“Minato, Minato!”
Hearing Kushina's call from the living room, Minato held a frying pan in one hand and a spatula in the other, poking his head out to look at Kushina sitting on the sofa. He replied, “I’m here.”
“Minato, several ninjas from the Uchiha clan came to congratulate us on our marriage today!”
Kushina fiddled with the camera in her hands, watching the recorded blessings from the Uchiha ninjas, her face unable to hide the smile.
However, the smiles on the faces of those Uchiha seemed forced, as if they were being coerced...
“Sniff~ Sniff~”
Suddenly smelling the scent of cooking oil in the air, she looked up and saw Minato standing next to her, looking down at the images on the camera.
Seeing the spatula still dripping oil, Kushina patted the sofa, feeling a bit sorry. “Be careful; the sofa is newly replaced.”
“Ah? Sorry.”
Minato quickly reacted and jogged back to the kitchen to put the spatula and apron away before returning to Kushina’s side to look at the camera together.
Not only were there blessings from ninjas of their village, but there were also blessings from ninjas from other villages. Even the Hidden Cloud Village, which had not signed a ceasefire agreement with Konoha and was still engaged in small-scale wars, had sent their blessings.
“Minato.”
At this moment, Kushina wrapped one arm around Minato's shoulder and gently touched her gradually rounding belly, asking, “A couple of days ago, I heard Mikoto say that the internal conflicts in her family are getting worse, and the clan members are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.
At the last clan meeting, someone even suggested that the clan leader should divorce and pursue the leader of the Senju clan.”
Huh?
Minato stared blankly at his wife, recalling the loving relationship between Fugaku and his wife, and quickly asked, “Why?”
“Ugh!”
Kushina put down the camera, looking exasperated. “It’s all because of the Hokage position. Ever since Mikoto married Fugaku, she’s been driven almost mad by those clan members, each one pulling the clan leader to force him to reminisce about the past.
For example, when the village was founded, the First Hokage patted Uchiha Madara’s shoulder and said he would pass the position of Second Hokage to him.
Then later, the Second Hokage patted Uchiha Kagami’s shoulder and said, ‘You are different from the other Uchiha; you are the one most likely to inherit the position of Third Hokage.’
After that, the Third Hokage also patted Fugaku's shoulder, saying that if he blocked the enemy’s attack, his name would appear among the candidates for Hokage.
Minato, as the Fourth Hokage, it is your responsibility to maintain the stability of the village, and the Uchiha clan is the largest clan in Konoha...”
Seeing his wife’s hesitant expression, Minato suddenly connected it to the mention of the Senju clan leader earlier.
Is she trying to set me up as a go-between???
If so... I’ll be killed by Lady Tsunade!
Thinking of the scene where his master was once beaten into the hospital by Tsunade and then treated only to be hammered back into the hospital, Minato shook his head vigorously, muttering to himself, “No way, Lady Tsunade would kill Jiraiya-sensei.”
????
Kushina looked at Minato with a puzzled expression, somewhat confused by his train of thought. She was talking about the internal conflict in the Uchiha clan that could affect the village if not dealt with in time, and he had gone off on a tangent?
“Idiot!”
Kushina climbed onto Minato’s lap, grabbing his collar with both hands and shaking him back and forth. “Why don’t you transfer that ninja who advised Mikoto to divorce? Just make sure he can’t attend the clan meeting and voice any opinions.”
“Transfer where...”
Seeing Kushina’s hair standing on end, Minato quickly raised both hands in a gesture of surrender, a placating smile on his face. “Got it, got it.
Recently, there’s been a batch of Anbu requesting to return to the normal ninja roster, resulting in many vacancies in Anbu. Soon, Anbu will send out invitations to outstanding ninjas in the village.”
“What about during this time? What about during this time?”
“This time... this time...”
Minato stammered, secretly glancing at the angry Kushina. One hand kept patting her back to soothe her, while the other rubbed his chin, wearing a doting expression. “Actually, some ninja academy students have applied for early graduation. If that person is mentally stable, he can serve as a temporary teacher for a while...
