Kushina sat in silence, her face clouded with worry.
Suddenly, Meichū spoke up.
"Pr—Princess, we fought in the last war too. Didn't you hear about it?"
Startled, Kushina shot back,
"War? What war? What do you mean, you fought?"
"Huh? You really don't know?"
Meichū turned to Minato, who'd been quietly listening.
"Minato-kun, have you heard anything?"
"Nope," Minato replied, shaking his head.
Weird.
Meichū frowned, baffled.
They'd helped turn the tide of battle—heck, they'd even knocked Iwagakure on its back at the end of the war. How could the Uzumaki princess living in Konoha not know a thing?
Just as he was puzzling over it, under the table, Tengen gave his brother a subtle kick and a sharp look.
Years of brotherly telepathy did the trick—Meichū swallowed what he was about to say.
It wasn't exactly a mystery.
With his Uzumaki sensory skills, Tengen had long ago noticed the massive, sinister chakra inside Kushina.
No need to guess:
She was the Nine-Tails jinchūriki.
Sure, in Amegakure, from the First Lady down to the gate guards, nobody cared much for tailed beasts.
But in other villages, they were a big deal—sometimes the only thing that mattered.
Being a politically savvy Uzumaki, Tengen knew exactly how delicate this all was.
After a long, uneasy pause, Kushina turned to glance at Minato, who sat beside her, posture ramrod straight. A gentle, resigned smile crept onto her lips.
"Tengen, Meichū, how are our clansmen doing?"
Tengen pursed his lips, fighting the urge to blurt out the truth.
Good? Yeah, right!
Ever since Amegakure was founded, the First Lady had been going door to door, knocking on everyone's homes!
Telling people to get out and touch grass, stop lounging around reading manga and playing with figures all day.
She even scolded them about practicing hand seals too much—"what's the point of being that fast, anyway?!"
Honestly, what kind of village head says stuff like that?
A real leader telling everyone to go date, soak in hot springs, and enjoy life?
What, is there something wrong with the manga? Not enough TV channels? Blankets not warm enough?
Who in their right mind wants to go outside for no reason?!
Grinding his teeth, Tengen just shook his head and answered as honestly as he dared.
"Eh, it's… okay, I guess. Life's fine, but the First Lady is just too much sometimes."
Meichū nodded furiously.
"She's hands-down the most troublesome woman in the whole village!"
Seeing their long-suffering faces, Kushina's heart twisted with worry.
From the way they talked, this First Lady must be a ruthless tyrant, or a sly, manipulative politician.
Damn it!
Do my poor clansmen never get a break?
Why is fate so cruel to the Uzumaki?!
Minato sat up even straighter, quietly watching the three redheads at the table.
Come on, Kushina—don't let your imagination run wild!
What kind of ninja talks smack about their own village leader right out in the open?
He almost spoke up to nudge her back to reality—
—but then, in his mind, he pictured Kushina in one of her legendary rages.
He shrank back, wisely deciding to keep his mouth shut.
This isn't cowardice, he told himself.
It's respect!
I'm just giving my wife face in front of company.
Yeah, that's it.
I really am the world's best husband.
...
While Minato was busy being "respectful," Kushina tried to keep her anxiety in check and pressed gently,
"Is the living environment really that bad?"
Tengen froze, images of the village's daily chaos flashing through his mind—
The FFF Brigade, the Pure Love Warriors, "Left and Right: Boys on Boys," and that weird cult chanting "Life is for Sakurajima Mai!"
Random factions brawling in the streets, shouting nonsense like, "Burn the flags! Snatch the hoods! White Emperor Holy Sword, follow my blade!"
And of course, "Kanna-chan is the cutest!"
Yeah…
The environment wasn't just bad. It was a circus.
He nodded, giving up all pretense.
"To be honest, the village is a mess. People are always fighting about something."
"And the village leader? Doesn't she do anything?" Kushina asked, voice rising with concern.
Tengen sighed, smacking his forehead with a groan.
"She's the worst of the lot! The First Lady brawls harder than anyone!"
Kushina slumped back in her chair, eyes vacant.
She could barely imagine her clansmen surviving in such brutal chaos.
They must have suffered so much.
The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt—tears shimmered at the corners of her eyes.
Minato glanced at the three, then slowly raised his teacup to hide his increasingly bewildered expression.
What the hell is going on here?
Are they even having the same conversation?
And somehow, their moods actually synced up—how is that even possible?!
Even the ever-gentle Minato Namikaze couldn't help but curse inwardly.
He sighed, pushed himself up from the table.
"I… I'll go get some hot water."
He grabbed the teapot and retreated to the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Kushina was left stewing in her own misery.
She was the Nine-Tails jinchūriki—to put it nicely, a comrade of the village; to put it bluntly, property.
If not for Mito-baachan and Minato, she'd have become a cold-blooded weapon long ago.
The thought made her feel even more powerless.
She forced a smile.
"So, what about you two? Are you here in Konoha on a mission?"
"Yeah," Tengen nodded.
"Just gathering some intel—not military stuff. The village leader wants to open a business in Konoha, so she sent us to check things out."
"What kind of business? Uh… is it something you can talk about?"
Minato returned from the kitchen, setting down the teapot as he asked, feigning nonchalance.
"Nothing too secret. It's insurance.
You guys know what insurance is?"
Seeing the confusion in their eyes, Tengen explained,
"Basically, insurance is just risk protection—a kind of bet.
Say I pay ten thousand ryō to an insurance company for a year's personal safety coverage.
If I die in war or on a mission, my family gets a hundred thousand ryō payout.
It's not just about personal safety—property, homes, anything can be insured. It's all just a bet, really."
He took a sip of tea and continued,
"Our First Lady wants to set up shop in Konoha and see if any of the big clans are interested in partnering up.
The rest is just scoping out how open Konoha folks are to the idea of insurance."
As soon as he finished, Minato's sharp mind kicked into overdrive.
These two aren't telling the whole truth!
He figured it out instantly.
This kind of business doesn't need to "investigate" villagers' acceptance.
What matters is the war casualty rate and mission accident rate—
And both are top-secret!
The real goal was clear:
How much you pay in, how much you get out—that's all up to the insurance company.
Their real purpose was to win over the major clans.
By tweaking the payout ratios, the company could keep the compensation under control—
And profits would be the bait.
But what did the First Lady of Amegakure really want out of this?
In a heartbeat, Minato had pieced together the whole scheme, extracting the key intel.
No wonder he'd become Hokage so young—not just for his battlefield feats, but for his sharp political instincts.
Too bad he was still a bit green, not as used to Rinjin's tricks as the likes of Hiruzen Sarutobi or Danzō Shimura.
If either of those old foxes realized Rinjin was behind this, they'd have shut down the "insurance" scam before it even started.
After all, Rinjin's specialty was dangling a big, fat cake in front of people—
Just to watch them squirm.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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