Chapter 29

Danzo, who had been hiding by the base of the wall all along, walked in through the open door and snorted.

"He even dared lay hands on the Anbu! Sarutobi, I think it's time to issue an arrest warrant."

His Root watched all of Konoha around the clock.

When his subordinates reported that Jiraiya was heading toward the Administration Building with a livid expression, Danzo knew something had happened.

He had rushed over just in time to catch this.

"Enough! Can you stop attacking our own people?!"

Danzo spoke with complete confidence.

He was not yet fifty and still barely retained Kage Level strength.

Hearing Danzo's icy, commanding tone, Jiraiya could no longer contain his anger and shouted:

"Our enemies outside are all itching to make a move, and instead of finding ways to deal with them, you're busy scheming against our own people?!"

If you hadn't had nothing better to do than send people to watch Xuan Zhe, none of this crap would have happened!

"What do you mean, Jiraiya?"

Danzo stared coldly at the man opposite him, his voice barbed. "You can't possibly have failed to see that there's no real connection between Sarutobi Shinnosuke and Hatake Xuanzhe. Or did you have a hand in this behind the scenes too?"

There was an insinuation in his words.

"Danzo!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned, his voice very low.

He had already said the same thing himself just now.

"Heh, you don't even trust me?"

Jiraiya's face alternated between livid and pale. Finally, he simply laughed, turned, and walked out. "Fine. Do whatever you want. I'm staying out of it."

In truth, he knew that he had indeed left things open regarding the matter between Xuan Zhe and Sarutobi Shinnosuke.

But Jiraiya had never imagined that old bastard Danzo would even suspect him.

However good-natured Jiraiya was, he was no pushover anyone could walk all over.

Early the next morning.

A letter lay on the desk in the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at it for a long time without saying a word.

Jiraiya had left the letter, saying that he was taking Minato Namikaze away to travel and train. They had already departed.

Put plainly, he had acted first and informed him afterward.

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew perfectly well what Jiraiya was up to.

But he did not lose his temper.

Because he was not worried in the slightest that Minato Namikaze would escape his control.

Tap, tap.

His fingers tapped the desktop twice.

An Anbu ninja immediately knelt before him in one crisp movement.

"Lord Hokage."

"How are things with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.

"Everything is normal. The Anbu are monitoring her around the clock. If she shows any signs of going berserk, we will suppress her immediately."

The Anbu ninja answered with his head lowered.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded in satisfaction.

Kushina Uzumaki.

He knew better than anyone what relationship this red-haired woman had with Minato Namikaze.

As long as Kushina remained in his hands, Minato Namikaze could forget about leaving his camp.

Going away to train? Let him.

It was a good opportunity to properly cultivate that civilian genius, preferably until he was even stronger than Hatake Xuanzhe.

"By the way, Hikari seems quite proficient with the Body Flicker Technique."

Something suddenly occurred to Hiruzen Sarutobi, and he casually brought it up.

"Huh? Y-yes."

"Go fetch the Scroll of Seals. I have something to give Kushina Uzumaki later."

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke calmly.

Minato Namikaze was someone who valued his bonds.

He would do him a favor first.

On the outskirts of Konoha.

In front of the little house beside the farmland.

"So you're going away to train."

Surrounded by a pack of Ninja Dogs, Xuan Zhe listened to Jiraiya, and an image suddenly flashed through his mind-the days when that fellow would travel with Naruto in the future.

Section 31

He had not expected Naruto's father to get a taste of it before him.

Tsunade stood behind Xuan Zhe, having refrained from going out for fun for once. She rubbed her eyelids now and then, looking as though she had not woken up at all.

Honestly, she had barely slept.

She had been lying down for less than two hours when Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze came charging over.

That bastard Hatake Xuanzhe had still done that sort of thing with her even though they had broken up.

She had even tactfully given him an opening, asking whether he wanted to get back together.

Yet the blockhead had started playing dumb again.

