Kushina? Kushina Uzumaki?!
Hyuga Tianyi had been standing quietly to one side. Beneath his mask, his pupils abruptly contracted, as though a thunderbolt had struck his mind!
It was her?! The wife of the future Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
Naruto Uzumaki's mother-Kushina Uzumaki?!
Tianyi's gaze involuntarily settled again on the little girl held in Tsunade's arms.
She looked unusually quiet and timid.
This... this was nothing like the woman he remembered, the "Red Hot-Blooded Habanero," whose temper burned like fire.
The Kushina Uzumaki who could send Jiraiya flying with a single punch and give even Minato endless headaches-how could she look so different?!
The Kushina before him was clearly a frightened, sensitive, fragile little girl who needed someone to protect her.
It seemed the tragedy of her clan's destruction and the terror of fleeing for her life were enough to completely change someone's outward personality.
Or perhaps that fiery temper of hers, like a little hot pepper,
was armor she had gradually developed to protect herself after settling down in the Leaf Village.
He had never imagined that the person he had personally pulled back from the brink of death
would turn out to be such a pivotal figure in history...
Tianyi's emotions surged. Once again, he keenly felt the ripples caused by the fluttering wings of a "butterfly" like him.
By then, Tsunade had soothed Kushina Uzumaki and handed her over to a kindly-looking woman beside her.
The woman was a medical ninja who had clearly been assigned specifically to care for her.
Tsunade turned around, returning to her usual brisk manner, and looked at Captain Blue Bird and Tianyi.
"Thank you for your hard work, Blue Bird. Submit your mission report later." She nodded, then turned her gaze to Tianyi.
"I'm glad you're all right."
Tianyi removed his