Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha is not motivated.

Konoha,

Inside room 315 on the third floor of the teachers' apartment, Miro Uzumaki, who had watched the live stream all night, was fast asleep and unable to pull herself out of bed.

"Hehe. Yuanyuan~ My Yuanyuan~"

His eyes were tightly closed, but his mouth was wide open, completely unaware of the danger that was about to befall him.
"Humph!"

Beside the bed, a short figure stood with hands on hips, watching Uzumaki Miro, who was about to be late but was oblivious. Kushina's small fist formed an adorable "#" shape.

"uncle!"

As a faint blue light appeared on her fist, Kushina slightly bent her knees, gathered her strength, and leaped into the air. A mini version of her superhuman strength punch descended from the sky, slamming hard into the stomach of her incompetent uncle, Uzumaki Miluo.

"I'm going to be late!"

"puff!"

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Mi Luo instantly regained consciousness, clutching her stomach and rolling around frantically on the bed, her mournful howls echoing throughout the entire apartment building.
"Ahhh~"

The teachers, who were going downstairs to get to work, all showed expressions of sympathy upon hearing the familiar scream.

"A living alarm clock has come to our house, and Teacher Mi Luo will never be late again."

"It's a pity he's a bit of a useless person."

"."

"Ugh~ Kushina, how many times have I told you to get up and go to school by yourself? I may be late, but I will never be absent."

After a long while, Milo Whirlpool brushed his teeth and gave his niece, who was waiting for him at the door, another instruction.
"Uncle, can't you act like a mature adult? Haven't you already lost enough wages this month for being late?"

Kushina, carrying her small schoolbag and arms crossed, looked at her disheveled uncle with disdain. Because of Miro's lateness, the uncle and niece had been eating nothing but scrambled eggs with tomatoes for a whole month due to a shortage of funds.

"I haven't had a cupcake in two months!"

"Uh, don't you still have your living expenses?"

Faced with her niece's intense gaze, Milo Uzumaki turned her head away somewhat guiltily.
"Living expenses? Didn't you give all the money Mom sent to your Yuanyuan?"

It would have been better if this hadn't been mentioned. Just thinking about her living expenses made Kushina furious. The 300,000 ryo her mother sent her every month was all taken by her lazy, good-for-nothing uncle to tip female streamers.
"How can you call it a gift if it's for your future wife?"

"hehe."

Kushina suppressed the urge to punch someone and gritted her teeth as she continued speaking.
"I'm going to tell my great-aunt!"

"No! No! I'll take you to eat cakes today!"

Upon hearing that Kushina was going to expose him to Mito Uzumaki, Miro Uzumaki was terrified. If his aunt found out that he was still obsessed with a "female" news anchor at his age, she would skin him alive!

"If you don't want me to complain, fine, but in today's combat training session, you have to pair me with that blond-haired kid, understand?"

Seeing the aggrieved and submissive Uzumaki Miro, Kushina revealed a smug smile.

She doesn't need any small cakes; she'd rather go find Grandpa Silver and eat as much as she wants. Her ultimate goal is to be able to beat up that awful little blondie in a legitimate way.

"Huh? What did Minato do to you this time?"

Uzumaki Miro looked at his niece, who was rubbing her fists together, with a puzzled expression. He remembered that Kushina and Minato got along quite well, and they would even go to the training ground together after school.

"Hmph! That bastard pretended to lose to me during our last sparring session. His acting was so bad it was unbearable to watch. He clearly wanted to embarrass me in front of Nono-neechan and the others."

Kushina clenched her little fists, her face full of resentment, and they cracked. To get revenge for being tricked earlier, she was determined to teach that hypocritical blond brat a lesson this time.

"I see. No problem, I'll leave this to you, Uncle."

Ninja School

Minato, carrying a small satchel, stood at the gate, constantly looking in one direction, as if waiting for someone.
"Yo~ Minato."

Nara Shikaku, yawning; Choza, munching on a meat bun; and the unassuming Inoichi walked from another direction, raising their hands to greet him from afar.

"Good morning."

Minato turned around upon hearing this and replied with a smile,

"Waiting for that blood-red tomato again?"

Shikaku raised an eyebrow and said with a teasing expression,

"No, no, I'm waiting for Zhiwei."

Minato, his little scheme exposed, blushed and immediately dragged his friend into the smear.
"But my home isn't in that direction."

The next second, a deep voice rang in everyone's ears. The oil-gourd-carrying woman, Zhiwei, had appeared behind them at some point. Although she was wearing sunglasses, the group could still clearly sense the resentment in her eyes.
"Haha, maybe I remembered it wrong?"

