Kushina

Upon hearing Diejian's words, Jiraiya wore an expression of utter astonishment, as if he had just heard something unbelievable.

"Big Brother Diejian, are you serious--?"

"I should be the one asking if you're the one being serious."

"What kind of nonsense is that!! There is mystery waiting on the other side of this wall! As a man, as a man, don't you want to see it!!"

"Even if you say that—when Tsunade was a little girl, I used to help her bathe while her parents were busy, so I'm quite used to it. As for Ina, well, how should I put it."

"--Mr. Sakumo--!!"

"I am a man with a fiancée; I cannot do such foolish things."

"--Sakumo, this is the first I've heard of this. This is truly a shocking fact."

"Ah, did I not mention it?"

"Juri-! Come back here quickly-!!"

"It is fine, we will certainly invite Diejian and Juri to the wedding ceremony."

"That is not the problem!!"

Diejian wore a look of incredulous shock as he pressed Sakumo for an answer.

The sight of two naked men staring at each other was mentally quite unsettling, but for Jiraiya, being able to hold the attention of the sister-obsessed Diejian was exactly what he had hoped for.

Jiraiya quickly rose from the bath and walked toward the wall.

The reason for his swift movement was that he had already scouted out the perfect spot for peeping while acting alone during the day.

Jiraiya was a man who spared no effort for his lust and was loyal to his desires.

Jiraiya pressed his squinting eyes against the small hole he had made in the wall earlier that day.

However, at that very instant—the brain of the previously hot-blooded Jiraiya instantly cooled, and despair flashed through his intoxicated eyes.

"Ha~llo, Jiraiya. Are you doing well?"

On the other side of the hole, Tsunade, wrapped in a towel, waved her hand with a terrifying smile.

"I, I'm doing well, I suppose I'm doing well—"

Looking away with a twitching mouth, Jiraiya felt a chill run down his spine.

"Is that so? As long as you're well, I'm happy. Well then, goodbye."

"Wait, Tsuna--!!"

An astonishing roar instantly reached the bathhouse.

The wall separating the Men's Bath and the Women's Bath was smashed to pieces, and rubble rained down into the Men's Bath.

Quickly forming hand seals, Diejian unleashed a Water Release to protect the naked Orochimaru and Sakumo from the falling debris.

"Ji, Jiraiyaaaaaaaa!!!"

Diejian shouted.

Diejian had seen it.

Amidst the collapsing wall, a force of shocking power had surged through, the very moment a Fist punched through Jiraiya's body.

Jiraiya's body was sent flying out of the bathhouse at an astonishing speed.

Whether by luck or misfortune, because it was an open-air hot spring, Jiraiya's flying body was tossed directly outside, swallowed by the darkness of the valley visible from the outdoor area.

"Tsunade, you went too far!!"

Diejian reprimanded Tsunade.

Tsunade did not seem to have intended to go that far; she felt flustered by the severity of the situation, her face turning pale.

Ultimately, the cause was Jiraiya's behavior, which could be called karma, but Tsunade's monstrous strength should never have been used on a comrade.

Diejian had lectured her on this point many times before.

"Ina, prepare the Mystical Palm Technique. I am going to save Jiraiya."

"Diejian, I will go too."

"Ri, right!"

"Orochimaru, tell the landlady that the Senju Clan will cover the damages to the inn."

On the other side of the collapsed wall, Ina, wrapped in a towel, stared blankly at the scene of the disaster.

After Diejian shouted to Ina, he turned and ran out, with Sakumo following closely behind.

However, these two reliable backs belonged to half-naked men wearing nothing but loincloths.

Watching Diejian's back as he left, Ina began to move.

"Tsunade, it is alright. It is precisely for times like these that I practiced the Mystical Palm Technique. You shouldn't blame yourself either, Tsunade. In any case, we just need to heal Jiraiya-kun. Break it, then heal it. There is no problem with that, is there?"

Listening to Ina's words, Orochimaru thought the problem was massive.

But for the confused Tsunade, it seemed to have an immediate effect; she nodded vigorously and walked toward the changing room with Ina.

Orochimaru, left behind, sighed at the commotion that this group was destined to be unable to avoid.

Afterward, the rescued Jiraiya was in a half-dead, truly perilous state.

Fortunately, Ina and Tsunade, who were present at the time, were among the best medical ninja in the village, allowing him to escape death by a hair's breadth.

