Chapter 48: This is nothing darker

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Is there anything more surreal than Minato coming home?

The obvious answer is no.

At the entrance to the village, Minato smiled at his two teammates.

"Alright, I'll head back first and leave the mission debrief to you."

His teammates were two ordinary chunin, and although Namikaze Minato was the captain of the team, he didn't give orders but consulted with them instead.

"Captain, just go ahead and leave the handover to me and Asami!" one of the chunin, with a scar on his face, patted his chest confidently.

"Thank you very much," Minato clasped his hands in gratitude, and then disappeared in an instant.

"The captain is so amazing." Asami couldn't help but sigh, "We managed to finish the mission thanks to him."

"You're right, Shinno," the other chunin agreed. "He's incredible but so humble."

The two of them headed toward the Hokage Building as they talked, both concluding how lucky they were to have Namikaze Minato as their captain.

Meanwhile, Minato had already returned home.

"Kushina! I'm back!" Minato called out, knocking on the door as he arrived.

Kushina, who was in the middle of cooking, heard him, abandoned her spatula, and ran out of the kitchen. She opened the door and threw herself into Minato's arms.

"Minato! You're finally back!"

"This mission wasn't difficult, so I managed to finish early," Minato smiled brightly, his expression as warm as always.

"I can finally have some time to rest," he started to say, but before he could finish, a burnt smell wafted from the kitchen. Kushina's face changed drastically, and she hurried back inside. "Oh no! My food!"

Watching her rush back into the kitchen, Minato smiled fondly. "That's so Kushina."

He followed her into the kitchen, and together they quickly saved the meal.

As they sat down to eat, Kushina grinned. "Now that you're back, nothing's going to come up, right?"

Although she asked, her tone was confident.

Minato smiled at her. "It should be fine."

Kushina, excited by his response, waved her hands enthusiastically. "Then we can go talk to the Third Hokage about Yuichi-chan later! This is the only future for our Uzumaki clan! You have to teach him well!"

"Yeah," Minato nodded in agreement with each of her statements, smiling gently.

Minato Namikaze was the perfect ideal of a partner: powerful, gentle, helpful, handsome, and completely doting on his wife.

The most important part? He pampered her like no one else.

On the other side of town, Yuichi Yuuki had no idea he was being discussed by Uzumaki Kushina as if he were her precious heir to the Uzumaki clan.

The Uzumaki clan might have been wiped out, but they still had some hidden assets. For example, the street where Uzumaki Kushina lived was part of those Uzumaki holdings.

Yuichi, meanwhile, had just fallen from a tree again during his training. Hatake Kakashi approached, holding a wooden sword in both hands.

"It's about time. Let's go eat," Kakashi suggested.

Yuichi looked at the position of the sun, estimating the time. It was close to noon. The academy resumed at one in the afternoon, so if they had lunch now and went home to freshen up, they'd be back in time for class.

"Alright, let's go," Yuichi said, looking back at the marks he'd left on the tree.

He was now about halfway up the trunk. Having a massive chakra reserve was both an advantage and a disadvantage. The upside was a near-endless supply of energy, but the downside was how much harder it was to control it with precision.

Even with the 20% training bonus from his title as a ninja student, his progress was only slightly better than an average person learning how to climb a tree.

But Yuichi had finally grasped something from his training. He figured he'd master it within a couple of days.

Uchiha Obito, meanwhile, was still struggling with the exercise. He relied mostly on brute force, roughly coating his feet with chakra. The tree shook with every step he took.

In contrast, Kakashi couldn't help but shake his head. Obito's brute-force method was inefficient, and he could only take two steps before slipping off the trunk.

"Let's go eat!" Yuichi called out loudly, not just to Obito but to everyone, including Might Guy, who stood up from his training and wiped sweat from his forehead.

"Huh, this is the spirit of youth!" Might Guy exclaimed.

Uchiha Obito also paused, panting heavily. His rough approach had drained a lot of chakra, and he now lay exhausted on the cushion, wiping sweat from his brow.

"So tired," Obito muttered, feeling a small sense of accomplishment as he looked at the hole he'd made in the tree.

"What are you looking at?" Yuichi squatted beside him and glanced at the hole. "You're really working hard," he remarked, amused.

"Yes! I'm a genius who works hard!" Obito responded confidently, "I'm working so hard that when I open my Sharingan, I'll definitely beat Kakashi!"

Obito had originally wanted to say he'd beat Yuichi, but remembering that Yuichi also had the Sharingan and a stronger physique, he thought better of it. He decided that for now, he'd settle for surpassing Kakashi.

Kakashi, hearing this, simply raised an eyebrow and scoffed, "Idiot."

"Stupid Kakashi!" Obito immediately jumped up from the cushion. "Just wait, I'll pin you down and beat you soon!"

"Heh," Kakashi only chuckled sarcastically, not even bothering to look at Obito, his indifferent gaze practically dismissing him.

As they bickered, Yuhi Kurenai returned, soaking wet from practicing water walking. Each step she took left a trail of water on the ground.

Yuichi, seeing her drenched state, walked over. He had forgotten that beginners often fell into the water during this exercise, but it wasn't a big deal. He wasn't too worried.

Kurenai wasn't some delicate flower. She would become a ninja after all.

As Yuichi approached, Kurenai smiled at him.

"Yuichi, walking on water is so hard," she admitted. "But I think I can learn it soon!"

Kurenai smiled again, finding that water walking wasn't as difficult as she initially thought. It was just like tree climbing, only requiring more delicate chakra control. For her, mastering it felt achievable.

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