The little lie was easily exposed by his best friend. Slightly embarrassed, Minato scratched his head and gave a sheepish smile.

"As an apology, I'll treat you to lemonade at lunch."

"can."

"Minato, this isn't like your memory at all~"

Shikaku, ever the prankster, didn't forget to tease Minato, and the others joined in with the same mocking smiles.

"That's right~ That's right~"

"Who are they waiting for? It's so hard to guess!"

"That direction leads to the teachers' apartments. Could it be that Minato, you're waiting for Miro-sensei? Tsk tsk tsk, teacher-student relationships aren't accepted by society, you know~"

"You're covered in mud!"

Listening to his friends' teasing banter, Minato, his face flushed red, wished he could disappear into the ground.

"The lemonade?"

“Everyone has a share.”

"Okay!"*3
Just then, Fugaku Uchiha and his group appeared at the school gate. Hearing the inexplicable cheers of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Nawaki, his curiosity piqued, couldn't help but ask,
"What are you talking about, are you so happy?"

“Nawaki-senpai, Minato just said he’d treat us to lemonade at lunch.”

Upon seeing them, Shikaku and the others politely bowed, and then spread the word about Minato's generous gesture.
"Oh? The Water Gate prison, why didn't you tell us about such a good thing?"

Fugaku Uchiha chuckled and patted Minato's stiff shoulder, earning a wry smile in return.
"If you seniors don't mind, let's have a drink together sometime."

"Since you put it that way, Minato, then we won't stand on ceremony."

The Hyuga brothers nodded in agreement. Free lemonade tasted a million times better than anything you'd pay for.
"Dingling bell~"

Just then, the ninja academy's alarm rang. Knowing the school gates were about to close, everyone immediately headed towards the campus. Only Minato, trailing at the back of the crowd, kept turning back every few steps, seemingly searching for something.
Suddenly, two figures, one large and one small, appeared running wildly on the street in the distance. Minato's eyes lit up upon seeing them.
coming!

"Ahhh, I have to make it!"

Holding his niece in one hand, Whirlpool Rice ran like the wind down the main road. If he was late again today, his performance bonus for the month would really be deducted.

There's also a PK battle between Yuan Yuan at the end of the month, how could he, as the second-ranked guy, be absent?
Thinking of this, an unnamed power surged from his limbs, and Miro swung his arms violently, instantly accelerating his speed.
"Yuanyuan, please grant me power!"

Pfft!
"Huhu."

Perhaps it was Yuan Yuan's intervention, but just before the school gates closed, a panting Mi Luo landed awkwardly. Looking at the tightly shut gate behind him, a relieved smile appeared on his face.

"Kushina, did you see that? Me? Kushina? Kushina!"

However, just as he was about to share his joy, he suddenly realized that his niece, whom he should have been carrying, only had a lonely schoolbag left.
No wonder he felt much lighter during the final arm swing acceleration; it turns out he'd lost his niece.
"Well"

Just as Miro was about to turn around and go out to look for his lost niece, a painful groan caught his attention.
Following the sound, they saw the missing Kushina lying face down on the ground, with a blond boy with rolling eyes pinned beneath her.
"Huh?" It turned out that when he sprinted, he swung his arm too much, and threw his niece into the school gate first.

"Oh dear! Are you alright?"

Whirlpool Milo's legs were trembling with fear. His precious niece couldn't possibly get hurt, or his family would definitely whip him senseless.

"I'm fine, it's just... uh?"

Dizzy and disoriented, Kushina was in no mood to reprimand her uncle for throwing her around. After a brief moment of disorientation, realizing she had stepped on someone, she lowered her head with a look of guilt.
"Uncle, you threw it so accurately!"

However, upon discovering that the person beneath her was Minato, who was seeing stars, the guilt and remorse on her face vanished instantly. She even turned and gave the culprit a thumbs up.
"what?"

"well."

"This guy didn't faint?"

Kushina stared in surprise at Minato, who was muttering softly beneath her. Driven by curiosity, she pricked up her ears to listen carefully.

"Good weight."

Boom!

"Watergate!"

Everything happened so suddenly that Fugaku and the others in front only reacted at this moment, rushing to Minato's side in a panic.

"Humph!"

Seeing the worried crowd around her, Kushina reluctantly lowered her fist, silently deciding to settle this score during today's practical lesson.
"Kushina, are you okay?"

The gentle Uchiha Mikoto reached out and helped the somewhat disheveled Kushina up; the concern in her words seemed genuine.
"Thank you, Mikoto-senpai. I'm fine."

After brushing the dust off her clothes, Kushina gave Mikoto a grateful smile.
"call"

On the other side, Minato, who had been jolted awake, slowly regained consciousness. The first thing he did upon returning to his senses was to search around for the culprit who had knocked him over.

