Chapter 93: The Ever-Changing Carry, the Unshakable Support (Patreon)

Just as Ino was about to be skewered by the death-ray glares Hinata and Karin were firing at her—

the sound of the front door opening saved her.

"Something smells amazing. Is Genshin here?"

The voice arrived before its owner did — Tsunade's bright, hearty tone carrying in from the entryway.

"I'm home…" came Shizune's voice after, faint and drained.

Tsunade and Shizune were back. As the door swung open, the setting sun slanted through the entryway, throwing the two women's swaying shadows across the floor. For the past three years Tsunade had kept serving as head of the Medic Corps, though the Third Hokage never stopped needling her, feeling out whether she might finally be willing to take over as Hokage.

As for how Genshin knew about any of this — please. The old man had taken to laying his sob stories on Genshin directly: how people his age had long since retired to dote on grandchildren while he was still out here burning the candle at both ends; how a man who had to get up several times a night just to use the bathroom really ought to step down and rest already, and so on.

Tsunade's standard response to the Third's pity party was to read the message and reply with something completely unrelated, deflecting with the Will of Fire: wasn't it the case that wherever leaves danced on the wind, fire would burn and let new shoots sprout? She figured the old man's wick still had a good few years left in it — they could talk again once he finally burned out.

"Sister Tsunade, Sister Shizune, welcome back."

Genshin patted down his apron and went to greet them, taking the green coat Tsunade shrugged off. "You're back early today. Dinner's still a little while off. Want some barley tea to unwind first? Iced or hot?"

"Let me think… iced is fine."

Tsunade bent down to pull off her heels, and as her body leaned forward her two massive Planetary Devastation drew together, gravity carving a deep Valley of the End between them — sending Genshin, whose own body had been steadily maturing these past few years, into a fit of wildly dilating pupils.

Oh, Father Pucci, I think I believe in gravity now — truly, the meeting of people is a matter of the utmost consequence. Meanwhile, behind him, the three little ones quietly pressed their hands to their own flat chests, as faint background music that sounded suspiciously like the opening theme of some show called Niko-Nyanko began to play in the air.

Home at last, Tsunade gave the three little ones a quick nod and then dropped herself, without a shred of dignity, into the head seat of the sofa.

"And you, Sister Shizune? Hot barley tea, same as always?"

"Mm, thanks, little Genshin." Shizune sprawled listlessly across the other end of the sofa — a woman in her twenties somehow radiating the exhausted energy of a thirty-three-year-old office worker.

"Barley tea, coming right up~~~ Here, have some of these little meatballs made from hamburger-steak trimmings to tide you over."

Before long Genshin brought over two cups of barley tea, one iced and one hot, and set them down in front of Tsunade and Shizune. Along with the tea came a small plate of crisply fried meatballs, each speared with a bamboo pick for easy eating.

"Ahh—" Shizune lay perfectly still, like a fish stranded on the sand, eyes shut and mouth open, plainly waiting to be fed.

"Honestly, what am I going to do with you, Sister Shizune. Careful, it's hot~" Genshin speared a meatball on a pick, blew on it to cool it, and popped it into her mouth like a mother bird feeding a chick.

"Mmf— jush' ash 'spected uh li'l Genshin, sho good." (As expected of little Genshin — so delicious.) Shizune mumbled around her mouthful, words garbled.

"Swallow before you talk, Sister Shizune — the kids are watching." Genshin sighed and held the cup to her lips, gesturing for her to take a sip.

Shizune still served as secretary of the Medic Corps, occasionally moonlighting as acting director whenever Tsunade skipped out on work — like this morning, when she'd had to drag herself out of bed at the crack of dawn to sit in for Tsunade at a meeting. The stress had piled up so badly over the years that she'd apparently developed a new hobby of lounging around the house without a stitch on. (Scratch that.)

Once Shizune finished her tea, Genshin headed back to the kitchen to keep cooking.

"What is this vibe... they're basically a married couple!" Ino puffed out her cheeks, muttering under her breath as she eyed the meatballs sitting in front of Tsunade and Shizune.

"Mm… m-more like one husband, two wives," Hinata added weakly.

"Haah… three years living here and I still can't get used to it. Damn it, why is my body still so small!" Karin sighed, running her hands over her own chest and mentally willing it to grow faster.

Who'd gotten a head start no longer mattered — not with two rivals who already looked to have crossed the finish line and claimed the trophy for "size."

Hmm?

