"Ow... ow, that hurts! It hurts so much!"
It was a crushing defeat. Kushina Uzumaki might have been monstrously strong for a girl her age—strong enough to swing around children her own size and smash them flat, strong enough that, in a true rage, she might even kill a freshly graduated genin—but against Gojo Yoru, she was still painfully green.
She had power, but no rhythm. No method. Every punch came straight on, as if she were kindly announcing her intentions to her opponent before throwing it.
Yoru didn't even need to suppress her with superior speed, nor did he need to rely on his reaction speed to dodge. He simply used clean lateral deflections, brushing aside every attack she threw, then proceeded to beat the chubby-cheeked redhead down without the slightest bit of mercy.
It did not take long. Soon, Kushina Uzumaki lay sprawled on the ground, a few fresh bruises blooming on her face. Even so, she still looked heartbreakingly cute as she gasped for breath.
Standing over her, Gojo Yoru let out a soft scoff. A faint smile curved his lips, though he himself seemed not to notice it. "You're this weak, and you still claimed you were good at fighting?"
Kushina covered her bruised cheek and glared up at him, furious and humiliated at the same time. "Hmph! Don't get cocky. I was just careless!"
"I hope your body is as hard as your mouth."
With that, Yoru crouched down in front of her. His voice grew calm and firm, leaving no room for protest. "Move your hands."
Kushina's eyes widened. Her face, already flushed from pain and anger, turned even redder. "W-What are you trying to do?"
Yoru didn't answer right away. Instead, he slowly raised one hand. A pale green glow gathered over his palm, soft and steady, illuminating the angle of his wrist and the clean lines of his fingers.
His hand stopped beside Kushina's small face, less than an inch away. Then a gentle warmth spread over her bruises, like a heated towel laid carefully against her skin. The swelling receded. The sting faded almost at once.
Through the screen of green light, Kushina stared at Yoru's serious profile with her dark blue eyes. Her heart began to pound wildly in her chest. Even after the pain disappeared, her face only grew hotter.
"...Done," Yoru said at last.
As though utterly oblivious to the girl's dazed expression, he finished using the simplest form of medical ninjutsu to treat the bruises on her face, then rose to his feet and started walking away with both hands in his pockets.
Only then did Kushina come back to herself. She scrambled up in a panic and hurried after him.
This time, instead of trailing behind him like before, she went straight up to his side and walked shoulder to shoulder with him. Summoning every scrap of courage she had, she asked, "If two people fight, doesn't that mean they become friends afterward?"
Yoru didn't even glance at her. "No. That was one-sided abuse."
Kushina nearly choked on her own breath. Then she rolled her eyes, puffed up, and snapped back, "I already said I was careless! Besides, I didn't even eat anything today. I'm starving, so of course I didn't have any strength. If you've really got that much skill, then fight me again tomorrow. I definitely won't lose next time!"
Yoru still said nothing. He merely turned his head and gave her a cool, disdainful smile, the kind that seemed to say, You? Beat me?
Rather than shrink back, Kushina lifted her chin defiantly and glared up at the boy who stood nearly a head taller than her. "What, don't tell me you're scared? You don't dare?"
It was a crude provocation. It worked beautifully.
A cold laugh escaped Yoru's lips. "I just hope you won't cry tomorrow."
Kushina snorted. "I was about to say the same thing."
She was exactly like Naruto would be in his wildest, most reckless years—charging ahead first, building momentum with pure bravado whether she could actually win or not.
After leaving the woods, Yoru did not head straight back to school. Instead, he stopped by a small shop outside the academy and bought some bread. Without a word, he casually tossed one of the pieces to Kushina and kept walking toward the school gate.
Kushina caught it clumsily, blinking in surprise. For a moment, she simply stared at the bread in her hands. Then her eyes misted over.
Looking at Yoru's back, her feelings toward him rose in a chaotic, unstoppable wave. This guy really was cold on the outside and warm on the inside.
A smile she could not suppress spread over her face. Tearing open the wrapping, she hurried after him.
The two of them ate in silence as they walked. Neither spoke a single word.
Compared to the students who brought neat homemade lunches from home, this midday meal looked pitifully plain. But Kushina ate every bite with shining eyes, as if it were a feast.
Not far away, Minato Namikaze hid in the shadows and watched them. His expression was gentle, but there was a quiet, piercing envy in his gaze.
If he had moved even a little faster than Gojo Yoru... would the person walking beside Uzumaki Kushina right now have been him?
***
After the Senju clan fully merged into Konoha, they tore down the high walls that had once enclosed their clan grounds. Years passed, and the vast territory that had once belonged to the Senju was gradually absorbed into the village itself, until scarcely anything remained to mark its former glory.
Now, the only place that still truly represented the Senju was a traditional old residence. It was where Konoha's strongest shinobi lived. It was also the home of Tsunade and Nawaki—and, for the time being, the place where Kushina Uzumaki was staying.
Tsunade had just returned from work at Konoha Hospital when she heard the sounds of fighting coming from the courtyard. Curious, she followed the noise into the back garden.
The first thing she saw there was Mito Uzumaki sitting in a chair with a blanket draped over her legs.