"Kushina-san, are you alright?"

"I don't need your hypocritical sissy."

Seeing Minato's concerned expression, Kushina pouted, turned around, and took the schoolbag from her uncle's hand.
Taking the opportunity, Miro Uzumaki glanced at the time, her expression changing slightly.
"Hurry up and leave, it's time for class."

His reminder jolted everyone awake, and they hurriedly headed to their respective classrooms.

"Minato, I'll carry you on my back."

Because Minato's back was still a little sore, the strong and healthy Dingza volunteered to carry him on his back and run towards the classroom.
The morning class was a practical lesson, taught by Uzumaki Miro. He took the class roster and began assigning members to the battle teams.
"Akimichi Choza, Nara Shikaku."

"Haiyi in the mountains, Zhiwei the oil girl."

"."

"Kushina Uzumaki, Minato Namikaze."

"Miro-sensei! Minato is injured, why does he still have to fight?"

Upon hearing Misaki call out Minato's name, Aburame Shiki was the first to stand up and argue for her friend.
"Hmph! You're lucky."

Kushina pouted, pulling her gaze away from Minato's slightly distressed face behind her. Her clenched fists gradually relaxed, a hint of worry flickering in her resentful eyes.

"I see, then."

Regarding Minato's injury, Miro Uzumaki, knowing he was in the wrong, scratched his head awkwardly.

"Wait, Ms. Mi Luo, I'm fine."

Unexpectedly, with even Kushina, their opponent, giving up, Minato, who had been silent, suddenly raised his hand, his eyes revealing a maturity beyond his years.

"Minato, you need to think this through. This is real combat."

Miro explained the pros and cons very seriously, but Minato seemed determined to fight Kushina. He gently shook his head, his azure eyes filled with resolve.
"On the battlefield, the enemy will not let you go just because you are injured."

"Alright, let's begin the practical exercise!"

The clever Shikaku didn't even use his family's secret techniques; he subdued the reckless Choji solely with a trap.
Next, Inoichi, who had successfully controlled Shimi using the Mind Transfer Technique, fainted from fright at the countless worms inside his body. Inoichi, who loved gardening, was terrified of worms.

"Hehehe, it's finally my turn!"

By the time Kushina took the stage, the practical training session was nearing its end. Standing in the school's training ground, she grinned maliciously, clenching her small fists and glaring menacingly at the gentle-looking Minato.

"Kushina-kun, that laughter of yours..."

Minato, clearly startled by Kushina's laughter that didn't match her human voice, wore a strange expression on his face.
Is it cute because of the contrast?

Oh no, what if she's kind of cute?!

"Heh, scared now, huh? But let me tell you, it's too late!"

Thinking that Minato was intimidated by her aura, Kushina's face turned into a smug smile.
"I don't think I've ever offended you, Kushina-san?"

"Stop pretending here. You made me look so foolish on the training field last time. This time, I'm going to get my revenge, with interest!"

"Uh"

Looking at the furious red-haired girl before him, who resembled a female beast, Minato scratched his face somewhat awkwardly.

"Has it been discovered?"

Going easy on cute girls is a man's romance.

This was Jiraiya's teaching, which he always kept in mind.

"Finally admitted it, take this punch!"

Seeing that Minato had finally revealed his true colors, Kushina, enraged, leaped forward, her fist, imbued with monstrous strength, aimed directly at his smiling face.

"The battle begins!"

Upon seeing this, Miro Uzumaki, who was overseeing the battle from the sidelines, quickly raised the flag in his hand, symbolizing the start of actual combat.

"Shh!"

Kushina's attacks were incredibly fierce, but to Minato, who possessed dynamic vision, they moved as slowly as a snail. As he dodged to the side, he even had time to observe the girl's rosy, round face.
"boom!"

The small fist missed its target and slammed into the ground, instantly creating a crater the size of a washbasin in the specially reinforced training area. The students watching nearby breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew, thank goodness I didn't run into this blood-red tomato, or I would definitely be in the school clinic."

"Shh! Are you out of your mind? If she hears that nickname, she'll knock your teeth out!"

"Hiss, was my voice not loud just now?"

Reminded by his companion, the student who had just called Kushina by her nickname quickly covered his mouth and cautiously looked at the red-haired figure chasing Minato's hammer in the arena.

"Not big."

"Hi, that's good!"

"But I heard it."

"what?"

The student, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, looked up blankly and met Miro's icy gaze. He was instantly terrified.

"Kid, you've come to the wrong place. Come to my office after class." (End of Chapter)