What Exactly Is Senior Obito?

"Ah, ah, ah, I get it..."

Lin Zi sat back down on the small stool, looking at Minato as he pulled out the cookware with a look of utter resignation.

"Sukiyaki it is then... just add plenty of meat, Fourth Hokage."

"Call me Minato."

Kushina glared at him again.

"...add plenty of meat, Minato."

"That's more like it."

The night outside the window had completely settled in, but the light in the room was warm enough to burn.

The water in the pot began to bubble, and the aroma of beef mixed with the sweetness of tofu wafted out, filling the small room to the brim.

Once Minato placed the sukiyaki on the table, he stood before it and shouted.

"Time to eat! Kushina! Naruto!"

Lin Zi helped Kushina toward the table, but as he looked up, he nearly choked on his own saliva; Minato was wearing a pink apron printed with several crooked little pigs.

"Why is it this color..."

Lin Zi's mouth twitched, wanting to laugh but not daring to make it too obvious.

"Well..."

Minato looked down at himself, offering a helpless smile as he scratched at the apron strings.

"Kushina bought this. She said pink makes me look younger."

Kushina puffed out her chest, looking perfectly justified. "What's wrong with it? Doesn't it look good?"

"It looks great, really..."

Lin Zi waved his hands quickly, helped Kushina sit down, and pushed her chair in for her.

Minato walked around to the other side, served rice for both of them, and dropped a plate of beef rolls into the pot. As the broth bubbled, he sat down and winked his left eye at Kushina.

Kushina immediately caught the signal and winked her right eye back, the corners of both their mouths curling up in unison.

Lin Zi had just picked up a piece of tofu when he caught this out of the corner of his eye, his chopsticks freezing in mid-air.

"You two... what exactly are you doing?"

"We aren't doing anything." Minato pushed a bowl of soup toward Lin Zi, smiling with an innocent air. "It's just a bit of telepathy between Kushina and me."

"Right, right!"

Kushina nodded along, picking up the serving chopsticks and piling meat into Lin Zi's bowl.

"Eat up, eat up! Sukiyaki has to be eaten while it's hot, or it gets fishy once it cools down."

Before she finished speaking, a small mountain of beef had already formed in Lin Zi's bowl.

"Ah, ah, ah, I know, I know. You guys eat too, don't just stare at me." Lin Zi buried his head, forcing himself to ignore the four eyes glued to his face and focusing on shoveling down his rice.

"Yo, you've got a great appetite." Minato popped a piece of tofu into his mouth. "How's the taste?"

"Mm, it's quite delicious." Lin Zi replied vaguely while stuffing beef into his mouth. "If I could have eaten like this when I was a kid, I would have been the happiest person alive."

"Was your childhood very difficult?"

Kushina's voice suddenly dropped. Her chopsticks hovered in mid-air, and she didn't notice her knuckles turning white from tension.

Lin Zi, mouth full of rice, didn't look up and answered casually.

"I wouldn't call it hard, exactly. It's just that no one cooked for me, and the vegetable sellers in the village didn't like selling to me."

"Then what did you eat?"

"Used the money to buy instant noodles and milk." Lin Zi took a sip of soup and licked his lips. "I was just too young back then to check the dates, so people often palmed off expired or near-expiry stuff on me."

"Is that so..." Kushina's voice grew lower and lower, like the broth slowly thickening at the bottom of the pot.

Minato turned his head instinctively, just in time to see Kushina's fist slam onto the table with a "bang," splashing a few drops of soup out of the bowl.

"Is that how Hiruzen Sarutobi treated you?!"

Kushina's eyes widened, her sockets reddening, and she whipped her head toward Minato.

"He didn't even give the child a proper meal?!"

Minato froze in his chair, cold sweat breaking out across his back.

His mind was buzzing. He had privately guessed the reasons for Naruto's defection, but he had never imagined that after his death, the village would have pushed Naruto to such an extent.

He opened his mouth, his throat dry. "I... that is..."

"Well."

Lin Zi put down his bowl, quickly cutting off Minato's words, and waved his hands at Kushina.

"It wasn't like that. The Old Man Third gave me a fair amount of money every month; it was enough to get by."

"What on earth is going on?!"

Kushina's brows knitted into a knot; her anger hadn't dissipated, but rather, she was even more bewildered.

Lin Zi scratched his cheek, his gaze beginning to drift toward the ceiling, and his voice grew quieter.

"I usually... take the money to buy paint... and then splash it all over the Hokage Rock..."

"Huh?" Kushina froze, her fist still suspended in mid-air, having forgotten to pull it back.

"The faces of the past Hokage... I've splashed them all." Lin Zi shrank his neck and gave a dry laugh, "Let's not bring up the past..."

The dining table fell silent for two seconds.

Minato was the first to lose his composure, letting out a "pfft" of laughter. His shoulders shook, and he pointed a finger at Lin Zi, then at himself.