At this point in time, Mito showed no sign that she only had a year or two left to live. With the Yin Seal still in her possession, she remained unfathomably deep and composed. More importantly, as a perfect jinchuriki, she was in truth still the strongest person in Konoha—perhaps even in the entire shinobi world.
Madara Uchiha was old now. He no longer possessed the Rinnegan. In terms of raw certainty, Mito Uzumaki stood at the peak.
Tsunade walked up to her grandmother's side, then looked toward the courtyard where Kushina Uzumaki and Nawaki were in the middle of a taijutsu spar. Kushina's earlier depression had vanished without a trace. She fought with unusual spirit, as if her entire body were burning with motivation.
Tsunade raised a brow in surprise. "Grandmother, how did you comfort her? She's completely different from yesterday."
Mito smiled faintly, the corners of her eyes softening. "She met a good boy."
Tsunade blinked, then quickly put the pieces together. "Right. She started at the Ninja Academy today. Did she make a friend?" Her interest was instantly piqued. "She changed this much in less than a day, and now she's this eager to spar with Nawaki? Is the friend a boy or a girl?"
Mito's smile deepened. "A very good boy."
That was no ordinary compliment coming from her.
Just as Hiruzen Sarutobi had been watching Kushina Uzumaki's first day at the academy, Mito Uzumaki had also been paying close attention.
She did not possess the Telescope Technique, but after Tobirama Senju's death, there was no one left in the entire shinobi world who could rival Mito in the field of perception. She possessed Kagura's Mind's Eye, and on top of that, she had fused with the Nine-Tails' ability to sense both malice and benevolence.
Children were the easiest for her to read. They had not yet learned how to hide themselves properly.
So she had clearly sensed the hostility Kushina's classmates felt toward her for being an outsider. She had also sensed the affection Minato Namikaze and Gojo Yoru felt for the girl.
Of all of them, the one Mito cared about most was naturally Gojo Yoru.
There was a very strange chakra fluctuation inside that child. It was something ordinary perception methods would never have noticed. Even Mito herself could only barely "see" it.
That energy felt somewhat similar to the Sage Chakra her husband had once used, yet at the same time it was completely different. In some ways, it was more like the transformed nature of a bloodline limit—like Lava Release or Ice Release.
But bloodline-limit users could only transform their chakra into that nature while performing techniques. The special energy inside Yoru's body was different. Like Sage Chakra, it existed separately within him.
And it was not being secreted from the brain, which meant it was not Yin Release. Could it be some unusual Yang Release–type bloodline limit?
Mito Uzumaki was curious. Very curious.
But she had no intention of digging deeper.
The Nine-Tails' ability to distinguish good and evil would not deceive her. All she needed to know was this: Gojo Yoru bore no malice toward Uzumaki Kushina. What he felt was goodwill.
That alone was enough.
And besides, her time was running out. Mito Uzumaki no longer wished to spend her remaining days prying into other people's secrets. She only wanted to remain with her family and with the remnants of her clan for as long as she still could.
Tsunade, of course, had no way of knowing what her grandmother was thinking.
The moment she heard that the person who had changed Kushina so completely was a boy, a thoroughly delighted, almost scandal-hungry smile appeared on her face. She rolled up her sleeves without hesitation and said, "No wonder she's training this hard. Looks like she ran into a pretty strong rival. Fine, I'll help her out a little."
With that, Tsunade strode into the yard and began giving pointers to Kushina and Nawaki.
Kushina was instantly thrown into chaos.
At the academy, she had been thoroughly beaten by Gojo Yoru. Now, back home, Tsunade herself was correcting her posture, her timing, her breathing, her footwork, and even the angle of her fists. Every sentence was sharp. Every criticism landed like a hammer.
But instead of feeling discouraged, Kushina only grew more fired up.
Gojo Yoru's calm face kept appearing in her mind. The way he had dismissed her. The way he had mocked her. The way he had crouched down and healed her bruises without a trace of tenderness in his voice, yet with unmistakable care in his hands.
She bit her lip and threw another punch at Nawaki.
This time, her footing was a little steadier.
Nawaki yelped as he blocked, then glanced toward Tsunade in panic. "Sis, why does it feel like she's getting stronger while we're fighting?"
Tsunade folded her arms and clicked her tongue. "Because unlike you, she's actually listening."
Kushina grinned at once, even though she was panting. The grin pulled at the bruises Yoru had already healed once, and the memory only made her mood grow even stranger.
Mito watched the three children in the courtyard with gentle, unreadable eyes.
Perhaps the boy named Gojo Yoru did not even realize it yet, but with only one day's worth of contact, he had already left a deep impression on Kushina Uzumaki.
That kind of timing could not be taught. That kind of connection could not be forced.
And if it continued to grow...
Mito lowered her gaze slightly, saying nothing more.
The evening light slanted across the courtyard, soft and golden. It fell over Kushina's red hair, over Nawaki's clumsy stance, over Tsunade's impatient corrections, and over Mito's quiet smile.
Elsewhere in the village, the white-haired boy at the center of all this was likely already preparing for tomorrow's match as if it were a trivial matter.
But for Kushina Uzumaki, tomorrow had already begun to feel very important.