28. Special Delivery

"Why? Why do I have to suffer so much when most of the transmigrator or reincarnated person have a smooth sailing life from the start?"

[Yoshaa! Yoshaa!]

The system silently passes a tissue to him. Akio snorts in the tissue and wipes his fake tears.

Ahem…

"Let's meet with this special customer of ours!"

Akio follows the directions on the slip.

Soon,

He arrives in front of the house written on the address. It's a two-story house with the frame of the house supported on a large wooden base, which also acts as the basement of the house.

The wooden base is erected above the ground and there is a staircase that leads to the actual entrance of the house. The house has an arc roofed with red tiles for water-proofing.

'I don't know what kind of crack the architecture of Konoha smoke, but this design is just plain ridiculous!'

He looks around and notices a cylindrical house with a funnel shape roof.

'Never mind! If it works, it works!'

He discards his aesthetics and slowly walks towards the entrance.

Akio lifts his hand to knock on the door.

Before he could even knock on the door.

Whoosh…

The door suddenly shuts opens up and a pair of smooth arms drags him in.

"What the…"

Bang…

The door closes with a violent slam. Akio is violently grabbed by the arms as his head is plunged into a dark valley.

The sudden development confuses Akio, but he soon recognizes the familiar scent and this familiar sense of touch. But he is unable to resist as his head is pressed between two massive mounds.

"Ku… Ku… Kushina Nee-san! I am choking."

Akio flails his arms to struggle free from the bear hug of Kushina.

"Ah!"

Kushina frees him from her embrace.

"What a pity!"

She sighs.

"I wasn't able to get enough of my cute Akio-kun!"

"What are you, a pervert?"

Akio rolls his eyes.

"Hmm… well, kind of! But I only like cute kids."

'So, Kushina Nee-san is the relative Uncle mentioned. Well, it kind of makes sense since grandmother was a member of the Uzumaki clan. She must have some relation with Kushina Nee-san.'

Kushina nods her head.

"…"

Ahem…

"Anyway, what are you doing here, Akio-kun! It has been a while since you last visited us."

Kushina asks him with a sad expression, as his lack of visit still bothers her.

"Well! A few things happened here and there. I became the new manager of the shop; uncle was hospitalized and so on." Akio highlights his past three months.

He turns towards her and bows with sincerity.

"Kushina Nee-san! Please thank Minato-san on behalf of my family for saving Uncle Kazuha's life."

"Oh! Then why don't you say it yourself?!"

Huh?!

Akio tilts his head in confusion.

"Well!"

Kushina picks up a basket with multiple sandwiches, fruits, sweets, and deserts in it.

"Minato is currently training his team in training ground three and I am about to deliver the lunch to him. I even made some extras for the entire team. You can join us and have lunch with us."

"Well! Don't mind me if I do." Akio shamelessly accepts the invite.

"Oh! I almost forgot the reason for my visit."

Akio takes out the scrolls from his bag and passes them to Kushina.

"Kushina Nee-san! Here are the supplies uncle asked to deliver."

Hmm…

"Wait, a sec!"

Kushina quickly dashes to another room.

A few seconds later,

She walks out of the room with a scroll in her hand.

Huh?!

It confused Akio since he doesn't get the notification of any sort of monetary transaction in his system.

"Nee-san! What's this?"

He asks her in confusion.

"Oh, this! It's the fresh batch of paper bombs Minato and I crafted. Don't you know, I am the person responsible for the supply of paper bombs in your shop."

"That's news to me." Akio shakes his head.

"Never mind! Let's go meet with Minato."

Kushina flops out of the house with excitation as Akio follows her.

He turns around and stares at the weird architecture of the house once again. Akio couldn't help but question her.

"Kushina Nee-san! This house of yours; isn't it a bit too weird and old-fashioned?"

"Right! I also think the same."

Kushina nod in agreement.

"But we can't refuse it since it was a gift from Hokage-sama for Minato's recent achievement. After our wedding, I moved out of the Senju compound to Minato's apartment.