However, due to the severity of his injuries requiring a period of quiet recuperation, Diejian returned to the village alone using the Flying Thunder God Technique to request an extended leave for the Sarutobi Squad from the Third Hokage.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was initially tense when Diejian, who should have been traveling, returned alone using the Flying Thunder God Technique, but after hearing the sequence of events, he leaned back against his chair powerlessly and could only smile helplessly.

Although it was a crisis situation involving near-fatal injuries, given the cause, it was no wonder he could not treat it with total seriousness.

She walked through Konohagakure with her head bowed.

Her hair color was mocked.

Her dream of becoming Hokage was mocked.

Because her hair was bright red and she was a bit chubby, she was teased and called a tomato.

The red-haired girl was not born in Konohagakure.

She had moved to Konohagakure for the sake of the friendly relations between the village and her hometown, Uzushiogakure; she was, in other words, an outsider.

In a sense, she was a diplomatic hostage—though young, the girl was aware of her delicate position.

However, the girl wanted to like Konohagakure.

She wanted to love it as a second home, just as she loved Uzushiogakure.

Moreover, she wanted to get along with everyone in Konohagakure, so the girl gathered her courage and spoke of her dream in front of her classmates at the Ninja Academy.

But the girl's feelings were trampled by heartless words and mockery.

She just felt incredibly, deeply frustrated.

Thinking of her appearance, she felt a bit angry at the nickname "Tomato," which even she had been forced to accept.

She grew to hate her own hair color, and she even began to hate the Hokage.

Suddenly, the girl lifted her head.

"Ah—"

In her line of sight was the back of the only man who was willing to accept her, an outsider girl.

The man did not notice the girl.

The girl forgot her previous gloom and, with the joy of a lost child finding their parents, ran toward the man.

"Diejian-san!!"

She could not wait, calling out the man's name—Senju Diejian's name—as she ran.

Diejian turned around.

He was the man in Konohagakure who inherited the same Uzumaki Clan bloodline as the girl; he was the only person she could trust, the one who stood on her side.

Because he was there, even though the girl grew to hate the Hokage and even her own red hair, she was the only one who did not hate the village.

"Hm?"

Hearing the call, Diejian immediately turned his head.

The red-haired girl came running toward Diejian with her crimson hair flowing behind her.

The happy smile on her face and the way she ran with all her might seemed very cute to Diejian.

"Diejian-san!"

Using the momentum of her run, the girl threw her arms around Diejian's waist.

Diejian had experienced countless battles and possessed top-tier strength, even among the few Jonin in Konohagakure.

The girl's collision naturally would not make Diejian lose his balance, but to ensure her small body wouldn't be hurt by the impact of her pounce, Diejian swayed slightly to disperse the force.

The girl buried her face into Diejian's casual kimono trousers and whimpered.

Diejian gave a bitter smile.

However, sensing the girl's unsettled mood, he stroked her head, hoping to calm her down.

"Ugh."

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? Kushina."

As the red-haired girl, Kushina Uzumaki, was called by name by Diejian, a joyful smile bloomed on her face, and she looked up at Diejian with great energy.

"Because I wanted to see you!!"

"Oh. It seems we are quite fated if we can meet whenever we want to. I'm running around all day, so it's not that easy to find me."

The tall Diejian crouched down to bring his line of sight level with the petite Kushina.

He gently stroked Kushina's red hair and smiled at her.

Her hair is a bit damaged.

Is it due to the stress of not being accustomed to this environment? Diejian wondered if he should get her some hair care products—a level of concern he rarely even showed for Ina.

Kushina's cheeks flushed as her hair was stroked, and the corners of her mouth relaxed.

"So, what is it, Kushina? Did something happen?"

"Diejian-san, I'm so frustrated!! Everyone keeps calling me Tomato, Tomato, and making fun of me—"

"Tomato...? I, for one, don't dislike this red hair—and I like tomatoes, too."

"Die, Diejian-san—"

Diejian used his fingers to lift a lock of Kushina's flushed red hair.

In his heart, Diejian recalled the hair color of his grandmother, Mito Uzumaki, from his childhood.

Mito Uzumaki's hair, which had since turned white, had also been a vibrant red before Diejian had even become a ninja.

To put it bluntly, he was used to it, so he didn't find it particularly special.

However, if he were to say, "It's nothing special because it's the same as Grandma's hair," no woman would likely be happy to hear that.

Diejian finally realized this and kept the second half of his thought to himself.

Diejian pulled his hand away from Kushina's head.

