Love's Thread Begins to Weave

The setting sun dipped low, and the twilight gradually settled, pressing down upon the border of the Land of Fire like a heavy stone statue.

Kushina, usually as fiery and passionate as a flame, had been stripped of her former vitality by the rough hemp ropes binding her and the relentless dragging of the Cloud Village ninjas.

The footsteps of the three Cloud Village ninjas seemed to land directly upon Kushina's heart; with every step they took, she felt her despair deepen by another fraction.

She could not help but recall the days before she left the Land of Whirlpools, when her countrymen suffered heavy casualties under a four-pronged siege, and the older brothers and sisters who had protected her vanished one by one behind her.

Even after crying until her eyes were swollen shut and she drifted into unconsciousness, whenever she opened her eyes, she was still met with a landscape of devastation.

Initially, Kushina had felt that coming to Konoha would allow her to begin a new life.

Yet, things often went against her wishes; the verbal exclusion from her classmates and the judgmental glares of the adults made her feel as if she had fallen into a deep, dark abyss.

There were times when Kushina had simply planned to die and be done with it.

She had never wanted to be a jinchuriki, nor did she want to be a princess of a fallen nation.

Every time the thought of suicide welled up from the bottom of her heart, that head of dazzling yellow hair would appear before her eyes.

Although she claimed to be annoyed to death by that little yellow-haired boy, in her heart, a sliver of attachment toward him had long since taken root.

She still remembered when the troublemakers in class mocked her red hair, that little yellow-haired boy would always stand out to block them, declaring as if it were a confession how beautiful her red hair was.

How Kushina longed for that little yellow-haired boy to appear before her once more; even if it were just for one last look, she wouldn't care what happened to her afterward!

She quietly pulled out a strand of her red hair and looped it around a passing shrub; even if no one could discover it, she could at least feel that she had left a part of herself on this land.

Just as the desire for death surged in Kushina's heart, several consecutive sounds of wind being torn apart appeared by her ears.

In the next second, that dazzling yellow hair, bright as the sun on the horizon, appeared before her eyes once again.

Looking at the familiar back blocking her path, Kushina could no longer control her tears, which gushed out like a bursting dam!

The speed of the little yellow-haired Namikaze Minato was indeed fast enough; in this short span of time, over a dozen agility-related entries had already exploded before Touma's eyes.

Among them, the most eye-catching was undoubtedly [Super Reflex (Red)]. To be crowned with the word "Super" by the system, it was clearly something that could not be achieved through acquired training; only innate talent could be evaluated by the system as red!

Facing the three Cloud Village ninjas, Minato showed not a hint of fear; instead, he held his kunai forward toward the enemies, faintly displaying a posture of striking first.

Of course, his Minato was not yet the Fourth Hokage of the future, who would develop A-rank ninjutsu and be revered by the ninja world as the "Yellow Flash."

His strength was not much different from Touma's before he had awakened his golden finger; after all, they were both civilian ninjas, and no matter how much of a genius one was, there were never enough learning resources.

However, seeing Minato's movements, Touma's eyes lit up.

This third-year little genius had actually taught himself to weave hand seals with one hand; he had already completed his preparations for the Substitution Technique.

Unable to endure the standoff any longer, the three Cloud Village ninjas drew their ninja swords one after another and slashed toward Minato.

The blade light of the Cloud Style Swordsmanship was like flowing clouds and moving water, leaving no trace. Although Minato was able to barely parry them by relying on his superior neural reflex speed, he still exposed a major opening due to his lack of practical combat experience.

"Cloud Style: Reverse Slash!"

The black-skinned Cloud Village ninja closest to Minato suddenly changed his blade style, turning the edge inward and spinning around to stab at Minato's neck.

This strike came with such ferocity that even Touma, who had passively developed Yang-attribute chakra, would not dare to take it head-on.

Minato, of course, could not take this move directly either; the long-prepared Substitution Technique was suddenly activated, and a puff of white smoke rose on the spot.

In Touma's eyes, Minato had long since used the cover of the white smoke to carry Kushina away.

The Cloud Village ninja, sensing that the feel of his blade was wrong, let out a secret cry of alarm. After dispersing the white smoke, he discovered that there was an explosive tag on the substitution log.

And most terrifying of all, this explosive tag had clearly burned down to its final moment.

In the next second, a "boom" of an explosion rang out in the forest, directly startling the birds and beasts roosting in the canopy.

The black-skinned Cloud Village ninja closest to the blast was caught in the majority of the explosion, suffering severe burns and lying there on the verge of death.

His two companions did not continue to fret; seeing that their teammate was beyond saving, they abandoned him and chased in the direction Minato had fled.

The strength of these two Cloud Village ninjas was not bad.

In Touma's estimation, they were at least at the level of a Special Jonin, simply because both of them knew how to use lightning-attribute chakra to stimulate the acupoints in their legs, allowing them to burst forth with speeds far exceeding ordinary Body Flicker techniques.

Touma's Kestrel state speed was not weak, but it was still a far cry from the Cloud Village ninjas.

It was only in the Kestrel state that he subconsciously used wind-attribute chakra to control the airflow and wind resistance, allowing him to catch up at the critical moment.

It was only a few minutes late, but Minato and Kushina were already covered in wounds.

Seeing Minato's pale lips, Touma realized that the chakra within his body was about to bottom out.

With the reinforcements from the village delayed, Touma dared not wait any longer. He dove down from above the four of them, dispelled his transformation technique in mid-air, and landed on the ground.

He had originally not wanted to interfere with the plot; after all, this segment of the story had a great deal to do with the protagonist of the subsequent plot.

If he truly messed up the plot and lost the advantage of foresight, wouldn't that be a case of the loss outweighing the gain?

However, things often changed faster than plans.

Touma could not, for the sake of the plot's continuation, just stand by and watch the little yellow-haired boy and the little red-hot chili pepper get finished off.

"Ah! You... you are Senior Touma from Team Ise!"

Seeing the short, deep blue hair fluttering in the wind, Minato called out directly.

Hearing this, not only was Touma stunned, but even Kushina looked toward Minato with a puzzled expression and asked.

"Little Sun, do you know this big brother?"

"Yeah! This is Senior Touma from Team Ise in the fifth grade; he's an expert who scored full marks in both Politics and History for three consecutive years during his first, second, and third years!"

"He has a great relationship with Senior Aburame and Senior Haruno!"

Listening to Namikaze Minato's praise, Touma could only nod awkwardly, acknowledging the greeting.

The "expert" Minato spoke of was indeed him, or rather, his predecessor.

Perhaps influenced by the books left behind by his late father, the child had read a vast amount of content related to the history of the ninja world and the Will of Fire.

As for the exams during the first, second, and third years, the current Touma had not yet transmigrated over, and his predecessor had not known how to hide his light, resulting in those three consecutive years of perfect scores in History and Politics.

It was just that Touma hadn't expected such obscure information to be known by Minato; clearly, his nickname "Little Sun" was not without merit, as he could warm others with his personality anytime and anywhere!