Kushina Wants to Learn the Yin Seal

Night had fallen over the Senju Clan Compound.

"Auntie Tsunade!" Mirai Uzumaki pushed open the door and walked in. Kushina and Tsunade were already seated at the dinner table.

"Mirai, go wash your hands. Then we can eat."

"Okay!"

A moment later, Mirai was seated at the table as well.

The three of them pressed their palms together. "Itadakimasu!"

Mirai picked up a huge clump of eel rice and stuffed it into his mouth, then asked curiously, "By the way, who made this? Tsunade, you can cook too?"

Tsunade nearly snapped the chopsticks in her hand. "You sure talk a lot, brat! Eat properly, or get away from the table!"

Could she tell Mirai that every dish on this table had been delivered from the yakitori place on the next street?

"Okay!" Mirai immediately behaved himself.

As for Kushina, her complaints never stopped throughout the meal.

"Tsunade, Medical Ninjutsu is really hard!

I have to precisely control my Chakra, memorize every acupuncture point and meridian in the human body, and learn all those contraindications for combining medicinal herbs... My head is about to explode!"

Hearing her complain, Tsunade became even more annoyed.

Her hand holding the bowl paused, and a cross-shaped vein bulged on her forehead.

"You only read three pages all afternoon. You stared into space seventeen times and zoned out eight times."

Tsunade set down her bowl and tapped Kushina on the forehead. "With that attitude, you want to learn Medical Ninjutsu? Learn my ass!"

"Ugh—!" Kushina covered her head and shrank closer to Mirai, looking aggrieved. "Mirai, look at Tsunade! She hit me on the head! That's so mean!"

Mirai helplessly placed a piece of fried pork cutlet in Kushina's bowl. "All right, all right. Eat more and nourish your brain.

Tsunade is doing this for your own good. Medical Ninjutsu really can't be rushed. You have to take it slowly."

Kushina pouted and took a bite of the cutlet. "But it's really hard... And Grandma Mito used to say that I was born with poor Chakra control..."

At the mention of Mito, the table fell silent for a moment.

Tsunade's chopsticks paused, and a trace of sadness flashed through her eyes before she quickly returned to normal.

"...Fine, fine. If you really can't learn ordinary Medical Ninjutsu, I can teach you something else."

Kushina's ears perked up. "Something else?"

Tsunade took a sip of wine, her tone casual yet carrying a hint of seriousness.

"I recently developed a technique called the Yin Seal.

Simply put, it stores the Chakra you don't use every day and forms a mark on your forehead.

When you release the seal in battle, you can obtain nearly limitless Chakra."

Kushina's eyes lit up.

"And—" Tsunade shot her a sidelong glance, the corner of her mouth curling upward.

"This technique has an additional effect. As long as your Chakra isn't exhausted, your body's healing speed will greatly increase, and aging will be suppressed.

To put it simply—it lets you stay young forever."

"Stay young forever?!" Kushina slammed her chopsticks down, her eyes shining like two stars.

"Tsunade, I want to learn! I want to learn!

This time, I'll definitely study seriously! I absolutely won't zone out again!"

Tsunade snorted. "Hmph, hmph. Who was it just now that said, 'Medical Ninjutsu is so hard, my head's about to explode'?"

"That was just now! My head isn't exploding anymore!" Kushina pressed her palms together, looking devout. "Tsunade, teach me this, and I'll serve you tea and pour your water every day from now on!"

"That won't be necessary." Tsunade laughed at her antics. "But let me make this clear first. Training in the Yin Seal is also very difficult, and it demands extremely high Chakra control. If you give up halfway—"

"I absolutely won't!" Kushina straightened her back, her tone resolute. "For eternal youth, I can endure any hardship!"

Mirai's gaze wandered around the room, and he couldn't help silently adding in his heart, For eternal youth, women really will do anything.

But then again, Tsunade had already developed the Yin Seal this early? No wonder she had always been so beautiful in the original story!

After dinner, Mirai Uzumaki returned to his room. The moment Kushina set down her bowl, she bounced along after him.

"Mirai, I barely saw you at all today!" She climbed onto Mirai's bed with practiced ease, hugged his arm, and rubbed her forehead against it.

"You went to the Academy this morning to apply for early graduation, and I was studying with Tsunade in the afternoon. We barely had any time to cuddle!"

"Aren't we seeing each other tonight?" Mirai was tugged slightly off balance by her grip, so he simply leaned against the headboard and let her hold him.

"That's different." Kushina buried her face against his shoulder and rubbed against him. "Smell me. I still smell like medicinal herbs from when Tsunade made me identify herbs. It smells awful, right?"

Mirai lowered his head and sniffed. "...It is a little bitter."

"You actually said it smells awful!" Kushina raised her head and glared at him.

"Hey, hey, be reasonable. You were the one who said it first!"

"Hmph, I can say it, but you're not allowed to!"

Kushina glared at him for two seconds, then burst out laughing and leaned back against his shoulder, muttering softly.

"Anyway, I'm going to learn the Yin Seal, stay young forever, and always be pretty. When the time comes, you're not allowed to dislike me."

"When have I ever disliked you?"

"Not now. But who knows about later? What if some black-haired, long-haired girl from the Uchiha Clan steals you away?"

Mirai's heartbeat skipped a beat, and a black-haired, long-haired face with a gentle smile surfaced in his mind.

Not Izumi Uchiha, but her younger sister, Mikoto Uchiha.

"I just have a feeling!" Kushina seemed to sense something and huffed, hugging him even tighter.

Mirai didn't push her away. He simply raised a hand to rub her Kurenai-colored hair and softly said, "All right. I won't."

The two of them sat together quietly for a while. Kushina's breathing gradually steadied, like a kitten that had finally eaten its fill.

Moonlight streamed through the window, spreading a layer of silvery light across the floor.

After a while, Kushina lifted her head from his arms and looked at him with a Kurenai-flushed face.

Mirai's profile was sharply defined beneath the moonlight. His brows and eyes had already gained the heroic air of a young man, and when he smiled, he had a gentleness that put people at ease.

She looked at him for a long while. Then her heartbeat suddenly quickened, and she couldn't help leaning closer—

Her lips lightly touched his cheek.

Then she sprang away as though shocked. Her entire body turned Kurenai-red from head to toe, even the base of her neck burning.

"I-I'm going back. You should sleep early too!" She jumped off the bed and ran out with a thump, thump, thump, not even remembering to close the door.

Mirai touched the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

Had this little girl finally fallen in love?

He got up to close the door, lay back down on the bed, and closed his eyes as his consciousness gradually sank deeper...

The cage formed by the Five Elements Seal still stood within his sea of consciousness, golden runes slowly flowing across it.

The Nine-Tails lay inside the cage, its nine tails drooping weakly. Its fur was even duller than last time—the Chakra that had been drained from it had yet to fully recover.

The moment it saw Mirai appear, its entire body abruptly shrank backward.

But the cage was only so large. It soon had nowhere left to retreat and could only lower its head, letting out a low whimper.

"You evil Uzumaki brat, why have you come again?" The Nine-Tails' voice was hoarse with resignation.