The Border

After hearing Kushina's explanation, Qianye Lan thought it over and realized she did have a point.

He leaned closer and ventured, "Since you've already earned some extra money, could we..."

Before he could finish, Kushina guessed what he was about to say. Her little face stiffened, and she said indignantly, "No! You promised to buy it for me."

Qianye Lan could only raise both hands. "All right, all right. We'll buy it when we get back."

Only then was Kushina satisfied.

They chatted and laughed all the way back to the village.

After they returned, Hatake Sakumo's voice rang out. "Dismissed. See you tomorrow."

As soon as he finished speaking, he vanished from their sight.

Uchiha Mikoto looked at Qianye Lan and Kushina with a smile and teased, "Then I won't interrupt your time alone together either. See you."

Kushina stamped her foot, looking displeased. "Mikoto, what nonsense are you talking about?"

She even stole a glance at Qianye Lan. Only after seeing that Uchiha Mikoto's words had not affected him did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Uchiha Mikoto did not answer. She merely waved goodbye before disappearing from their sight.

Qianye Lan watched her leave, then turned to Kushina. "Come on. Let's buy those flowers you wanted. The shop should still be open."

Kushina nodded eagerly, and the two went to the flower shop together.

Qianye Lan asked, "Which pot of flowers did you want? Pick it out yourself."

Kushina pointed at a pot of violets. "That one."

Qianye Lan said to the shop assistant, "Could you please get me a pot of these?"

The shop assistant smiled and nodded. "One moment, please." Then she turned and went into the storeroom at the back.

Soon, she brought out a pot of violets and handed it to Qianye Lan.

After paying, the two set off for home.

Seeing Kushina's excitement, Qianye Lan could not help reminding her, "The last flowers you bought died after three days in your care. Hopefully, this pot will last a little longer."

At Qianye Lan's reminder, Kushina said somewhat impatiently, "I know, I know."

Qianye Lan held his forehead, feeling a little sorry for the flowers.

After all, people who watered their flowers five or six times a day really were rather rare.

Thinking of what had happened to the last pot, Qianye Lan decided to offer another reminder. "Um, Kushina, flowers don't actually need that much water."

Kushina blinked at him and replied, "Really? I thought it was because I hadn't watered them enough."

Qianye Lan nodded and explained, "The last flowers died because you watered them too much."

Half convinced, Kushina said, "Then I'll try it when I take these home and see whether watering them less often helps."

Seeing that she had taken his advice, Qianye Lan inwardly let out a long breath.

Saving a life is worth more than building a seven-story pagoda. Saving some flowers should be worth a one-story pagoda, right?

Just then, Kushina jumped straight onto his back. Qianye Lan was startled, but he still caught her securely by instinct.

Qianye Lan said irritably, "Could you warn me next time?"

Kushina brushed her long red hair against him and said, "I know what I'm doing."

And so Qianye Lan carried Kushina on his back while she held a pot of flowers, and the two continued home like that.

But as they walked, Qianye Lan suddenly realized that the flowers in Kushina's hands were blocking his view.

Qianye Lan could not help reminding her, "Um, move the flowers aside a little. They're blocking my view."

Kushina tentatively shifted them around, only to find that they blocked Qianye Lan's view no matter what she did.

She said, "Never mind. I'll give you directions."

Qianye Lan was about to ask whether she could just get down, but on second thought, he gave up.

He could only accept Kushina's suggestion.

"Go straight. Turn right." Kushina kept guiding Qianye Lan.

The two soon arrived home.

Meanwhile, Hatake Sakumo was still in the mission hall, picking out a suitable mission.

As he looked, he muttered to himself, "Not this one. Too difficult. Not this one. Too easy."

After looking through them again and again, he shook his head with a headache.

Being an instructor was harder for him than completing an S-rank mission.

While he was struggling, he finally spotted a reasonably suitable mission.

Patrol the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Maple.

After Hatake Sakumo selected the mission, a familiar voice came from behind him.

"Sakumo, you're choosing a mission for your students too?"

Hearing the voice, Hatake Sakumo turned around and found Jiraiya standing behind him.

He replied, "Yes. Finding a mission with the right level of difficulty really is hard."

Jiraiya nodded in complete agreement and sighed. "Yes, it really is. Sakumo, I need to choose a mission too. Let's talk another time."

Hatake Sakumo nodded, then left.

At the training ground.

Qianye Lan trained bare-chested, exposing his thoroughly honed muscles.

He easily performed all sorts of difficult bodyweight exercises.

The recovery ability granted by the Uzumaki Clan's powerful physique allowed him to intensify his training without restraint.

He no longer had to train as cautiously as before, afraid that too much intensity would cause an injury.

Now, no matter how intense Qianye Lan's training had been the day before, a night's sleep was enough for him to recover.

Tsunade had once tried to dissuade Qianye Lan from training so desperately.

But after monitoring his body for three consecutive days, even she marveled at his recovery ability.

Had Tsunade herself possessed any interest in scientific research, she might well have dissected Qianye Lan to get a good look at just how he was built inside.

At the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.

Hatake Sakumo was leading Qianye Lan and the other two on a border patrol.

As they patrolled, he instructed the three of them. "When patrolling the border, our main job is to check the local villages for anything unusual. Rogue ninja from Sunagakure might also flee into the Land of Fire."

"When that happens, we need to step in and deal with them."

While Hatake Sakumo was explaining some border patrol experience to the three, they ran into ninja from Sunagakure patrolling the Land of Wind's border.

The looks in the Sunagakure ninja's eyes shifted when they saw Hatake Sakumo.

One of them, a Genin who looked as though he had just graduated, was about to mock them.

But another Sand Ninja clamped a hand over his mouth.

They lowered their heads and hurried away, not even daring to meet the eyes of Hatake Sakumo or his companions.

Only after the Sunagakure group had gone far away did the newly graduated Genin ask in confusion, "Sir, didn't you just tell me to mock Konoha ninja mercilessly whenever I saw them? Why did you..."

The older Sunagakure ninja rolled his eyes at him and snapped, "You need to look at who it is first!"

The Genin asked, "Who was it?"

The older Sunagakure ninja rolled his eyes at him. "The White Fang of Konoha."

The Genin stubbornly retorted, "We didn't cross the border. What right does he have to..."

One sentence silenced him. "If the White Fang of Konoha was in a bad mood, killed us all, and insisted we'd crossed the border, what could you do about it?"