Dimensionality-Reduction Strategy, Kushina Uzumaki's Exclusive Tenderness

Kushina Uzumaki was awakened by the smell.

It wasn't the dry bitterness of soldier pills, nor was it the bland miso soup from the camp mess hall. It was the sizzle of fat in an iron pan, mixed with the salty-sweet, charred fragrance of caramelizing sauce.

She rolled over, her nose involuntarily twitching twice.

Her stomach growled, more effective than any alarm clock.

Kushina Uzumaki opened her eyes. Sunlight streamed through the cracks in the repaired window frame, warm against her body. She looked down at the bedding beneath her—not the ceremonial robe from last night.

It was a proper cotton quilt. A pillow. And a blanket.

Where had they come from?

Barefoot, she stepped onto the wooden floor and pushed the door open.

No one was in the outer corridor. But beside one of the pillars sat a new pair of straw sandals, exactly her size. Next to them was a neatly folded set of clean clothes.

Kushina Uzumaki stood there for three seconds before her ears began to burn.

She changed clothes, put on the sandals, and followed the scent to the backyard.

Nawaki was squatting before a temporary earthen stove, working an iron pan. The stove had been grown with Wood Release, fitted together seamlessly, with even a chimney built into it. Four thick-cut fish steaks were frying in the pan, their surfaces golden and crisp. Beside it sat a small pot, bubbling and steaming with thick tomato-and-egg soup.

The utensils had already been laid out on the low table. Two pairs of chopsticks, two bowls, and a small dish of pickled radish.

"You're up? The wash water's over there." Without turning around, Nawaki flipped the fish steaks with his chopsticks.

Kushina Uzumaki went to the basin, washed her face, dried it, and sat down beside the low table.

She looked at the food on the table, then at Nawaki busy at the stove.

"When did you get up?"

"Before dawn."

"What about the bedding?"

"Borrowed it from nearby residents." Nawaki plated the fish steaks and brought them to the table. The golden fish skin was still sizzling with oil, dusted with crushed seaweed powder.

"And the pickled radish was borrowed too?"

"Bought it. I made a trip to the morning market at dawn."

Kushina Uzumaki's lips moved, and the words on the tip of her tongue took a turn. "You... don't need to sleep?"

"My Sage Body recovers quickly. Four hours is enough. Eat. It won't be crispy once it gets cold."

Kushina Uzumaki said nothing more. She picked up a fish steak and bit down. The crispy coating cracked loudly in her mouth.

Then her movements paused for a beat.

It was too delicious.

Not the kind of delicious that was merely "decent" or "good enough." This was the kind of delicious she had never experienced in all eleven years of her life. Before the Uzumaki Clan village had been destroyed, she ate plain rice and salted fish. After coming to Konoha, she ate the large-pot meals from the ninja cafeteria. And soldier pills went without saying—they were no different from eating dirt.

Kushina Uzumaki was silent for two seconds before she started wolfing it down.

The first fish steak was gone in three bites.

One bowl of tomato-and-egg soup was emptied.

The pickled radish was wiped out.

Halfway through the second fish steak, her cheeks were stuffed full when she suddenly felt something brush against the corner of her mouth.

Nawaki had reached out and wiped away a grain of rice stuck there with his thumb.

The motion was natural, as though he had done it a thousand times.

Kushina Uzumaki's chewing jaw froze.

She stared at Nawaki's fingers as he casually flicked away the grain of rice.

"W-What are you doing?!" Kushina Uzumaki's whole face flared red, half a fish steak still in her mouth.

"You had something there." Nawaki picked up a fish steak for himself and took a bite. "Eat slower. No one's going to fight you for it."

Kushina Uzumaki lowered her head and chewed her fish in silence. The tips of her ears were so red they seemed ready to bleed.

She cursed herself eight hundred times in her heart—Kushina Uzumaki, can you have a little dignity? He just cooked you a meal and wiped your mouth. Is that really worth this much?

It was.

Because no one had ever treated her like this.

After the meal, Nawaki gathered the bowls and chopsticks, carrying them to the basin to wash. Kushina Uzumaki sat by the low table with her chin propped on both hands, staring blankly at his back.

"Nawaki."

"Hmm?"

"How did you know I like fish?"

Nawaki's hand paused for an instant as he washed the dishes.

Of course he knew. He had read the original work countless times in his previous life; basic information like Kushina Uzumaki liking fish had been memorized thoroughly. But he couldn't say that.

"A guess." Nawaki didn't turn around. "The Uzumaki Clan village was by the sea. You grew up eating fish, so I bet you liked it. Looks like I guessed right."

