"Not bad. You're getting better and better, Kurenai."
Seeing that Kurenai had finally mastered water walking and could walk normally even with her shoes on, Yuzuru reached out and ruffled her hair.
"Stupid Xiao Xian, touching my head again. I'm a whole year older than you."
Though Kurenai protested his head pats, her head unconsciously nuzzled into his palm.
"All right, next, Kurenai, I'm going to teach you a B-rank ninjutsu called the Shadow Clone Technique."
With that, Yuzuru deftly formed hand seals and mobilized his chakra.
In an instant, another Yuzuru appeared before Kurenai.
"You should know the biggest difference between the Shadow Clone Technique and the Clone Technique."
"Yeah, Dad uses this ninjutsu to do housework all the time."
Kurenai nodded.
"You need to learn this technique too. Once you do, you can have a shadow clone train with you or go to school."
"Oh, I see. Then why do you usually go to school yourself, Xiao Xian?"
Kurenai poked the shadow clone Yuzuru's cheek, then looked at the real one.
"Well, that's because you're at school, of course. I want to go to school with you."
Yuzuru dismissed his shadow clone and gently tapped Kurenai's forehead.
"Ooh!"
At Yuzuru's words, Kurenai's little face visibly reddened.
Seeing how adorable she looked, Yuzuru couldn't help marveling once again at how early children matured in the shinobi world.
After all, ninjas could lose their lives on a mission at any time. To put it bluntly, they lived one day at a time.
Konoha was already the most normal of all the ninja villages. Life in any of the others would only be harder.
Among the Mist Ninja, you simply couldn't survive without killing people. Simple and brutal.
The Sand Ninja were so poor that poor families even struggled to get enough to eat and drink.
The Stone Ninja focused solely on military development, disregarding everything else. Their livelihood problems were staggering, and they even had to resort to war every time to ease population growth. The most ridiculous part was that they were the ones who wanted to expand their ninja forces, only to end up having to send most of the village's ninjas to their deaths through war-and they were happy to do it.
As for the Hidden Cloud Village, it seemed the most normal and united, but that was only later on. During the Third Raikage's rule and the early days of the Fourth Raikage's tenure, the Hidden Cloud Village was also incredibly bloody. Otherwise, why would you think it became so monolithic after the Fourth Raikage took over? Before that, rebellions had been frequent.
In a shinobi world like this, Konoha really was the best of the lot. All one could say was that it had won last place in a contest of awfulness, but it was still awful.
Of course, the main problem wasn't Konoha, but this warped shinobi world.
At that thought, Yuzuru sighed and looked at the adorable Kurenai Yuhi before him.
The mere thought of genjutsu's future standing made the corner of Yuzuru's eye twitch.
To put it bluntly, genjutsu simply wasn't something civilians could play around with.
Either your talent for genjutsu was truly terrifying and the genjutsu you mastered were all S-rank ninjutsu like the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, or you had a genjutsu bloodline, such as the Kurama Clan's or the Sharingan.
Other genjutsu were completely meaningless.
Kurenai Yuhi had only barely become a jonin by Naruto's time, showing just how low the ceiling was for civilian ninjas who pursued genjutsu.
Rather than waste her talent on that, she would be much better off learning other ninjutsu and strengthening her taijutsu.
That was why Yuzuru brought Kurenai out for special training from time to time.
Fortunately, Kurenai worked hard too. Whatever Yuzuru taught her, she studied with the utmost seriousness.
Her chakra control was already the best in the class-excluding Yuzuru, of course.
Her shuriken and kunai throwing had improved considerably too, at least reaching the level of an ordinary genin.
These things weren't to be underestimated. Aside from a few freaks, hardly anyone in the shinobi world could defend against kunai and shuriken. They all had high attack and low defense.
Stick an explosive tag on one, and even someone at Kage level would have to retreat. Throw a kunai unexpectedly in an actual fight, and it might just kill your opponent. That was no joke.
