"Hey! Have you heard? Today, some spicy redhead with hair that flew around beat a bunch of classmates so badly they ran off with their tails between their legs! It was hilarious, hahahaha... She's as violent as Big Sis Tsunade."
As soon as Nawaki got home, he couldn't wait to share the funny story with Liuxia. He didn't even notice that Tsunade, standing nearby, had fixed him with a dark stare.
Tsunade had just returned to the village from a mission and heard the terrible news about the Land of Whirlpools. The Uzumaki Clan was Grandma Mito's family, yet the village had just stood by and done nothing. She hadn't even had a chance to go confront that old Third Hokage.
She was already seething with anger and had nowhere to vent it. Then her own little brother came along and started running his mouth.
"Hey, Nawaki! You little brat! Are you asking for a beating? I've only been gone a few days, and you're already talking behind my back! Just you wait—I'll teach you a lesson! Kora!"
With an angry shout, Tsunade went straight to punish Nawaki.
Watching Nawaki cower and shiver in the corner after getting beaten, Kushina Uzumaki couldn't help laughing. "Hahahaha..."
"You're Kushina, right? Nice to meet you. I'm Tsunade. You can just call me Big Sis Tsunade. Grandma must have told you about me, right?"
Tsunade greeted Kushina Uzumaki with a smile.
"Hello, Big Sis Tsunade!"
Kushina quickly returned the greeting. After seeing what Nawaki had just gone through, she didn't dare anger the beautiful older girl with the heavy fists.
"You all go train first. I'm going to talk to Grandma about a few things."
Tsunade ruffled everyone's hair, then stared at Kushina's vivid, flame-red hair for a while. At last, she said goodbye and went into the house to find Mito Uzumaki.
"Big Brother Liuxia, does Big Sis Tsunade dislike my red hair?"
Kushina was exceptionally sensitive about people staring at her red hair.
"Of course not. Our Kushina's red hair is beautiful—it shines like a ruby. And Grandma Mito has red hair, too. Big Sis Tsunade's just troubled by other things lately. It has nothing to do with you!" Liuxia hurried to reassure her.
"Really?" Kushina still wasn't entirely convinced.
"Of course. If you don't believe me, ask Nawaki." Liuxia pointed to Nawaki beside them.
"Yeah, yeah. Big Sis Tsunade definitely wasn't staring at your hair because she hates you," Nawaki chimed in.
"Okay..." Kushina finally relaxed a little, but she still kept glancing toward the door, as if hoping Tsunade would come back soon.
"All right, don't overthink it. Nawaki, stop crouching there. Let's get started on today's training." Liuxia clapped his hands and called the two of them over to the training ground.
They headed to the training ground in the Senju Compound where they usually practiced. Liuxia was about to start their usual Taijutsu drills with Nawaki and Kushina when—
A shout rang out from the distance. "Big Brother, that red-haired tomato bullied me! She made me embarrass myself in front of all the girls in class!"
Liuxia looked toward the voice and saw one of the kids Kushina had beaten earlier that day.
It looked like he and his older brother had been training nearby and happened to run into them.
"Hey, you tomato! You dared to bully my little brother? I'll teach you a lesson in place of your family!"
Before Kushina could step forward and explain that his little brother had bullied her first, Liuxia stopped her and rushed ahead to confront the boy.
Liuxia's expression turned stern. "First, your little brother bullied my little sister. You should make him apologize to her. Second, this is the training ground in the Senju Compound. You have no right to set foot here. Now get out of my sight. Right now!"
His firm tone carried an authority that left no room for argument.
"What Senju Clan? It doesn't even exist anymore! You little brat, listen up! I'm a proud shinobi of the Shimura Clan! Shimura Danzō is my great-uncle!"
Before he'd even finished speaking, he lunged at Liuxia like a hungry tiger, trying to catch him off guard.
But Liuxia reacted with incredible speed. He dodged with a single sidestep, easily avoiding the attack.
Then he swiftly drove a sharp elbow into the self-proclaimed Shimura shinobi, knocking him hard to the ground.
Liuxia planted a foot on the fallen enemy as he tried to struggle back up, his eyes full of disdain.
"With skills as pathetic as yours, you call yourself a shinobi? What a joke!"
The other boy had seen his big brother taken down in an instant and was just about to run, but Nawaki snatched him up by the neck in the blink of an eye, lifting him like a little chick.
"Hey, you little brat! You even dared to bully little Kushina! Didn't you know she has me backing her up? Kushina, what should we do with this little punk? Kushina?"
Nawaki turned to Kushina Uzumaki, only to find her looking down with both hands clamped over her mouth. Her face had gone bright red, and streams of steam were billowing from the top of her head. (Steam girl!)
I'm doomed! How did Big Brother Liuxia find out what happened? Did he see me today? Does that mean he saw me beat up my classmates?! Nooo!
At the thought, Kushina panicked, and her body began to tremble involuntarily.
Shaking her head, she lamented inwardly, What do I do? What do I do? Will Big Brother Liuxia get the wrong idea about me?!
Nawaki, meanwhile, didn't notice the turmoil in Kushina's heart at all.
Seeing her suddenly clutch her head and shake it wildly again, he looked confused and hurriedly asked, "Huh? Kushina, does your head hurt? Should we take you to a doctor?"
At Nawaki's question, Kushina shook even harder.
Waaah... This is bad. Big Brother Liuxia must think I'm a weirdo now... Just then, Liuxia finally figured out what was going on.
He understood, of course, that Kushina was so embarrassed and nervous because his words had accidentally revealed his own secret.
Liuxia was about to go reassure Kushina before she got so worked up that her CPU overheated, when he sensed another chakra approaching.
"It's certainly lively in the Senju Compound today! You, the blond boy with the spiky hair over there—come out. I've already seen you!"
"Hello, Senior Liuxia and Senior Nawaki! I'm Minato Namikaze."
Minato Namikaze lightly jumped down from a nearby tree, bowed respectfully to the group, scratched the back of his head, and greeted them.
"You're that sissy who watched from the sidelines in class today!"
Startled, Kushina had forgotten all about being embarrassed and accidentally blurted out what she really thought.
As soon as she realized she'd said the wrong thing, she hurriedly covered her mouth with her hand.
"You know me?" Liuxia asked, surprised.
"Yes! A few days ago, I watched you and Senior Uchiha Yan fight at the training ground. It was incredible! It made my blood race and my heart pound! I learned so much from that battle—I got a lot out of it," Minato said excitedly.
"Setting that aside, why did you come here today?"
Minato suddenly felt too embarrassed to answer. He couldn't exactly say that he'd followed Kushina on a whim because he liked her so much! They'd beat him to death for being a pervert!
"Forget it. We're about to start training. If you don't have anything to do, go on home."
Before you continue