Chapter 31: 22–0, I'm Having a Blast
"Our S.H.I.E.L.D. is made up of two divisions: the Avengers and the Justice League."
"You can't operate under your real names, and looking like that, no one would believe you're Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki anyway."
"So from now on, your codenames are SpongeBob and Patrick Star, under the Justice League division."
"I'm the Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., codename Husky."
"The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. goes by the codename Bald Egg. He's currently handling other matters."
"As for your other teammates, I'll introduce them to you when the opportunity arises."
"There's also a communication jutsu Grandma Knock's-Chatroom Technique. It should already be in your memories."
"Right now, your top priority is to get familiar with your bodies and recover your strength as quickly as possible."
Having Minato and Kushina's memories didn't equate to having their strength—but it did mean they possessed all of their combat experience.
Relearning Minato and Kushina's jutsu would thus be twice as effective with half the effort.
Shunhi used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport SpongeBob and Patrick Star from the shop to the cave where Denki was being held.
"You used the Flying Thunder God Technique, didn't you?"
As the ninja most familiar with and proficient in the Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato immediately recognized it.
"The Flying Thunder God Technique? You, who's known as Uchiha Dumbass, actually mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique? How did you learn it?!"
Kushina stared at Shunhi blankly, a line of drool slipping from the corner of her mouth.
Clearly, this was the effect of the Patrick Star transformation card.
After all, that's how Patrick looked whenever he was deep in thought.
"Hey, Kushina, are you okay?"
Seeing her like that, Minato looked worried and stepped forward to shake her by the shoulders.
"Huh? I'm fine. I was just thinking."
Kushina didn't realize what had just happened at all.
Minato, a bit embarrassed, decided it was best not to tell her about it.
"This will be your temporary residence. Focus on regaining your strength. When the time comes, I'll let you visit Naruto."
The moment he said they might get to visit Naruto, both Minato and Kushina turned to look at Shunhi's dog head.
After being revived, their greatest wish was to see their son—and their grandchildren.
Even though they were now a sponge and a starfish, their love for Naruto's family hadn't changed.
"There's a kid tied up inside. His father will be bringing money to ransom him. Your job is to keep him safe until then."
Shunhi explained as he led Minato and Kushina into the cave.
"Kidnapping children isn't something Konoha shinobi would do."
Kushina clearly didn't like the idea of abducting a child.
"I'm not a Konoha ninja. In fact, I'm not even a ninja. I'm just a ramen chef."
Shunhi had never felt any real sense of belonging in the Naruto world.
To him, it was just a kid from the Naruto world. He had no intention of harming the child's life, and all he felt was excitement about the one hundred million ryō he was about to receive.
I, Shunhi, have no emotions, only love money.
Give me money, and you're my dear brother from another mother.
"This is the kid we kidnapped. His name is Denki Kaminarimon. He's all yours."
Although Minato and Kushina were Naruto's parents, Shunhi had only ever heard of them. Back when they were alive, he was in no position to even meet them.
Besides, these two weren't truly resurrected—they were just clones that carried Minato and Kushina's memories.
"Hey, are you giving us orders now?"
"And don't tell me S.H.I.E.L.D. is one of those evil organizations that threatens the peace of the ninja world."
Back in Konoha, Kushina had always been headstrong and defiant—second only to heaven and earth, with herself third. She never responded well to being ordered around. Even Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, had to ask her for help politely.
"That's enough, Kushina. I believe in Shunhi—and in S.H.I.E.L.D., to which he belongs. They wouldn't do anything that endangers the ninja world. There must be another reason for kidnapping the child."
Minato comforted Kushina. Without solid proof, he wasn't the type to judge someone harshly.
While he admitted that kidnapping children wasn't right, he didn't believe Shunhi intended any real harm to the ninja world.
Minato figured Shunhi probably just really loved money.
"I'll make sure you have enough food. The place is yours now."
Whether it was food or supplies, Shunhi had drawn a huge stash from the system's lottery. Giving some to Minato and Kushina was no issue at all.
"I didn't expect this—you not only have talent for space-time jutsu, but also for sealing techniques."
"This must be something like a storage scroll."
"Storage scrolls seal items into a scroll. Your jutsu seems to seal them directly into space."
Seeing the food suddenly appear, Minato began analyzing the principles behind Shunhi's technique.
"Hey, Minato, hurry up and try that weird communication jutsu!"
Kushina called out excitedly to Minato.
At that moment, Shunhi suddenly remembered something extremely important—nobody had been hiding their real identities in the chatroom. That hadn't been an issue when it was just him and Itachi, so he'd forgotten all about it.
But it wasn't too late to fix that now.
Since it was a chatroom, of course there had to be an admin.
In Shunhi's setup, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director, Bald Egg, was the admin. As the Deputy Director, Shunhi was the vice-admin.
In practice, the permissions were the same—after all, Shunhi was the real boss behind the scenes.
Using his admin privileges, Shunhi changed the chatroom settings so everyone's name appeared as their codename.
[Grandma Knock's Chatroom]
Patrick Star: Minato, look at this bizarre communication jutsu—it's amazing. Our thoughts are showing up as text!
Patrick Star: That's no small feat. It has to read our thoughts and convert them into written words.
SpongeBob: Um... Patrick Star, remember to conceal your identity in the group.
Though they were part of the same organization, Minato didn't trust teammates he hadn't met—especially ones he only knew by codename.
Itachi Uchiha had been lurking silently in the chat, watching all the messages between Minato and Kushina.
"So these are other members of the organization. Minato... that would be SpongeBob, huh?"
Itachi furrowed his brow.
Something didn't feel right.
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