Invitation

"I bet on you in that fight just now, and lost a whole barbecue dinner."

After a brief silence, Tsunade looked at the sunny, adorable little face before her and spoke with a stern expression.

She didn't ask why Minato had admitted defeat. She could guess the reason without him telling her.

"Sumimasen."

Minato scratched his head and fished a few bills out of his pocket. "Um, I still have some money here..."

"Huh? What kind of person do you take me for?"

Tsunade's face darkened. She might tease him, but she would never take money from a child.

Although she shamelessly swindled her younger brother out of his allowance in all sorts of ways, he was still her own brother.

Anyone with a younger brother knew that they were born to be their older sisters' slaves.

Tsunade glanced at the bills in Minato's hand and raised an eyebrow.

"Not bad for pocket money, kid."

"Actually, it's my living expenses for the week..."

"Living expenses..."

Tsunade seemed to realize something, and the corner of her mouth twitched.

"You're..."

"An orphan."

Hearing his clear little voice, Tsunade quietly set Minato down and mentally slapped herself.

Damn it! I'm the worst!

This kid was an orphan!

No, I should've figured it out sooner. What normal family would let a child come to the entrance exam alone?

At the thought, Tsunade suddenly didn't know what to do.

Seeing Tsunade's expression shift back and forth, Minato stood there dumbly, too.

He had an ulterior motive for approaching Tsunade. As the First's granddaughter, she surely had plenty of Wood Release techniques stashed away at home.

Since Tsunade had unexpectedly come to him, Minato naturally didn't want to let this opportunity slip by.

But he was rather introverted and wasn't good at striking up conversations with girls. In both his past and present lives, girls had always been the ones to approach him, so for a moment, he didn't know how to get closer to Tsunade.

Seeing Tsunade fall silent, Minato tentatively spoke up. "How about I treat you to a meal?"

"A meal?"

Tsunade had been trying to figure out how to kneel without traumatizing the kid. Hearing that, she felt relieved, then couldn't help giving him a teasing smile.

"Oh? You're already learning to take girls out to eat at your age?"

"Mm—"

Minato pressed his lips together. Unable to think of a suitable excuse, he finally slapped the back of his head and gave an awkward laugh. "Actually, there's something I'd like to ask you, haha..."

So he had a favor to ask. No wonder the kid was being so nice.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "What is it? Go ahead."

Minato shook his head, then casually glanced toward the school. "If you don't mind... could you spare me a little more time? I'm pretty good at cooking."

Sounds like it's something troublesome...

But I brought this on myself, didn't I?

Tsunade let out a helpless sigh. "All right, let's go. Show me how good your cooking is."

Minato's face lit up. He formed Hand Seals, and poof—a Shadow Clone appeared. He sent it off to buy groceries.

"You can use Shadow Clone?" Tsunade asked, astonished.

"My father left me the technique."

Minato nodded and led Tsunade home.

Minato's house was the same as the one in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi. In the movie Road to Ninja, his home was this same little building, too.

It was in a pretty good location, within the inner ring and not far from Kage Rock. Several major shinobi clans lived nearby, including the Uchiha, who were currently in the same area.

Because of the slope of the road, the building stood on a stone platform two meters high and was divided into two main sections.

One section was the residential area. They climbed the metal stairs to the second floor, and the second and third floors were where they lived day to day.

The other part of the building looked like a giant thermos. It was connected to the residential area: the first floor was a storeroom, the second a study, and the third a tea room. Thanks to the elevation, they could see much of Konoha from the third floor.

As soon as they entered, Minato headed straight for the kitchen.

Tsunade folded her arms beneath her ample chest and leaned against the kitchen doorway. Watching Minato wash and prepare the vegetables with practiced ease, she spoke in a slightly gentler tone. "You've got a great location. Right in the middle of the village. How come I've never seen you around?"

"After my parents died, I rarely went out. But lately, I've been getting up early to exercise."

"Getting up early to exercise..."

Tsunade chuckled. Unless she had a mission, she didn't have that kind of discipline. No wonder she'd never seen him.

There was nothing surprising about him knowing who she was, though. She was the granddaughter of the First and the Second Hokage, as well as the Third Hokage's student. On top of that, she was both beautiful and powerful. It would've been strange if anyone in the village didn't know her.

"So you only started training recently?"

Minato shook his head. "I started extracting chakra six months ago. My father left behind some training scrolls from his days as a shinobi, so I taught myself a few simple techniques. I only started exercising a while ago, after I heard there'd be a Taijutsu test for the entrance exam."

He quickly finished chopping the ingredients. The Shadow Clone returned home and handed him the groceries before dispersing on its own.

"You taught yourself? What techniques have you learned?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"Let's see... the Three Basic Jutsu, Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere, Water Release: Water Vortex, Earth Release: Earth Wave, and Shadow Clone."

"They're all basic techniques... wait!"

Tsunade suddenly straightened up, bracing one hand against the doorframe as she stared intently at Minato. "Wind, water, and earth—you can use all of them proficiently? What are your chakra natures? Have you tested them?"

Minato nodded. "I have all five: wind, lightning, water, fire, and earth. But my family didn't have any Fire Release or Lightning Release techniques. Other than Vacuum Sphere, they're all fairly common D-rank techniques."

Of those five chakra natures, wind should've been his own.

Water and earth should've come from Hashirama Senju, while fire and lightning should've come from Madara Uchiha.

He had also inherited Hashirama's Seal-less Self-Healing and Madara's Sharingan, which meant he possessed the abilities of Yang Release and Yin Release as well.

"All five natures..."

Tsunade looked at him as if he were some rare treasure, then suddenly smiled with a hint of smugness. "Your request wouldn't happen to be that you discovered your talent but don't have any techniques, so you want me to take you on as my student, would it?"

"Become your student..."

Minato froze. He'd never thought about becoming her student.

According to the original story, Jiraiya should've been his teacher.

But although Minato's personality wasn't much different from his counterpart in the original story, the memories and knowledge from his past life had made his worldview utterly different.

Jiraiya longed for people to understand one another. He spent his whole life searching for the Child of Prophecy spoken of by the Great Toad Sage, the one destined to bring peace. He was a true and complete idealist.

But ideals detached from reality were nothing more than empty talk.

Minato believed that people could understand one another, but understanding alone couldn't solve problems.

War was a continuation of politics, and politics, when all was said and done, was about pursuing interests.

If they couldn't solve the problem of how to divide those interests, conflict would never end.

Minato admired Jiraiya's idealism, but he didn't agree with his beliefs.

They weren't cut from the same cloth, so he didn't plan to become Jiraiya's student, as he had in the original story.

But if it were Tsunade, she might not be able to teach him much, yet she was sure to know of the Wood Release techniques passed down in her family. After all, Mito Uzumaki, wife of the First, was still alive at the time.

Noticing Minato's reaction, Tsunade realized she'd gotten ahead of herself and couldn't help pouting. "What? You weren't thinking of becoming my student?"

Minato hurriedly waved his hands. "N-no, I'd actually really like to become your student, Tsunade-senpai!"

"Too late. I don't like your attitude."

Tsunade gave a soft snort, but she was growing even more curious about what Minato wanted from her.

He'd already revealed that he had exceptional talent, yet he still had secrets he didn't want outsiders to know.

The only thing she could think of was a Kekkei Genkai.