Chapter 35
Uzushiogakure.
Later that afternoon.
Kushina came bursting through the main gates of the compound.
"Aunty! Aunty!" Kushina shouted, energetic as ever.
From the garden, Medori, who was tending to her flowers, raised her head to look at the redhead with amusement.
"What happened now? Or rather... what did you do this time?"
"Ahh. I may or may not have accidentally destroyed a tiny bit of the courtyard," Kushina said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.
Medori raised an eyebrow, taking in Kushina's appearance. One of her sleeves was shredded all the way up to her elbow, and her pants were slightly scorched.
"Hmm," Medori hummed, clearly not buying it. "And what exactly were you doing that destroyed a 'tiny bit' of your courtyard?"
"I was testing a Lightning Release technique that I thought would be really cool," Kushina explained, before instantly deflating. "But it didn't work. So I came to ask Sensei for help."
Kushina looked around, scanning the compound with her Mind's Eye of the Kagura, but couldn't sense her.
"Where is Saki-sensei?"
"Saki left after breakfast. I believe she is at the administrative building right now."
"Ehh…" Kushina whined. "Well, I should probably go to the hospital then. I promised Akane I would help her with her research."
"Well, you can show me. I might be able to help," Medori offered, standing up fully and wiping her dirt-stained hands on her gardening apron.
Kushina thought for a second before nodding.
"Well, I was trying to coat my entire hand in lightning chakra. But it didn't work. The lightning just kept exploding in my hands."
Kushina could still vividly remember the Kumo ninja whose lightning-covered fingers had almost killed her during the invasion. Because of that, she had decided to invent a jutsu of her own, one that covered her entire hand as a lethal blade.
"Oh. I still sometimes forget that you possess all seven chakra affinities. So you are practicing your Lightning Release now. Show me what you were trying to do. But not here—I would prefer my garden not get a 'tiny bit' destroyed," Medori teased with a hint of mirth.
Kushina smiled awkwardly and followed Medori until they reached an empty clearing behind the compound.
Medori turned to Kushina and gestured for her to start.
Kushina nodded, focusing intently as she began converging and gathering chakra into her right hand.
Faint sparks of lightning began to crackle around her fingers. Frowning in concentration, she aggressively increased the output until her entire palm was covered in a dense crackling lightning.
Medori's eyes widened slightly at the sheer density of the chakra, but a second later, they narrowed sharply.
Kushina's frown deepened as she desperately tried to clamp down and control the volatile lightning. But in the next instant, it detonated right in her palm.
A thick cloud of dust and smoke kicked up around them.
Cough. Cough.
Kushina hacked, waving her left hand to clear the dust and debris. With a simple hand seal, Medori summoned a gentle breeze that swept the smoke away entirely.
Medori rubbed her temples.
"'A tiny bit,' huh?" she repeated dryly, looking down at the smoking crater Kushina was now standing in. Her eyes then fell to Kushina's right hand—the one that had performed the jutsu.
It was mangled, the skin charred and split open. But thanks to her powerful Uzumaki vitality and her mutated healing bite, the gruesome wounds and the severe burns began rapidly knitting back together right before her eyes.
"Hehe…." Kushina laughed sheepishly. She wisely decided not to mention that she had used way more chakra when she tried this back in her own courtyard. She was sure her dad was definitely going to give her an earful later.
"So... any advice?" Kushina asked, quickly trying to change the subject and completely ignoring the smoking crater beneath her feet.
Medori simply shook her head. But, stepping into her role as a teacher, she raised her own hand to replicate exactly what Kushina had just done.
Within seconds, a steady, perfectly contained stream of brilliant lightning chakra encased Medori's entire arm. Kushina stood slack-jawed.
"H-how…? Aunty, Teach me!"
"No," Medori refused flatly, extinguishing the lightning.
"Wh—what?" Kushina blinked, thinking she had misheard.
"I said no. This will be an excellent lesson for you," Medori replied. "What your technique is lacking is a very simple concept. If you manage to figure it out on your own, I will…" Medori paused, thinking of a fitting reward before her eyes lit up in amusement. "…give you one entire month without any fūinjutsu homework."
Kushina lit up instantly.
"Are you serious?! You've got a deal, Aunty! No take-backs! I will master this technique, dattebane!" She gave an excited thumbs-up.
Medori smiled and nodded. Inwardly, she wondered exactly how long it would take the girl to realize that the jutsu was already technically complete.
The problem wasn't a lack of control. Kushina was trying too hard to forcefully cage the lightning. What a volatile element like lightning truly required wasn't rigid control—it required guidance. She needed to let it flow naturally.
"I like your confidence. By the way, do you have a name for it yet?" Medori asked.
Kushina blinked. "No."
"Well, you had better start thinking of one," Medori said, turning and walking calmly back toward the main building.