As dusk fell, Yuzuru and Kurenai returned to the streets. After they had a barbecue meal together, Yuzuru personally walked Kurenai home.
"See you at school tomorrow!"
Standing at the gate, Kurenai waved her little hand.
"Yeah. Remember to practice properly. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask Uncle Shinku too."
"Got it!"
Only after watching Yuzuru disappear around the street corner did Kurenai skip back into the house, humming an unknown, cheerful little tune.
But the moment she opened the door, she saw Yūhi Shinku looking thoroughly displeased.
"Dad, Xiao Xian taught me the Shadow Clone Technique today~"
Hearing his daughter show off made Yūhi Shinku even more displeased.
"Kurenai, if you want to learn ninjutsu, you can ask your dad. I'm a jonin, and I know lots of ninjutsu. How could Yuzuru compare to me?"
"But you're always away on missions, Dad."
Kurenai blinked as she spoke.
Yūhi Shinku: ...
"Oh, right, Dad, do you know a ninjutsu called the Rasengan? We ran into Jonin Minato today, and he seemed really interested in that ninjutsu of Xiao Xian's."
"Rasengan?"
Hearing the name left Yūhi Shinku a little bewildered. He had never heard of that ninjutsu.
Could that kid have created it himself?
The thought inexplicably surfaced in his mind, but Yūhi Shinku immediately snuffed it out.
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
How good could a five-year-old child possibly be? Even chakra control would be a problem, let alone creating his own ninjutsu. That's nonsense. I think I'm just too worried about that little brat stealing Kurenai away.
If he really can create his own ninjutsu and has that kind of talent, then what would be wrong with me, Yūhi Shinku, marrying my daughter to him?
What a joke. Did he think I, Yūhi Shinku, scared that easily?
Meanwhile, when Yuzuru returned home, he found the living room packed with people.
Why was it packed? Because apart from Hatake Sakumo and Kakashi, Minato was there as arranged, and Kushina had tagged along for some reason. Was the Third really that reassured?
Right, this was the Konoha White Fang, after all.
What puzzled Yuzuru, however, was why Jiraiya and Tsunade had come too.
Jiraiya was Minato's teacher, so perhaps he had come to offer advice. That was understandable. But Tsunade?
Yuzuru glanced at Kushina. Yeah, she was probably here to keep Kushina company.
"You're back, Yuzuru. Minato, Lady Tsunade, and the others have been waiting for you for ages."
Seeing Yuzuru push the door open and enter, Sakumo immediately spoke with a cheerful smile.
After all, the house hadn't been this lively in a long time.
"He's a boy?"
Tsunade looked at Yuzuru in surprise.
At that, Yuzuru said nothing and simply stared at Tsunade.
"Ahem, well, it's mainly because you look too girly."
"Rude, big-boobed woman."
First pretty, now girly-Yuzuru truly couldn't take it anymore and retorted without a shred of politeness.
"?"
"Say that again if you've got the guts, you little brat!"
At Yuzuru's words, Tsunade immediately stood up.
"Bad temper too."
Yuzuru wasn't about to indulge her. This was his own home, after all. If he couldn't throw his weight around at home, when could he?
Besides, his old man was right there. He didn't believe Tsunade would dare do anything to him...
Before he could react, Tsunade was already in front of him. She scooped him up like a chick, laid him across her lap, and slapped his bottom.
"An ill-mannered little brat like you needs a proper lesson."
Yuzuru froze, then looked at his old man in shock.
Hatake Sakumo rubbed his head and turned straight toward Kakashi.
"?"
Wait, a guest was beating me in my own home? Did that make sense? Did that make any sense?
Old man, aren't you going to do something about this?
Kakashi watched the scene with great interest. After all, seeing Yuzuru get the short end of the stick was an exceedingly rare sight.
If the situation hadn't been inappropriate, Kakashi would have loved to get right in front of Yuzuru and laugh wildly. "That's the expression I wanted to see! That humiliated yet helpless expression! Hahahahaha..."