Chapter 103 (Patreon)

Sensing Roy’s return—and knowing how curious he was about the child who possessed Explosion Release—Kushina calmly pulled out a list and placed it before him.

It contained the names and basic information of the latest group sent to Konoha from Iwagakure and Kumogakure.

Deidara’s name was indeed on the list. He was three years old and had accompanied his older sister as a dependent.

As for why his sister had been permitted to bring a family member along on an official assignment, that remained unclear.

Logically speaking, even if Deidara had no relatives other than his sister, Iwagakure should have arranged for someone to look after him. The journey from Iwagakure to Konoha was hardly short, either. No matter how one looked at it, bringing a three-year-old child along seemed unreasonable.

Nevertheless, they had already arrived, and Konoha could not simply turn them away at the gates.

Sure enough, on his second day in Konoha, Deidara began causing a commotion with his explosions.

If not for his young age—and the fact that his explosions were all noise and caused no actual damage—Kushina might have suspected that Ōnoki had deliberately sent a terrorist to make trouble in Konoha.

Deidara’s older sister was named Delisa. She was fifteen years old and already a chūnin.

According to Kushina’s assessment, her talent for fūinjutsu was even greater than that of the jōnin Iwagakure had sent last time.

As for Kumogakure, it had sent the same group as before, including Mabui, who had mastered the Heavenly Transfer Technique.

This time, however, Sunagakure had also sent someone to Konoha.

Their student was a monk, personally escorted by the elder Chiyo and several jōnin.

Chiyo had been remarkably direct during her private discussion with Kushina. Sunagakure was poor and could not afford Konoha’s tuition fees for teaching fūinjutsu. However, they were willing to deepen their cooperation with Konoha in other areas to compensate for the cost.

Remembering the commercial plans Roy had proposed in the past, Kushina accepted Sunagakure’s request.

Konoha would waive the tuition fee in exchange for commercial privileges within the Land of Wind.

The negotiations concluded smoothly. Chiyo departed ahead of the others with one guard, leaving the monk and the remaining jōnin in Konoha.

The mention of a monk reminded Roy of Bunpuku and one of his students.

He could no longer remember the monk’s name, but in the original story, that man had once used fūinjutsu to suppress both Gaara, the One-Tail’s jinchūriki, and Fū, the Seven-Tails’ jinchūriki, entirely on his own.

If Naruto had not interfered, he might have successfully captured two Tailed Beasts by himself.

There was no question that the monk possessed exceptional talent in fūinjutsu.

Once Roy had gained a general understanding of the latest group of students, he set the list aside.

He then remained beside Kushina and gave her a detailed account of everything he had experienced during his journey.

After finishing, he entered Kushina’s inner world.

“Hey, Nine-Tails. Did you miss me?”

The Nine-Tails did not even bother opening its eyes. It acted as though it had never met him before.

Roy was not bothered by its response. The fox was as stubborn as ever. If it had greeted him with open excitement, that would have been far more unsettling.

After saying hello, Roy began practising Kidō on his own. His current goal was to eliminate the incantations for lower-numbered Kidō as soon as possible.

Only after Roy settled down did the Nine-Tails finally lose its patience.

“Not long after you left, that masked bastard tried to use space–time ninjutsu to enter this place.”

“What? That’s impossible.”

Roy dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand.

The inner world of a jinchūriki was not a real, physical location. It existed on a spiritual level.

Although the Tailed Beasts appeared to possess enormous physical bodies, they were ultimately masses of pure chakra. That was precisely why creatures of such immense size could be sealed inside a human body.

The dimension connected to Obito’s Kamui, on the other hand, was a genuine physical space.

There should have been no way for the two spaces to connect.

Of course, it would have been a different matter if Obito had ambushed Kushina, approached her physical body, and then used the Sharingan to interfere with her seal and intrude upon her inner world.

That was certainly possible.

After all, Sasuke had once used his Sharingan to enter the inner world where the Nine-Tails was sealed inside Naruto.

“Hmph! Believe whatever you want. Do you think I would lie about something like this?”

“Then tell me exactly what happened. Why were you so certain it was Obito?”

With a grave expression, the Nine-Tails described what it had witnessed.

As Roy listened, his expression gradually became strange.

“So you mistook me for Obito. Is that why neither of you responded?”

“That was you?”

“Who else could it have been? Didn’t I leave my name behind?”

The Nine-Tails fell silent.

“Still, being cautious was the right choice,” Roy continued. “Space–time ninjutsu shouldn’t be able to connect to a spiritual space, but the Sharingan may still be capable of forcing its way inside.”

After learning the truth, the Nine-Tails finally relaxed. It lay down again and closed its eyes, intending to sleep.

It had barely rested over the past several days, constantly remaining on guard in case something happened.

That evening, after finishing her work, Kushina held a welcoming dinner for Chiyuki, Haku, and Fūshin.

She deeply sympathized with Chiyuki for choosing the wrong man. At the same time, Chiyuki’s experience made Kushina realize just how fortunate she had been.

When Kushina became the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki as a child, Minato had never treated her like a monster, unlike many others in the village.

Roy had even taught her how to understand the Nine-Tails and gradually build a relationship with it.

Chiyuki, however, had been abandoned and nearly killed by her husband simply because their son had inherited the Ice Release kekkei genkai.

Although the incident had only occurred within a genjutsu, the illusion had reflected the man’s true thoughts.

If Roy had not taken Nonō Yakushi and the others to find Chiyuki and her son, it was not difficult to imagine what fate would have awaited them once Haku’s abilities were discovered.

Since Haku still did not know what had happened, Kushina did not bring up the earlier incident during dinner.

She merely told Chiyuki to live peacefully in Konoha.

In a few years, once Haku was older, they could decide whether he wanted to become a shinobi if his Ice Release truly awakened.

As for Fūshin, he would be enrolled in the Academy in a few days and was expected to attend his classes properly.

Even if Haku ultimately chose not to become a shinobi, Kushina was not worried that the Ice Release bloodline would disappear from Konoha.

Haku might prefer an ordinary life, but the same might not be true of his future descendants. Eventually, one of them would surely choose the path of a shinobi.

When Fūshin heard that he would be allowed to attend school like the other children, he became so excited that he nearly dropped to his knees and bowed before them on the spot.

After making a copy of the Ice Release ninjutsu scroll Roy had brought back, Kushina returned the original to Chiyuki.

Next came Honoka’s arrangements.

Honoka had already studied some fūinjutsu, and she had no objection to becoming a shinobi. For the time being, Kushina arranged for her to study under Kaorui and learn the other sealing techniques and abilities passed down by the Uzumaki Clan.

In the future, she could join Konoha’s Sealing Corps.

As Yugito watched the lively gathering around the dinner table, her eating movements seemed somewhat mechanical.

Most of her attention was focused on a private conversation with the Two-Tails inside her mind.

“The Nine-Tails’ mood has changed.”

“In what way?”

“Do you remember when I told you that the Nine-Tails seemed unusually tense? That tension disappeared just now. It has finally relaxed. I suspect it has something to do with the people who arrived today.”

“Could it be Nonō Yakushi?”

Without drawing attention to herself, Yugito glanced toward Nonō.

The Nine-Tails had become tense shortly after Nonō left Konoha. Now, as soon as she returned, it had suddenly relaxed.

Moreover, Nonō was normally responsible for looking after Kushina and Kaorui’s children.

Perhaps she was the true secret Konoha was hiding.

Just as Yugito was considering that possibility, the banquet came to an end. She watched Nonō pick up Naruto and Karin before carrying them back to their room.

That sight only strengthened Yugito’s suspicions.