Chapter 30

After quite a while, she returned with a large Sealing Scroll and handed it to Uchiha Yan. "Here. Every secret collection I have related to Sealing Jutsu is in here. I'm lending it all to you."

"Remember to return it when you're done."

"And don't you dare leak any of it to the other members of the Uchiha Clan, got it?"

She did not mind that Uchiha Yan was an Uchiha, but that did not mean she had a good impression of the rest of the Uchiha Clan.

In fact, she disliked most Uchiha clansmen far more than she liked them.

It could not be helped. Influenced by her surroundings since childhood, she had encountered pitifully few people who liked the Uchiha.

The moment Kushina's front door opened, the red-haired girl bounced outside.

When she saw Tsunade, her eyes lit up, and she was just about to pounce on her when her gaze suddenly swept over the figure beside her.

He was a black-haired boy with fair skin and features so delicate they seemed unreal.

Kushina froze for a moment, then blurted out, "Sister Tsunade, who's this handsome little guy?"

Uchiha Yan remained outwardly impassive, but his mind was already racing.

The Kushina before him had yet to go through that deliberately arranged "hero saves the beauty" scenario.

Her attitude toward Minato was still at the stage of, "Why does that idiot keep saying such embarrassing things?"

In other words, nothing had been set in stone yet.

There was a chance.

He had read plenty of analysis posts on forums in his previous life. They all said that incident had far more to it than met the eye.

Some believed that the Third Hokage's group had deliberately set it up, intending to make Kushina form emotional ties to the village and Minato, binding her completely to Konoha.

Did Minato know about it or not?

Yan leaned toward the latter.

That kid had a clean background. He had grown up in Konoha, was gifted, upright in character, and was Jiraiya's personal disciple.

His faith in the Third Hokage and the Will of Fire came from the depths of his bones.

Besides, he and Kushina already knew each other. Having him play the role of the "rescuer" was only natural.

"What are you spacing out for?"

Tsunade slapped his shoulder and casually said, "This is Kushina Uzumaki. She might become my junior disciple in the future."

"Junior disciple?"

Kushina tilted her head at Tsunade, her eyes full of curiosity.

"Enough chatter. Let's go inside first."

Tsunade pushed open the courtyard gate and walked in.

Kushina hurried after her, then glanced back at Uchiha Yan with the corners of her lips curling up. "Little brother, what's your name?"

"Uchiha Yan."

His tone was calm.

Kushina repeated his name twice, then suddenly smiled even more brightly. "Xuan? Nice name! Much easier on the eyes than that blondie!"

Seeing the look in Kushina's eyes, Tsunade laughed and reached out to pinch both their cheeks. "His name is Uchiha Yan, my kid. Just look at that face. Isn't he adorable? Are you interested?"

"Ow!"

Kushina's face instantly flushed red. She slapped Tsunade's hand away and stubbornly shouted, "What nonsense are you talking about, Sister Tsunade?! You only know how to tease me!"

But after saying that, she could not help turning to look at Uchiha Yan again, curiosity in her eyes. "So you're the Xuan Mikoto keeps talking about? No wonder she's always praising you. You really are cute!"

As she spoke, she boldly reached out and pinched Uchiha Yan's cheek too.

Her earlier shyness had vanished without a trace. She was completely at ease as she cheerfully introduced herself. "Hey! I'm Kushina, Kushina Uzumaki. Nice to meet you!"

"Uh... hello."

Uchiha Yan blocked both Tsunade's and Kushina's hands, replying with a touch of helplessness.

"Hehe, you really don't act like a three-year-old at all. Enough talking, let's get inside!"

Kushina laughed merrily and led Tsunade and Uchiha Yan into the living room.

She quickly poured tea for the two of them and set out several plates of snacks.

Seeing all this, Tsunade deliberately clicked her tongue. "And you say you're not interested in him? You were never this attentive when I came over. Tea, snacks... Kushina, you can't hide what you're thinking!"

"I'm not!"

Kushina hurriedly explained, "Xuan is Mikoto's little brother, and I'm Mikoto's good friend, so naturally he's my little brother too!"

"It's his first time visiting. Shouldn't I treat him properly?"

"As for you, Sister Tsunade?"

At that, Kushina shot Tsunade a sidelong glance, her face full of disdain. "We've known each other forever. Why put on all these formalities?"

"Besides, when are you paying back the money you owe me?"

The moment Tsunade heard that, she shuddered and hurriedly waved her hands. "All right, all right! I'll stop teasing you, okay? Money, what money? We're family. Why haggle over that?"

No money, only a life.

She still owed a mountain of debt outside. Where would she get the money to repay her?

"Hmph!"

Seeing Tsunade's cowardly look, Kushina proudly raised her chin and muttered inwardly, Little brat, trying to fight me? Now I've got you by the weakness, huh?

"So, you came to see me because you need something, right?"

Kushina sat down opposite Uchiha Yan and asked directly.

As she spoke, she glanced at the large Sealing Scroll on Xuan's back and wondered, Isn't this the scroll Grandma Mito gave me before? I remember it being filled with books on Sealing Jutsu.

Kushina kept puzzling over it, unable to understand why Tsunade had given those things to Uchiha Yan.

Tsunade cleared her throat, her expression turning serious. "Here's the situation. This kid has recently been researching a Medical Talisman. He wants to turn Medical Ninjutsu into something like an explosive tag, so it can be activated directly after an injury and used to heal oneself."

"But the Uchiha Clan has little inheritance in Sealing Jutsu. He lacks the relevant knowledge right now, and his research has hit a bottleneck."

"So I thought of you, Kushina."

"You're the best at Sealing Jutsu in all of Konoha, even the entire Ninja World."

"I want you to teach Xuan some Sealing Jutsu. What do you think?"

After hearing that, Kushina practically raised her chin to the sky, feeling immensely pleased with herself. That's right, I'm the number one Sealing Jutsu expert in the Ninja World. Hehehe!

But the Nine-Tails in her sealed space had heard it too.

Sensing Kushina's smugness, it muttered disdainfully, "This red-haired little girl is the number one in Sealing Jutsu in the Ninja World? Just how weak has the Ninja World become now? Tch..."

Then its attention shifted to Uchiha Yan.

The Nine-Tails was full of questions. What exactly was this Uchiha brat? Why did it feel a warm yet hair-raising power from him, as though it could suppress it?

He seemed to have already awakened the Sharingan! How old was he?

Was that eye power real? It was that strong? And why did he lack that dark aura the other Uchiha had? Was he some kind of mutation?

And what was going on with this brat's spiritual power? It was absurdly strong.

Others could not sense it because the kid had hidden it with some special method.

But he could not hide it from the Nine-Tails.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, the Nine-Tails saw Uchiha Yan's gaze sweep toward it, as if he could see it—as if their eyes had met.

But the next second, his gaze moved away as though nothing had happened.

Yet the Nine-Tails knew it had not been an illusion. "He saw me. He really saw me! What kind of monster is this little brat?"

Outside, Uchiha Yan withdrew his spiritual power, a faint smile curling his lips. The Nine-Tails? Interesting. I should get some Nine-Tails chakra to study later.

He was curious about the nature of Tailed Beast chakra.

He was very interested in the Tailed Beasts' ability to transform themselves into energy.

He was also quite intrigued by their method of using chakra energy to condense physical bodies.

Uchiha Yan focused all his attention on the Tailed Beasts—they could absorb energy from nature and convert it into an inexhaustible supply of chakra.

Humans synthesized chakra through cellular energy and spiritual power, but Tailed Beasts followed no such path. In a sense, their chakra was unlimited.

These secrets left Uchiha Yan itching with curiosity.