The moment she thought of the little girl at Shinku Yuhi's house, whose eyes lit up so brightly every time she saw Xuan Zhe.

The look Tsunade gave Xuan Zhe immediately changed, taking on an indescribable distaste.

This guy... he couldn't be that much of an animal, could he?

"Senior Tsunade, Teacher Jiraiya and I are going on a long training journey. Could I trouble you to look after Kushina while we're gone?"

Minato Namikaze suddenly dropped to the ground in a textbook Dogza, knocking his head against it with loud thumps.

Kushina's status in Konoha was far too unusual.

Although the news that she was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had not spread, the village's major clans all had some idea.

They all told their younger generations to stay well away from her.

Once he left, Kushina probably would not even have anyone to talk to in the village.

After thinking it over and over, Minato Namikaze could only think of Tsunade as someone he could entrust her to.

After all, the Senju and Uzumaki were related by marriage and had long had a tradition of intermarrying.

Though that tradition had long since been buried in the ashes of history as the Senju and Uzumaki met their ends one after the other.

"That girl Kushina... she really hasn't had an easy time."

At the mention of the girl, Tsunade could not help sighing.

They had met thanks entirely to her grandmother, Mito Uzumaki.

They had once been quite close.

But after Grandma Mito passed away and the Senju Clan suffered a great calamity, Tsunade could no longer spare the attention to look after Kushina.

Besides, given her status as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the higher-ups would never dare touch a hair on her head unless they were utterly stupid.

"Minato!!!"

While they were talking, a girl about Minato Namikaze's age ran over. With red hair and a round face, she looked only fifteen or sixteen.

"Tomato."

Seeing her crimson hair paired with her chubby face, that was the first thought that came into Xuan Zhe's mind.

His mouth moved faster than his brain, and the word popped straight out.

"Kushina, calm down! Calm down!"

The moment Minato Namikaze heard that word, his face went white, and he hurriedly stepped between Kushina and Xuan Zhe.

Xuan Zhe watched Kushina's red hair rise on its own without a breeze, as though it had caught fire.

That word was about as provocative to Kushina as calling Choji Akimichi a "fat pig" would be in the future.

Only after Minato Namikaze spent a long time coaxing and pleading did Kushina barely manage to suppress her anger.

"This is Lord Xuan Zhe, and that's Lady Tsunade. They'll look after you while I'm away. Come say hello."

Minato Namikaze wore a bitter smile.

"Lady Tsunade!"

Kushina stood there, her eyes shining as she stared at Tsunade.

With Xuan Zhe, it was a different story. She forcibly swallowed the anger rising in her throat and forced a smile uglier than a grimace, stiffly tugging at the corners of her mouth. "L-Lord Xuan Zhe..."

Fuck, wasn't this the mother of that cheating protagonist?

This woman barely had more than a bit part in the original story, and now she was still just a young girl.

Xuan Zhe could not resist taking a couple more looks.

Smack!

A sudden slap struck his back. Xuan Zhe turned and found Tsunade wearing that same smile that did not reach her eyes. "Enjoying the view?"

"It's a misunderstanding..."

Xuan Zhe was utterly exasperated.

Could you stop getting jealous over nothing?

He was genuinely only curious about Kushina Uzumaki because she was someone new.

When it came to womanly charm, forget comparing Kushina to Tsunade-she might not even measure up to Kurenai Yuhi. She was not his type at all.

Fortunately, Tsunade did not know what was going through his mind. Otherwise, it would not have ended with a slap; she might have swung a super-strength punch straight at him.

You pervert, you really are into that?

Kushina suddenly slapped her forehead. "Oh, right, Minato! Lord Hokage asked me to give you this!"

She took out a scroll and handed it to Minato Namikaze.

Before leaving, Minato Namikaze had told her that he was going to the outskirts to visit Lord Hatake Xuanzhe, the [Black Blade].

That was how she had found her way here.