A critical eye

Qianye Lan and Kushina pretended not to see Tsunade and, holding hands, tried to go around her.

But just as they walked past Tsunade, she called out to stop them.

Tsunade folded her arms, looked at them, and said, "Stop!"

Qianye Lan and Kushina exchanged a glance and were forced to stop.

Tsunade bent down and reached out with her delicate hand to knead Qianye Lan's little face, not forgetting to say, "Do you dislike my cooking that much?"

With his face subjected to this abuse, Qianye Lan was in pain and enjoying himself.

Because Tsunade had bent down, he saw an enormous expanse of evil.

He couldn't help widening his eyes to examine the evil before him with a critical gaze.

After kneading Qianye Lan's face for a while, Tsunade let go and turned her gaze to Kushina's face.

Kushina immediately gave Tsunade a pitiful look.

That look softened Tsunade's heart, and she straightened up, displaying her lovely curves.

"I'll let you off for now, then."

Kushina hurried over to Tsunade, hugged her arm, and said, "Big Sister Tsunade is the best."

Hearing Kushina's flattery, Tsunade stroked her hair to show her satisfaction, then let the two of them go.

Qianye Lan returned to his room and, seeing Kushina still following him, asked in confusion, "Why did you follow me?"

Kushina lay straight down on Qianye Lan's bed, looked at him, and asked, "Tell me how you helped Big Sister Mikoto."

Her eyes were full of anticipation.

Looking at Kushina's expectant face, Qianye Lan couldn't very well spoil her fun.

Qianye Lan cleared his throat and recounted how he had helped Mikoto.

He deliberately left out a few incidental details, however, believing that Big Sister Mikoto wouldn't talk carelessly either.

Kushina nodded repeatedly as she listened to Qianye Lan's account.

When she heard about Uchiha Fugaku lying on the ground pretending to be unconscious, she could no longer hold back her laughter. "Haha, this Uchiha Fugaku is so funny."

The two talked for a long time before Kushina finally checked the time and said, "It's getting late. I'm going back to my room to rest. Good night."

"Good night."

After they said good night to each other, Qianye Lan's bedroom fell into darkness as the door closed.

A week later.

All three received a vest that symbolized their Chunin rank.

Looking at the vest in her hands, Kushina was still dazed. She felt as though she had become a Chunin without doing anything.

Uchiha Mikoto and Qianye Lan were much calmer.

Minato Namikaze, who had also performed brilliantly in the Chunin Ninja Exams, and a few others collected their vests alongside them.

Over a hundred people had participated in the Chunin Ninja Exams, but only a handful had been promoted in the end.

Hatake Sakumo stood nearby, watching the three of them with a gratified expression.

Kushina looked at Hatake Sakumo and asked, "Teacher Hatake, does this mean we can take missions on our own now?"

Hearing her question, Hatake Sakumo hesitated, looking as though he wanted to speak but held back.

There was no issue with Qianye Lan and Uchiha Mikoto, but Kushina's status was rather special. The higher-ups had assigned her to him as a student partly so that he would protect her.

So he really couldn't guarantee that Kushina could take missions as she pleased.

Seeing Hatake Sakumo's hesitation, Qianye Lan spoke first to help him out. "Kushina, you've only just become a Chunin. Don't think about missions yet. Shouldn't we celebrate first?"

Kushina wasn't particularly interested in missions anyway, and the mention of celebrating quickly diverted her attention.

She turned to Qianye Lan and asked, "Then... how should we celebrate?"

That question stumped Qianye Lan. He looked at Kushina and asked tentatively, "What do you think we should eat?"

Kushina lowered her head and thought for a moment.

Seeing this, Hatake Sakumo said, "As for celebrating, you young people go celebrate. I still have something to take care of."

Qianye Lan nodded. He knew Hatake Sakumo was going to ask the Third Hokage about Kushina.

He then said, "We'll head off first, then, Uncle Sakumo."

Hatake Sakumo waved with a smile and walked away.

Qianye Lan and the others all waved goodbye to Hatake Sakumo.

After Hatake Sakumo left, Kushina raised her head and said, "Let's go eat at the dango shop."

Qianye Lan was a little surprised to hear this. He hadn't expected Kushina, who usually liked eating meat, to choose sweets.

He turned his gaze to Uchiha Mikoto. "Big Sister Mikoto, what do you think?"

Uchiha Mikoto nodded to indicate that she had no objection.

Seeing that Big Sister Mikoto had no objections either, Qianye Lan took Kushina's hand and started toward the dango shop.

Although he wasn't particularly fond of dango, that shop seemed to serve some other main dishes too, so he would give them a try.

Watching Qianye Lan and Kushina holding hands from behind, Uchiha Mikoto felt a little jealous.

Even though a week had passed, what had happened before still left her terribly embarrassed.

Yet Qianye Lan acted as though nothing had happened.

That had been her first kiss, after all. At the thought, Uchiha Mikoto looked resentfully at Qianye Lan ahead of her.

At that very moment, as he walked, Qianye Lan felt an almost tangible resentment behind him.

He studied Kushina beside him, whose expression remained unchanged, and became certain that this resentment was directed at him.

Feeling Uchiha Mikoto's resentment behind him, Qianye Lan's mind raced as he began thinking of how to soothe Big Sister Mikoto.

When they reached the dango shop, the three picked a table at random and sat down together.

Kushina and Uchiha Mikoto sat on one side, while Qianye Lan sat on the other.

Looking at the sashimi on the menu, Qianye Lan asked the server beside him, "Excuse me, is your sashimi made with river fish or sea fish?"

The server paused, then replied with a smile, "Our sashimi is made with river fish."

Hearing that it was river fish, Qianye Lan instantly lost half his interest. He ordered a pork cutlet rice bowl and some Japanese dishes, then handed the menu to Uchiha Mikoto and Kushina.

The two girls also casually ordered some food.

While waiting for the food to arrive, Qianye Lan was still thinking about how to coax Big Sister Mikoto out of her mood.

He didn't even react when someone called out to him.

In the end, Kushina reached out and poked him. "Lan, someone's calling you."

Only then did Qianye Lan snap out of it and discover two girls about Kushina's age.

Qianye Lan looked at them curiously and asked, "Excuse me, did you need something?"

One of the girls asked cautiously, "Could we share your table?"

Hearing this, Qianye Lan finally glanced around the shop. Perhaps because it was mealtime, the shop was already packed, and that was precisely why the two girls before him wanted to share their table.

Qianye Lan hesitated for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up. "No problem."

Amid the two girls' thanks, he sat down between Kushina and Uchiha Mikoto.

The three were seated in a fairly secluded spot, which also gave Qianye Lan an opportunity to soothe Big Sister Mikoto.

Otherwise, he really couldn't think of any way to coax Big Sister Mikoto out of her mood.