Stocking Up for the New Year

Koharu's facial muscles twitched as she forced herself to put on a welcoming expression.

"Lady Hokage."

"Oh my, please don't call me that. It sounds so distant!"

Kushina bounced the cloth bundle in her hands, her tone as warm as if she had met a beloved aunt, yet every word stabbed straight into Koharu's heart.

"I was just complaining to Mikoto that Minato has been exhausted lately from reviewing all those documents."

"The paperwork on the Hokage's desk is piled higher than a mountain. He's gotten so thin from overworking himself."

"Today, I have to buy him a huge bag of top-grade deer antler to nourish him. Money is no object!"

Kushina's eyes curved with a smile as she deliberately leaned closer.

"You used to see all sorts of things at the Hokage Building. Tell me, which shop has the most expensive stuff, and which has the best quality?"

The green onion in Koharu's hand trembled, and she nearly choked on the blood rising in her throat.

This was practically rubbing salt into her wounds.

She had sat in that chair for decades. Which document in the Hokage Building had she not reviewed?

Now someone else sat at that desk, while she could not even enter through the front gates.

Minato was busy every day, while she, an old woman, could only carry half a battered green onion around and freeze in the streets.

"I am old. I cannot handle such tonics."

Koharu pulled the green onion closer to her chest and spoke through clenched teeth.

"Deer antler is too heating."

"A little heat is good. The important thing is that it nourishes you!"

Kushina took half a step forward, with no intention of letting her off.

"Young people have plenty of vitality. They can handle it."

Mikoto stood beside