Steam Princess Kushina Uzumaki!

"Hey! Did you hear? Today, a pepper-girl with hair that flies around beat a group of classmates until they were running away with their tails between their legs! It was hilarious, hahahaha... she's just as violent as Sister Tsunade."

As soon as Nawaki stepped through the door, he couldn't wait to share this interesting tidbit with Liuxia, completely failing to notice that Tsunade, standing nearby, had already begun to glare at him with unfriendly eyes.

Tsunade had just returned to the village after completing a mission, only to hear the tragic news regarding the Land of Whirlpools. The Uzumaki Clan was, after all, her grandmother's ancestral home, and the fact that the village had simply stood by and done nothing left her fuming; she hadn't even had the chance to settle the score with the Third Hokage yet.

She was already bursting with suppressed rage, and now her own younger brother was here, running his mouth without a filter.

"Hey, Nawaki! You little brat! Are your skin itching for a beating? I've only been gone for a few days, and you're already bad-mouthing me behind my back! Watch how I deal with you! Kora!"

With an angry shout, Tsunade immediately moved to teach Nawaki a lesson.

Watching Nawaki cower in the corner, trembling as he was being pummeled, Kushina Uzumaki couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Hahahaha..."

"You must be Kushina, right? Hello there, I'm Tsunade. You can just call me Sister Tsunade. Grandma should have mentioned me to you, right?"

Tsunade greeted Kushina with a smile.

"Hello, Sister Tsunade!"

Kushina responded hurriedly; having just witnessed Nawaki's miserable experience, she didn't dare provoke this beautiful but heavy-handed older sister.

"You two go ahead and train. I'm going to find Grandma to understand a few things."

Tsunade ruffled their hair vigorously, then stared at Kushina's vibrant, flame-like red hair for a long moment before finally saying goodbye and turning to head into the house to look for Mito.

"Brother Liuxia, does Sister Tsunade not like my red hair?"

Kushina was exceptionally sensitive to others staring at her red hair.

"How could that be? Our Kushina's red hair is beautiful, it shines just like a ruby. Besides, Grandma Mito has red hair too. Sister Tsunade is just a bit troubled by other matters lately, it has nothing to do with you!" Liuxia comforted her quickly.

"Really?" Kushina was still somewhat skeptical.

"Of course it's true. If you don't believe me, ask Nawaki." Liuxia pointed at Nawaki, who was standing nearby.

"Yeah, yeah! Sister Tsunade definitely wasn't looking at your hair because she dislikes you," Nawaki chimed in.

"Okay..." Kushina finally felt a little more at ease, though her eyes couldn't help but dart toward the door, as if she were hoping Tsunade would return soon.

"Alright, stop thinking so much. Nawaki, stop crouching there. Let's hurry up and start today's training." Liuxia clapped his hands, signaling the two of them to head toward the training ground.

The group arrived at the Senju clan training ground they always used. Liuxia was just about to start their taijutsu drills as usual when he suddenly heard a loud shout from afar: "Brother! That's the red-haired tomato who bullied me! She made me look like a fool in front of the girls in class!"

Liuxia looked in the direction of the voice and saw one of the children Kushina had disciplined earlier.

It seemed he and his older brother were training nearby and had happened to run into them.

"Hey, you 'Tomato'! How dare you bully my brother? Today, I'm going to teach you a lesson on behalf of your family!"

Before Kushina could step forward to explain that his brother had bullied her first, Liuxia had already blocked her path and stepped forward to confront the opponent.

Liuxia said with a stern expression: "First, your brother bullied my sister first; you should make him apologize to her. Second, this is the training ground of the Senju Clan; you have no right to set foot here. Now, get out of my sight, immediately!"

His tone was firm, revealing an unquestionable authority.

"What Senju Clan? That doesn't exist anymore! Listen well, you brat! I am a ninja of the dignified Shimura Clan! Danzo Shimura is my great-uncle!"

Before he could finish his sentence, the man lunged at Liuxia like a starving tiger, attempting to launch a sneak attack.

However, Liuxia's reactions were incredibly sharp. He shifted his body, dodging the attack with ease.

Immediately following, he delivered a swift, sharp elbow strike, hitting the self-proclaimed Shimura ninja accurately and knocking him hard to the ground.

Liuxia took the opportunity to pin the enemy down with his foot as the man struggled to get up, a look of disdain in his eyes.

"With such pathetic strength, you dare call yourself a ninja? It's laughable!"

Meanwhile, the other brat, who had witnessed his older brother being subdued in an instant and was preparing to sneak away, was grabbed by the neck by Nawaki with lightning speed and hoisted up like a chicken.

"Hey, you little brat! You actually dared to bully Sister Kushina? Don't you know she has me backing her up! Kushina, how should we deal with this little punk? Kushina?"

Nawaki turned to look at Kushina, only to find her head bowed, her hands tightly covering her mouth, her face flushed red, and steam rising from the top of her head. (Steam-girl!)

It's over! It's over! How did Brother Liuxia know what happened? Did he see it today? Then he must have seen me beating up my classmates today?! Yada de wa ne!!

Thinking of this, Kushina felt a wave of panic, and her body couldn't help but start trembling.

She shook her head while silently lamenting in her heart: What do I do, what do I do? Brother Liuxia won't misunderstand me, will he?

At this moment, Nawaki was completely oblivious to the turmoil in Kushina's heart.

Seeing her suddenly start shaking her head frantically again, he felt very strange and asked, "Uh, Kushina, does your head hurt? Do you need to see a doctor?"

Hearing Nawaki's question, Kushina's shaking became even more violent.

She thought to herself: Wuwuwu... this is terrible, Brother Liuxia must think I'm a weirdo now... Just then, Liuxia finally noticed the situation.

He understood, of course, that Kushina was so shy and nervous because his own words had inadvertently exposed his secret.

Just as Liuxia was about to step forward to comfort Kushina before she could "fry her CPU" from excessive stress, he sensed another chakra approaching.

"Our Senju clan grounds are certainly lively today! You there, the little blonde hedgehog, come out. I've already spotted you!"

"Senior Liuxia, and Senior Nawaki, hello! I am Minato Namikaze."

Minato Namikaze jumped nimbly down from a nearby tree, bowed respectfully to the group, and scratched the back of his head in greeting.

"You're that sissy who was watching the show in class today!"

Startled, Kushina Uzumaki momentarily forgot her shyness, but she accidentally blurted out her true inner thoughts.

Once she realized she had misspoken, she hurriedly covered her mouth with her hands, feeling embarrassed.

"You know me?" Liuxia asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes! A few days ago, I watched the battle between you and Uchiha Yan at the training ground. That scene was truly spectacular! It made my blood boil and my heart race! Furthermore, I learned a great deal from that fight; I could say I benefited immensely," Minato Namikaze said with an excited expression.

"Setting that aside, why did you come here today?"

Minato Namikaze, however, felt too embarrassed to answer. He couldn't exactly say he had followed them for no reason because he liked Kushina very much! He would be beaten to death for being a creep!

"Forget it. We're about to start training. If you have nothing else to do, you should head back."