Jiraiya and Tsunade

Minato Namikaze dodged Chiyu's Rice Soul.

Chiyu's speed gave Minato Namikaze an extremely difficult time.

Minato Namikaze had never expected Chiyu to be so strong. Back at the Ninja Academy, Chiyu had clearly been a step below him.

Chiyu was also somewhat surprised that Minato Namikaze could already evade his slashes.

As expected of the man who would learn the Flying Thunder God Technique in the future—his reaction speed was truly fast.

But Chiyu was only slightly surprised.

Minato Namikaze was still growing. Wasn't Chiyu growing as well?

Chiyu was very confident that at his peak, his Thunder Breathing would not be slower than Minato Namikaze's speed!

Kushina Uzumaki was frantic inside. She had not expected things to become so troublesome.

Kushina Uzumaki was deeply moved that Chiyu had fought those two people who bullied her, as well as Minato Namikaze, in order to protect her. But she was also worried that Chiyu would be punished because of it.

Kushina Uzumaki called out to Chiyu, "Chiyu, I'm fine."

Chiyu gripped his longsword tightly and said in a low voice, "From that day on, I swore that I would protect your smile. But only a few days have passed, and I've already broken that promise..."

Chiyu turned to look at Kushina Uzumaki. "I will never forgive anyone who hurts you! Never!"

"Chiyu..."

Watching Chiyu's back, Kushina Uzumaki's eyes reddened as she murmured to herself.

Chiyu looked back at Minato Namikaze and sheathed his longsword.

Minato Namikaze gripped his kunai tightly. He did not think Chiyu had sheathed his sword to stop; it looked more like a starting stance.

"Thunder Breathing: Third Form: Swarm of Mosquitoes into Thunder!"

Chiyu spun around Minato Namikaze at high speed, leaving rippling blue lightning along his path.

Because of the rippling blue lightning, Minato Namikaze could not retreat to escape. The moment he retreated, he would inevitably touch the lightning.

Chiyu continuously slashed at Minato Namikaze.

Chiyu was incredibly fast, and his strikes were also extremely heavy. Minato Namikaze was already struggling to block them, and combined with the properties of Lightning Release Chakra, his body gradually began to go numb.

The numbness in his body slowed Minato Namikaze's reaction speed as well.

Minato Namikaze judged that he would be unable to block Chiyu's next slash.

Minato Namikaze desperately tried to raise his right hand, but it was still futile.

Just as Chiyu's slash was about to fall on Minato Namikaze's arm, a tall figure suddenly landed behind him.

"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!"

A mass of white hair wrapped around Minato Namikaze.

Chiyu's longsword struck the white hair, producing a sharp clang.

Chiyu's longsword snapped into two pieces.

Seeing the figure before him, Chiyu's gaze hardened.

One of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya.

Jiraiya released his Needle Jizo and scratched his hair. "Well, well, what's going on here? I just got back to the village and ran into this."

Seeing that Jiraiya had returned, Minato Namikaze was extremely excited. "Lord Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya looked at Minato Namikaze beside him and asked, "Minato, what happened here?"

Minato Namikaze stammered, "We're classmates. We just had a small disagreement."

Jiraiya's gaze fell on Chiyu's broken longsword. "This doesn't look like an ordinary small disagreement. Although that kid switched to the flat of his blade when he saw you couldn't block it, if it had hit your arm, a fracture would have been certain."

However, neither Jiraiya nor Minato Namikaze expected Chiyu to suddenly hurl the broken blade in his hand at the left leg of the Genin who had been scared witless.

Another figure landed in front of the Genin and slammed a fist into the ground.

The powerful impact sent the broken blade Chiyu had thrown flying away.

Another one of the Legendary Sannin appeared—Tsunade.

Tsunade crossed her arms and frowned at Chiyu. "Kid, you've gone a little too far."

Jiraiya asked sternly, "Why did you attack a fellow villager so ruthlessly?!"

Chiyu coldly demanded, "A fellow villager? When that Genin fired a real kunai at Kushina, did he treat Kushina as a fellow villager?

"And you, Minato Namikaze. You clearly saw everything. You saw that real kunai flying toward Kushina with your own eyes. You had no intention of helping, yet when you threw that same kunai that had been aimed at Kushina at me, did you treat me as a fellow villager?"

Jiraiya asked Minato Namikaze, "Minato, what exactly happened?"

Minato Namikaze told Jiraiya what had happened. He also explained that Chiyu had already fractured that Genin's sternum, and that Chiyu still wanted to break both of their arms and legs. In the urgency of the moment, he had had no choice but to throw the real kunai at Chiyu.

After learning the full story, Jiraiya felt that Minato Namikaze had done nothing wrong.

Jiraiya stared at Chiyu and said, "You've already punished them. You still wanted to break their arms and legs—don't you think that's going too far?"

Kushina Uzumaki ran in front of Chiyu, spreading her arms to shield him. "They were clearly the ones in the wrong! Why are you only blaming Chiyu?!"

Chiyu pulled Kushina Uzumaki behind him and looked at Jiraiya with a cold, mocking smile. "Too far? What if that real kunai had truly hurt Kushina? Would you still think I went too far?

"Oh, right. Of course you wouldn't think so. Kushina came to Konoha from another village, and I have two rogue ninja for parents. So in your eyes, they're the fellow villagers, while we aren't, right?"

Jiraiya choked on Chiyu's words and rubbed his nose. "I never said that."

Tsunade looked at Kushina Uzumaki in surprise. "What's your name?"

When Kushina Uzumaki came to Konoha, Tsunade had not been in Konoha. In fact, Tsunade had been away from Konoha for several years already.

The same was true for Jiraiya.

After the Second Great Ninja War ended, Tsunade had not remained in Konoha Village due to the deaths of her younger brother Nawaki and her lover, as well as her hemophobia. Instead, she had taken Dan Katō's niece, Shizune, and wandered from place to place.

Jiraiya had continued on his journey of training.

Jiraiya had returned to the village this time to take Minato Namikaze as his disciple. He had happened to encounter Tsunade on the road, so they had returned to Konoha together.

As Mito Uzumaki's granddaughter, Tsunade had exchanged letters with Mito Uzumaki.

She knew that a member of the Uzumaki Clan had come to Konoha.

Kushina Uzumaki's red hair and her status as an outsider made Tsunade suspect that this cute little girl before her might be a member of the Uzumaki Clan.

Kushina Uzumaki answered, "Kushina Uzumaki."

Tsunade thought to herself, Just as I thought.

Tsunade said to Jiraiya, "Jiraiya, let the old man handle this matter."

From Tsunade's attitude, Jiraiya understood that this child named Kushina Uzumaki might be somewhat special. He nodded. "All right. Minato, take them to the Ninja Hospital."

"Yes!"

Minato Namikaze helped up the injured Genin, woke the kid who had been scared witless, and ran toward the Ninja Hospital.

Chiyu's eyes flickered. With Jiraiya and Tsunade here, he no longer had any opportunity.