Kushina had inherited the Uzumaki Clan’s innate talent for Monstrous Strength.
With a single punch, she directly sent the unsuspecting upperclassman senior flying into the corner of the hallway.
Leaving behind a group of dumbfounded female students.
“I said it already! I am his girlfriend! None of you are allowed to come after him anymore!”
“She’s hitting people!”
“Where did this red-headed brat come from, hitting so hard?”
“Does she really think all of us here are just decorations? Let’s all go together and teach this shameless red-headed girl a lesson.”
The situation instantly spiraled out of control.
Several female students turned hostile on the spot, and amidst the shoving and pushing, someone threw a punch.
Although Kushina had good potential, she had never properly trained, and her Chakra reserves were especially lacking.
The opposing side outnumbered her, and there were two or three upperclassman girls whose taijutsu foundations were clearly much more solid than hers.
After knocking down two girls of her own grade, her arms were quickly locked from behind by an upperclassman senior, pinning her against the wall.
“Learning to brag at such a young age?” The senior snorted, “Still a girlfriend? Does Mirai-kun even know about this?”
“Right, and her temper is so fiery. I heard someone called you Red Pepper at the very beginning, and they really didn’t call you that wrong!”
Kushina struggled desperately, but she couldn’t break free, her eye sockets turning red.
Just at that moment——
“What are you all doing?”
A cold voice came from the other end of the corridor.
Uchiha Naori had appeared out of nowhere, her long straight black hair gently swaying in the breeze, her expression as cold as frost.
Behind her followed a boy with spiky blonde hair—Minato Namikaze, a look of worry on his face.
“Kushina-classmate…” Minato looked at Kushina pinned against the wall, then at the group of girls, frowning with a stern face, “Regardless of what caused your conflict, let Kushina go first!”
“What business is it of yours?” The upperclassman senior glanced at him, “This red-headed brat started it first.”
“Even so, a group of people shouldn’t gang up on one!”
Uchiha Naori’s voice was crisp and cold.
She stepped forward a few steps, blocking in front of Kushina, “Let her go. If you want to fight, I can accompany you!”
Minato didn’t speak further, but he also quietly walked over to Naori’s side, reaching his hand into his Ninja pouch and striking a pose ready to act at any moment.
The two sides confronted each other, the atmosphere tense and trigger-happy.
Just at that moment——
“All of you, stop right now.”
A voice that wasn’t very loud but carried a chill came from the end of the corridor.
Uzumaki Mirai stood there, expressionless, his cuffs bulging slightly as golden light faintly circulated beneath the fabric.
“Mirai…” The moment Kushina saw him, her eyes turned completely red, and the stubbornness she had been forcing herself to maintain instantly collapsed.
That group of girls also froze.
Especially the few who had brought love letters; they even forgot to hide the pink envelopes in their hands, awkwardly stuffing them behind their backs.
The released Kushina immediately threw herself into Uzumaki Mirai’s arms, her shoulders twitching as if she were crying.
“It’s alright, Kushina.”
Kushina buried her face in his chest, letting out a muffled “Mn.”
“Who started it?” Mirai asked, raising his head, his voice turning cold.
Several girls of the same grade looked at each other, none daring to make a sound.
It was still the upperclassman senior who hardened her scalp and said, “She hit people first, we were just retaliating!”
“I asked, who was the first to hit her!” Mirai interrupted her, his gaze as sharp as two daggers.
No one dared to answer.
Mirai didn’t press further.
A golden chain shot out from his sleeve, moving so fast its trajectory was almost invisible, and in the blink of an eye, it tied up all the girls at the doorway, not missing a single one.
“Ahhh!”
“What is this!”
“Let go, let go!”
“Ah! It’s binding me so tight, I can’t take it!”
The chains tightened, binding them so they couldn’t move, but the force was controlled very well, acting only as a restraint without causing harm.
Mirai walked up to that upperclassman senior, slightly tilting his head up to look at her.
There was a huge height difference, but his aura completely overwhelmed the other party.
“You like ganging up on the fewer and bullying the younger, huh?”
As the chains gradually tightened, the few girls who were suspended let out painful groans.
“Mirai~” Kushina poked her head out from his arms at some point, pulling at the corner of his clothing with her small hand, a hint of pleading in her eyes.
She was worried that if things blew up too much, it would be hard to wrap up.
Uzumaki Mirai rubbed Kushina’s head, his icy temperament shifting into a smile, “It’s fine, Kushina. I’m just giving them a little lesson, nothing will go wrong.”
“It’s only because you’re fine today, otherwise…”
Mirai flicked his fingers, and the golden chains danced, tripping all the entangled girls to the ground and making them land hard on their bottoms.
For young girls, this could be said to be losing face to the extreme.
His gaze turned towards the girls, becoming icy: “It wouldn’t be as simple as just being tied up!”
The seniors bit their lips, their faces turning pale, and in the end, they lowered their heads, not even daring to cry out loud.
Mirai withdrew the chains, and that group of girls climbed up from the ground one by one, lowering their heads and running away quickly, even forgetting to pick up the love letters on the ground.
The hallway quieted down.
Kushina was still buried in his chest, muffledly sniffing.
Mirai looked down at her, his tone softening: “Alright, everyone’s gone, it’s over.”
“Mm-hm!” Kushina’s mood was still not high, only burrowing against his chest.
From an angle he couldn’t see, a doting, silly smile appeared on the corner of Kushina’s mouth: Mirai’s embrace is really warm and comfortable!