"Umu." Kushina nodded, happily following behind her.
"By the way, where is Haru?" Kushina asked suddenly.
Medori paused.
"Hmm?" She closed her eyes for a brief moment, her senses expanding to scan the entire village, before letting out a soft chuckle.
"Fufu. He is currently wandering around the village… in disguise, using a Henge no Jutsu."
"Oh." Kushina nodded understandingly. She knew that sometimes Haruto just needed his alone time. Whenever the pressure got to be too much, he would sneak out to roam the bustling village streets or explore the dense mountain forest behind the compound. "Who is keeping an eye on him this time?" she asked.
"Well, who else? Mikasa."
"Figures as much."
With that, the two of them disappeared inside the main building.
*****
In the village.
Haruto was roaming around in his disguise.
All around him, the villagers looked at him with various expressions—some were smiling, while others simply shook their heads at his antics.
Haruto's disguise was flawless, but there was one small problem: his aura. That soothing, rejuvenating aura.
Especially for an Uzumaki, that energy had a profoundly calming effect on their senses. Yet, despite knowing exactly who he was, nobody ruined his fun. Instead, everyone played along.
"Child, you seem new around here. Want some dango?" a local vendor called out.
"Thank you, Kag—cough, I mean, kind Uncle!" Haruto almost blurted out the shop owner's actual name, nearly compromising himself on the spot.
The shop owner offered a strained smile, thinking to himself, 'This child…'
"Here." He handed Haruto two skewers of dango, waving away the coins Haruto tried to offer him. "It's on the house. It's been quite some time since we saw a 'traveler' from the outside. Take it as a free sample, and make sure you come back to buy more later." Leaning over the counter, the man whispered, "I'll even give you a massive discount."
Haruto's eyes practically sparkled through his illusion at the mention of a discount. He nodded eagerly, accepting the sweets.
"Thank you, kind uncle! I will definitely come back."
This exact scene repeated itself multiple times as he wandered the market. Vendors constantly handed him free snacks or offered him heavy "traveler" discounts, always accompanied by warm, fond smiles.
At this point, it was an open secret among the populace. Almost everyone in the village knew Haruto was special—perhaps even more special than their fiery princess, Kushina. who was hailed as a once-in-a-millennium genius.
Some of the sharper shinobi even suspected that Uzushio was still in strict lockdown specifically to protect him. Whenever he was near, they could feel that same suffocating pressure—highly diluted but undeniably there.
The exact same presence that had washed over the island twice now. First, during the bloody night of the invasion, and second, on the night the entire mountain was locked in a barrier.
At first, the clan had been quietly skeptical of the strange boy with the otherworldly chakra.
But as the months passed, they all understood that he was just an innocent child, perhaps way too innocent for this cruel world. So, they had all become protective and deeply fond of him.
From his calming presence and his never-fading smile, to his harmless mischief around the village, he had become the sunshine of this clan. He was the hope for those who had lost their light.
*****
As Haruto wandered from one place to another like a curious child, he arrived at the main market.
This was the designated hub for external trade. Merchants, both big and small, traveled from afar to purchase Uzushio's everyday goods and sell their own wares. Naturally, it was an area heavily monitored by the village guards, keeping a watchful eye on both sides.
Haruto leisurely walked through the bustling aisles, looking at the various new stalls and foreign items with bright-eyed excitement.
Then, his eyes landed on a small, unassuming stall—specifically on a pendant hanging from above.
It was a delicate, gold-colored pendant shaped like a blooming sakura flower. The moment Haruto saw it, an image of Hiyuki flashed warmly in his mind.
"Interested in something, child?"
The voice came from behind the stall. A tall, lean man with a folding fan covering the lower half of his face stepped forward.
"Yes. This pendant," Haruto said, pointing directly at the golden flower.
"Hmm. You've got an eye for quality, kid," the man said, folding his fan with a sharp, theatrical click. He spoke with dramatic flair. "This pendant was forged by the finest craftsman in the Land of Iron."
The vendor then launched into an elaborate tale, boasting about the metalwork and the history of the piece. Haruto nodded along as if he understood, though nearly all of the merchant's rambling was going completely over his head.
After a full five minutes of rambling, the vendor finally paused.
"So, wanna buy it? For a smart kid like you, I'll even give a heavy discount."
"Yeah. Here," Haruto said, casually pulling a thick stack of cash from his storage scroll. "How much was it?"
Truth be told, Haruto never lacked money. Medori had made sure of that. As the brilliant inventor of various fūinjutsu-based products for civilian use, she held numerous lucrative patents to her name. She had single-handedly opened several new sources of income for the village, and to this day, she received a considerable cut of the massive profits.
