Minato and the others didn't stay long at Jiuming's house. Over lunch, they briefly discussed the upcoming mission and their departure time with him, then left.
After all, this was a long-term mission, and Minato and the others needed to make some preparations in advance.
Kushina, however, stayed behind. After helping Jiuming clear away the lunch boxes, she went to the study by herself to learn the Uzumaki Clan's Fuinjutsu. Unlike Uzumaki Kuming, Kushina hadn't moved out of Mito's house after Mito's death. Although Jiuming had prepared a room for her, his status meant that he couldn't live with Kushina.
Kushina's goal hadn't changed over the years. She had always worked toward becoming Hokage. At first, she'd only gone to help at the Konoha Hospital on the Third Hokage's orders. But her time as a nurse had shown her the cruelty of the ninja world.
Ever since Uzumaki Kuming had been injured and fallen into a coma that year, Kushina had yearned for strength. Her desire wasn't all that intense, though. As she put it, she only wanted the ability to protect her loved ones.
That was why Kushina had begun devoting considerable effort to studying Fuinjutsu.
What Kushina didn't know was that the power she would need to protect her family was terrifyingly great. Fuinjutsu alone would probably never be enough.
Uzumaki Kuming had granted Kushina access to some of the Fuinjutsu texts. Most of the techniques he'd made available were D- and C-rank, along with a small number of B-rank techniques. This wasn't because he was hiding things from her; at her current level, access to those ranks was more than enough.
Besides, Kushina was different from Jiuming. She felt a strong sense of belonging to the village. If certain people in Konoha took advantage of that, it