A New Job

"Yeah, Kushina really is that hot-tempered!"

Hearing Jiraiya's answer, Tsunade couldn't help but laugh. Who would have thought Kushina Uzumaki wanted to give Uchiha Yue trouble for such a ridiculous reason?

Still, as they watched the fight in the training ground, Tsunade and Jiraiya remained ready to rush in and help Yue. Kushina Uzumaki wasn't an ordinary ninja. Even though Yue was nowhere near as strong as she was, and was little more than a child in her eyes, if Kushina took her anger out on him, she was sure to give him a thorough beating.

Tsunade and Jiraiya had come to watch Yue and Kushina fight both to assess his combat ability and to give him a chance to improve in battle. Yue had already surprised them plenty. At the very least, an ordinary Genin couldn't have held out against Kushina for so long.

Of course, Kushina hadn't been using her full strength during the fight. Otherwise, Yue would have lost to her long ago.

But now Kushina's mask had been knocked off by Yue, revealing her true face to him. That only made her angrier. Even Kushina hadn't expected to be put at a disadvantage by a student from the Ninja Academy.

But after seeing Kushina's face, Yue no longer felt like fighting.

In fact, Yue was staring at her with some embarrassment. He had never imagined that the person he'd been fighting was Minato Namikaze's girlfriend!

That fiery red hair was all it took for Yue to recognize Kushina. After all, that hair color was unmistakable in Konoha.

At the same time, Yue wondered why Kushina had disguised herself as an Anbu member to pick a fight with him.

He could have racked his brain all day and still not figured out that she was angry because he'd interrupted her date with Minato.

When Kushina noticed Yue standing there in a daze, her hair seemed to bristle with anger. She snapped, "Uchiha Yue, are you looking down on me?"

"Uh, no!"

Seeing how furious Kushina was, Yue shrugged helplessly. "I just don't understand why you disguised yourself as an Anbu member to come after me. I thought Minato-kun told you that he and I got along pretty well! As his girlfriend, don't you think it's a little unfair to pick on me?"

"Hmph! It's because you two get along so well that I'm picking on you!"

Before Yue could finish, Kushina practically snapped. "He was so busy researching those lousy ninjutsu that he even forgot something as important as our date! And then he spent four whole hours chatting with you at the teahouse, leaving me to wait outside for him the entire time! Tell me, don't you think I should beat you up?"

"Uh..."

Hearing Kushina's explanation, Yue was truly at a loss for words. He could only stand there in silence.

A stampede of a thousand grass-mud horses galloped through Yue's mind. At last, he understood why Kushina had taken her anger out on him.

As the farce unfolded, Tsunade and Jiraiya exchanged rueful smiles before appearing in front of Yue and Kushina.

Pleased with how well her prized student had done, Tsunade secretly gave Yue a thumbs-up. Then she faced Kushina and said sternly, "Kushina, this farce has gone on long enough. I'll let you off for impersonating an Anbu member, but if you come after Yue again, I'll go after your Minato!"

"W-Who said Minato was mine?"

Kushina completely ignored the first part of Tsunade's warning and lowered her head, blushing.

Seeing that his student's girlfriend was so scatterbrained, Jiraiya gave an awkward laugh. "All right, Yue isn't hurt, so let's call it even. Kushina was a little impulsive today. I'll make sure to have a talk with her. Tsunade, I'll take Kushina and go."

With that, Jiraiya sheepishly led Kushina away, leaving Yue and Tsunade to exchange helpless smiles.

Then Yue turned to Tsunade and asked curiously, "Sensei, did you know all along that Kushina was going to come after me?"

"Yeah!"

Tsunade nodded and replied matter-of-factly, "Kushina stole the clothes from one of Jiraiya's Anbu squads to come after you. And last night, I happened to be drinking with Jiraiya when he told me she was planning to pick a fight with you. So I decided to see how well you'd do against her. You didn't disappoint me."

Tsunade smiled with satisfaction and patted Yue on the shoulder. "You should have realized by now, right? Medical Ninjutsu can improve your chakra control, and it can also greatly increase your strength. If I hadn't had you study Medical Ninjutsu, you might have already lost to Kushina. You certainly wouldn't have lasted so many rounds. So while you're training under me, make sure you keep working on your Medical Ninjutsu. Got it?"

"I understand, Sensei."

Even without Tsunade telling him, Yue had planned to work hard at Medical Ninjutsu. He'd already discovered its benefits.

After Yue finished speaking, Tsunade rubbed her chin and thought for a moment before continuing. "Yue, that Taijutsu you developed is pretty interesting. Was the idea inspired by the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist?"

"Yes, Sensei."

Yue gathered his thoughts before answering. "The Human Meridian Chart you gave me yesterday marked the location of the body's pressure points. And Taijutsu is my weak point, so I wanted to come up with a style that suited me. I used the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist as a reference, and that gave me the basic idea for my new style: the Falling Moon Style: Sunflower Pointing Hand."

"Sunflower Pointing Hand. That's a good name!"

Very pleased by Yue's ability to build on what he'd learned, Tsunade patted his shoulder again. "Yue, you've hit another bottleneck in your training. If you want to grow stronger, you'll need more real combat experience and practice. So I'm going to arrange a job for you. That way, you'll be able to train your Medical Ninjutsu properly."

"Come with me!"

"I'll take you to see where you'll be working!"