---
Megumi wasn't ready or expecting that Kushina would want a binding vow.
His eyelid twitched. "Why would you want to make a binding vow with me?"
Kushina was already thinking about what she could offer Megumi, as this boy was like a jinchuriki without actually being one.
"Have you ever hated the village?" Kushina asked.
Megumi couldn't tell at this point if he was talking to the same Kushina he knew from before.
"Hate the village? I don't hate the village, ma'am."
Megumi didn't hate the village—he couldn't blame the village. He blamed the Hokage.
"Are you sure?"
Kushina asked again to confirm his stance, but that still wasn't enough to let her include him in the binding vow, as she wasn't sure if one day he would wake up wanting to destroy the village.
"I'm sure you're thinking that I'll want revenge for my father, but I don't even know this man. How can I kill for someone I never met before?"
"Can you tell me about him?"
Kushina was now half-relieved that he didn't blame the village.
"I heard one time that he beat up the Hyuga brothers after one of their clan members insulted his brother's wife."
"I heard that he was supposed to become the clan head, but he withdrew."
"I heard that he was attacked by those Cloud ninjas." Kushina gritted her teeth as she tightened her fist. "Those bastards tried to kidnap me too when I was young. When you see them, don't show them mercy—you hear me, Megumi?!"
"I promise I will get revenge for you," Megumi said.
"Now let's talk about you." Kushina was now serious, not looking like how she had just acted.
"I want you to protect the village from danger and never betray the village. So what do you want in exchange for my request?" Kushina put her stake on the table, hoping it was something reasonable.
"To correct some misinterpretation: I don't serve the Hokage, and I don't care about the Hokage's welfare. I will protect the village from danger... but I will never interfere with internal clan business."
Megumi stated his own adjustments—he didn't want to interfere in certain matters.
"I agree. Now, what do you want for your part?"
Kushina braced herself to hear his request, wondering if she could fulfill it herself or if she'd need to ask Minato or the old man, as they would do it for her.
"I want money. The more money, the better one's future is secured." Megumi said, his eyes showing money signs in them.
"Huh?" Kushina hadn't been thinking he would ask for money, which crossed out everything she thought he would want.
"Okay, as my student, I will make you the Uzumaki heir, meaning you will receive all the heritage that belongs to me and the previous Uzumaki head, who was the First Hokage's wife and the first Nine-Tails host," she said.
"..."
"What?!"
Megumi was not expecting her to hand him the Uzumaki heritage, which would make him the richest person without a clan—richer than the Nara clan.
What a wonderful day. (He hit the jackpot.)
"What about your unborn child?" Megumi asked—not that he was worried a boy would want the property back, but because he knew the Hokage would have stolen some. Still, he wasn't going down without a fight.
"My child will take the name of their father, and Minato is okay with it, so you don't have to worry."
Kushina assured him. Now they had reached an agreement, but she couldn't confirm if it had been successful.
Megumi could tell that the binding vow was now successfully made. "Don't worry, teacher, it was successful. Can you now come and write it in a written agreement and indicate where your properties and Grandma Mito's properties are located? And have the current Hokage sign it."
Kushina was no longer surprised to hear that Megumi even knew the name of the first host of the Nine-Tails.
They spent the next few hours marking the Uzumaki properties, and she didn't even know where some parts were. If not for Megumi pointing them out and asking, she wouldn't have remembered them.
Megumi was ready to confront any clan that had been milking his teacher's property and make them pay back with interest.
---
**Elsewhere in the Inuzuka clan compound:**
There were two women with a little girl carrying a baby boy in her arms.
These two were Kaede and Tsume, and little Hana carrying the newly born Kiba.
These women were feasting, with different foods in front of them.
"Kaede, did you want to stay here or return back to your hollow house alone?" Tsume asked while eating.
Kaede looked up. "I will return back home."
"I can tell something will happen, but I want you to protect my body or my son's body for at least a week."
"Huh?"
"You and this son of yours. Okay, it's already getting late—you should be going home," Tsume said.
"I hope you're not eating my son's deer. I don't have an explanation to give him."
Tsume's muscles bulged. "What! Can't I take something that belongs to my son-in-law?"
---
