arriving in Konoha, she had no one to rely on.

To avoid being looked down upon by her classmates, she declared her goal of becoming a female Hokage during her self-introduction.

However, this led to her being ridiculed. Coupled with her unique red hair, she was nicknamed "Tomato."

But Kushina was not someone to be bullied easily; all those who mocked her were beaten up by her.

After that, her nickname changed to "Blood Red Chili Pepper."

This was one of the main reasons she disliked her red hair.

Kushina looked at Toneri, wanting to say many things and ask many questions, but for some reason, she couldn't speak them.

The feeling of shared suffering made her mentally fill in all the answers before she could even ask.

"By the way, are the classes at the Ninja Academy always this boring?" Seeing Kushina's conflicted expression, Toneri had to initiate a conversation himself.

"Huh?"

Kushina didn't understand what Toneri meant.

Although classes were indeed quite boring, it was only in the Ninja Academy that she felt less lonely.

In fact, with her strength, she could have applied for early graduation long ago, but that lecherous old geezer, the Third Hokage, never approved it.

Over time, Kushina understood that Konoha wanted the stability of the Jinchūriki, the stability of the Nine-Tails, and didn't really need her to make any other contributions.

"Follow me!"

With that, Toneri jumped directly out of the nearby window.

Kushina didn't know what Toneri was going to do, but since it was break time anyway, she didn't hesitate and jumped out the window as well.

The two of them moved at high speed, ran straight out of the school, and quickly entered a sparsely populated forest.

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

Hearing this, Toneri stopped and shrugged at Kushina, knowing that if he didn't give some explanation now, she might mistake him for a criminal.

He brought his index and middle fingers together, crossed his arms over his chest, and after a long pause, managed to blurt out.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Two identical Toneri clones appeared before Kushina.

Although the Shadow Clone Technique was still a bit clumsy to perform, it was much better than the first time.

Then, one of the "Toneri" clones made hand seals again...

"Transformation Technique!"

It transformed into Kushina's appearance.

This way, there were now two Toneri clones and two Kushinas.

"This should do. Anyway, with your current strength, Kushina, you don't need to listen to the class content, right?

So... I'll trouble you two."

"Toneri" and Kushina nodded and headed towards the Ninja Academy.

Seeing Toneri's flashy moves, Kushina knew exactly what he was planning. He was going to teach her how to skip class openly.

Ever since she started at the Ninja Academy, Kushina had been a strong learner with sufficient strength. However, with the Hokage as her goal, she had never skipped class before.

For some reason, a novel sense of excitement welled up from the bottom of her heart.

The two of them moved rapidly through the trees.

However, after half an hour of running, Kushina felt something was wrong.

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

Toneri's footsteps didn't stop as he replied, "How could that be? We definitely haven't been here before.

I'm taking you to my training grounds. What you learn at the Ninja Academy needs to be put into practice and converted into strength. Besides, an old friend is waiting for you at my training grounds."

"Old friend?"

Hearing "old friend," Kushina stopped worrying about whether Toneri was leading her in circles and instead wondered who this old friend could be.

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

They had gone back and forth through the same area at least ten times. If this continued, she felt she might as well go back to class.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Toneri, you can stop now. I think it would be faster if you just told me a general description of where we're going. We've gone over this same spot dozens of times!"

At this moment, the Anbu Ninjas lurking in the shadows really wanted to rush out and grab Kushina's hand, saying, "Savior! Please take this kid off our hands! He leads them in circles every day!"

Since the Anbu Ninjas monitored Toneri on a rotating basis, in just over two weeks, an unwritten rule had formed within the Anbu: whoever failed their mission would unconditionally monitor Toneri the next day.

To be fair, the success rate of Anbu missions had actually increased significantly during this period. Can you believe it?!

"What's wrong? Kushina, are you doubting my sense of direction?! Let me tell you, my memory is absolutely famous throughout the entire Shinobi World. I clearly remember it should be around here..." Toneri glared, looking at Kushina with an expression that seemed to ask, "You don't trust me?"

Kushina: "..."

But honestly, Konoha was quite large. It took several hours every day to get from the Nara Clan's territory to the training grounds.

What Toneri didn't know was that the Anbu Ninjas secretly monitoring him were already hand-drawing something called a "Konoha Map," striving to accurately depict the entire terrain of Konoha, especially some landmark locations.

They were preparing... to secretly give it to Toneri.

They simply couldn't stand it anymore. This endless running back and forth, especially with the same scenery repeating, was worse than executing difficult assassination missions.

Whether it was difficult or not didn't matter; the main thing was they didn't want to get lost.