"Actually, there's no need to thank me this much.
As for what happened, those Cloud-nin simply lacked awareness and happened to run straight into my fist.
With or without you, they would've died all the same."
Garp waved his hand casually.
Although the person he saved back then had been Kushina, he'd forgotten the incident almost immediately afterward.
If Kushina hadn't mentioned it several times, he wouldn't have remembered it at all.
"No matter what the fact remains that you saved me.
After arriving in Konoha, aside from Grandma Mito, you were the first one who ever saved me, and the first person who treated me kindly.
And you didn't just save my life, because of you, I learned that taijutsu could be this overwhelmingly strong.
All these years, I've been training hard, taking you as my goal."
Kushina rolled up her sleeves, revealing arms that still carried a feminine elegance despite her strength.
"We can catch up later.
Those brats from Konoha came specifically to welcome me. If I keep them waiting outside any longer, it'll look like I've got no manners at all."
Garp had originally intended to chat a bit longer with Kushina, but when he noticed her gaze, those sparkling eyes full of little stars, something in his chest thumped violently.
Where had he seen this look before?
Right, Tsunade looked at him with the same expression.
What was wrong with the young girls of the shinobi era?
Every single one of them looked at him with a gaze more aggressive than the last.
He should hurry back to the mountains behind Konoha and live in peace.
If he kept wandering around outside, the pure and untouched Yin Yang balanced body he'd preserved for most of his life might not stay intact.
Unable to withstand Kushina's burning gaze any longer, Garp tossed out one last line. Before she could speak, he disappeared from the sealing space entirely.
"Hahaha, this is killing me…."
The moment Garp left, the Nine-Tails, whose face was still swollen, burst out laughing, rolling on the ground with tears streaming down its muzzle.
"What's so funny?"
Kushina's brow twitched.
"I'm laughing at you, and at that Iron Fist geezer.
No, really, my abdominal muscles are about to cramp from laughing."
The Nine-Tails sprawled on the ground, its usual haughty, tyrannical image gone without a trace.
"Unbelievable. You, a little girl, actually fell for that old fossil. By human standards, he's old enough to be your grandfather several times over.
I never thought, you ignore young handsome men and spend your days pining after a grandpa. No, not even a grandpa, an old old man.
No wonder, no wonder.
No wonder that blonde brat Minato chased you for ten years and you rejected him for ten years straight. Turns out you don't like handsome guys, you're into old men."
Kushina hadn't even had a chance to ask before the Nine-Tails kept cackling between words.
"…"
Kushina froze for a moment, then her entire face turned scarlet.
Normally, if the Nine-Tails mocked her like this, she would've already summoned the Adamantine Sealing Chains and rained down a storm of chains on its giant fox head.
But now, with the Nine-Tails exposing a secret she had buried deep for years, Kushina's face burned even hotter.
She fled from the sealed space without a word, leaving the Nine-Tails splayed out in its cage, laughing so hard it was practically howling at the ceiling.
…
Outside the sealing space, Orochimaru watched as the usually bold and rough around the edges Kushina suddenly turned as red as a steamed shrimp.
He froze on the spot, utterly baffled.
"He's here."
If Garp's figure hadn't appeared in the crowd's line of sight at that exact moment, Orochimaru would've definitely asked what on earth had happened.
"So many of you are waiting here just for me?
Bwahaha, I'm not even part of Konoha.
If all of you stand here greeting me like this, be careful, if word reaches that little monkey, he'll be giving you trouble later."
As Garp walked over, he glanced over the two rows of Konoha shinobi lined up at the camp entrance.
From what he could see, there were at least several hundred shinobi.
Although he hadn't come down the mountain for Konoha, much less for their sake, the gesture from Orochimaru and the others still left him rather satisfied.
"Lord Garp, this is only right."
"Konoha was able to overcome this crisis solely because you came back."
"Compared to you subduing three Great Ninja Villages single-handedly, us standing here waiting is nothing."
Orochimaru and the others hurried forward to greet him, each trying to speak faster than the last.
"So he's the man who suppressed the Uchiha for an entire era?"
Where there were those eager to step forward, there were also shinobi who preferred to maintain a reserved demeanor.
Fugaku, for instance, stood in place with a group of Uchiha clansmen, silently watching Garp approach.
The other Konoha ninjas weren't surprised by this at all.
For the Uchiha, the mere fact they came to greet someone was already unprecedented.
If not for Iron Fist's fearsome reputation, back in the old era, he'd pressed the entire Uchiha clan, led by Tajima and Madara, to the ground and beaten them for an entire generation, Fugaku and the others wouldn't have even stood here today.
"It's said even the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan of our predecessor Uchiha Madara was useless before this man. I wonder if my Mangekyo can shake the Iron Fist at all…"
Shisui's eyes flashed slightly, a spark of challenge igniting in his heart.
Even if he wasn't a match for Hiruzen's Will of Fire, once an Uchiha awakened the Mangekyo, who among them wasn't proud and dangerously unhinged?
Madara and Izuna had been like that.
Today, Shisui was no exception.
Even Fugaku, deep in his heart, couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to test himself against Garp.
But as the clan head, with far more common sense than the average Uchiha, he crushed that idea deep down where no one would ever see it.
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