Menstrual Period

That night, Kushina lay quietly in bed.

The bedroom was serene, so quiet that she could even hear the clear rhythm of her own heartbeat.

Reflecting on her experiences over the recent period, she found it difficult to fall asleep.

Kushina knew that she was special.

Even among the Uzumaki Clan, where everyone was a powerhouse of chakra, she was the most exceptional of them all.

Compared to others of the Uzumaki Clan, her chakra was more abundant, of higher quality, and possessed an incredibly strong suppressive force!

Kushina felt that this was perhaps the reason she had been chosen and sent to Konoha.

But as for the specific reason, she did not know.

She only knew that she would live in Konoha in the future and become a part of this place.

Back when she was still in her clan, Kushina had heard that Konoha was a staunch ally of Uzushio Village and the largest, most prosperous ninja village in the ninja world.

This filled her with a sense of anticipation, though hidden within that anticipation was a touch of anxiety.

She worried about being laughed at as a country bumpkin, worried that her verbal tic would be mocked, and worried about being bullied in this foreign land.

But fortunately... none of those things had happened.

Tsunade, who was responsible for looking after her, had a personality that was both enthusiastic and gentle; it was said that she was the granddaughter of the First Hokage.

Her younger brother, Nawaki, though he didn't seem very bright, was equally enthusiastic and straightforward.

And then there was that boy named Minato Namikaze... his cooking was truly delicious!

Mm, and he was very gentle, too!

It was wonderful!

Not being ostracized—it was truly wonderful!

Kushina closed her eyes, hugged her quilt, and rolled around on the bed twice, a faint smile playing on her lips.

Tomorrow, she would be going to school...

At the thought of potentially making new friends tomorrow, Kushina became so excited that she couldn't sleep, but fortunately, sleepiness comes quickly to children, allowing her to drift off into dreamland just in time.

Early the next morning, Kushina got up early, only to find that Minato was already preparing breakfast.

"Good morning."

Seeing Kushina wake up, Minato offered a morning greeting: "It's still early, you could sleep a bit longer."

"I... I don't have the habit of sleeping in!"

This was the first time the two of them had been alone together, and Kushina couldn't help but feel a bit nervous, blurting out a white lie in her haste.

In truth, she absolutely loved sleeping in!

"I see."

Seeming to see through her insincerity, Minato chuckled: "Then how about doing me a favor?"

Perhaps because she felt needed and found a sense of purpose, Kushina's eyes lit up: "Okay, okay! What do you want me to do?"

"Help me boil a few eggs and heat up two cartons of milk."

Minato took the eggs and milk from the refrigerator and set a pot of water to boil: "Put the eggs in once the water boils, take them out after eight minutes, and after turning off the heat, just leave the milk cartons in the hot water to soak."

"No problem, leave it to me!"

Kushina was full of energy, and seeing Minato standing at the cutting board kneading something, she curiously leaned in: "What are you making?"

"Lunch bento."

Minato held out his hand, revealing a round rice ball covered in shredded seaweed.

"Today's lunch is pork belly rice balls, using the charcoal-grilled pork belly left over from last night."

"Do you prepare this much stuff every day?"

Kushina found it incredible; she hadn't expected Minato to prepare even his bento.

"Actually, most of the time, I leave it to a clone, but since there isn't much work today, I felt like doing it myself."

Minato smiled; he wasn't stupid.

The drawback of the Wood Clone was that it had to touch the original body to synchronize information.

But this also meant that, without synchronizing information, the fatigue of the Wood Clone would not be transferred to the original body.

Therefore, the first thing Minato did every morning was create a Wood Clone to make the bento, then he would wash up at a leisurely pace, humming a tune while making breakfast.

And after the Wood Clone finished the bento, it would consciously go into the yard and transform into a large tree or a wooden stake for his Shadow Clone to use for training—a genuine, hardworking tool.

Soon, breakfast was ready, and a sleepy, heavy footstep echoed from the living room.

"Hah—good morning."

Tsunade walked into the kitchen while yawning, her gaze lingering on the two of them for a moment.

For some reason, when she saw Kushina standing beside Minato, she suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of irritation.

"Tch!"

"???"

The two people in the kitchen were completely bewildered.

Did she just make a "tch" sound?

What on earth happened?

It wasn't until Tsunade walked into the bathroom with a pout that Kushina looked at Minato in confusion: "What's wrong with Tsunade-nee?"

"I don't know..."

Minato shook his head blankly; it was his first time seeing Tsunade like this, as she was usually incredibly kind to him.

Could it be her period?

Thinking of this, a flash of realization crossed Minato's eyes.

That must be it, that has to be it!

After breakfast, Tsunade dropped the three of them off at school and personally escorted Kushina to the teacher's office.

When Minato arrived at the classroom, he had barely stepped through the door before a group of girls immediately swarmed around him.

"Good morning, Minato-kun~"

"Good morning."

"Hey, hey, Minato, do you think my new skirt looks good?"

"It suits you very well..."

Minato greeted them all politely: "Everyone, listen up. A friend of mine will be transferring into our class today, and I hope you'll all get along well with her."

"Minato-kun's friend? Is it a boy or a girl?" Kaoru Koyaba asked instinctively.

"A girl."

"Eh--"

The girls immediately let out ambiguous sounds that seemed to harbor hidden hostility, though none of them wanted to make Minato lose face.

"Then I hope we can get along well~"

"Yeah, after all, she's Minato's friend."

Minato nodded with a smile and sat down by the window in the back row, placing his textbook on the adjacent seat to save it for Kushina.

The girls who had been eyeing the seat next to him with predatory intent had no choice but to give up in frustration.

"Tch, that guy, he always has to show off."

In the front row by the door, Kotai looked toward Minato's direction, his tone filled with annoyance.

Perhaps because he was so popular with the girls, Minato's popularity among the boys had never been great. Aside from Shinnosuke and a few others, the rest of the boys always seemed to harbor hostility in their eyes when they looked at him.

After all, boys have their own jealousies, and their aggression in this regard can be even stronger.

"What can you do? Who told him to be so strong? Even Shinnosuke is no match for him."

Tetsuo, sitting next to him, spoke with a helpless tone. In the taijutsu practical classes over the past two months, no one had ever been a match for Minato, so even if some people were unhappy, no one would easily provoke him.

"Hey! Shio, what do you say?"

Kotai nudged the boy with the large-framed glasses to his right.

The boy pushed up his glasses, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth: "No matter how strong that guy is, he's still just one person, right?"

Kotai and Tetsuo exchanged glances, then the three of them leaned their heads together, letting out a series of malicious chuckles.

Soon, the bell for class rang.

The students in the class returned to their seats, and Ikkaku Umino walked into the classroom with Kushina.

Kushina scanned past her classmates, nervously searching for Minato's figure, and only let out a quiet sigh of relief when she saw him sitting in the back row waving at her.

Ikkaku Umino began: "Ahem, let me introduce everyone to our new student who is transferring to our school starting today..."

"I... I'm Kushina Uzumaki, ya know!"

Perhaps because she was too nervous, Kushina didn't wait for Ikkaku Umino to finish before biting the bullet and shouting loudly, accidentally including her verbal tic, "ya know."