“Hm-hmm, hmm-hmm-hmm~”
The pleasant humming of a red-haired girl drifted out from the kitchen.
She seemed to be in quite a good mood.
In the living room, Shiranui Rei gazed at the graceful figure with waist-length red hair moving around in the kitchen and sighed.
“She really went ahead and made it.”
Yes, she had still made the ramen.
Although they had cleared up the misunderstanding just now and Kushina now understood that there was nothing wrong with his mental or physical condition, the ingredients she had brought couldn’t simply go to waste.
Kushina said that she should have thanked Rei for saving her life in the first place.
Since she was already here, she might as well make the ramen for dinner.
Before long, Kushina emerged from the kitchen wearing an apron that was slightly too large for her.
She placed two steaming bowls of ramen on the wooden dining table.
“Uzumaki-style Super Delicious Ramen! Making its grand debut!”
After setting the two bowls down, Kushina happily took several steps backward, clasping her hands behind her back while her little nose gently twitched as she savored the aroma of the ramen.
Clearly, she was extremely satisfied with her masterpiece.
“Impressive, Kushina!”
After taking a sniff, Shiranui Rei also gave her an amazed thumbs-up.
The aroma of the tonkotsu ramen was already comparable to that of some ramen shops outside.
“Hehe~”
Kushina’s face flushed slightly as she proudly puffed out her chest.
Knock, knock, knock—
Just as the two were about to sit down, the door of the Shiranui household, which had been quiet for quite some time, was knocked on again.
“Coming.”
Shiranui Rei got up and walked to the entrance before opening the door.
Standing outside was a blond young man with a bright smile.
“…”
Shiranui Rei looked at the blond young man, then turned his head and glanced at the red-haired girl in the living room, who was curiously looking toward the entrance.
He blinked.
Before he could react, Minato had already walked inside.
“Oh, Kushina is here too. You two are…”
“…Am I interrupting something?”
To Shiranui Rei’s surprise, when Minato saw Kushina in the living room and the two steaming bowls of ramen on the table, he merely scratched his head awkwardly.
There was no other reaction.
Kushina also smiled and greeted him without saying much, seemingly not particularly familiar with him.
Looking at Minato’s completely calm eyes, Shiranui Rei was rather surprised.
“Rei, I originally came to ask you about some things regarding training. Since you have a guest, I’ll come back tomorrow.”
Minato knew better than to become a third wheel between his good friend and a girl, so he immediately decided to say goodbye and leave.
Shiranui Rei walked him to the door.
In the end, he couldn’t resist lowering his voice and asking, “Minato, back when you were at the Ninja Academy, wasn’t there anyone you were interested in?”
He couldn’t shake the feeling that Minato and Kushina didn’t seem particularly familiar with each other.
“Someone I was interested in?”
Minato blinked, his clear blue eyes filled with confusion.
Rei explained, “Someone whose actions you couldn’t help paying attention to. When they did something that caught your attention, you’d keep thinking about it. Something along those lines.”
“Oh, that’s what you mean. Of course there was someone.”
Minato smiled knowingly.
Who would have thought that his next words would make Shiranui Rei’s expression freeze?
“There was only one person at the Ninja Academy who made me pay that much attention, and that was you, Rei!”
A blazing flame of fighting spirit flickered in Minato’s clear blue eyes.
His competitive spirit had unmistakably ignited right then and there.
“What did you say?!”
Shiranui Rei looked horrified and instinctively took half a step backward.
The burning fighting spirit in Minato’s eyes cooled down.
He awkwardly scratched his cheek with a finger.
“I mean, Rei, you were the person I cared about most back when we were at the Academy.”
Wait!
Minato, my good friend, why is your face turning red?!
Shiranui Rei sucked in a sharp breath.
He had never felt such genuine terror before.
Not even when he had faced Blackbeard Teach.
He would rather Minato try to stab him with a knife than use…
“Take care! No need to see me off!”
With lightning speed, Rei opened the door, shoved Minato outside, and then slammed it shut at the fastest speed of his life.
“…”
Minato stood outside the door in silence for a long time.
He scratched his brilliant blond hair, his handsome face filled with bewilderment.
Had he said something wrong?
Back when they were at the Ninja Academy, only he and Rei had been exceptionally talented compared with their peers.
He regarded Rei as his best friend and his greatest rival.
Whenever Rei demonstrated some improvement, Minato would pay close attention and work hard to catch up.
It was precisely through this constant cycle of chasing and competing with one another that they had graduated from the Academy together and eventually risen all the way to jonin.
Naturally, such a close friendship meant that Rei was someone he cared about deeply.
Minato helplessly spread his hands before turning around and leaving.
Sometimes, even he couldn’t understand how his friend’s mind worked.
…
Inside the house, Shiranui Rei finally came to the same conclusion as he returned to the dining table after closing the door.
They had known each other for so many years.
How could he not understand Minato’s preferences?
Although Minato was rarely seen getting particularly close to any girls, he secretly collected the adult magazines published in Konoha.
And those magazines were filled with attractive women.
As his good friend, Rei simply knew what was going on but chose not to say anything.
Minato probably still didn’t know that both Jiraiya-sensei and Rei had known about his little secret for a long time.
Sigh.
Minato really was still too young.
Once he thought it through, Minato’s earlier words suddenly had a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Just as Rei regarded Minato as the “rival” and “formidable opponent” he was constantly trying to catch up with, Minato probably felt the same way about him.
Shiranui Rei turned his attention back to Kushina sitting beside the dining table.
The girl was clearly already drooling over the ramen in front of her, yet she was still patiently waiting for him to return before starting.
Only then did Shiranui Rei vaguely recall something.
In the original story, Minato and Kushina had not been particularly familiar with each other during their time at the Ninja Academy.
Their relationship had only changed after the incident in which Kushina was kidnapped by the Cloud shinobi.
Minato might originally have developed feelings for Kushina during their Academy days, but because Shiranui Rei had been there, his attention had instead been focused on training and competition.
Even the process of rescuing Kushina from the Cloud shinobi had become completely different from the original story because of Rei’s involvement.
His tiny fluttering wings had already begun stirring up a storm across the shinobi world.
“Let’s eat, Rei!”
After spending some time together, Kushina seemed to have grown considerably closer to Shiranui Rei.
She had quietly changed the way she addressed him as well, no longer calling him “classmate.”
“Yeah, let’s eat!”
Rei sat down and met the girl’s sparkling eyes, which seemed to contain countless stars.
The conversation soon fell silent.
In its place came the deliberately restrained slurping sounds of the two eating their noodles.
Before long, the two put down their chopsticks almost simultaneously and exchanged a knowing smile.
But perhaps she had suddenly remembered something.
Kushina lowered her head.
Her fair cheeks and adorable little ears simultaneously turned crimson, and her gaze shifted away awkwardly.
“I’ll take care of the dishes.”
Shiranui Rei smiled as he gathered the bowls and chopsticks before walking into the kitchen.
This would also minimize the lingering smell of ramen inside the house.
“Mm…”
On the sofa, Kushina stared blankly at Rei’s tall figure washing the dishes in the kitchen, seemingly lost in thought.
Before long, Shiranui Rei finished washing the bowls and chopsticks.
He and Kushina chatted for a while longer about interesting things from their days at the Ninja Academy, and their distance consequently grew much smaller.
By the time the sky had darkened, Kushina picked up her now-empty basket, stood up, and gave him a gentle smile and a wave goodbye.