“If you kiss someone when you’re seven…
does your first kiss still count as your first kiss?”
Kushina spent the entire walk home thinking furiously about that question.
It felt like a matter that touched the very core of her soul.
But if Mirai had been the one who took it, maybe it wasn’t such a terrible loss?
By the time they reached home, she had finally decided to stop worrying about it.
She shot Mirai one last fierce glare, then hurried deep into the Senju compound and began pretending to seriously study sealing techniques.
Mirai awkwardly rubbed his head.
He hadn’t expected himself to impulsively kiss her either.
It was Kushina’s fault for looking too cute while puffing up like that.
Yes.
That was definitely it.
She was at least half responsible.
Otherwise, why had he kissed Kushina and not anyone else?
If Kushina could hear his thoughts, she might have awakened monstrous strength on the spot and punched him into a vegetative state.
Though, technically, Mirai already had a tree planted in his soul.
“Oh, it’s little Mirai.
Where’s Kushina?”
A Grandma Mito had randomly spawned in the courtyard.
“Grandma Mito!”
Mirai treasured this relationship deeply.
In his previous life, he had barely experienced true familial affection.
In this life, Mito’s love for him was genuine and without the slightest falsehood.
“Kushina just ran into the deeper part of the compound.
Maybe she finally figured things out and decided to study seriously.”
Mito smiled and gently ruffled Mirai’s red hair.
What a familiar shade of red.
It reminded her of herself when she was young, and of her days back in the Land of Whirlpools.
People really did become fond of memories as they grew old.
“Forget it.
If that girl Kushina ever studies sealing techniques seriously, I’ll assume the world is ending.”
Even Mito had nothing to say about Kushina’s laziness.
Originally, Mito had chosen Kushina as the primary candidate to inherit the Nine-Tails, while Mirai had merely been brought along as a backup.
Now, however, Mirai seemed increasingly suitable.
His talent was greater.
He worked harder.
And as a boy, he would never face the same vulnerability Mito had experienced when childbirth nearly allowed the Tailed Beast to break through her seal.
Mito weighed the possibilities silently, but revealed nothing on her face.
She merely offered one meaningful sentence of encouragement.
“Little Mirai, you need to keep working hard too.
In the future, little Kushina may need you to take care of her and protect her.”
“Mm!
Grandma, I’m going to study sealing techniques too.
And don’t worry – I’ll definitely protect Kushina.”
“Good child.
At the end of the month, Grandma will test both of your progress.”
“Okay!”
Mirai smiled and turned toward the deeper part of the compound.
After only a few steps, the smile faded from his face.
Grandma Mito looked even more lifeless than before.
And that tone just now had sounded far too much like someone entrusting the future to him.
If Mirai were really just a child, he might not have noticed.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t.
…
Mirai pushed open the wooden door to the sealing chamber.
Kushina was sitting with her back to the entrance, holding a sealing scroll.
Her spine was perfectly straight, and she wore the exact posture of someone who wanted everyone to believe she was studying very seriously.
Hearing footsteps, she glanced sideways at Mirai, then immediately turned away again with a huff.
“Kushina, your scroll is upside down.”
Kushina froze.
She quickly flipped it around and looked again.
Why did the symbols still look upside down?
“Idiot!
Mirai, you liar!
It was the right way up before!”
Kushina puffed out her cheeks in fury.
“Hahahaha!”
Mirai burst out laughing.
He hadn’t expected her to fall for such a casual tease.
Even the sadness left by Grandma Mito’s strange words faded a little.
Kushina bit her lip, face turning red with anger as she slammed the scroll down.
“It’s all your fault!”
“Hey!
I’m not the one holding the scroll.”
“If you hadn’t lied, I wouldn’t have flipped it!”
Mirai watched her puffed-up face and couldn’t stop the corner of his mouth from rising.
Then, purely to tease her, he lightly pressed his lips together as if remembering something.
Kushina froze as though someone had cast a paralysis jutsu on her.
The posture she had taken to charge at him instantly collapsed.
Her ears became so red they looked almost translucent.
She quickly pulled her hands back and shuffled away like a startled little animal.
“Y-You…
don’t do that!”
“Do what?” Mirai asked innocently.
“That…
that thing!”
Kushina pointed at him, finger trembling, but couldn’t bring herself to explain.
“Just don’t!”
Mirai raised an eyebrow, more or less guessing what was going through her mind.
He laughed inwardly.
“Fine, fine.
I won’t.”
He sat cross-legged, opened a scroll, and turned serious again.
“I’ll study.
I won’t bother you.”
Kushina huffed, picked up her scroll, and moved all the way to the farthest corner of the chamber.
She sat with her back toward him in a very obvious display of ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’
She didn’t absorb a single word.
Her head was still full of what had happened outside the Academy.
She turned one page of the scroll, then realized she had absolutely no idea what the previous page had said.
“Damn it…”
She quietly buried her face behind the scroll, red hair almost matching the heat in her cheeks.
Mirai, meanwhile, truly settled into his studies.
He knew time wasn’t waiting for anyone.
Grandma Mito’s health was becoming worse by the day.
Nobody knew how much longer she could hold on.
Before that day arrived, Mirai wanted to learn as much from her as possible.
Pages of sealing formulas turned beneath his fingers.
Ancient symbols and structures were constructed, separated, and recombined inside his mind at astonishing speed, as though they had been meant to exist in his memory from birth.
Three hours later, the luminous stones in the chamber began to dim.
“That’s enough for today.”
Mirai closed the scroll and stood, rolling his stiff shoulders.
“Time to eat.”
A muffled “Mm” came from the corner.
Kushina stood as well and carefully rolled up her scroll.
She had not finished even one full page.
The two walked back toward the main house in silence.
Kushina deliberately stayed half a step behind him.
She refused to walk beside him and didn’t say a word, though every now and then she secretly glanced at him before quickly looking away.
By the time they reached the main house, the smell of dinner had already drifted outside.
Mito sat at the table.
Nawaki had started stealing food early and immediately received a smack on the hand from Mito’s chopsticks.
“Grandma Mito, we’re back!”
Mirai and Kushina entered together.
Mirai looked around the warm, lively house and felt something soft settle in his chest.
There were plenty of false people in Konoha.
But the affection inside this family was real.
“Little Mirai, little Kushina, wash your hands.
Dinner’s almost ready!”
“Okay!”
The two children hurried away to wash up, then obediently took their seats.
“Where’s Sis?
She’s not back yet?” Nawaki asked, rubbing the hand Mito had smacked.
“No idea.
I saw her looking incredibly excited this afternoon.
Who knows what she’s doing?” Mito replied.
Before she finished speaking-
Bang!
The front door flew open.
Tsunade strode inside with messy blond hair and the unmistakable expression of a woman who had won something important.
She swept her gaze across the table, locked onto Mirai, and crossed the room in three steps.
“You little genius!”
She scooped Mirai up and planted a loud kiss on his cheek.
“Your Big Sis Tsunade is in a good mood today.
That’s your reward!”
The entire table went silent.