But that apartment was quite small for both of us. So, when Hokage-sama offered this apartment as a gift, Minato could not refuse his goodwill."

'Hmm… no wonder! This apartment looks so weird. It's the taste of the old.'

Akio nods in understanding.

"Akio-kun! Where is Kaori-san?" Kushina asks him curiously.

"Mother is out for shopping whereas Uncle and I are out for some deliveries," Akio replies to her.

"Akio-kun, since you are the manager of the shop, which means Kaori-san has more free time. Which means I can go shopping more often with her?"

"…"

Akio sweat drops at her remark as he feels a sense of pity for his and Minato's back. After all, they need someone to carry all those shopping bags.

Both of them continue with the ideal chatter and soon arrive in front of training ground three.

"We are here!"

Kushina looks around and soon spots Minato and the group.

"Looks like they are training!"

Hmm…

Akio also curiously turns towards them.

'I have never seen a shinobi train in real life since civilians aren't allowed in the training grounds, though I tend to enter the forbidden training ground.'

"Let's watch their training from the sidelines." Kushina offers, to which Akio agrees.

He sits beside Kushina and watches the mock training of Minato.

"It's going to be the same old bell test, right?" Akio asks with slight disinterest.

"Hmm… true! But how do you know?" Kushina asks him.

"Well, I heard about it from Ajuka Nii-san!"

Akio uses Ajuka's name to dodge the bullet.

"Oh, Ajuka! It makes sense." Kushina nods her head and turns towards the group with excitement in her eyes as she murmurs.

'I wonder how will this knuckle-head Obito act this time!'

She chuckles slightly.

-----------

"Alright! In this mock session, I will see how much you have improved after the previous test."

Jingle…

Minato takes out a pair of bells from his pocket.

"It's the same old rules. Come at me with everything you have got and snatch the bells."

Swoosh…

Minato takes out a clock from his pocket and sets an alarm on it.

"It's 11 a.m. now. You have an hour to snatch the bells. After an hour, we will have our lunch. Do you understand?"

"Haiii!!"

Kakashi and the group shout in unison.

"Alright! Go ahead."

Minato nods his head.

Poof… poof… poof…

Kakashi and Obito take out smoke bombs from their holster and detonate them on the ground to hide their escape route.

'Hmm! Kakashi was always level-headed. But even Obito too! Looks like he learned his lesson from the previous test.'

"Eat this!"

Haah…

Obito charges out of the smoke with a kunai in his hand.

'Never mind!'

The hidden Kakashi, Rin, Akio, Kushina, and Minato face-palms at Obito's recklessness.

Whoosh…

He aims the kunai for Minato's head.

Whoosh…

Minato jumps in the air and avoids the kunai.

"Huh?! Where? Where?!"

Obito looks around in confusion.

------------

An hour later,

Riing…

"Alright! Time's up."

Minato stops the alarm and walks towards the exhausted group.

"You did quite well compared to your previous performance! Obito, you even used yourself as a bait to lead me to a previously laid bait. Well, done!"

Minato praises Obito.

Hehe…

Obito scratches his head in embarrassment.

"But! Your fighting style is still as reckless as ever. You risk your own life to get a chance to harm your enemy. Such a strategy won't work well in the long run." Minato chides him.

He gives some tips and pointers to the group.

"Let's go!"

Kushina picks up the basket and walks towards the group.

"Alright, everyone! It's lunchtime."

Kushina waves the basket at them.

"Kushina Nee-san!" Rin dashes towards Kushina with a cheerful smile.

"Aww… it's my cute Rin-chan!"

Kushina gently hugs Rin in her embrace and rubs her cheeks against her.

'Why does she get the gentle hug while I get the bear hug?' Akio complains in his head.

[Ding! A new mission initiated: Impress Minato the future Fourth Hokage with your sword skills.

Reward: +5 spirit stats (Mission type: Optional)]

'Hell yeah! I have been waiting for these missions to appear. It's my first mission in three months. Of course, I will accept it. I won't lose anything and I will get free attributes for almost doing nothing.'

Akio accepts the mission.