I'd Feel Guilty If He Were Still Alive

After confirming that Danzo was truly dead, Tsunade brought Minato to the residence where Mito Uzumaki lived.

"Big Sis!"

"Minato!"

Seeing them return, Nawaki and Kushina hurried over to greet them.

"Hello, Grandma Mito."

Minato greeted Mito Uzumaki obediently. Smiling warmly, Mito beckoned him closer.

Gently stroking his little blond head with her aged fingers, Mito asked with concern, "You weren't hurt, were you?"

Minato shook his head. "No."

"Good. As long as you weren't hurt."

Mito took Minato's hand. "Was that man after you?"

"He was after Kushina, but the real reason was still me," Minato said softly.

Hearing that, Mito immediately understood what had happened and couldn't help sighing.

"That boy Danzo never learned anything good from Tobirama all these years. All he picked up was that scheming streak of his. Now he's reaped what he sowed. Don't let it weigh on you."

"I'm not feeling guilty."

Minato smiled shyly. "To be honest, I'd feel guilty if he were still alive."

"That's more like it."

Mito chuckled. Her husband had been a good-natured man who never lost his temper, but she was nothing like him.

The Uzumaki Clan's abundant vitality gave them not only boundless stamina, but also short tempers born of having too much energy. As a result, almost all of them were hotheaded.

Mito had been the same in her youth.

She might be old now, rarely leaving the house and always accompanied by Anbu wherever she went.

But if Minato hadn't acted so quickly just now, she would probably already have stormed Root and hung Danzo up for a beating.

At this point in time, even the Four Symbols Sealing wasn't very refined, let alone the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style. It couldn't seal a Tailed Beast completely the way it did in Naruto's time.

In other words, she had single-handedly sealed the entire Nine-Tails inside herself!

What was this talk about making peace with a Tailed Beast to use its chakra?

Why not just hang the Nine-Tails up and drain it directly?

Did anyone really think the Anbu around her were there to keep an eye on her?

She'd been a little puzzled about why Danzo had gone after Minato.

Now that she'd heard Minato's explanation, it wasn't hard to guess what the other man had been planning.

"Perhaps you should pay more attention to the people around you," Mito warned.

"I've already identified the person involved, but they were being coerced too," Minato said softly.

"As long as you know what's going on."

Mito nodded, growing ever more pleased with Minato. She gently patted his hand. "You're still too young. Don't let the schemes of adults affect your emotions or judgment."

"Hiruzen is in that position, and there are always things he can't do anything about. Don't blame him. Some things can't be forced. Just follow your heart."

"Mm, I understand. Thank you for your advice."

Minato nodded modestly, without the slightest hint of impatience.

"You're Tsunade's student, and you've inherited Hashirama's Wood Release. In my eyes, you're my junior too, so there's no need to be so formal."

Mito smiled kindly. "How's your Wood Release coming along?"

"I've learned all the techniques in the scroll."

Minato's voice was confident. "I've also created a few practical techniques of my own."

The Parasitic Spores he'd just used on Danzo were one of them.

While researching Wood Clone Seeds, he'd thought of White Zetsu's Spore Technique and created this technique as a result.

It used the spores' ability to go unnoticed to make enemies unknowingly inhale spores containing his chakra.

Once activated, the spores took root in the enemy's flesh, devouring their chakra and growing wildly. It was an extremely useful assassination technique!

Of course, the technique had its drawbacks. Releasing too many spores could alert sensory ninjas, and the chakra within the spores couldn't fool the Byakugan or the Sharingan—dōjutsu kekkei genkai that could perceive chakra.

But Minato had already prepared for that. He planned to combine it with the Hidden Mist Technique, using chakra-infused mist to conceal the spores.

The only ones who could ignore this threat were people like the Aburame Clan, who kept insects inside their bodies, could detect changes in their chakra immediately, and could use their insects to remove the parasitic spores.

"If Hashirama knew someone had inherited his techniques, he'd be delighted."

Mito nodded in satisfaction. Then she leaned on her cane and started to rise. Minato hurried forward to help her.

Mito took a scroll from a drawer and handed it to Minato. "This contains some notes Hashirama made about training. They might be useful to you."

"Thank you, Grandma."

Minato thanked her politely and accepted it respectfully.

"All right, it's getting late. Tsunade, take them home early."

Mito spoke gently. She would have liked them to stay, but the core area here was inscribed with sealing arrays, so it wasn't suitable for guests to spend the night.

"Well..."

Tsunade's eyelid twitched. The mere mention of it put her in a foul mood. "My house got blown up."

"Why don't you stay at my place for now?" Minato suggested. "When I get back from school tomorrow, I can use Wood Release to repair the house."

"Sounds good!"

Tsunade immediately agreed and left with the three kids.

Mito sat by the window, watching them disappear into the distance. Her expression gradually turned cold.

"Have Monkey come here."

"Yes!"

The Anbu outside the window answered quietly and used the Body Flicker Technique to leave.

A few minutes later, at Minato's house.

Kushina walked into the room, looking a little nervous.

They'd known each other for so long, but this was her first time at Minato's house.

Minato occasionally came back to clean, so even though he hadn't lived there for half a year, the house was still neat and tidy.

"Your house is pretty spacious!"

As soon as Nawaki stepped inside, he wandered around the rooms without a care. "Where am I sleeping tonight?"

"There are only three rooms. Sensei and Kushina can each have one, and you can share with me," Minato said casually, his voice carrying a faint trace of fatigue.

Today was the first time he'd killed anyone—and he'd killed quite a few. It had left him somewhat unsettled.

Still, it wasn't as bad as people online made it sound. He hadn't thrown up or had diarrhea...

"Oh... Which one's your room?" Nawaki asked.

"Upstairs."

"Where am I sleeping?" Tsunade asked.

Minato pointed to the master bedroom. "If you don't mind, Sensei, you can take the master bedroom."

Tsunade glanced at it and shook her head. "Isn't this your parents' room? How could I stay in here? That'd be rude. You should take it instead, and Nawaki can share your room."

"I'll sleep in your room, and Kushina can take the guest room. That'll make it easier to get to the bathroom at night. Let's do that. I'm heading to my room."

With that, she gave no one else a chance to object and headed upstairs without hesitation, seeming to take a lighter step.

Watching Tsunade walk away, Kushina instinctively raised her hand and opened her mouth.

Wait, hang on...

I really don't mind the inconvenience!

Couldn't we switch?