Taking His Place (Please Subscribe)

Night gradually fell over Konoha.

When Kushina got home, she saw Naruto sitting obediently on the living room sofa, wearing an expression that practically begged her to praise him. She couldn't help laughing. "Naruto, what are you doing?"

"Mom!"

Naruto's eyes lit up. He proudly folded his arms across his chest and crossed his legs with a self-satisfied air, pointing his toe at the letter on the coffee table. Just as he was about to speak, Kushina swiftly stepped forward and whacked him hard on the forehead.

"Naruto, how many times have I told you not to sit like that?!" Kushina scolded him.

"Mom..." Naruto looked up at her with teary eyes. His legs reluctantly and shakily uncrossed, while his folded arms instinctively came to rest on his knees.

Kushina nodded in satisfaction, plopped down across from Naruto, folded her arms naturally, and crossed her legs.

"Mom, that's so unfair!" Naruto jumped to his feet and pointed at Kushina, furious and utterly aggrieved.

Why could Mom sit like that, but he couldn't?

"Enough of that. You..."

The corner of Kushina's eye caught the letter on the coffee table, and her expression changed. She quickly reached for it and, after a brief inspection, spotted the Sealing Technique on the envelope.

She turned to Naruto, her expression grave. "Where did this letter come from?"

Naruto pouted. He wanted to vent his frustration, but remembering how badly things had gone last time, he immediately lost his nerve.

"That guy Sasuke brought it over," Naruto said with a huff, turning his head away.

Half a moment passed, but no reply came from the other side of the sofa. Naruto turned around in confusion, only to find that Kushina had already disappeared.

After Yamano Ichiro got home with the live fish, he hurried to