" Kushina, is dinner ready yet?" Shinsei called out from the living room, craning his neck.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Kushina, wearing an apron and holding a spatula, poked her head out from the kitchen doorway. "You should call her Kushina- neechan."
"Okay, okay, I won't rush you. It's only three in the afternoon, let me starve to death!" Shinsei lay back on the sofa, spreading his arms and staring at the ceiling.
"It'll be ready soon, just wait!" Kushina shrank back into the kitchen.
"How about I help? I can cook very quickly," Shinsei continued to ask.
"No, I can do it!" Kushina slammed the kitchen door shut with a bang.
Shinsei is at the age where he's growing, and as the saying goes, "A half-grown boy can starve his Laozi." He's been waiting since 11 a. m. for this meal, and it's now 3 p. m., but the promised lunch is still nowhere in sight.
They were enjoying their shopping trip Kushina suddenly had a whimsical idea upon seeing the market: to demonstrate her culinary skills, claiming she had come up with a delicious idea.
As a result, we've been waiting until now.
I really envy Sasuke; he has work as an excuse to escape so early.
"Have some snacks first." Ino handed over a bag of cookies. Shinsei saw the thick layer of icing on the cookies and thought it was enough; he'd better wait.
Shinsei is no longer a child. He doesn't like sweets and almost never buys snacks on his own initiative. If he absolutely has to eat snacks, he should treat himself to something spicy.
After some time, Shinsei felt it was almost time for dinner and finally heard some good news.
"Here it is!" Kushina opened the kitchen door and brought out a large pot. Shinsei saw that it was filled with milky white broth and colorful dishes.
"This is my invention, the Fruit, Milk, and Vegetable Hot Pot!" Kushina placed the pot on the table, put her hands on her hips, and looked very proud.
"What pot?" Shinsei asked incredulously upon hearing the name.
"It's a fruit, milk, and vegetable hot pot." Kushina stirred the pot with her chopsticks, Shinsei indeed saw pieces of apple and banana in the pot, along with some green things that looked like lettuce.
Is this what I got after waiting for 4 hours? It didn't even heat up.
Minato Namikaze Kushina picked up a spoon and enthusiastically served a bowl to everyone.
Shinsei frowned, looking at the strange food in the bowl, unsure how to start eating.
Ino picked up the bowl, took a sip, and her eyes lit up. "Wow, so delicious!"
Kushina was overjoyed to hear this. "Really? You really think it's delicious?"
"Mmm, it's really delicious." Ino nodded repeatedly, then turned to Shinsei, "Eat up!"
"Really?" Shinsei was a little skeptical. How could something like this be associated with delicious food?
Minato picked up the bowl and took a big gulp, nodding in approval, "Delicious! Thank you, Kushina!"
Since both of them said it was delicious, Shinsei decided to believe them and took a sip.
A cloyingly sweet taste filled his mouth. It wasn't particularly unpleasant, but for Shinsei, it was definitely not delicious. He could only force himself to drink it down.
" Kushina, how much sugar did you put in?" Shinsei stared at the bowl in his hand, not wanting to eat another bite. "It's way too sweet!"
"We didn't put in much, it's just right, isn't it?" Kushina looked at the two people next to her for their opinions, and received their enthusiastic affirmation.
Okay, okay, two women, one effeminate man, all love sweets, that's for sure.
"Can I not eat?" Shinsei asked weakly, raising his hand.
Kushina glared at Shinsei, her eyes flashing with malice. "Why? Is it because my cooking isn't good?"
"No, no, no," Shinsei hurriedly shook his head, "I've been sick lately and can't eat sweets."
Although Kushina did not formally learn Medical Ninjutsu, she still had some understanding of medicine due to Tsunade's influence.
"Really? What illness do you have?" Kushina wasn't someone who was easily fooled.
Shinsei pointed to his hair. "Look, isn't it much thinner?"
Kushina looked at Shinsei's hair and saw that it was indeed much thinner than before.
Ino leaned closer, looking at Shinsei's hair. "You won't go bald, will you?"
What are you saying? Shouldn't you be concerned about your health first?
"No, it'll be fine in a while. I need to use the kitchen."
Shinsei walked into the kitchen and saw a mess, but it wasn't his problem since he wasn't the one washing the dishes. It seemed like Minato would have to Minato.
I quickly made myself a bowl of noodles, cracked an egg, and added some greens and chili peppers.
As Shinsei carried the fragrant noodles into the living room, he heard a rumbling sound from Minato Namikaze's stomach and the sound of him quietly swallowing.
It seems that some of the fourth generation leaders weren't as fond of sweets as he appeared.
Land of Rain Amegakure.
Thick, dark clouds dripped glistening raindrops, which pattered against the gray walls.
The pedestrians on the road were few and far between, walking silently, creating a somewhat oppressive atmosphere.
This is a world of steel and cement, where the only colors you can see are black, white, and gray.
A woman with Shira hair carried a food box through the long corridor.
With a creak, a large door was pushed open, and the woman went in, closing the door behind her.
Apart from the light coming through the windows, there were no other light sources inside, making the room quite dim.
The woman continued walking, her clattering footsteps echoing through the empty room.
At the far end of the room stood a tall chair, upon which sat a gaunt, red-haired man.
Strange iron rods were stuck upright on his back, and when he looked up, a pair of blue, circular eyes were revealed.
The woman placed the food box in front of the man and took out the steaming hot food from it.
"Has Jiraiya-sensei left?" The woman placed the food next to Nagato's chair and asked calmly.
"They've already left." There was no joy in the man's voice.
"It seems Sasori of the Red Sand has exposed a lot of our information, otherwise Jiraiya-sensei wouldn't have chased us here." The woman looked at the drizzling rain outside the window, her eyes somewhat vacant.
"If Jiraiya-sensei cannot become our comrade, then I will kill him next time!" the red-haired man said coldly.
The room fell silent, with only the pitter-patter of rain outside the window.
After a long while, the woman took out a white scroll. "There's quite a bit of new intelligence here too."
The red-haired man took it and read it carefully, his brows furrowing slightly.
"A sage? Like Jiraiya-sensei- sensei? But a god is the strongest!"
"What should we do? Should we start now?" The woman stretched out her hand, and paper flowers bloomed from her fingertips, then transformed into butterflies and fluttered away.
"Now that the intelligence has been exposed, let's prepare to begin!"