"So... my face was often the target of your pranks, too?"

"Haha..."

Lin Zi scratched his head in embarrassment, his face nearly buried in his bowl.

Kushina maintained her table-slamming posture, stunned for a full three seconds, before her shoulders slumped and she suddenly burst into laughter, tears nearly streaming from her eyes.

She reached out and ruffled Lin Zi's hair vigorously, turning his blonde locks into a bird's nest.

"Boys should have some spirit! I think that Hokage Rock really needs some decoration! Those carvings are so lifeless; they should have changed colors a long time ago!"

After ruffling Lin Zi's hair, she turned her head sharply, staring at Minato with a look that was half-smile, half-glare, her voice filled with gritted-teeth tenderness.

"Don't you think so? Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze."

Minato's laughter stopped abruptly. His hand hung in mid-air as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, his eyes darting everywhere.

"Hahahaha... right... indeed... it could use some decoration..."

Kushina withdrew her gaze, added another spoonful of soup to Lin Zi's bowl, and huffed.

"Eat more, you're still growing. Next time I'll sponsor you; buy as much as you want and splash it however you like."

"...Oh."

Lin Zi held his bowl, nodding with a blank expression.

The three of them bickered and joked at the table until the sukiyaki pot was scraped clean and most of the rice was gone.

Just as Lin Zi set down his chopsticks and rubbed his belly in satisfaction, Minato's expression suddenly tightened. He set down his soup spoon, his gaze crossing the table to land squarely on Lin Zi's face, his voice soft but clear.

"Come out with me for a moment, Naruto. There are some things... I want to ask you."

Lin Zi looked up and wiped his mouth carelessly: "Sure, where to?"

Beside him, Kushina suddenly gripped the tablecloth tightly, a flicker of panic flashing in her red eyes: "Minato! What are you doing?!"

"It's nothing." Minato turned his head, his gaze toward his wife remaining gentle, like a deep pool, "Just some questions from before... I must ask him."

Lin Zi also turned his head and grinned at Kushina.

"Eh, don't worry. I'm fine, just going out for some fresh air."

Kushina bit her lip, her fingers twisting the tablecloth, but eventually, she was forced to nod. The look she gave Lin Zi was full of worry, as if she wanted to keep him within her sight to feel at ease.

After the meal, Minato stood up to clear the dishes, his movements unhurried.

Kushina took the opportunity to grab Lin Zi's hand, pulling him to the door and lowering her voice.

"It's alright, Naruto. Say whatever you want to say, and if you don't want to... just turn around and leave. With me here, no one can force you."

She reached out, her palm resting on Lin Zi's cheek, her fingertips gently brushing the whisker-like marks as if confirming he was truly standing before her.

Lin Zi felt a bit uncomfortable with her touch, shrinking back slightly and gently removing her hand.

"Aiya, it's really fine. I'm just going out to get some air, and I'll have the Fourth... oh, I mean, have Minato come find me in a bit."

"Mm..."

Kushina agreed helplessly, leaning against the doorframe and watching his back disappear into the night.

Lin Zi stood on the veranda outside, the night breeze pouring into his collar and ruffling his messy blonde hair.

He took a deep breath; the air still carried the sweet scent of the sukiyaki from inside, but the distant Konoha was unnaturally quiet, as if even the chirping of insects had been choked off by something.

Before long, the door behind him was pushed open gently.

Minato Namikaze walked out. He stepped to Lin Zi's side, and the two stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the veranda, their shadows stretched long across the floorboards by the moonlight.

Lin Zi suddenly narrowed his eyes.

He could sense it—subtle fluctuations of chakra permeated the surrounding air, like a transparent film, encasing the entire courtyard.

On the eaves, among the treetops, and even in the shadows of the walls, the presence of Anbu was hidden. A barrier had been deployed silently, completely isolating this place from the outside world.

Lin Zi turned his head to look at Minato, his voice dropping: "What is this, Fourth? Are you... planning to start a war?"

Minato did not answer immediately.

He suddenly stepped forward and placed a hand on Lin Zi's shoulder.

"I would never do that."

Minato's voice sounded from beside Lin Zi.

"You know, I just... didn't want our conversation to be overheard by anyone."

He let go and stepped back half a pace, his azure eyes shining startlingly bright in the moonlight as he looked straight into Lin Zi's eyes.

"Including Danzo, including the advisors, including... anyone in this village."

Lin Zi was stunned for a moment, then nodded, sliding his hands into his pockets.

"Is that so? Then what do you want to tell me?"

Minato's expression suddenly changed.

That gentleness receded as quickly as a tide, replaced by a cold, hard, and nearly sharp seriousness.

He stared at Lin Zi, enunciating every word:

"I want to know, when we first met, that 'Senior Obito' you called out... what was that about?"

The evening breeze suddenly stilled for an instant.