Kushina had inherited the Uzumaki clan’s natural monstrous strength.
Her punch sent the completely unprepared upperclassman flying into the corner of the hallway.
Every girl around them stared in shock.
“I told you!
I’m his girlfriend!
Stop coming after him!”
“She hit her!”
“Where did this red-haired brat come from?
That was way too hard!”
“Does she think there aren’t more of us?
Everyone, teach this shameless redhead a lesson!”
The situation instantly spiraled out of control.
Several girls lost their tempers, and after a few shoves, fists started flying.
Kushina had good natural talent, but she had barely trained seriously and her chakra reserves weren’t developed yet.
The other side had the advantage in numbers, including two or three older girls whose taijutsu foundations were clearly better than hers.
Kushina managed to knock down two girls from her year, but an upperclassman soon caught both her arms from behind and pinned her against the wall.
“Already lying at your age?” the older girl snorted.
“His girlfriend?
Does Mirai-kun even know that?”
“Exactly!
And with that temper too.
I heard people used to call you the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero.
Guess the name fits!”
Kushina struggled desperately, but she couldn’t break free.
Her eyes started to redden.
Then—
“What are you doing?”
A cold voice came from the other end of the hallway.
Naori Uchiha had appeared without anyone noticing.
Her long black hair shifted lightly in the breeze, and her expression was cold enough to frost over.
Behind her stood a blond boy with spiky hair—Minato Namikaze—looking worried.
“Kushina…” Minato looked at her pinned against the wall, then at the group surrounding her.
His expression turned serious.
“Whatever caused this, let Kushina go first.”
“What’s it got to do with you?” the upperclassman snapped.
“The red-haired brat threw the first punch.”
“That doesn’t mean all of you should gang up on one person!” Naori stepped forward and planted herself in front of Kushina.
“Let her go.
If you want a fight, I’ll take you on.”
Minato said nothing more, but he stepped beside Naori and slipped one hand into his ninja pouch, clearly ready to act.
The two sides stared each other down.
Then—
“Enough.”
A quiet voice carrying unmistakable coldness came from the end of the hallway.
Mirai stood there expressionlessly.
His sleeves shifted slightly, and faint golden light could be seen moving beneath the fabric.
“Mirai…”
The moment Kushina saw him, the stubbornness she’d been forcing herself to maintain collapsed.
Her eyes turned completely red.
The other girls froze too.
Especially the ones carrying love letters.
They awkwardly tried to hide the pink envelopes behind their backs.
The instant she was released, Kushina ran straight into Mirai’s arms.
Her shoulders trembled as if she were trying not to cry.
“It’s okay, Kushina.”
She buried her face against his chest and gave a muffled, “Mm.”
Mirai looked up, and his voice went cold.
“Who started it?”
The girls exchanged looks and didn’t answer.
Finally, the older student forced herself to speak.
“She hit us first.
We only fought back!”
“I asked who started hitting her,” Mirai cut in, his gaze as sharp as knives.
No one answered.
Mirai didn’t ask again.
A golden chain shot from his sleeve so fast that its path was almost invisible.
In the blink of an eye, every girl by the classroom door had been bound, not a single one escaping.
“Ah!”
“What is this?!”
“Let us go!”
“It’s too tight!”
The chains tightened enough to keep them completely immobilized, though Mirai controlled the force carefully so that no one was actually hurt.
He walked up to the upperclassman.
She was much taller than he was, forcing him to look up, yet somehow the difference in presence was completely reversed.
“You really like ganging up on people smaller and younger than you, don’t you?”
The chains gradually pulled tighter, and several of the suspended girls let out pained whimpers.
“Mirai…”
Kushina tugged lightly at his sleeve, looking at him pleadingly.
She was afraid he’d take things too far and make the situation impossible to clean up.
Mirai rubbed her head, his icy expression melting back into a smile.
“Don’t worry, Kushina.
I’m only teaching them a lesson.
Nothing serious will happen.”
His eyes turned cold again.
“You’re lucky Kushina wasn’t seriously hurt today.
Otherwise…”
He moved a finger.
The golden chains twisted, tripping the girls and dropping them all onto the floor on their backsides.
For a group of young students, the humiliation was probably worse than any bruise.
Mirai swept them with a final chilling look.
“You wouldn’t have gotten off with just being tied up.”
The older girls bit their lips, their faces pale.
In the end, they lowered their heads and didn’t even dare cry loudly.
Mirai recalled the chains.
They scrambled to their feet and fled down the hallway, leaving even their love letters scattered across the floor.
Silence returned.
Kushina still had her face buried in Mirai’s chest, sniffling softly.
He looked down at her and softened his voice.
“They’re gone.
It’s okay now.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Kushina still sounded upset, but she snuggled closer against him.
