"¡EHHHHH!"
"Natsuo, do you hold back even when you fight me?!" Kushina shouted, taking the moment away from Minato who also wanted to interrogate Natsuo.
"Well... it's just that you attack very furiously and I don't know how to defend myself," Natsuo tried to argue, but it was no use because Kushina lunged at him and grabbed his neck.
"Wait, Kushina, you're going to kill me!"
"Mrs. Mito, help me!" Natsuo shouted for help.
Of course, Mito didn't try to help him because she saw that Natsuo wasn't in danger and wanted to teach him a lesson.
Seeing the 3 children, Mito smiled because these children and her grandson Nawaki were the future of the village.
Nawaki had a significant advantage as a Senju, possessing vast chakra reserves and a strong affinity for the water and earth elements. He was also a genius in his own right, learning faster than others.
Kushina had a strong Uzumaki bloodline, excelling in Fuinjutsu and quickly learning to use the Adamantine Chains.
Minato was the student of his granddaughter's classmate, a ninjutsu prodigy with incredible reflexes. Mito was reminded of Tobirama when she watched the boy fight. It was obvious the boy would become a great ninja, which is why Jiraiya accepted him as a student.
If anyone saw these 3 children, they would have doubts about choosing who was the most talented.
But Mito would have to say that they shouldn't ignore the other child.
Natsuo Uchiha.
The boy only proved to be good at Medical Ninjutsu and average in the other ninja arts. While he was good, better than other children his age, he paled in comparison to Minato, Kushina, and Nawaki.
But what the others didn't know was that the boy was hiding his abilities.
It was obvious to Mito that the boy was holding back when he saw him training against the others.
I could see perfectly that the child could follow his opponents' movements and react to them.
The others saw that the boy was constantly defending himself and retreating, but Mito could see that the boy reacted at the last second as if everything was calculated.
To the eyes of others, it was as if the boy was holding on with all his might to avoid losing, but Mito could see that the boy was trying hard not to win.
As a ninja, it was common sense to hide your abilities, but only experienced ninjas knew that.
If Mito hadn't sensed the child's positive feelings when he was with them, she would have suspected that he was a spy specifically trained by the Uchiha clan.
Furthermore, it was thanks to Natsuo that his clan was not in greater danger.
After sending a letter to her clan outlining her concerns, she received a response shortly afterwards informing her that they would be on the lookout.
As the months passed, Mito breathed a sigh of relief because nothing happened.
Until recently, when Mito's worries came true.
A month ago he received a letter informing him that ninjas had been found near the seas of the land of the whirlpool.
These ninjas were hidden on fishing boats and checked the whirlpools that protected the whirlpool country.
Following their movements, he came across a worrying fact.
These ninjas were following the movement pattern of ocean eddies.
Something few people knew was that these ocean whirlpools followed a pattern to avoid colliding with each other, and following that pattern was the only way to safely pass through the ocean whirlpools.
This was supposed to be a closely guarded secret, because in addition to being uncommon knowledge among very few people, the pattern was too complicated to be solved.
Between horizontal and vertical movements, the speeds of the eddies changing every so often, and the extensive reach of the marine eddies, they never believed that anyone could solve it.
With this perfect defense, the Uzumaki clan spent hundreds of years inside their island without being invaded by another clan.
And even if a clan by some stroke of luck could pass through the sea whirlpools, the Uzumaki clan trusted in its strength to defend itself against any enemy clan.
But they forgot something that Natsuo reminded them of.
It was no longer the time of warring clans when clans distrusted each other and it was difficult to unite.
Now was the time of great ninja villages with numerous clans gathered together.
If any of these villages could get past the ocean whirlpools, the Uzumaki clan would be in danger.
Of course, they couldn't forget the fact that these ninjas were following the movement pattern of the ocean eddies without making a mistake.
It was clear that they had somehow learned of the secret pattern and were simply confirming it.
Unfortunately for Mito and the Uzumaki clan, they didn't know who betrayed them and could only prepare for the future invasion.
Natsuo's words also made her think that if the Hidden Leaf Village had its own battles, they wouldn't be able to help the Uzumaki clan. And seeing that conflicts on the borders were escalating, Mito knew that was likely what would happen.
What Mito didn't know was that Tobirama had written the secret pattern of the whirlpools protecting the Uzumaki clan in the village's secret archives. His goal was that if the Hidden Leaf Village were invaded in the future, the Hokage could guide the remaining villagers to the Land of Whirlpools.
Hiruzen discovered this secret, and Danzo made sure it reached the Village Hidden in the Clouds and Mist.
Without knowing that, Mito focused on Natsuo.
Because she was grateful to Natsuo, Mito couldn't immediately suspect the boy and gave him the benefit of the doubt.
So for the next few days and months he spied on him secretly.
Although he couldn't sense emotions over great distances, his chakra sense was good enough to tell what someone was doing.
And although there were seals that could nullify his chakra sense, they were only present in various important buildings of the village or of some clans.
With his chakra sense, he followed Natsuo's movements and knew how dedicated the boy was to training.
From early morning until night, all the boy did was train.
Mito was amazed by the boy's dedication and was also relieved because she liked the boy's actions.
From helping out at the orphanage when he had time to healing his friends.
Whether at the orphanage or the academy, Natsuo would heal anyone who needed it.
What about his experiments with mice?
That was something all medical ninjas did every day to practice their medical skills, so Mito didn't find anything strange about it. Furthermore, Mito smiled when she sensed the mice's chakra in perfect condition as Natsuo released them in the forest.
'He's an Uchiha'
'You must eliminate him.' Of course, the Kyubi was always trying to get me to kill some Uchiha at every opportunity.
Feeling sorry for the Fox sealed inside, Mito adjusted the seal a little and allowed him to feel the outside world from time to time.
And when he saw his actions of spying on Natsuo, the Kyubi reacted quickly and tried to make him distrust the boy.
Mito ignored the Kyubi and continued spying on the child a little longer.
Although he ignored Kyubi, its words made him think of something and he quickly checked it.
And as he suspected, he could sense that few children approached Natsuo at the academy and in the hospital.
Mito could even sense that many of them were deliberately avoiding him.
Guessing what was happening, Mito lamented that the village had a stigma against the Uchiha clan.
Of course, the Uchiha clan itself didn't help with how proud they were, but that only made Natsuo suffer.
It was great news that Natsuo didn't hate others, since Mito never sensed malice when she was near him.
Understanding that Natsuo didn't trust many people, Mito no longer suspected the boy.
Not thinking about those matters anymore, Mito went back to see the children.
But she realized that Minato was sad.
Understanding that Jiraiya's student was saddened by his loss, Mito approached and rubbed his head.
"No, you're not sad"
"Keep training and fight Natsuo again," Mito said, and Minato nodded.
"Come on, kids, stop fighting," said Mito as she lifted Kushina up, who was on top of Natsuo.
Seeing how excited Kushina was, whom she now loved as her granddaughter, Mito sighed at the young love.
Given how violent Kushina is, the girl onl
y knew how to express her feelings through hitting.
"Natsuo, you will fight them seriously from now on," Mito said.
"Yes, Mrs. Mito," Natsuo replied as he stood up and cleaned his clothes after being on the floor.
Next, Mito made Natsuo fight against Kushina and Minato continuously throughout the afternoon, and they ended up with the two children exhausted.