Chapter 36: Skipping Class in progress

Chapter 36: Skipping Class in Progress

After a long while, Tonari finally came to his senses.

When Kushina and Minato first met, their relationship wasn't exactly close. At the moment, Minato likely had a one-sided crush on Kushina, while she thought he was handsome but not very reliable. It wasn't until later when the Cloud ninjas infiltrated Konoha, discovered Kushina's unique chakra, and kidnapped her, that Minato heroically rescued her and won her heart.

So, at present, Kushina and Minato's relationship was still rather average.

However, Tonari had no intention of breaking them up.

First of all, he wasn't sure if the higher-ups in Konoha would even allow two jinchūriki to be together.

But even more importantly, he thought to himself: "If I don't have Naruto and my strength is insufficient, who will deal with the Otsutsuki clan?"

Could he rely on his harem jutsu?

In fact, not only did Tonari have no intention of separating them, but he might even actively assist them to increase his favorability in their eyes.

Let's be honest, Minato becoming the Fourth Hokage after defeating several top figures had a lot to do with his relationship with Kushina.

It was like the partnership between Raikage A and Killer Bee in the Cloud Village.

Tonari tried to make himself look as natural as possible while approaching Kushina, but it wasn't just for their sake—he had his own agenda.

"I'm not trying to break them up. I want to join them!"

Cough, cough...

As everyone knew, the Uzumaki clan of the Whirlpool Village not only had a strong physical constitution but was also famous for their powerful sealing jutsu.

Cough, cough, "Minato said your hair looks great. I didn't believe it at first, but now that I see it, it really is." Tonari casually gave a compliment while trying to save Minato's reputation.

When Kushina first arrived in Konoha and transferred into Minato's class, having witnessed the massacre of the Uzumaki clan, she was filled with fear and had no one to rely on. To avoid being looked down upon by her classmates, she introduced herself as someone who wanted to become the first female Hokage. But this only made her the target of ridicule. Her distinctive red hair earned her the nickname "Tomato."

However, Kushina wasn't the type to be bullied, so she beat up those who mocked her. From then on, her nickname changed to "Blood Red Pepper."

This was one of the main reasons she disliked her red hair.

Kushina looked at Tonari. She had a lot of things she wanted to say, a lot of questions, but for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to speak. That feeling of "we are the same" made her form her own answers before she even asked the questions.

"By the way, are all the classes at the ninja school this boring?" Tonari noticed that Kushina was struggling to find the right words and decided to change the topic.

"Hm?"

Kushina didn't understand what Tonari meant.

Although the classes were indeed boring, they gave her a sense of not being alone. In fact, with her strength, she could have applied for early graduation, but that old pervert, the Third Hokage, never approved it.

Over time, Kushina realized that Konoha wanted the stability of the jinchūriki, especially the stability of the Nine-Tails, and didn't really need her to contribute anything else.

"Follow me!"

With that, Tonari jumped out of the window.

Kushina didn't know what Tonari was planning, but since it was break time, she didn't hesitate to follow him out the window.

The two of them ran at top speed, straight out of the school and into a sparsely populated forest.

"Tonari, where are you taking me? We're going to be late for class."

Hearing this, Tonari stopped, shrugged, and realized that if he didn't give some explanation now, she might think he was up to no good.

He brought his index and middle fingers together, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and after a long pause, he finally spoke.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Two identical versions of Tonari appeared in front of Kushina.

Although the Shadow Clone Jutsu was still a bit tricky for him to perform, it was much smoother than the first time.

Then, one of the "Tonari" clones formed hand seals again...

"Transformation Jutsu!"

And transformed into Kushina.

Now, there were two Tonaris and two Kushinas.

"That should do it. Anyway, with your current strength, you don't need to attend class, right? So... please do me a favor."

The "Tonari" and "Kushina" clones nodded and began heading back to the ninja school.

Kushina, seeing Tonari's clever plan, realized he was trying to help her skip class openly.

Since joining the ninja school, Kushina had been learning quickly and was strong enough, but she had never skipped class before, even though she aimed to become Hokage.

Oddly enough, she felt a sense of excitement and thrill rising from within.

The two of them quickly sped through the forest.

However, after half an hour, Kushina felt something was off.

"I said, Tonari, haven't we been here before? Where exactly are you taking me?" Kushina couldn't hold it in any longer.

Tonari didn't stop, but spoke while running.

"Of course not! We've never been here before. I'm taking you to my training ground. Everything you've learned at the ninja school should be applied and turned into real strength. And by the way, there's an old friend of mine waiting for you there."

"Old friend?"

Hearing "old friend," Kushina stopped worrying about whether Tonari had been leading her in circles. She was now curious about who this old friend could be.

But...

An hour later, Kushina finally couldn't take it anymore.

They had passed the same place over and over again, more than ten times. At this point, she thought she might as well go back to class.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Tonari, can we please just get to the point? We've been running in circles for hours. Tell me what this place looks like, so we can get there faster!"

Meanwhile, hidden in the shadows, ANBU ninjas were itching to come out and grab Kushina's hand, saying, "Save us! Please, take this kid off our hands! Every day, we just run in circles with him!"

Because the ANBU ninjas took turns monitoring Tonari, in the short span of just over two weeks, they had unofficially established a rule: if a mission failed, they had to monitor Tonari the next day.

Honestly, the success rate of ANBU missions had increased significantly recently. Can you believe it?!

"What's wrong? Do you doubt my sense of direction, Kushina?! Let me tell you, my memory is famous across the entire ninja world! I remember this area like the back of my hand..." Tonari stared at her, looking as though she doubted him.

Kushina: "..."

But to be fair, Konoha was really big. It would take several hours just to run from the Nara clan's territory to the training ground.

What Tonari didn't know was that the ANBU ninjas secretly began making hand-drawn maps of Konoha, trying to accurately chart all the terrain and landmarks.

They were planning to hand the map over to Tonari.

They just couldn't take it anymore—this endless running in circles! They'd rather be on a mission to assassinate someone!

Hard or not, it didn't matter. The key was they didn't want to get lost.