Tsunade caught the three little ones' expressions and her mouth curled slowly into a shit-eating grin.

"Hey! You three!" She tilted her chin toward Genshin. "Well? Want some?"

"Eh? Can I have some?!" (x3)

The three little ones' eyes lit up.

"Dream on, idiots!" Tsunade cackled, all pretense of composure gone. "If you want to be real women, you'd better be ready to fight tooth and nail for what you want! Go train harder and grow into women first, you brats!"

"Ehh…" the three little ones let out a wail of frustration.

Genshin set the finished dinner dishes out on the table one by one, calling everyone over to eat.

Mm, presentation looked pretty good — question was how it'd taste…

Ino picked up a piece of hamburger steak, and the instant it hit her tongue her eyes went wide.

So good—!!

Ino, who usually watched her figure like a hawk, let herself go for once and shoveled down bite after bite.

Karin, still a little jealous over the feeding scene with Shizune earlier, latched onto Genshin and demanded he feed her too.

Hinata sat quietly to one side, looking perfectly composed — but under the table she gave Genshin's sleeve a secret tug, reminding him not to forget about her.

The whole table was noisy and chaotic, yet the atmosphere felt unusually warm. Watching the scene, Tsunade's thoughts drifted back to her distant childhood — back when Grandfather, Great-Uncle, and Grandmother had all still been around, dinners had been just as lively and loud.

Really… it was a good thing she'd listened to the old man and come back to the village.

Tsunade propped her chin on one hand, smiling as she watched Genshin caught in the middle of the flustered little harem around him. This kid was already such a smooth operator at his age — no telling how many girls' hearts he'd wreck once he actually grew up.

After dinner, Hinata got ready to say her goodbyes and head home; her dutiful guard was already waiting at the door to collect her — the same combat maid as always, Natsu.

Ever since witnessing Hinata's Tenseigan, which worked like some kind of limited-trial demo card, Hiashi had come to guard her safety with fierce seriousness. Outside of school, her guard practically never left her side.

As for Ino, Genshin took charge of walking her home — a fine excuse to stretch his legs and walk off a full meal.

The whole way, Ino stayed strangely quiet, hands clasped behind her back and fidgeting, clearly turning something over in her mind. It was a completely different picture from the cheerful, food-loving girl at the dinner table.

"Dinner was really good, Little Genshin-sensei," Ino said suddenly.

"Oh, thanks. For a cook, there's no better compliment than that."

After a moment, Ino spoke again, quietly.

"Little Genshin-sensei… am I useless?" Her voice was so faint that only thanks to Genshin keeping up his Hamon Breathing Method around the clock, and the enhanced senses it gave him, could he make out the words at all.

"Useless? What makes you say that?"

"Hinata, Karin — they've both gotten so, so strong. Three years ago we were all about the same, but now all I can do is watch their backs get farther and farther ahead."

A lie. Three years ago all she could do was watch Hinata's back too. But Genshin, the consummate adult fluent in comforting fibs, said something else entirely.

"Everyone has fields they're good at and fields they're not. You just haven't found your own shining talent yet."

"My shining talent, huh…" Ino fell quiet, thinking it over.

Setting aside the bloodline-cheat monsters from the original timeline, Ino easily counted among the elite of ordinary shinobi.

She was a girl with real inner resolve — willing to learn, change, and push past her own limits for the sake of her comrades. Ino hadn't just mastered her clan's secret techniques to perfection; she'd gone on to study Medical Ninjutsu and sensory Ninjutsu purely for her friends' sake.

Her finest moment came during the Fourth Great Shinobi War: when the Ten-Tails fired off a Tailed Beast Ball and the entire allied army stood on the brink of total annihilation, it was Ino who stepped up. With a single Mind Body Switch, she locked Obito down for two full seconds — just enough to wrench his arm off-target and knock the Tailed Beast Ball's trajectory astray, saving the Hokage from being wiped out on the spot.

Later, after her father's sacrifice, Ino took over the duty of mental communications outright, single-handedly shouldering the allied shinobi army's large-scale mental Sensing and consciousness network, relaying battlefield intelligence in real time to tens of thousands of shinobi.

Compared to interchangeable center-stage aces, a T0-tier support like Ino was far rarer — rare enough to fully earn the title of the young kunoichi with the single highest tactical value in her generation.

"Let me ask you something, Ino. What matters most for a shinobi?" Genshin asked abruptly, watching her lost in her spiraling thoughts.