Minato's Invitation

Hearing Tsunade's greeting, Sarutobi Hiruzen finally broke into a smile and said, "Tsunade, why didn't you give your teacher a heads-up when you returned?"

Tsunade laughed upon hearing this, brushing him off with, "Haha, it's been so long since I've been back, I needed to tidy up the ancestral home. You, as my teacher, never thought to send a few Anbu over to help me clean up."

"Cough, cough!" Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was puffing on his pipe, immediately choked on her words and scolded, "Nonsense! Every Anbu has plenty of work to do every day; they don't have the time to go clean your ancestral home."

Tsunade let out a dissatisfied 'tch' and grumbled, "Tch, isn't it just spending all day spying on this person or that person? What's so busy about that?"

"You!" Sarutobi Hiruzen was so infuriated that his beard bristled; he pointed a finger at Tsunade, stuttering "you" repeatedly, unable to form a coherent sentence.

Seeing Sarutobi Hiruzen looking like he might have a stroke at any moment, Tokiju felt absolutely delighted inside.

This Sarutobi Hiruzen had finally managed to train three disciples, and they were each more "respectful" to their teacher than the last.

One loved to gamble, returning every time with millions in debt, and whenever she felt like it, she would wander off for years at a time.

One loved to conduct experiments, always reeking of disinfectants, locking himself in his lab every day and never coming out unless absolutely necessary.

One loved to peep into women's bathhouses, always seen lurking near the hot springs, and having been brainwashed by a toad, he spent his days wandering around searching for some nonsense called the Child of Prophecy.

And the final outcome for this Sarutobi Hiruzen was that he actually used his own life to seal the hands of one of his own disciples—it was practically a joke.

Seeing the current situation, Namikaze Minato, who was sitting in the main seat, hurriedly tried to smooth things over: "Now, now, Third Hokage, Lady Tsunade, please, let's all calm down."

As he spoke, Minato looked at the group following behind Tsunade, his gaze immediately locking onto Uzumaki Miku.

It wasn't love at first sight, but her red hair was exactly like that of his wife, Kushina, which made him extremely curious.

He looked at Tsunade, then gestured toward the group, asking in a gentle tone, "Lady Tsunade, won't you introduce them to me?"

Hearing Minato's question, Tsunade stopped bickering with Sarutobi Hiruzen.

She first pointed to Tokiju and said, "Old man, you should have seen him before. Take a guess at who he is."

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Tokiju, and indeed, he felt a sense of familiarity.

After a moment of thought, a flash of inspiration struck him; the figure before him began to overlap with a memory, and he hurriedly pointed at Tokiju, asking, "You... are you little Tokiju!?"

Seeing that the other had recognized him, Tokiju stepped forward and said respectfully, "That is correct, Third Hokage. I am indeed Tokiju."

Although the Konoha F4 represented by Sarutobi Hiruzen were all Tokiju's hypothetical enemies, he still had to maintain appearances.

Hearing Tokiju's words, Minato also turned his gaze toward him.

He was aware of Tsunade's younger brother.

He had heard that an accident occurred while practicing the Summoning Jutsu, and after being reverse-summoned somewhere unknown, he had remained missing ever since.

Besides, if he remembered correctly, Tsunade's brother should be several years older than him, so why did he still look like this?

Seeing Namikaze Minato looking at him with a puzzled expression, Tokiju immediately began to explain how he had been reverse-summoned into a sealed space, how peculiar that space was, and how he had met Uchiha Hikari.

Of course, Tokiju only chose what he could say, not even explicitly mentioning that Uchiha Hikari was from the Uchiha Clan.

She still had the chakra seal Tokiju had placed on her, so it wouldn't be difficult to hide that from Sarutobi Hiruzen.

As for hiding it from Namikaze Minato, that would be more difficult, as he was an expert in Uzumaki sealing techniques—after all, he had married a woman who was a master of them.

However, if Namikaze Minato asked him directly, he would tell him; after all, his primary precautions were against the old schemers, Danzo and Hiruzen.

After listening carefully to Tokiju's story, Namikaze Minato frowned and said, "A sealing technique capable of stopping the flow of time within a sealed space? That is certainly worth noting."

Namikaze Minato muttered to himself, then suddenly, as if thinking of something, he hurriedly asked, "Tokiju, regarding the chakra fluctuations on the border of the Land of Fire a month ago—was that caused by you two breaking the seal?"

Hearing this, Tokiju was stunned for a moment, then slapped his forehead and said somewhat awkwardly, "If that place isn't far from the Land of Grass, then yes, that was likely caused by Hikari and me breaking the seal."

Minato smiled helplessly; they had spent a month investigating without finding the specific cause, never expecting it to be something like this.

After hearing the full story from Minato, Tokiju scratched his cheek in embarrassment and quickly apologized, "Sorry for causing everyone trouble."

With that, Tokiju bowed his head silently, and Uchiha Hikari, seeing this, stepped forward and followed suit, bowing her head in apology as well.

Seeing this scene, Namikaze Minato immediately waved his hand and said, "Alright, this isn't your fault. At least we know the specific cause now, don't we?"

Having said that, Minato looked at Uzumaki Miku and asked, "And who is this?"

At these words, Uzumaki Miku stepped forward, bowed respectfully, and said in a timid voice, "Um, Lord Hokage... hello. I... I am..."

Seeing her stuttering, Tsunade sighed and rubbed her forehead, stepping forward to say, "I'll introduce her. Her name is Uzumaki Miku, a survivor of the Uzumaki Clan who was living abroad."

"Thinking that both she and I share the Uzumaki bloodline, and that Konoha and the Land of Whirlpools have been allies for generations, I decided to bring her back."

As she spoke, Tsunade placed heavy emphasis on the words "allies for generations."

Hearing this, Namikaze Minato glanced at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Seeing the old man nod slightly, he immediately said, "As expected of the Uzumaki Clan. Kushina will be very happy when she hears about this."

"How about this? Why don't you all join us for a gathering at my place tonight? I'm sure Kushina would be very happy to welcome you."

Tsunade had no objections, and after a few more casual remarks, she led the group away.

After Tsunade left, Namikaze Minato turned to Sarutobi Hiruzen and asked, "Third Hokage, what do you make of this?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe, waved his hand, and said, "Minato, you are the Hokage now. You decide how to handle this yourself!"

With that, Sarutobi Hiruzen stood up and left the Hokage office.

After he had walked a distance away from the office, he spoke to a shadow, "Arrange for people to keep an eye on Tsunade and the others, especially Tokiju and that girl named Hikari."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's words received no response, only the rustling of wind through the leaves.

Taking another puff of his pipe, he looked up at the distant Hokage Rock, his gaze deep and inscrutable.

"Sigh, I really am getting old. The younger generation doesn't want to speak their true hearts to me anymore."

With a sigh, Sarutobi Hiruzen began to walk with slow, measured steps toward the Root base.