Kushina, what’s the name of that Uchiha ninja? I’ll check his file when I get back...”
“That’s more like it.”
Kushina picked up the camera that had been thrown aside and flipped through it for a moment before pointing to a congratulatory video on it. “Look, it’s him, Uchiha Asuka, a Jonin of the Uchiha clan, a very versatile ninja. It’s said that even when he was a Chunin, he already had Jonin-level combat abilities. Now he’s a Jonin; his specific combat power is unknown.”
“So it’s him...”
Following Kushina’s finger, Minato saw a somewhat familiar figure in the camera.
Looking at that familiar figure, a flash of realization struck Minato, and he suddenly fell silent.
Seeing Minato sit there in silence, Kushina shook his shoulder, a bit worried. “Does he have any problems?”
“Not really...”
Minato shook his head, recalling the events during the Third Shinobi War and Asuka’s information, slowly saying, “His experience is somewhat similar to Lady Tsunade’s, but he is one of the few combat-type ninjas who mastered and excelled in medical ninjutsu.
Moreover, the information says that the Third Shinobi War took all his companions, and the medical ninjutsu he spent a long time learning could only clearly sense the life force of his companions ebbing away; he couldn’t even prolong their lives.
Later, he denied his medical ninjutsu and never used it again.”
Is that so...
After listening to Minato’s account, Kushina was taken aback for a moment; due to her identity, she had not participated in the Third Shinobi War.
But during that time, almost every household in Konoha was draped in white...
“Alright!”
Seeing that Kushina seemed a bit unhappy, Minato gently rubbed her belly and said, “Tomorrow, I will assign him a small team.”
...
At this moment.
Asuka sat in a chair, looking around his empty room, feeling a twinge of regret.
The old cat lady is really ruthless.
When I bought it, you gave me a 10% discount, and when I sell it, you give me a 30% discount.
Back and forth like this, I’ve done nothing, and my assets have shrunk by nearly a third.
“Sigh!”
He let out a deep sigh, spat the chicken bone from his mouth onto the floor, and then his gaze fell on the large orange cat sleeping on the table. Looking at this cat that was ridiculously fat, he gave it a couple of nudges and said, “Stop sleeping, go help me deliver a letter.”
Noticing someone pushing at its rear, the large orange cat slowly opened its eyes, instinctively stretching, only to see a letter seemingly tied around its waist. In an instant, its stretching motion froze.
After a long silence, it looked at the recipient’s information, then raised its head to look at Asuka, displaying a human-like expression of helplessness, and murmured in a girl-like voice, “I don’t want to deliver a letter to a widow; it’s bad luck.
Moreover, the Senju clan and you guys are sworn enemies.”
“Pah!”
Asuka spat on the ground, then looked toward the Senju clan’s territory, saying, “Their clan has been wiped out, and there’s only one female left in the entire clan. At this point, what’s the point of talking about sworn enemies?
When the Senju clan was still around, they would argue a bit with the other side; now that their entire clan is dead, it’s not like I’d kick them while they’re down.”
Upon hearing this, the orange cat glanced at Asuka, then casually opened the letter and read the contents aloud.
“To the leader of the Senju clan - Tsunade Senju.
As the Third Shinobi War gradually comes to an end, the ninja world has finally ushered in a temporary peace. Although this is only temporary, as the leader of the Uchiha clan, I would like to discuss the future of the two feuding clans and talk about the future of the village and the ninja world through this letter.
---- Fugaku Uchiha”
Plop!
Just as it finished reading the end, suddenly a piece of paper fell out of the envelope.
The orange cat picked up the paper that fell on the table, opened it, and exclaimed, “Asuka, you struck it rich? Why did you stuff 100,000 ryo in the envelope???”
“If I don't stuff money, it would be a miracle if Tsunade comes back to us.”
“Why are you working so hard for?”
Slap!
Asuka lightly smacked the orange cat on the head, annoyed. “I just want to live my life safely; any conflict means danger, and if we can solve it peacefully, we should definitely solve it peacefully.”
...