Kei Yamanaka was blissfully unaware of the chaos within Root and Danzo Shimura's fury.
After sorting through all the information in his mind for an entire day,
As the sun set in the west, Kurenai Yuhi, Maito Gai, and Genma Shiranami had just barely managed to maintain their water-walking abilities in their sealed state,
So he called out to them and led them back to Konoha together.
He treated all three to another dinner, then dismissed them with instructions to bring lunch tomorrow.
Watching the exhausted trio drag their heavy bodies home—The energy they once had was long gone.
Kei formed a one-handed seal and quietly connected to the sensing barrier covering the entire village using the Yamanaka clan's perception secret technique.
Privately commending his ancestors' foresight for building a backdoor into the barrier specifically for their clan members,
He quickly located Kushina Uzumaki by recognizing her unique chakra signature.
Then silently severed the connection to the sensing barrier.
After buying a bag of sand dango—a specialty from the Land of Wind—at a snack shop in Konoha's teahouse district, he made his way leisurely toward the Jonin Dispatch Office.
He arrived at the original location of the Jonin Dispatch Office.
What had been ruins the day before were now cleared and leveled using Earth Release techniques, after usable items and various documents had been salvaged.
More than twenty workers and several Genin, under the direction of craftsmen, were orderly transporting construction materials.
Kushina wore a pure white hardhat and held a few architectural blueprints as she seriously stood off to the side supervising the work.
Spotting Kei approaching with snacks in hand, she ran over with small quick steps.
She held up her dirty palms and laughed like a mischievous fox who had just snuck out for a treat, then opened her mouth wide to signal Kei to feed her.
"Ah~"
"What are you looking at with those blueprints?"
Kei chuckled lightly, pinching a sand dango between his fingers and popping it into Kushina's mouth.
Receiving her snack, Kushina beamed until her eyes squinted shut from smiling too wide.
While chewing on the soft, savory-salty dango, she proudly spread the blueprint open before him.
"Take a look~ I designed this! What do you think?"
"You designed this? Who actually did the drawing?"
"I described it, and someone else drew it for me!"
"I'm footing the bill—how could he say no!"
"...That's true."
Looking at the structure that outwardly resembled a pointed ice cream cone—its design featured nine spiraling walls rising upward and converging at a single point.
Kei tried to imagine what was going through Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind when he approved construction based on this blueprint!
Bright red in color, it nearly matched the Hokage Tower in hue.
Other than its rather unconventional exterior appearance, nothing seemed particularly wrong at first glance.
But...
If this thing faded even a little, it'd look exactly like a pile of poop!
Maybe the Third thought—or secretly hoped—
It somewhat looked like a flame, symbolizing the Will of Fire?
Hmm... The Will of Fire is a pile of... what?
You know what? It kind of is!
Kushina's bright eyes sparkled with anticipation.
Seeing that look on her face, Kei Yamanaka naturally didn't want to spoil the moment.
"Hmm… the meaning is great. From directly above, it should look just like the Uzumaki clan's symbol! Nine spirals not only symbolize your name, but also indicate your identity as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki? What a clever concept. Although, the Nine-Tails must be raging inside the seal!"
Kei carefully considered Kushina's design intent.
He pointed out some key points while adding a lighthearted joke.
It was all about boosting the emotional impact.
"Hehe~ Kei, you know me better than anyone!"
Kushina nodded repeatedly, unfurling the blueprint completely beneath the setting sun.
She wanted to leave her mark on Konoha.
Whether others saw it as good or bad, pleasant or terrifying—
She was simply herself, Kushina Uzumaki!
The second jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails after Mito Uzumaki!
Looking at Kushina, with eyes that sparkled like stars and a smile that lit up the evening sky, as if she were radiating light herself,
Kei secretly decided he would talk to his colleagues from Logistics later to slightly increase the maintenance budget for the Jonin Dispatch Office.
It absolutely couldn't fade.
Otherwise, he feared Kushina would be heartbroken when she saw it.
Swish~
The sound of the Shifting Body Technique cutting through the air rang out.
A ninja wearing a mask and clad in standard Anbu combat attire appeared barely two meters away beside Kei Yamanaka.
Such proximity posed an obvious threat to a ninja, causing him to frown slightly.
Anbu were special units directly commanded by the Hokage. Carefully selected, their loyalty to the village and the Hokage was beyond doubt.
Precisely because of this, their behavior during missions often reflected the Hokage's personal stance.
In the past, no Anbu had ever approached him with such an aggressive stance.
"Kei Yamanaka, Lord Hokage has summoned you immediately to the Hokage's office. There's an important mission for you."
"Understood."
Kei Yamanaka nodded, handing the bag of snacks in his hand over to Kushina.
"I'll head to see Lord Hokage first then."
"Okay, take care on your way."
Kushina stiffly took the snack bag.
The feelings they'd waited so long for had finally started to get some response.
Just when she was ready to begin planning and practicing those romantic tips she'd learned from Mikoto,
Of course, that old man Sarutobi had to show up again and mess everything up!
That damn guy—did he really hate seeing a jinchuriki find happiness in love?
Ugh, damn it!
She'd go complain to Tsunade Onee-sama!
I'll make Tsunade Onee-sama smash that old coot's office!
"Don't worry, by the way. I've recently taken in three new apprentices. I'll hand them over to you for now."
Knowing Kushina wasn't in a great mood, Kei quickly decided to hand those three kids over to cheer her up.
On one side was a powerful Konoha Jonin who could relieve stress by training those newbies.
On the other side were eager Genin willing to endure hardship for improvement.
Hmm, a perfect match!
"No problem whatsoever!"
Kushina nodded sharply, grateful for the trust Kei Yamanaka had shown her.
Kei Yamanaka smiled and brushed it off with a wave before racing off toward the Hokage Tower.
The message relay Anbu waited until he had started moving before following along behind.
This behavior, bordering on surveillance, nearly confirmed the uneasy suspicion that had just surfaced in Kei Yamanaka's mind.
Do people really get more sensitive with age?
That shouldn't be the case, should it?
Didn't Kushina just spend one night at his house?
And they even slept separately!
So why react so intensely when nothing had even happened?
Something wasn't adding up...
Last night, hadn't he kept the Anti-Sensor Barrier active to prevent the clan members from using sensing jutsu or the Eight Trigrams technique?
Damn it!
Could the Third actually believe that he and Kushina had already gotten to the point of mushroom romancing each other?!
Kei Yamanaka froze for a moment.
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