Now, if there was anyone Tsunade still cared about, aside from the niece of her deceased lover who stayed by her side, it was probably Uzumaki Kushina, whom she had watched grow up.
As for her sensei… he only counted as half a person.
Orochimaru didn't even act like a human, and Jiraiya wasn't treated as one by her.
Ever since her last return, to avoid any more accidents, she had left Kushina a way to contact her, so the two could stay in touch.
Tsunade had no objections to her grandmother's clanswoman moving into her home. It even worked out well—someone could help tidy the place, saving her from having to spend money hiring cleaners every time she came back.
From then on, Kaori officially settled down in Konoha with her daughter.
After more than ten days, when Karin turned one year old, Kushina used the occasion to host a grand celebration, inviting her friends in Konoha.
She had always liked lively gatherings, and this was also a chance to help Kaori meet more people in the village, giving her a sense of belonging and helping her forget the miserable life she had endured in Kusagakure.
Although Kushina had been the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki and didn't often appear in public, her social circle in Konoha was still remarkably wide.
It wasn't until she sent out the invitations that people realized—once everyone gathered, the attendees practically represented half of Konoha's various factions.
Uchiha Mikoto had always been her close friend and was also the wife of the Uchiha clan head.
The younger clan heads of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio and the Aburame clan were all comrades of Namikaze Minato, and their wives frequently interacted as well.
On top of that were the recently rising Gekkō, Uzuki, and Higashino families…
Fortunately, Kushina had only invited the women, introducing them to her childhood friends so that Kaori could integrate into Konoha's circle of wives.
The men of each household did not attend.
Fugaku had wanted to come, hoping to take the opportunity to speak with Minato, but considering the current tension between his clan and the village, he wisely gave up the idea.
If he dared approach the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, those old men in Konoha would probably explode on the spot.
He didn't even send out Uchiha Itachi, who had already entered the academy—only Mikoto came with young Sasuke to attend the banquet.
The women from other families were much the same, each bringing their young children.
For a time, Karin's birthday party turned into a large gathering where women shared childcare experiences, and Kaori successfully entered one of the most important social circles in Konoha.
For Makoto, it was a rare occasion—on the same day, he saw six of the original Konoha Twelve from the original timeline, and every one of them got their cheeks pinched.
Among them, only Sasuke was the least cooperative, wearing a look of disgust and trying to resist. Makoto, being petty, silently wrote down his name in a little notebook.
If anything ever fell into his hands in the future, he'd break that guy's legs.
Hyūga Hinata: Is our clan too closed off?
Inuzuka Kiba: I feel like I'm being targeted.
Haruno Sakura: Does anyone even know who I am?
The fact that the wives of the clan heads came meant they had their husbands' approval—this itself conveyed a stance. The group led by the Third Hokage could not possibly fail to understand it.
Namikaze Minato's foundation in Konoha was actually quite solid.
He was a representative of civilian ninja, yet he did not lack support from clans of all sizes.
The only problem in the original timeline was that he died too early, catching everyone off guard.
...
As for Makoto and the others—ninja who had graduated early due to the war—they were still quite young. Now that the ninja world was largely at peace, Konoha wouldn't assign them overly demanding missions.
All the hard labor was left to the adult workhorses.
Amid days of training mixed with missions, more than three months passed in a flash, and little Naruto was almost one year old.
During this time, Karin and her mother enjoyed a peaceful and stable life. No one came knocking at the door with hostile expressions to take her mother away, and her mother no longer returned home half-dead each time.
To little Karin, this village—whose people wore different forehead protectors from before—was surely the best place in the world.
One afternoon in late September, at an open training ground within the village—Kushina and Kaori had just finished training and were sitting to the side resting.
Even without being a jinchūriki, Kushina herself was extremely strong. Without using ninjutsu, once her Adamantine Sealing Chains were unleashed, she could bind the vast majority of ninja and even tailed beasts in the world like helpless captives.
Kaori had only been a half-trained ninja before. After this period of recovery, Kushina had begun teaching her fūinjutsu while also improving her combat abilities.
She didn't need to become a combat ninja, but at the very least, she had to be capable of self-defense.
The Uzumaki clan possessed powerful physiques—so why had they been destroyed in the past? Because their clansmen had been obsessed with researching sealing techniques while neglecting the improvement of their own combat strength.
Having learned from that lesson, Kushina would not repeat the same mistake.
Naruto and Karin had already become familiar with each other. At this moment, they were by a small river in the training ground, trying to pull ashore some fish that were provoking them.
Not far away, Minato kept an eye on the two children's safety while also instructing his escort squad in their training.
By now, aside from Makoto, he already knew that it was impossible for the others to use the Flying Thunder God Technique.
This S-rank space–time ninjutsu demanded too much talent—if you didn't have it, you simply didn't have it.
So he came up with an alternative. Based on the Flying Thunder God Technique, he simplified and modified it, creating a version that multiple people could use together—the Flying Thunder Formation Technique.
At least three people were required, and at most, he had improved it to a six-person version.
It was specifically developed for the six-man squad.
It wasn't practical for combat, but in emergencies, it could be used for teleportation—transporting important supplies or personnel—and thus had significant strategic value.
At this moment, under his command, the Hayate squad and the Genma squad—six people in total—spread their hands and connected through special hand seals, forming a circle.
Their chakra also connected together.
When ninja connect their chakra, they can sense each other's thoughts—but not at all times. It requires great strength and the willingness to open one's heart.
Like the six of them now, they were only linking chakra to jointly perform a technique.
If simply connecting chakra allowed one to read another's thoughts, then why would ninja bother learning interrogation techniques? Why would the Yamanaka clan need to painstakingly invade prisoners' minds?
Information? Just connect chakra with the opponent and read it—then kill the prisoner afterward.
Under Minato's unified coordination, the six maintained synchronization in the technique's activation rhythm and simultaneously executed the Flying Thunder Formation Technique.
Then, unsurprisingly, it failed.
They tried several times, but none succeeded—just like before.
Minato scratched his head, feeling troubled.
I've already simplified it this much, and you still can't learn it?
Makoto, watching from the side, said, "Minato-senpai, don't you think six people is too many?"
"Is it? With more people, each can handle their own part—shouldn't that increase the success rate?"
"That's true, but the more people there are, the harder it is to keep the activation rhythm perfectly synchronized. If even one of the six falls out of sync, the technique fails. Instead, it greatly reduces the success rate."
"So, Makoto, what you mean is…"
"The Flying Thunder Formation Technique requires at least three people, right? Then split them into two teams to practice. Start with small teams—once they succeed, then recombine and practice again."
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