The vendor's eyes lit up with unbridled greed. He practically snatched the thick stack of bills straight from Haruto's hand. He quickly flipped through the money and brazenly pocketed the entire stack without answering the question.
When Haruto reached up for the pendant, the vendor swiftly took it down first. But instead of handing it over, the man dropped it into a massive burlap bag behind his counter and began to rummage through the sack to look for something.
Haruto narrowed his eyes, tracking the vendor warily when he realized he wasn't being handed the item he had just paid for.
After a few agonizing seconds, however, the vendor pulled a smooth, pure black wooden box from the depths of his burlap sack.
He carefully popped the lid and presented it to Haruto.
It was the exact same sakura pendant, but this one possessed a pure, radiant golden luster that made it look far more exquisite. Set against the rich red velvet interior of the box, it was mesmerizing.
"This one was made by the same craftsman," the vendor explained proudly, "but it was forged from the purest gold, personally extracted from the earth by the Third Kazekage using his Magnet Release. It was then refined by Sunagakure's finest smiths."
The vendor held it out with genuine pride.
"And since it is made out of high-purity gold—one of the best conductive materials for fūinjutsu—it will serve as the perfect vessel for some powerful defensive engravings."
Haruto's eyes lit up at that detail, and he nodded eagerly.
Smiling, the vendor closed the lid, packed the elegant box neatly into a nice wrapper, and handed it over to Haruto.
"Here. I am sure whoever this is for will be quite happy to receive it," the vendor said fondly, his eyes softening as if recalling a precious memory of his own.
"Umu." Haruto nodded with a bright smile. "Bye, shady uncle!"
With that cheerful goodbye, Haruto turned on his heel and happily walked away.
The vendor's smile twitched, but he said nothing, instead he sat down behind his stall waiting for another customer but his eyes occasionally scanned the surroundings.
****
After wandering around the village from one end to another, Haruto—now without his disguise—finally decided to head home as the sun was slowly dipping below the horizon.
As he reached the base of the mountain, he saw a familiar figure standing right in front of his secret path.
"Eh? I got caught again," Haruto whined, looking at Mikasa, who was leaning against a tree with her arms folded.
"I hope you had your fun. Now come along; everyone is waiting for you," Mikasa said, pushing herself away from the tree and turning to walk toward the compound.
She didn't ask where he had been or what he had been doing, mostly because she had been tailing him from the moment Konan informed her about his little adventure. But she hadn't stopped him from having his fun.
Haruto was almost always restricted to the compound due to his unique nature. It was for his own safety, but at the end of the day, he was still a child—a child who naturally liked to roam around and explore.
They did take him out into the village occasionally, but he was always accompanied by Kushina, Tenka, or the others. So, from time to time, he would pull these kinds of stunts, sneaking out into the dense mountain forest or the bustling marketplace to get some alone time.
The first time he had pulled a vanishing act, the entire household had been worried sick and had frantically searched the area for him. In the end, it was Medori who finally found him at the very peak of the mountain, sitting quietly beneath the giant tree overlooking the village.
After that, Medori had only asked him a single promise: "Don't go outside the village without informing her".
And to this day, Haruto had never broken that promise, no matter how often he snuck out. In return, they gave him his space—a limited, carefully watched freedom.
"Mikasa-nee, you would not believe what I saw today…."
Haruto bounded up to her side, immediately launching into an animated recount of his adventures in the market. Mikasa reached out, gently taking his hand, and listened attentively with a soft smile—never once interrupting to mention that she had already seen every single second of it.
Hand in hand, the two of them walked up the mountain path toward home.
*****
In the Main Compound.
Kenji had just arrived home after an exhausting day.
The moment he slid open the main compound's doors, his eyes twitched violently.
Half of the pristine courtyard was scored with deep, slicing arcs, and several jagged craters completely marred the stone ground.
"That girl. She is getting more and more unruly," Kenji growled darkly through gritted teeth. "Could she not have done this at the actual training grounds instead of our backyard? Just let her come home. I will make sure she remembers the lesson this time."
****
In Medori's Compound.
"Achoo!"
Kushina rubbed her nose with a sniff.
"Are you catching a cold?" Tenka asked, looking up from the side.
"Here." Hiyuki calmly offered a hot, steaming cup of tea.
They were all sitting around the table in the living room. Tenka was happily munching on snacks while flipped through the pages of a book, while Hiyuki sat on the single sofa, gracefully sipping her own tea.
Kushina, lounging beside Tenka on the larger sofa, accepted the warm cup.
"Thanks," she said, blowing gently on the surface. "I don't think it's a cold, though. I just suddenly felt like someone was talking about me… or like I forgot something important."
"It's probably nothing important if you managed to forget it," Tenka pointed out logically.
"I guess you're right." Kushina nodded, completely dismissing the thought. She took a satisfied sip of her tea and went right back to eating snacks.
******