Kushina Uzumaki's eyes lit up.

He even paid attention to things like that.

After washing the dishes, Nawaki sat down across from her. Sunlight fell in from the side, leaving half his face in the light and the other half in shadow.

"Kushina Uzumaki, how far have you gotten with sealing techniques?"

Kushina Uzumaki froze. The change in topic was abrupt.

"I can draw the basic Four Symbols Seal. As for the advanced seals of the Uzumaki Clan, I only learned part of them before the village..." Her voice trailed off.

"That's enough." Nawaki tapped the tabletop. "I have the Senju physique and a huge amount of chakra. You have Uzumaki blood and an innate foundation in sealing. If we work together, we can keep that big fox inside you completely suppressed."

Kushina Uzumaki's pupils contracted.

She instinctively touched her stomach. The seal usually didn't hurt, but in the dead of night, the Nine-Tails' chakra would surge outward like boiling water, burning her so badly that she couldn't sleep all night.

"You... know?"

"I know." Nawaki's voice was calm. "I also know what you're afraid of. You're afraid that one day, you'll lose control and hurt someone, giving everyone even more reason to call you a 'monster.'"

Kushina Uzumaki's breathing stopped for half a beat.

She had never said those words to anyone.

Even when she thought them, she only dared to do so secretly beneath the covers in the middle of the night.

"That's why you desperately pretend to be carefree. You speak louder than everyone else, making people think you're strong and that nothing matters to you." Nawaki looked at her. "But really, you're scared to death."

Kushina Uzumaki's nose stung.

She turned her head away, forcing herself not to let her eyes redden. "Who's scared? I'm not—"

"Kushina Uzumaki."

Nawaki called her by name. Not "Uzumaki," not "jinchuriki," not "strategic resource."

Just Kushina Uzumaki.

"As long as I'm here, no one can treat you as nothing but a weapon."

Nawaki's voice was not loud, but every word was as steady as a nail driven into the floorboards.

"You are Kushina Uzumaki first, and a jinchuriki second. No one has the right to reverse that order."

Kushina Uzumaki bit her lip for a long time.

Then she couldn't hold back anymore.

She lunged forward, crashing into Nawaki's arms and wrapping herself tightly around his waist. It wasn't the shy, coy embrace of a little girl. It was the strength of a drowning person clutching at driftwood.

Her sobs were muffled against his chest, broken and shapeless, like a small animal that had been caged too long finally daring to make a sound.

Nawaki said nothing. He rested one hand on the back of her head and patted her gently twice.

At that moment, he sensed an extraordinarily subtle change.

His Wood Release chakra resonated with some force within Kushina Uzumaki.

It was not a confrontation.

It was suppression.

One-sided, overwhelming suppression.

Like the roots of a great tree sinking into restless earth, forcibly pressing down every tremor and surge.

Nawaki's perception pierced through Kushina Uzumaki's seal.

In the depths of the dark sealing space, behind a massive iron cage, a mass of crimson chakra churned wildly.

The Nine-Tails.

It had sensed that aura.

The exact same aura as the man who had pinned it to the ground and beaten it senseless decades ago.

The Nine-Tails' enormous vertical pupils snapped open, and all its fur stood on end.

It took three steps back, clamped all nine tails tight, and then—

It lay flat on the ground.

It buried its head beneath its front paws and didn't move.

Playing dead.

The system notification practically exploded.

[Ding! Kushina Uzumaki's favorability has surpassed 90—together through life and death!]

[Bond mission, first phase complete! Distributing rewards...]

[Detected resonance between Wood Release chakra and Nine-Tails chakra! Tailed Beast Suppression function partially unlocked!]

Nawaki ignored the system.

He looked down at the red-haired girl hiccuping through her tears in his arms. The curve of his lips was faint, but this time, it was genuine.

The courtyard remained quiet for a long time.

Sunlight slowly shifted, falling over the two of them.

Until—

BOOM!!!

The gate of the Senju Clan Compound exploded.

It was not pushed open. It was not kicked open. The entire vermilion gate, together with its frame, had been smashed into a storm of splintered wood with a single punch.

Before the fragments had even finished flying through the air, a blonde woman stepped into the courtyard.

Her footsteps carried the force of cracking earth. Her high-heeled sandals struck the rubble, and every step left spiderweb-like fractures.

The diamond-shaped purple mark on her forehead was particularly dazzling beneath the sun.

Tsunade.

"Nawaki Senju—!!"

Her furious roar shook the tender new leaves from the trees in the courtyard.

"Who blew up my little brother?! Get the hell out here!!!"