Hidden from his view, the corners of her mouth curled into a silly smile.
‘Mirai’s arms are so warm…
I want to stay like this forever.’
Mirai’s mouth curved mischievously.
“By the way, I think I heard you saying that you’re my girlfriend.”
Kushina visibly froze.
She slowly lifted her head.
Tears still clung to her cheeks, but her eyes were wide and indignant.
“Y-You kissed me yesterday!
Don’t tell me you’re pretending it didn’t happen!”
“I’m not,” Mirai said with a smile.
“But if you’re going to be my girlfriend, shouldn’t there be some benefits?”
“What benefits?”
“For example…
if I feel like kissing you, you have to let me?”
Kushina’s entire face exploded red, from the base of her neck all the way to the tips of her ears.
It was almost possible to imagine steam coming off her head.
‘Mirai wants to kiss me again?!’
She liked how kissing felt too, but they were only seven!
Wasn’t this way too early?
And there were people watching!
How was she supposed to answer in front of everyone?
Why couldn’t Mirai talk about this somewhere private, with just the two of them?
She was going to die of embarrassment!
Kushina stood frozen for several seconds before forcing out a voice barely louder than a mosquito.
“No.”
“Then forget it.”
“No!
That’s not what I meant!”
“Then what did you mean?”
“I…
I…”
She stumbled over the word again and again before finally stomping her foot, bright red.
“Anyway…
you’re not allowed to find someone else!
The rest…
we’ll talk about it later!”
Mirai fought back a laugh and nodded.
Teasing this girl really was too much fun.
Minato had watched the entire exchange from nearby, his blue eyes practically glowing with envy.
“Childhood-sweetheart romance…
that’s so nice,” he muttered.
“I want something like that too.”
Naori stood on the other side, staring coldly at Mirai and Kushina.
Her face didn’t reveal much, but her lips were pressed tightly together, and the fingers gripping the edge of her clothes had gone white.
‘That guy…
he did that to me before, and now he’s hugging someone else like nothing happened.’
And that red-haired girl was so weak she couldn’t even beat a few upperclassmen.
Why did she get to…?
Naori’s chest felt strangely stuffy, and she couldn’t put a name to the feeling.
Once they returned to class, Kushina was obviously in a much better mood.
There was practically a bounce in every step she took.
Mirai had barely sat down when Minato turned around from the desk in front of him, unusually serious.
“Mirai, I want to challenge you during practical class today.”
Mirai raised an eyebrow.
“Oh?
You sure, Minato?”
In the original story, Minato only became famous after learning the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Before that, he was simply a talented ninja with excellent reflexes.
His extraordinary talent for space-time ninjutsu hadn’t shown itself yet.
“I’m sure,” Minato said, clenching his fist.
His blond hair gleamed in the sunlight.
“I want to see where my current limit is.
And I want to give myself a goal to chase.”
What happened in the hallway had clearly affected him.
He wanted to become strong enough to defeat a whole group of enemies with a single move too.
Mirai studied him for two seconds, then nodded.
“All right.”
When practical class finally arrived, Naori—who had spent the whole day with pent-up anger—started walking toward Mirai.
Then she heard—
“Teacher!
I want to challenge Mirai Uzumaki today!”
Minato’s voice.
Naori stopped dead.
Her mouth opened.
She’d been just about to say, “Mirai, I challenge you!” only for Minato to beat her to it.
Minato had already walked to the edge of the field and was warming up with a serious expression.
Naori stood there in a daze, her thoughts a complete mess.
‘Minato…
even you’re trying to steal Mirai from me?
And you’re a boy!’
She returned to her place with a dark expression.
Kushina glanced at her, then suddenly walked over.
“Hey, Uchiha.
How about you fight me today?”
Naori looked at her.
“…You?”
“What?
Scared?”
The fire already burning inside Naori immediately flared higher.
She was already annoyed, and Kushina had just volunteered herself as an outlet.
“Fine.” Naori stood, her voice icy.
“Don’t cry when you lose.”
“We’ll see who’s crying!” Kushina snapped, hands on her hips.
The two walked toward the other side of the training field, one brimming with defiance and the other carrying a belly full of irritation.
At the center of the field, Minato and Mirai watched the red-haired and black-haired girls head in the opposite direction to warm up.
“Will those two be okay?” Minato asked worriedly.
“They’ll be fine.” Mirai rolled his wrists.
“Kushina’s actually very talented.
She’s just too lazy.
Letting Naori make her suffer a little might be good for her.
“Maybe she’ll stop slacking off so much afterward.”
Minato nodded, took a deep breath, and settled into a fighting stance.
“Mirai, please take care of me.”
Mirai’s mouth curved upward.
“Come on.”
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