"A mere tomato dares to shout at a human!"
Kōta pointed at Kushina: "From now on, you'll be called tomato! Any problems with that?"
Watching the arrogant Kōta before her, Kushina actually calmed down.
Her hope of making new friends before bed last night was shattered; she finally realized that not everyone would be as friendly as Minato.
"I said it before class, my name is Kushina. Are you deaf?"
Kushina's gaze gradually became dangerous.
Knowing that Minato's gentleness wasn't exclusive to her, Kushina was indeed a bit disappointed.
But Minato's protection of her wasn't fake, which gave her plenty of confidence to deal with the provocation from Kōta and the other two.
And when it came to fighting, she had never been afraid of anyone!
Her Chakra was much stronger than others of her clan; to support such a massive and high-quality Chakra, her physique was naturally not lacking.
Kushina clenched her fists, her red hair flying, like a little tiger ready to pounce, her dark eyes locked onto the three of them.
If these three blind fools dared to make a move, she would definitely show them what for!
Unfortunately, first-grade brats didn't understand what a sense of crisis was.
Seeing that Kushina was not only unafraid but also looked ready to fight, Kōta felt he had lost Face and reached out to grab Kushina's hair.
Just as Kushina couldn't help but want to smash a fist into that annoying Face, a figure suddenly appeared at the corner of the corridor.
"What are you doing?" Iruka Umino barked.
Hearing this voice, Kōta was startled and quickly withdrew his hand, turning to look toward the source of the sound.
He saw Iruka Umino walking quickly toward them, with Minato following unhurriedly behind him.
Before Iruka Umino could say anything else, Minato came to Kushina's side and said without concealment, "I saw the three of them following you out with ill intentions, so I called Teacher Umino. Sure enough, I saw them giving you trouble."
Damn it, this meddlesome guy!
Hearing Minato's words, Kōta and the other two looked resentful.
"Bullying a new student, outnumbering her, and bullying a girl at that..."
Iruka Umino's Face was very grim; with his overly upright personality, he despised this kind of thing the most.
"The three of you, get back to class immediately! Copy the school rules ten times as punishment! If you're missing a single word, have your parents come and process your withdrawal!"
"Yes..."
The three of them responded listlessly, not forgetting to cast a threatening glance at Minato before leaving.
Minato returned a sunny smile and secretly gave them a peace sign.
"Sorry, it's my fault for not educating those three properly."
Iruka Umino looked at Kushina and Yakushi Nonou, his tone softening slightly: "Are you two hurt?"
"No, sorry for the trouble, Teacher."
Kushina and Yakushi Nonou thanked him politely.
Only after Iruka Umino left did Kushina resentfully raise her small fist: "Damn it, those three bastards! If it weren't for Teacher Iruka, I would have definitely shown them! Minato, why did you call the teacher? That's so unmanly!"
Hearing this, Minato smiled simply: "I just think that classmates should get along well."
This was a lie!
As a modern person who had gone through over a decade of school life, Minato knew very well that as long as a conflict occurred in school, even winning the fight was meaningless; all actions were merely seen as 'a small conflict between students.'
Teachers, who were used to this, would usually resolve the matter in a perfunctory way, and it wasn't even rare for them to favor the bullies.
Even if the bullies were scolded, it would be trivial to them.
No matter the outcome, for the one being bullied, it wouldn't solve any problems.
In other words, confronting bullies within the school's rules would only make oneself the weaker party, and it was impossible to give the other side a profound lesson.
Even if one had the ability to beat the other to death or disable them, it would only be a mutually destructive, last-resort strategy.
But if one stepped outside the school circle, things would be much simpler... "How can you have no temper at all?"
Hearing Minato's words, Kushina looked at him in disbelief.
"Alright, don't Life Qi anymore. How about I make you something delicious tonight?"
Minato chuckled: "Soft-fried Tenderloin?"
"Mhm—"
Kushina was clearly tempted and held up a chubby finger: "I also want to eat coke chicken wings!"
"Okay!"
Minato nodded and turned to Yakushi Nonou: "Sorry, Yakushi Nonou, I caused you trouble just now."
"It's fine. I just didn't expect you to know how to cook, Minato. That's impressive!"
Yakushi Nonou praised him; she truly felt that boys who could cook were excellent.
"You flatter me."
Minato nodded gently, then felt a force from behind as Kushina pushed him toward the classroom.
"Alright! Let's get back to the classroom quickly!"
Seeing Minato being so gentle toward Yakushi Nonou as well, Kushina became even more convinced of what Yakushi Nonou had just said, and her Face unconsciously tightened.
Seeing Minato's bewildered look, Yakushi Nonou couldn't help but chuckle.
As expected, only a lively and cheerful girl like Kushina is more suited to be close to Minato, right?
She suddenly remembered what Danzo had said before.
Perhaps she did indeed have dark qualities within her.
The evidence was that just now in the restroom, when she said those things to Kushina, it wasn't out of a mission, but out of jealousy—a completely subconscious act.
After realizing this, Yakushi Nonou felt a deep sense of self-loathing.
Especially at the moment when Kushina shielded her behind her back without hesitation, she suddenly felt so ugly.
In the blink of an eye, evening arrived.
As soon as Nawaki returned home, he smelled a fragrance filling the house.
Realizing Minato was making something delicious again, he kicked off his shoes and rushed into the living room: "This smell... is it coke chicken wings? Didn't you just make them last night?"
"That's a long story!"
In the living room, Kushina was reading the manga Nawaki had lent her and, upon hearing him, told him about what had happened during the day.
When she reached the critical point, she couldn't help but get furious again: "Just tell me, isn't Minato's temper a bit too good? Those people were so out of line, yet he actually said classmates should get along well!"
"Get along well... huh?"
Hearing this, Nawaki's expression looked a bit strange.
Everyone said Minato had a good personality, and Nawaki didn't deny that; Minato was the most gentle and considerate boy he had ever met, bar none.
But if anyone said Minato had a good temper, Nawaki felt that was still up for debate.
Thinking back to how he had merely said Minato was like a Koala, and then was so scared he hung on a tree and didn't dare come down.
He didn't know if Minato's temper was good, but he knew very well whether he was broad-minded or not!
Minato Namikaze was the type of person whose temper never showed on his Face.
He would even swear on his own brother that this matter wasn't over; those three kids would definitely run into big trouble later!