Fishing

"Whoa!"

Water splashed up, even spraying onto Yueshu's cheeks, but that bit of chill did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm.

At this moment, Yueshu was looking happily at the fruits of his hard work all morning.

In the battle a few days ago, Yueshu could be considered a major contributor; of course, because of this, Yueshu had also become a glorious casualty.

To express their gratitude, Takigakure stated they would take good care of Yueshu and his group, so Yueshu stayed in Takigakure for a while.

And this period of time allowed the Jiraiya Squad to enjoy VIP treatment.

Eating well, drinking well, and sleeping well—it was basically the highest configuration possible.

This made even Jiraiya stop being in a rush, using the excuse of recuperating to insist on staying a few more days.

Since their Jonin instructor had expressed this, the students under him naturally had no objections, and for Yueshu and Minato Namikaze, it was even more to their liking.

Yueshu was too lazy to return to Konoha; both sides were equally boring, so he might as well stay here for a while and go fishing. And look, he was fishing right now.

As for Minato Namikaze's reason, it wasn't as simple as Yueshu's, and as for what it was, only he himself knew.

"Hmm, not bad."

Yueshu looked at the fish he had just caught and nodded.

Usually appearing lazy, he had finally discovered a pastime other than sword practice and sleeping.

Fishing was unexpectedly quite to Yueshu's taste.

"You're here again."

Kushina's voice came from behind, and Yueshu turned his head to look.

The girl was standing there with her hands on her hips, her red hair blowing in the wind.

"Kushina, are you here too?"

Yueshu swung his trophy and smiled.

Kushina didn't respond, sighing first.

"Honestly, you were injured so badly, yet you won't just lie down and rest properly."

Kushina walked over to Yueshu's side and sat down.

"These minor injuries healed long ago; lying down all day isn't good either."

"You're clearly the type who would never sit if you could lie down back in the village."

Kushina shot him a glance, and Yueshu responded with a dry laugh.

"I didn't know about fishing back then, but now that I've tried it, it's unexpectedly not bad."

"You guy, really, you're the same age as us but you act like an old man."

"If you call me an old man like that, even I will be sad, you know."

Yueshu put the fish into the bucket beside him and cast his hook out again.

"Will you really be sad?"

"Hard to say."

Yueshu and Kushina chatted back and forth, mostly nonsense without much substance or meaning.

"Speaking of which, is there something you needed by coming here?"

After setting the hook, Yueshu began his customary wait; having Kushina come to chat with him wasn't bad either.

"Can't I come if I don't have anything to do?"

Kushina retorted, glaring at Yueshu.

"That's not what I meant, why am I getting a glare from you for no reason?"

Yueshu gave a bitter smile.

Kushina huffed, and Yueshu couldn't figure it out; after all, Kushina always did things that left him feeling baffled.

"Minato has been spending a lot of time with Miss Hui lately."

"Huh?"

Kushina suddenly changed the subject, leaving Yueshu completely bewildered.

The topic shifted so quickly that Yueshu couldn't react, especially since they had just been chatting about a bunch of nonsense.

"Come to think of it, that is true, that guy Minato."

Yueshu thought about it for a moment.

"He probably likes the type that Hui is."

"Hui?"

"Eh?"

Kushina suddenly looked at Yueshu with those strange eyes again, making Yueshu shudder.

"Cough, cough, Miss Hui."

Having been Chinese in his past life, Yueshu wasn't used to using honorifics, and he had simply gotten into the habit of calling her that.

"Hmph."

This guy, she must be on her period.

Looking at the strange behavior Kushina was exhibiting, Yueshu couldn't help but think.

Although he hadn't spent much time with girls in his previous life, he still knew that a girl's mood could become unstable when her "auntie" came to visit.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"The weather is nice today, isn't it?"

Kushina didn't know what else to say, so she just blurted out a random sentence. After all, she couldn't exactly say, "I want to talk to you more." Even though Kushina was a tomboy, she was still quite shy, especially regarding these kinds of things.

Yueshu, having never really spent time with girls in either of his two lives, didn't understand these subtle feelings at all.

He simply looked up at the sky before nodding in response to Kushina.

"It really is quite nice."

"Honestly."

Watching Yueshu's reaction, Kushina let out a laugh.

"Eh?"

Yueshu, however, didn't understand why Kushina was laughing.

"Blockhead!"

Kushina scolded him with a smile.

Just as Yueshu was about to say something, his fishing rod began to stir.

A fish was taking the bait!

This event made Yueshu immediately set everything else aside; the task at hand was the priority.

There was no denying that eating food you caught yourself for dinner was a real treat.

Thinking this, Yueshu's hands moved without hesitation.

Because of this, Yueshu missed the tender, watery look in Kushina's eyes.

Kushina, the big sister of the group, rested her chin on her hand and watched Yueshu quietly.

It was this very youthful face that always appeared before her whenever she needed someone.

Whether it was when she was being bullied, or when she felt helpless, he would always appear before her the moment she needed him.

Just like a hero in a story.

As Kushina thought this, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl upward.

Even the Red Hot Habanero was, at heart, a girl in love.

"Whoa!"

Yueshu shouted, snapping Kushina out of her trance.

"It's a big fish!"

Yueshu revealed a rare, childlike expression.

"Let's eat this tonight."

Yueshu grinned as he placed his prize into the bucket and began packing up his gear.

"Are you done fishing?"

"No need for more. Tonight's dinner is already settled, and besides, at this time of day, taking a nap is just wonderful."

Yueshu let out a yawn.

Kushina sighed softly again, then smiled.

As expected.

He's still the Yueshu I know.

An idiot, a lazybones, an idiot who only knows how to sleep all day.

But—

He's unexpectedly reliable.

Kushina and Yueshu set off on the road home, even if it was only a temporary residence.

"Ah~ what a beautiful day."

Yueshu sighed with contentment once more.

As the sunlight gently spilled down, Yueshu savored the peace of the moment.

"Indeed."

Kushina replied, as if answering her own previous question, or perhaps simply responding to that single remark from Yueshu.

It had been nearly two years since arriving in this E World, and Yueshu had been living the life he always wanted—the so-called life of a salted fish. It had to be said, Yueshu truly enjoyed this existence.

He felt no great longing for the past; in fact, he couldn't even recall it. Now, Yueshu only cared about unraveling the mysteries surrounding his current identity.

Of course, there was no need to rush.

--Ah!

--I think I forgot to use my lucky draw.

As he walked along, Yueshu suddenly remembered this.