After returning home, Namikaze Minato saw Uzumaki Miyuki busily preparing dinner and couldn't help but smile.
Minato said softly, "I'm back."
Uzumaki Miyuki turned her head and smiled at him. "Welcome back. Dinner will be ready soon. Just wait a little longer. Did the Third call you over for some mission?"
Minato shook his head. "Not really a mission. The Third wants me to become the Fourth Hokage."
Miyuki gazed at him in stunned silence.
Minato waved his hand in front of her face. "Miyuki, are you okay?"
Suddenly, Uzumaki Miyuki cried out and quickly removed her apron before heading toward the door.
Minato looked puzzled. "Miyuki, where are you going?"
"I'm going to buy more ingredients to make a nice meal to celebrate!"
Minato chuckled helplessly and followed behind. "I'll go with you."
...
At Chinya's home.
Kushina Uzumaki looked at the table full of dishes, clearly surprised.
"Chinya, did you cook all of this?"
Kakashi was also staring at Chinya in shock.
Back on the battlefield, Chinya had cooked before, but his food was always edible at best — no appearance to speak of, let alone flavor.
But now... these delicious-looking dishes spread across the entire table, could they really have been made by Chinya?
Chinya smiled and nodded. "Of course I did. It's just that cooking has always been taken care of by you, Kushina Uzumaki, so I never had a chance to show off."
Then Chinya gave Kakashi a light punch on the head, his smiling expression never fading as he said, "Stop looking at me like that. During wartime, do you expect me to take time to prepare elaborate dishes just because I'm hungry?"
Rubbing his head, Kakashi pouted and shot Chinya an annoyed glare.
Why was Kushina Uzumaki allowed to ask questions and get such a gentle response?
He hadn't even asked anything — just stared in shock — and got punched!
Excitedly, Kushina Uzumaki picked up her chopsticks and took a bite of the food.
Her eyes lit up. "Mmm! This is amazing!"
Smiling, Chinya said, "If you like it, eat more."
Kushina Uzumaki punched him playfully in the arm. "Seriously, Chinya, you've been hiding this talent all along! All this time I thought you couldn't cook at all!"
Chinya kept smiling, though his face had turned slightly pale.
Due to the unique physical strength of the Uzumaki Clan, Kushina Uzumaki's punches were absurdly powerful.
Chinya felt sure that part of his arm had definitely bruised from her hit.
As Kushina Uzumaki and Kakashi happily continued eating bite after bite, Chinya kept smiling warmly while watching Kushina Uzumaki.
Seeing Kushina Uzumaki with cheeks full of food realize that Chinya hadn't eaten anything yet, she tilted her head cutely and asked, "Hm? Chinya, why aren't you eating?"
Suddenly, Chinya said, "Kushina Uzumaki, let's get married."
Kushina Uzumaki clearly hadn't caught what Chinya said. "Hmm... marriage is such a... delicious dish..."
Kakashi covered his mouth, widened his eyes, and suddenly burst into violent coughing.
Kushina quickly realized her mistake and turned bright red, furiously pounding her chest.
Chinya initially thought Kushina was blushing but soon realized she had actually choked.
Chinya immediately started patting Kushina's back.
After swallowing hard, Kushina grabbed Chinya's arm and gazed intently at him. "Chinya, what did you just say? Could you please repeat it?"
Chinya held Kushina's shoulders and said earnestly, "We've been together for more than ten years. The only person I can see as my future wife is you. So... will you marry me?"
Kushina bit her lip. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at Chinya's face. She responded tearfully, "I will!"
Then Kushina tightly embraced Chinya and unexpectedly began crying loudly.
Chinya gently patted Kushina's back, amused. "This should be a happy moment, why are you crying?"
"These... they're happy tears!"
Kushina rubbed her face against the fabric of Chinya's shirt, wiping away her tears on his clothes.
Chinya smiled affectionately.
Kakashi gave them his signature dead-fish stare.
So... what was he doing here again?
Looking at the table full of dishes, Kakashi suddenly felt full already.
After some time of being affectionate together, Chinya and Kushina began discussing their wedding.
Chinya explained that he had invited Orochimaru to officiate their ceremony.
Kushina nodded. "Orochimaru is your mentor, Chinya, and our senior. I also hope Orochimaru would agree to officiate our wedding."
Next, they discussed whom to invite to their wedding, but since both Chinya and Kushina had very few friends, there weren't even ten people total between them.
Suddenly Kushina noticed something odd. "Huh? Where's Kakashi?"
Chinya was equally surprised. "Wasn't he here just a moment ago?"
Meanwhile, Kakashi was walking alone down Konoha's streets, looking visibly annoyed.
He went there for a meal, but ended up eating alone while watching them make out.
If he'd known beforehand, he should've stuffed himself before having to eat this kind of emotional food.
...
Inside Orochimaru's base,
Danzo found Orochimaru and reported the result to him.
Danzo said angrily, "Now we've fallen right into Hiruzen's plan."
Orochimaru didn't stop working on his experiment as he casually replied, "The Third originally intended to make Minato a political puppet, with master and apprentice jointly controlling Konoha."
Orochimaru already had Chinya's analysis and therefore felt indifferent toward Danzo's report.
After all, he had no interest in becoming Hokage. If that were the case, he might as well take advantage of Danzo for now.
Danzo said angrily, "With things progressing like this, Konoha has no future at all!"
Orochimaru turned around, a faint smirk playing on his lips as he spoke to Danzo. "It's too early to give up now. If this research succeeds, controlling Konoha's power would be a piece of cake. To gain power, we must also be ready to take decisive action."
Danzo replied with a grim expression. "When the time comes, we must stop at nothing! But the time isn't right yet."
The research Orochimaru referred to was on Hashirama Cells.
There had always been a hidden danger within Konoha: the Nine-Tails sealed inside the village. After the death of the First Hokage, the technique of using Wood Release to seal Tailed Beasts had been lost.
Hiruzen and Danzo mobilized every resource to research Hashirama Cells in hopes of restoring Konoha's ability to wield Wood Release. However, as numerous volunteers died during the experiments, The Third was forced to put an end to it, locking away all related records as forbidden history.
Orochimaru wanted to restart this research, and logically, Danzo should have supported him. Yet the fact that Danzo insisted the time wasn't right came as a slight surprise.
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