At Tsunade's greeting, Sarutobi Hiruzen finally smiled and said, "Tsunade, why didn't you let your old teacher know you were coming back?"
Tsunade laughed at that and brushed him off. "Haha, I've been gone for so long, and the old family home needed a thorough cleaning. You're my teacher, but you never even sent a few Anbu to clean it for me once in a while."
"Cough, cough!" Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was smoking his pipe, choked on Tsunade's words. He scolded her, "Don't be ridiculous! Every Anbu has plenty of work to do each day. When would they have time to clean your family home?"
Tsunade clicked her tongue in displeasure. "Tch. All they do is go around spying on this person and watching that person. What's so busy about that?"
"You!" Sarutobi Hiruzen was so furious that his beard bristled. He pointed at Tsunade and kept sputtering, unable to get anything else out.
Seeing Sarutobi Hiruzen looking ready to keel over at any moment, Tokiju was practically bursting with delight.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had finally managed to train three students, and every one of them was a model of respect for their teacher.
One loved gambling. Whenever he saw her, she was saddled with debts of tens of millions, and she loved going out to have fun whenever she could—sometimes disappearing for years at a time.
One loved conducting experiments. Whenever he saw him, he reeked of disinfectant. He shut himself in his lab every day and never came out unless he had to.
One loved peeping on women in the bathhouse. Whenever he saw him, he was loitering near the women's baths. And after being brainwashed by a Toad, he was always going out in search of some so-called Child of Destiny.
And Sarutobi Hiruzen's ultimate fate was to sacrifice his life to seal both hands of one of his students. It was ridiculous.
Seeing how things were going, Namikaze Minato, seated at the head of the table, hurried to smooth things over. "Now, now, Lord Third, Lady Tsunade. Let's all calm down first."
As he spoke, Minato looked toward the people behind Tsunade. His eyes immediately settled on Uzumaki Miku.
It wasn't love at first sight. Rather, her red hair was almost exactly like his wife Kushina Uzumaki's, which made him very curious.
He looked at Tsunade, then gestured toward the group and asked gently, "Lady Tsunade, won't you introduce them?"
At Minato's question, Tsunade stopped trading barbs with Sarutobi Hiruzen.
She first pointed at Tokiju. "Old man, you've probably met him before. Guess who he is."
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Tokiju and found him somewhat familiar.
After thinking for a moment, he suddenly had a flash of insight. The figure before him began to merge with one from his memories. He pointed at Tokiju and asked urgently, "Y-you're little Tokiju!?"
Seeing that Hiruzen had recognized him, Tokiju stepped forward and said respectfully, "That's right, Lord Third. I am Tokiju."
Although Tokiju considered the Konoha F4 represented by Sarutobi Hiruzen his hypothetical enemies, he still had to keep up appearances.
Hearing Tokiju's words, Minato turned his gaze toward him as well.
He knew about Tsunade's younger brother, too.
He'd heard that something had gone wrong while Tokiju was practicing the Summoning Technique and that he'd been reverse-summoned to who knew where. After that, he'd remained missing.
And if Minato remembered correctly, Tsunade's younger brother was supposed to be a few years older than him. So why did he still look like this?
Seeing Namikaze Minato looking at him in confusion, Tokiju immediately began explaining how he had been reverse-summoned to a Sealing Space, how strange that space was, and how he had met Uchiha Hikari.
Of course, Tokiju only mentioned what he could safely talk about. He didn't even say outright that Uchiha Hikari belonged to the Uchiha Clan.
He had placed a chakra-sealing mark on her, so keeping it from Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn't be difficult.
Keeping it from Namikaze Minato would be harder, though. After all, Minato was also an expert in the Uzumaki Sealing Technique. That was what happened when you married a good wife.
Still, if Namikaze Minato asked him directly, he would tell him. After all, the ones Tokiju was mainly on guard against were the two old schemers, Danzo and Hiruzen.
After listening carefully to Tokiju's explanation, Namikaze Minato frowned. "A sealing jutsu that can stop time from flowing inside a Sealing Space? That's certainly worth noting."
Minato murmured to himself. Then, as if he'd suddenly thought of something, he hurriedly asked, "Tokiju, that chakra fluctuation at the Land of Fire's border a month ago—was that caused by you breaking the seal?"
Tokiju froze for a moment at the question, then slapped his forehead and said awkwardly, "If it was somewhere not far from the Land of Grass, then that was probably me and Hikari breaking the seal."
Minato smiled helplessly. They'd spent a whole month investigating without finding the cause, and it turned out to be something like this.
After hearing Minato explain what had happened, Tokiju awkwardly rubbed his cheek and hurried to apologize. "Sorry for the trouble we caused everyone."
He lowered his head quietly. Uchiha Hikari stepped forward and bowed alongside him in apology.
Seeing this, Namikaze Minato immediately waved a hand. "All right, it wasn't your fault. At least now we know what caused it, don't we?"
Then Minato looked at Uzumaki Miku and asked, "And who is this?"
At that, Uzumaki Miku stepped forward and bowed very respectfully. In a nervous, faltering voice, she said, "Um, Lord Hokage, h-hello. I... I..."
Seeing her stumble over her words, Tsunade rubbed her forehead helplessly and stepped forward. "I'll introduce her. Her name is Uzumaki Miku, an orphan of the Uzumaki Clan who was left behind."
"Since she and I both have Uzumaki blood, and Konoha and the Land of Whirlpools have been friendly for generations, I brought her back with me."
As she spoke, Tsunade put extra emphasis on the words "friendly for generations."
Hearing this, Namikaze Minato glanced at Sarutobi Hiruzen.
After seeing him give a slight nod, Minato immediately said, "So she really is from the Uzumaki Clan. Kushina will be delighted when she finds out."
"How about this? Why don't we all get together at my house tonight? I'm sure Kushina would be very happy to welcome you."
Tsunade had no objections. After chatting a little longer, she led everyone away.
After Tsunade left, Namikaze Minato turned to Sarutobi Hiruzen and asked, "Lord Third, what do you think of this?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe and waved a hand. "Minato, you're the Hokage now. Handle this however you see fit!"
With that, Sarutobi Hiruzen rose and left the Hokage Office.
After he'd walked some distance from the office, he gave an order to a patch of shadow. "Send someone to keep an eye on Tsunade and the others, especially Tokiju and the one named Hikari."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's words received no response. Only the leaves rustled softly in the breeze.
He took another puff of his pipe and looked up at the distant Kage Rock, his gaze profound.
"Alas, I really am getting old. The younger generation doesn't want to speak honestly with me anymore."
After a sigh, Sarutobi Hiruzen began walking slowly toward the Root Base.
Before you continue