"That was exactly why…"
She had originally felt a little grateful that Tsunade was speaking up for her, but the moment she heard that, Kushina could not hold it in anymore.
"Do you really have to bring that up right in front of me?"
She had finally managed to crawl out of the shadow left behind by Minato Namikaze's suicide, and yet Tsunade had gone and mentioned Minato's suicide right to her face.
Was that something a decent person would do?
"Alright, alright!"
Tsunade waved her hand helplessly. It really was troublesome.
Then she continued explaining things to Shiki, and when she finished, Shiki suddenly paused in realization.
"So that's how it is."
Back when Minato Namikaze had died, Kushina had been devastated. She had even entertained thoughts of ending her own life. But during that time, Mikoto had stayed by her side the whole time, comforting her. On top of that, before Minato took his own life, he had left Kushina both a letter and a ninjutsu scroll.
The message was simple: he hoped Kushina would live on well, even after his death.
"…That Minato really wasn't bad."
Shiki let out a sigh, and even Tsunade beside him could not help nodding in agreement.
"That's true. He really wasn't. What a pity."
Ah… if only he hadn't chosen to die like that…
Kushina's eyes immediately began to redden again.
There was nothing to be done. It was painful.
"Well, I once told Tsunade this too—the past can't be changed, but the future still can."
Looking at Kushina like this, Shiki spoke in a helpless tone.
He had said those same words to Tsunade once before, back when Nawaki Senju died. And it was precisely because of that sentence that Tsunade had started to see him differently. Now, hearing it again, even Shiki felt a little nostalgic.
"Thank you."
Kushina, understanding what Shiki meant, gradually calmed her emotions.
Honestly, without her usual loud and energetic attitude, Kushina looked unexpectedly cute like this.
Mikoto, who was standing to the side, was also staring at Shiki with a surprised expression.
"What's with that look? Why are you staring at me like that? Do you think someone with my wisdom can't say something like that?"
Kushina was fine, but Mikoto's surprised gaze made Shiki's eyebrow twitch.
"Uh… no!"
Mikoto immediately lowered her head in embarrassment.
Even if she really was surprised, she should not have shown it right in front of him.
Fortunately, Shiki only rolled his eyes and did not care too much. Then he looked back at Uzumaki Kushina.
"So, to put it simply, you want to leave Konoha and go out for a while?"
"Mm."
Kushina nodded.
Now that she had only just managed to recover a little, she wanted to leave Konoha for a time and go out for a walk. When she had first come to Tsunade to talk about it, Tsunade herself did not think there was anything wrong with that.
After all, her lover was gone. Wanting to leave for a while and clear her head was only natural.
The problem was that Kushina's identity was far from ordinary.
As the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, she could be considered one of Konoha's ultimate weapons.
How could the village possibly allow someone like that to simply leave on her own?
"What I mean," Tsunade said seriously as she looked at Shiki, "is that I want you to go with Kushina."
In Tsunade's eyes, Shiki could already be considered the strongest person in the ninja world. If he was there, then even if Kushina left Konoha, nothing would happen to her.
Hearing that, Shiki could not help rolling his eyes.
"Hey, I'm your man here, remember?"
"Yes."
Tsunade nodded as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Then you're still sending me off with another woman?"
At this point, Shiki was honestly beginning to suspect there was something wrong with Tsunade's head.
"What exactly are you thinking?"
Tsunade rolled her eyes at him in return.
Of course she knew it was a little inappropriate, but she also did not think anything would happen between Shiki and Kushina. Strictly speaking, Shiki could even be considered part of Kushina's senpai generation.
"And it's not just you. This time, I want you to take a three-man squad with you too."
"Now you want me to take a bunch of little brats along?"
This time, Shiki was genuinely surprised.
A three-man squad? Wasn't that basically dragging along a bunch of kids?
Shiki, who already did not feel much enthusiasm about going out this time, became even less interested.
"Pick someone else."
"Is there anyone in Konoha more suitable than you right now?"
Faced with his reaction, Tsunade only shrugged.
At Konoha's current stage, there really was no one better suited than Shiki to protect the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
As for the three-man squad…
Tsunade raised a hand and gestured toward the courtyard entrance. Three figures immediately walked in from outside.
"Shiki-nii!"
"…Kurenai?"
Shiki looked puzzled.
Among the three who had come, one of them was indeed Kurenai Yuhi.
The other two were Kakashi Hatake and Rin Nohara.
"Lord Shiki!"
Kakashi Hatake and Rin Nohara greeted him together.
By now, Kakashi had already recovered somewhat from Obito's death and was no longer as cold and withdrawn as before.
As for Rin, she was as gentle as ever, so quiet that she almost faded into the background.
"Rin Nohara's medical ninjutsu is pretty good," Tsunade said. "If she comes along, there'll be someone who can treat you when you're outside."
"Thank you for the praise, Lady Tsunade!"
Being praised by the greatest medical ninja in the shinobi world made Rin look genuinely happy.
Tsunade did not pay much attention to that and instead pointed at Kakashi beside her.
"As for Kakashi… didn't you say before that you wanted to teach him?"
Even as she said it, Tsunade still found the matter a little strange.
Back when the war had just ended and they were returning to the village, Shiki had indeed said Kakashi had good talent and that he was interested in teaching him.
But after they got back, Shiki had done absolutely nothing about it.
"Uh…"
Shiki froze for a moment, because now that he thought about it, he really had said something like that before.
"Can I say I forgot?"
"…"
That answer left everyone speechless, especially Kakashi.
Could something like that really be forgotten?
He had been waiting at home for so long, thinking through all kinds of possibilities, but Kakashi truly had not expected the reason to be this simple.
Shiki had just forgotten.
"Ahem!"
The atmosphere in the courtyard instantly turned a little awkward, so Shiki quickly cleared his throat.
"But now that Kakashi's here, the teaching can continue."
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