I want him to hold me forever.
A wicked smile appeared at the corner of Uzumaki Mirai’s mouth: “By the way, I seemed to have just heard you say that you are my girlfriend?”
Kushina’s body noticeably stiffened for a moment.
She raised her head from Mirai’s arms; the tear tracks on her face hadn’t dried yet, but those eyes were widened round and round.
Her lips were pursed high, and it took her a long time to squeeze out a sentence: “You—you clearly kissed me just yesterday! Are you trying to deny it?!”
“I admit it,” Mirai smiled slightly, “If you’re going to be my girlfriend, there has to be some perks, right?”
“What perks?”
“For instance——whenever I want to kiss in the future, you have to let me kiss you?”
Kushina’s face “whooshed” and burned up, turning red all the way from the root of her neck to the tips of her ears, white steam seemingly venting from the top of her head.
Mirai actually still wanted to kiss her?
Although she also felt that the feeling of kissing was very comfortable, they were only 7 years old; wouldn’t it be a bit too early?
Besides, there were people watching!
How could she possibly agree to that!
Mirai was really something else; couldn’t he find a private place and talk with doors closed between the two of them?
She was practically dying of embarrassment!
Her whole body froze in place as if hit by a pause button, and it took her a long time to say in a voice as small as a mosquito: “No!”
“Then forget it.”
“——No! I didn’t mean that!”
“Then what did you mean?”
“I… I…”
Kushina stuttered “I” for a long time without coming up with a coherent explanation, and finally could only stamp her foot with a red face: “Anyway… anyway, you’re not allowed to look for anyone else! As for the rest… we’ll talk about it later!”
Mirai held back a laugh and nodded.
This little lass, teasing her really is a lot of fun!
Minato Namikaze by the side watched this scene the whole time, his blue eyes filled with a light of envy.
He muttered softly: “How nice! A childhood sweethearts romance, I want to have one too…”
Uchiha Naori stood on the other side, her gaze coldly sweeping across Mirai and Kushina.
Her expression didn’t show much emotion, but her lips were pursed tightly, and her fingers clutched at the corner of her clothes, gripping so hard her knuckles turned white.
This guy, clearly pinned her down like that last time, yet turned around and hugged and cuddled with someone else.
And that red-headed girl, she couldn’t even beat a few upperclassman girls, weak to the extreme—by what right…
Her heart felt stuffy, and she couldn’t describe what kind of feeling it was.
After returning to the classroom, Kushina’s mood was obviously much better, even skipping a little as she walked.
Mirai sat back down in his seat, and Minato in the front row suddenly turned his head to glance at him, his gaze carrying a rare kind of seriousness.
“Mirai, in today’s combat class, I want to challenge you.”
Mirai raised an eyebrow: “Oh? Minato, are you sure?”
In the original work, although Minato Namikaze was the Flash, that was only after he learned the Flying Thunder God that he rose to fame.
Before that, he was just a Ninja with good talent and extremely fast reactions.
As for spacetime talent, it was even less noticeable.
“I’m very sure! I want to see where my limits are,”
Minato clenched his fists, his blonde hair shining in the sunlight, “and I also want to set a goal for myself.”
That scene in the corridor just now had stimulated Minato.
He also wanted to become a powerful Ninja like Uzumaki Mirai, who could defeat crowds of enemies with a flick of his hand!
Mirai looked at him for two seconds and nodded: “Alright.”
Having finally endured until the combat class, Uchiha Naori, who had a belly full of fire, walked towards Uzumaki Mirai, only to hear——
“Teacher! For today’s combat class, I want to apply to challenge Uzumaki Mirai!”
It was Minato Namikaze’s voice!
Naori was instantly dumbfounded.
She opened her mouth, just wanting to say “Mirai! I want to challenge you!”, but she never expected to be pre-empted.
Watching Minato already walk to the side of the field and warm up with a dead-serious face.
Uchiha Naori froze in place, her heart a tangled mess—Nanda yo!
Minato, are even you, a guy, going to compete with me for Mirai?
She sulkily stood back, her face pulled terribly long.
Kushina by the side glanced at her and suddenly leaned in: “Hey, Uchiha household member, how about the two of us have a fight today?”
Naori turned her head to glance at her: “…You?”
“What, you dare not?”
The fire in Naori’s heart was instantly ignited.
She was already unhappy, and Kushina had delivered herself right to her door; it was just right to vent some steam.
“Fine then,” Naori stood up, her voice as cold as ice, “Don’t go crying with a runny nose when you lose later.”
“Who loses and who cries isn’t certain yet!”
Kushina put her hands on her hips and snorted.
The two of them walked side by side towards the other side of the training ground, one full of defiance, the other full of anger.
Minato Namikaze and Uzumaki Mirai stood in the center of the field, watching those two red-haired and black-haired figures walk in opposite directions and begin their respective warm-ups.
“Won’t those two be alright?”
Minato was a bit worried.
“It’s fine,” Mirai withdrew his gaze, flexing his wrists, “Let them fight! That lass Kushina actually has great talent too, she’s just a bit too lazy. It’d be good for her to suffer a bit under Naori’s hands.”
“Who knows, maybe she won’t slack off so much from now on?”
Minato nodded, took a deep breath, and assumed a starting stance.
“Mirai, please advise.”
The corner of Mirai’s mouth hooked up slightly: “Come on.”