"Hoo~" Yuki Seisui looked at the tent in front of him and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
Seeing this, Uchiha Haru handed him a handkerchief from the side. "Use this."
Seisui glanced at the pink handkerchief, then at Uchiha Haru, and nodded as he accepted it.
"Setting up a tent is more exhausting than taking a stroll around the battlefield."
He let out a sigh.
He truly had no talent for pitching tents.
After struggling for a long time, he finally managed to set it up. During the process, Uchiha Haru couldn't stand watching anymore and wanted to help, but as a guy, Seisui naturally refused to admit defeat. He turned her down and insisted on finishing it himself.
After wiping away the sweat, Seisui looked at the completed tent and suddenly realized something.
"Isn't this tent… a bit small?"
He looked at Uchiha Haru uncertainly.
"Is it?" Uchiha Haru asked back. "My tent is actually quite big."
As she spoke, she crawled into the tent. Seisui peeked inside—the interior space was indeed a little larger than it looked from the outside.
But… only a little.
For one person, this tent was more than enough.
There was even plenty of room.
But for two people… at night, they'd probably end up sleeping while hugging each other.
"I feel like I've fallen into some kind of trap…" Seisui muttered quietly, though he didn't pay it much mind.
A trap is a trap. I'm a guy—what do I have to be afraid of?
Impossible.
Just as he was about to crawl in after seeing Uchiha Haru lying inside, a voice full of grievance came from behind him.
"What are you two doing?"
"Minato?" Seisui turned around and saw Minato standing behind him with an aggrieved expression.
"Sleeping," Seisui said matter-of-factly, pointing at the tent and Uchiha Haru inside.
Minato looked up at the sun. It was only around two or three in the afternoon.
"So you're planning to sleep in the afternoon?"
"Of course." Seisui nodded, then seemed to recall something. "Minato, you brought a tent, right?"
Minato nodded, puzzled as to why he was asking.
"Good thing you brought one. Otherwise you'd have to sleep outside like me—using the sky as a blanket and the ground as a bed."
"You call this sleeping outside?" Minato pointed at Uchiha Haru's tent, his face twisted as if he'd swallowed something unpleasant.
"Well, I didn't bring a tent."
"Haru kindly took me in. Two people squeezing together is still manageable."
Minato: "…"
That's squeezing?
I'm honestly embarrassed to call you out.
Grumbling inwardly, Minato looked at Seisui and said, "Then come sleep in my tent."
"My tent is pretty big."
Seisui froze, narrowed his eyes at Minato, and silently took two steps back. "Minato, you already have Kushina. You should keep yourself clean."
"We're not suitable."
"You damn bastard!" Minato jumped in place. "I was just pitying you!"
"Really?" Seisui still looked skeptical. "I don't believe you."
"Believe it or not, that's genuinely what I meant," Minato said as he calmed down. Around Seisui, he always lost his composure quickly—but recovered just as fast.
If there had to be a reason, it was simply practice makes perfect.
"Hmph!" Minato snorted. "Seisui, you'll regret offending me."
Before he could finish, Seisui interrupted him. "Minato, don't say things like that."
He waved his hand with a frightened expression. "You're already starting to sound like Elder Danzo!"
"Think about it—don't you sound more and more like him?"
"So what if I do?" Minato said confidently. "It's just the way I talk."
"Really?" Seisui looked at him with a complicated expression.
Minato nodded proudly. "Of course it's real!"
"My front door is about to be broken by you—"
Minato: "…"
Silence.
Sometimes, silence can be deafening.
Like Minato right now.
Looking at the speechless Minato, Seisui took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Minato, you need to have your own sense of self. Don't let Elder Danzo possess you."
"That old man is not a good thing."
"I hope you won't become like him. You should become… a good thing."
"…Hmm?" Minato nodded subconsciously, then reacted. "A good thing??"
"Oh—slip of the tongue." Seisui smiled apologetically and corrected himself. "I mean, a good person."
"Just like you are now."
"Alright, go set up your tent and think about it." Seisui patted Minato on the shoulder.
"It's getting late. I'm going to sleep."
