The morning sunlight had yet to climb to the top of Hokage Rock.
Amamiya Maki and Yakushi Nonō were already standing outside Kushina Uzumaki's home.
Nonō carried a plain cloth bag filled with antidotes she had worked overtime at Konoha Hospital to prepare the night before, supplies set aside specifically for the upcoming chunin ninja exams.
Maki held three finely crafted wooden boxes, each neatly engraved with its recipient's name.
Kahoe Uzumaki opened the door.
She had changed into light-colored casual clothes that day, her red hair loosely tied to one side of her shoulder. The moment she saw them, she stepped aside to let them through.
"Maki, Nonō, Kushina's been waiting for you in the living room for ages."
Inside, Kushina sat cross-legged at a low table, a notebook on sealing jutsu spread before her, its corners frayed from frequent use.
When she saw Maki enter, she immediately shoved the notebook aside and sprang to her feet.
Her brilliant red hair swayed in the morning light like a blazing flame.
Nawaki was there too.
He leaned against the window with his arms folded, the First Hokage's Necklace slipping out of his collar and swaying gently. It was obvious Kushina had dragged him over first thing that morning to be her sparring partner.
"You're finally back!"
A string of questions spilled from Kushina's mouth, her eyes brimming with envy she could not hide.
"How did the fighting in the Land of Rivers go? Were Sunagakure's puppeteers really sneaky? Nawaki told me you ran into loads of modified puppets at the mine, and he nearly got ambushed by poison needles!"
She had been confined to Konoha for far too long.
Even with the Nine-Tails' seal stable and her own chakra calm and deep, the fighting spirit she had been born with