"Thank you, big sister!"
Kyūsei accepted the bag of white sugar that the ANBU girl tossed at him with obvious irritation, flashing her a bright, perfectly sincere smile.
"You little brat—can you please worry people less in the future?"
The ANBU girl crossed her arms and glared down at the small red-haired menace in front of her.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
Kyūsei agreed without a shred of sincerity, then immediately turned around and ran back into the kitchen.
This brat…
Not cute at all!
Watching the boy bustle back into the kitchen, the ANBU girl returned to her post.
Kyūsei sprinkled some sugar into the pot, stirred it a few times, then scooped up a spoonful of soup to taste.
Fresh, sweet, and rich.
Perfect.
As expected of me.
Humming to himself, he plated the dish, served himself a bowl of rice, then called out toward the humanoid surveillance device outside the window.
"Hey, want to eat together?"
A response came almost immediately.
"First! My name is not 'hey'!"
"Second! My name is Nightingale!"
"Third! I already ate soldier pills! I'm not hungry!"
"If you don't want to eat, then don't. Why are you yelling so loud?"
"You almost scared this baby to death."
Kyūsei stopped paying attention to her and dug in.
To be honest, he quite liked his current life. No responsibilities, no pressure—just lie flat and freeload. As long as he kept acting cute, everything was fine.
As for the future?
Who cares. One day at a time was good enough.
By his calculations, he could freeload for at least another thirty years.
Totally worth it.
As for Uchiha Obito?
When that guy lost his white moonlight and went insane, Kyūsei would be camping inside the Hokage Building all day long—with Namikaze Minato—
Wait.
Wrong.
Namikaze Kaoru, plus Sarutobi Hiruzen.
What could Obito possibly do to him???
Ah… a beautiful life was waving at him…
After finishing his meal, Kyūsei wrapped up the leftovers in plastic wrap and put them into the fridge. Heat them up at night and that was another meal sorted.
Then he went to wash the dishes.
Staring at the bowls covered in bubbles, his thoughts drifted.
Why didn't they just give me a dishwasher…
Nightingale watched as the annoying brat cleaned up and went back to his bedroom. She found herself liking him just a tiny bit more.
At least he knew how to clean up after eating…
Then her nose twitched.
A sharp, irritating smell faintly entered her nostrils.
That smell was—
Realizing the possibility, Nightingale's face turned green. She burst into Kyūsei's bedroom at full speed, and when she saw what was in the boy's hands, she exploded.
"You bastard!"
"Do you even know the Three Great Ninja Prohibitions?!"
A jinchūriki must remain fully conscious at all times!
Absolutely cannot give the tailed beast any opening!
Kyūsei stared at her in shock.
"No way, I only opened the lid! You noticed that fast?!"
"What are you, a bloodhound?!"
"Isn't this a bit much?!"
"Enough nonsense! You're coming with me to see the Hokage right now!"
"You need serious discipline!"
Nightingale slung Kyūsei over her shoulder and sprinted straight toward the Hokage Tower. Her other teammate followed silently, clearly in full agreement with her decision.
"Waaah! Help!"
"ANBU are kidnapping children!"
Nightingale clamped a hand over his mouth and shouted back furiously:
"You little shit! What are you planning to do next—get a perm?!"
"Mmmph mmmph mmmph!"
Two ANBU carrying a child dashed across the rooftops of Konoha, drawing plenty of attention.
"Huh?"
"Was that… Kyūsei?"
Kaoru Namikaze, who had just finished training and was heading home, looked up in confusion as the three figures leapt over her head.
Kaoru was a civilian-born ninja, but it was as if the Goddess of Fate had smiled upon her. Her talent far surpassed that of her peers.
Because of that, one of the legendary Sannin—Jiraiya—had taken her in as a disciple.
She cherished that opportunity deeply.
Every time she trained under Jiraiya, she worked herself to the bone.
Watching the ANBU vanish into the distance, unease flickered in her heart.
There was something she had never told anyone.
Or perhaps… a girl's quiet knot of emotions.
Uzumaki Kyūsei—the transfer student who had suddenly entered her peaceful life when she was six years old.
The first time she saw that boy, he captured her attention completely.
Her thoughts drifted back to that first meeting.
"Yo! My name's Uzumaki Kyūsei!"
"I'm from the Land of Whirlpools. My whole family got wiped out, so I ran to Konoha!"
"But that doesn't stop me from becoming your Hokage!"
"From now on, I'm your boss!"
At first, everyone felt sympathy for the transfer student. But when he brazenly declared he'd become Hokage—and even wanted to make them his underlings—
The boys immediately exploded.
"You're an outsider and you want to be Hokage?!"
"Look at his hair, it's so weird!"
"Yeah! It's like a tomato!"
"So strange…"
Kaoru stared at the boy with sky-blue eyes wide open. She only felt that he was completely different from the other boys in class.
It was hard to describe…
But he was cool.
Then the noisy classroom was violently suppressed by the teacher, and all the boys quieted down.
As if guided by fate, the teacher arranged for the transfer student to sit beside her.
"Y-you… hello. My name is Namikaze Kaoru."
Her small face flushed as she spoke softly to the boy next to her.
But to her disappointment, he had no intention of greeting her at all. The moment he sat down, he laid his head on the desk and went straight to sleep.
The other boys saw everything—and immediately gritted their teeth in fury.
Kaoru, the class beauty, had greeted this bastard, and he ignored her?!
Unforgivable!
When the bell finally rang, the strange transfer student left the classroom alone.
A large group of boys quietly followed him, all the way to the back mountain behind the academy…
When Kaoru snapped back to reality, worry filled her heart. She hurried over to check on her deskmate.
What she saw left her completely stunned.
The boys from her class were sprawled all over the ground, groaning in pain, while the transfer student casually kicked one of them in the backside.
"That's it? You think this counts as picking a fight?"
"Go train some more…"
"Hey—you over there. You here to get beaten too?"
His gaze landed on her.
Kaoru was just about to explain when the boy suddenly rushed at her.
Before she could say a word, the world spun violently. She hit the ground, staring blankly at the sky.
Ignoring the fact that she was his deskmate—
He had thrown her over his shoulder without hesitation.