With that, Seisui crawled straight into the tent and zipped it shut from the inside.
Staring at the tent emblazoned with the Uchiha clan crest, Minato stood in silence for a long while. Then he formed hand seals.
A large toad carrying several packs appeared in front of him.
"Thanks for the trouble," Minato said as he removed the packs.
"Croak!" The toad licked Minato with its tongue, smacked its lips twice, then vanished in a puff of white smoke.
This was an ordinary toad from Mount Myoboku.
Although Mount Myoboku was one of the Four Great Sage Lands, not all toads there could speak human language.
Nor were all of them powerful fighters.
This large toad was just an ordinary one—aside from its size and intelligence, it was no different from a normal toad.
Minato had signed a contract with it: he provided food, and it helped him carry supplies and equipment.
After the toad disappeared, Minato looked at the packs on the ground and sighed.
"The war started before I even mastered Sage Mode…"
Minato's aptitude for Sage Mode wasn't particularly good—though it was still better than Jiraiya's.
As for how he could instantly enter Sage Mode during the Fourth War… that was a mystery of its own.
After all, spending over a decade inside the belly of the Shinigami and coming out as a perfect Jinchuriki—
In a sense, Minato himself was a bug.
With another sigh, Minato took out his tent.
When he said his tent was big, he wasn't exaggerating.
Once it was set up, Uchiha Haru's tent looked like a child standing next to an adult.
One tent could only fit one person comfortably—two would have to hug to sleep.
The other could easily accommodate four or five people.
But reality was just like that.
The small tent slept two people.
The big tent slept one.
"Tch, damn dogs," Minato muttered after setting up his tent, glancing at the small one beside him. It seemed to be constantly shifting, the fabric wriggling as someone turned inside.
"Hmph!" Minato snorted and turned back into his own tent.
Inside the small tent, however, Seisui and Uchiha Haru weren't doing anything improper.
"These clothes are so hard to take off," Uchiha Haru struggled inside the cramped space.
"I'll help you."
"What is this? It's soft."
"That's my stomach…"
"This one's hard and long, but kind of small."
"That's a senbon needle."
With Seisui's help, Uchiha Haru changed into a looser set of clothes.
Earlier, they'd both been wearing tight combat uniforms.
In such a narrow space, taking them off was indeed troublesome.
"Time to sleep." After Uchiha Haru finished changing, Seisui stepped outside, changed out of his combat uniform into the loose casual clothes she had prepared, and crawled back in.
"Time to sleep," Seisui whispered while holding her, speaking softly into her ear.
"Mm." Uchiha Haru responded quietly.
The tent was black. Whatever method the Uchiha clan used, even though it was still afternoon outside and the sun hadn't set, the inside was pitch-dark.
When Seisui had stepped out to change, both he and Uchiha Haru had seen Minato's large tent—but neither of them mentioned it.
Uchiha Haru didn't trust Minato enough to let Seisui sleep in the same tent as him.
And Seisui had absolutely no desire to sleep with Minato.
This tent might be smaller, but being able to sleep while holding soft Uchiha Haru—why would he want to sleep next to another guy?
If he really chose to sleep with Minato instead of Uchiha Haru, Seisui would start questioning his own orientation.
Rising from my sickbed in shock—could I be the one walking the wrong path?!
"Let's sleep~" Uchiha Haru said softly, blushing as she buried her head into Seisui's chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, wriggling a bit to find a comfortable position.
Seisui held her as well, and the two of them drifted off to sleep.
When he said "sleep," he meant just that—sleep.
They were still young, not suited for that kind of thing.
They had been with the medical corps this whole time—waking early, sleeping late, constantly on the move.
Even if they didn't have to walk themselves, they were still tired.
So after changing clothes, they simply fell asleep.
In the neighboring tent, Minato lay alone, staring at the triangular ceiling, lost in thought.
Gradually, he too fell asleep.
While they slept, Asami Kumo ran over to Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya-sama! I heard that Seisui-sama has arrived!"
"Oh," Jiraiya nodded. "That kid Seisui is already here."
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Completed version available on Patreon P@treon(.)com/Veltoria