Chapter 52: Snowy Enters the Second Stage of Growth

"He doesn't mind dancing embarrassingly in front of countless Konoha ninjas, suffering mental trauma; if he wants to cause me trouble, so be it," Takuya shrugged, showing indifference.

"You sure are confident," Tsunade rolled her eyes. "But if you anger that old man too much, he might deliberately assign you to dangerous missions."

"Whatever," Takuya shrugged again, signaling that he didn't care. Bring it on, whether overt or covert.

As long as no sealing squad is sent after him, it's fine. Takuya feared nothing except accidentally being sealed, which would be a big problem.

As for being sent to certain death? That's a small issue.

He could have Snowy unleash a few Tailed Beast Bombs, blow up the Konoha camp, and then openly defect.

If he had family living in Konoha, Takuya might hesitate. But being alone, he feared nothing.

This kid's attitude sure has grown with his strength!

Tsunade was speechless at Takuya's attitude. If she knew what was on his mind, she'd definitely be shocked.

For most ninjas, becoming a rogue ninja was a last resort. But for Takuya, it didn't matter.

"Fine, you're as rebellious as Nawaki. Seems like you're going through a rebellious phase too. There's no point in talking sense into you. Think it over yourself. I'll borrow your room; wake me up at 7 AM tomorrow. I have to perform surgery at the hospital."

"You can use the guest room!" Are you seriously addicted to sleeping in my bed? Can't sleep anywhere else?

"I'm too lazy to make the bed," Tsunade's reason left Takuya utterly dumbfounded.

With his bedroom occupied by Tsunade, Takuya set up the guest room. After some thought, he shut the door and jumped onto the roof, heading to Minato's house.

"Who's there!" Even the light footsteps didn't escape Minato's notice. He was practicing hand seals at home and was immediately on alert.

"It's me," Takuya said as he climbed through the window, complimenting Minato, "Not bad, practicing hand seals even when you're home alone."

"You do the same when you're home alone," Minato didn't blame Takuya for entering through the window, considering he often did the same at Takuya's place. They were even.

"I'm just bored."

Yeah, keep bluffing! If I didn't grow up with you, I might've believed your nonsense.

"Congratulations, your wish is about to come true," Takuya patted Minato's shoulder in congratulations.

"???" What wish is coming true? Why don't I know?

Minato was utterly confused.

Familiar with Takuya's ways, he opened the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, took a few sips, and then sat beside Minato, explaining, "Tsunade's back. Instead of going home, she came to my place, ate all my meat, and took over my bedroom. You and I will be heading to the Rain Country battlefield together."

"...." Since when was going to the battlefield considered a wish? Minato couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Am I finally going to see Jiraiya-sensei again?

It's been a long time, and Minato really wanted to meet Jiraiya. Mainly to ask why he left him in Konoha and ran off to the battlefield.

Minato had been holding onto a small grudge about this. Anyone would be frustrated if their teacher irresponsibly left them behind. Moreover, after going to the front lines, Jiraiya hadn't even contacted Minato, as if he had forgotten about his student.

In reality, the teacher-student relationships in the Naruto world were often shaky, with betrayal being all too common.

Orochimaru killed the Third Hokage, Nagato killed Jiraiya, Obito caused the death of his teacher Minato and his wife Kushina.

Even Sasuke, once he got stronger, wanted to kill his teacher Kakashi.

Takuya couldn't understand how they could turn against their teachers like that.

With others, it was somewhat justifiable, but in Sasuke and Obito's cases, it didn't make sense.

Orochimaru had reasons to hate the Third Hokage.

Nagato was driven mad by what Konoha did to him.

The death of his childhood friend Yahiko pushed him over the edge, leading him to kill Jiraiya.

But what was up with Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Obito?

Minato and Kushina had treated Obito well.

Kakashi spent most of his time training Sasuke and helping him, yet the result was betrayal.

Honestly, such disciples were better left untrained.

With so many examples, Takuya was skeptical about teacher-student relationships in the Naruto world.

He also agreed more with the popular phrase among Naruto fans: "Stay away from the Uchihas; they're all crazy."

"Tell me honestly, are you angry that Jiraiya left you in the village for so long without even checking in?"

"I do feel some resentment, but not anger. Jiraiya-sensei has his own responsibilities," Minato said, scratching his head and defending Jiraiya, "He probably left me in the village because he was worried I'd get into trouble on the battlefield."

"I trust Jiraiya-sensei."

"You're beyond saving."

"I'm claiming your couch tonight; I won't fight you for the bed." Takuya leaned back on the sofa, deciding to crash at Minato's place for the night.

He didn't want to deal with a certain violent woman who might wake up in the middle of the night, hungry, and demand food.

Takuya's suspicion wasn't baseless.

Tsunade did wake up in the middle of the night looking for food. After finding nothing and failing to locate Takuya, she had to settle for milk before going back to sleep.

Is Snowy entering the second stage of growth?

Takuya entered the sealing space, looking at the ever-growing Snowy, who was now the size of a small mountain.

Snowy seemed to be the embodiment of a sleep god, always appearing lethargic and lacking energy.

Takuya suspected that Snowy had entered its second growth stage.

Judging by the length of the first stage, it wouldn't be long before Snowy fully matured into its second stage.

In this second stage, Snowy could be released without hesitation and could even take on Kurama, the Nine-Tails within Kushina, without fear.

"I hope this growth phase doesn't last too long," Takuya thought, knowing that unexpected events could happen on the battlefield at any time, and he might need Snowy's help. He might even need to use it before reaching the battlefield if trouble arose with his own allies.

Just like always, Kushina opened Takuya's door and peeked around, not seeing Takuya, assuming he was asleep.

So she stealthily crept toward the bedroom.

"Leaving the bedroom door open, how careless," Kushina mumbled as she approached.

Seeing nothing but a figure curled up tightly under the blanket, she thought, "Still sleeping? He always naps after returning to the village. Let's see if I can give him a good scare."

Placing the lunchbox aside, Kushina took a deep breath and yanked the blanket off with all her might:

"Takuya, you lazy bum, the sun is already up! Get up, I brought you... uh."

As the blanket was pulled away, Kushina found herself staring at a curvaceous body with long, flowing blonde hair, not at all the person she expected.

"This... this... this..."

Isn't this Takuya's room?

How is there a woman sleeping here?

"Who are you?" Kushina demanded, hands on her hips, red hair starting to float, her expression furious, as if ready to pounce.

"Who is it, so early in the morning? Can't a person get some sleep?" Tsunade mumbled, feeling frustrated at being woken up.

Had she not been in Konoha, in Takuya's house, Tsunade would have jumped up and shown this intruder a thing or two.

"Tsunade-sensei?"

Kushina's near-explosive anger fizzled out in an instant. The woman sleeping in Takuya's bed was none other than Tsunade.

"You... you... why are you back from the battlefield? Why are you sleeping in Takuya's bed? Where is Takuya?" Kushina stammered.

"How should I know?" Tsunade grumbled, rubbing her head and yawning, "You've got some nerve to ask. I got back and found out you moved out. When I went to your place, you weren't there, so I came to Takuya's. And now the brat runs off, leaving me to starve all night."

"..."

Kushina was speechless.

You claim to have starved all night, yet didn't think to fix yourself something to eat?

"Uh?"

*****

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