Kushina watched his hand leave with a hint of reluctance, then gazed intently at Diejian's face.

"Diejian-san. You like tomatoes, which means you like my hair too!?"

"?"

Diejian wondered how she had arrived at that conclusion, but seeing Kushina's teary, sparkling eyes, he swallowed his words.

A young girl's heart is complex; perhaps she was simply trying to find reassurance through his words to steady her unstable state of mind.

"That's right."

"Diejian-san!!"

Kushina excitedly hugged Diejian once more.

Diejian caught her gently, stroking the back of her head as if to soothe her.

"Kushina. Your guardian was originally a princess of the Uzumaki Clan, my grandmother Mito. If there is ever something truly upsetting—just invoke the name of 'Senju.' Most people in the village will hold their tongues at that."

Hearing Diejian's words, Kushina lowered her head in thought.

After worrying for a moment, she looked up at Diejian with a resolute expression.

"I—I want to make everyone acknowledge me through my own strength."

"Is that so—I've said too much. You really are a strong child, Kushina."

"I, am I?"

Kushina smiled shyly, and Diejian smiled back.

It felt as though he had gained another little sister, and Diejian felt quite happy.

The bloodline of the Uzumaki Clan flowed through Diejian as well.

To Diejian, Kushina was a distant relative.

Her somewhat tomboyish, lively personality also reminded him of Tsunade when she was a child.

"Right. This is perfect. A gift for the hardworking Kushina. Come, hold out your hands."

Diejian gently released the hugging Kushina and took a small paper bag from his pocket.

He placed it lightly into the palms of Kushina, who had extended her hands just as he asked.

"I'm so happy!! Can I open it?!"

Watching Diejian nod with a smile, a flower-like grin blossomed on Kushina's face.

She opened the paper bag with the caution one might reserve for a fragile treasure.

"Wow—"

Inside was a yellow hair clip.

It was the very one he had bought from a street stall in the hot spring town.

Kushina looked back and forth between Diejian's face and the hair clip in surprise.

"I thought it would suit your hair color, Kushina."

"—Ca, can I put it on?"

"I would be very happy if you did."

Kushina's cheeks flushed, and she beamed with joy.

She immediately gathered her bangs and skillfully adorned her red hair with the clip.

"How do I look?!"

"It suits you well. Kushina is a beauty, after all."

Kushina smiled proudly, looking up at Diejian as if to emphasize her hair.

Diejian gently smoothed out Kushina's slightly messy hair and returned her smile.

Seeing Kushina so happy, Diejian felt a sense of joy himself.

Diejian sensed a gaze directed at him—or rather, at Kushina—from a short distance away.

Diejian calmly shifted his awareness toward the direction of the presence.

Diejian was not a sensory-type ninja and could not perform a detailed analysis from here, but judging by the immature stealth technique of the person, the possibility of them being a ninja was very low.

"--Hm?"

Diejian turned his gaze toward the direction of the presence with a natural movement.

He caught the silhouette of golden hair ducking behind the shadow of an object.

Faintly visible was a boy around the same age as Diejian's younger brother, Nawaki.

Diejian chuckled heartily in his heart.

Judging by Kushina's words, he had assumed she was surrounded by bad kids and was completely isolated.

But it seemed that wasn't the case; Kushina was quite capable of handling herself.

"Kushina. That hairpin is a charm. Don't lose it, okay?"

"How could I ever lose it!!"

Hearing Diejian's words, Kushina frowned in annoyance.

She likely hated being thought of as someone who would lose a precious gift from someone else.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm just glad you like it. As an apology, let me treat you to something next time."

"--Can't it be now--?"

"Sorry, I'm a bit busy right now—"

He had to return to Hot Spring Village to look after Tsunade and Jiraiya.

Jiraiya had yet to regain consciousness, and Tsunade was blaming herself for it.

Although Jiraiya had brought it entirely upon himself—a situation that left one at a loss for words—Tsunade couldn't help but blame herself for pushing a comrade to the brink of death, even if it was a punishment for peeping.

"Another day, I promise I'll treat you. How about this: next time the Ninja Academy has a break, I'll come pick you up."

"Really?! It's a promise!!"

"Yeah, it's a promise."

"I, I want to eat salt-flavored ramen!!"

"Sure, no problem. I'll find the best salt-flavored ramen shop in the village."

Diejian stood up and began walking side-by-side with Kushina to accompany her for a portion of her journey.

He prayed that the path ahead for the brightly smiling Kushina would be filled with light.