As soon as he stepped inside, Ryusei arranged the gentlest expression he could manage.
The corners of his mouth softened, though his eyes, oddly narrowed as always, refused to change. That reflex was too ingrained by now.
He approached the counter and bowed lightly.
"Ryusei Nishida," he introduced himself, voice calm, tone polite but not meek.
"I came for practice supplies, beginner's parchment, scrolls, chakra ink... Anything suitable for starting out in fuinjutsu."
Takumi acknowledged him with a slight nod, already turning to check stock, but Ryusei's attention slid toward the two figures still lingering by the side.
They had not left after handing over their boxes, and their eyes, steady and unreadable, rested on him.
Feigning a hint of curiosity, Ryusei let his words come out as though casual.
"These… seals," he said, gesturing to the neatly packed bundles on the counter. "They look incredible. Did you two make them?"
He let the compliment settle with just the right touch of admiration, enough to seem genuine without being overeager.
Kushina didn't answer. She kept her eyes on him instead, but not really onto him at the same time, her brows bending ever so slightly, a frown so small most would miss it.
Minato, however, didn't notice. He glanced at Kushina for only a moment, then looked back at Ryusei, his usual easy composure unshaken.
"She did," he replied with a faint smile. "They're strong enough that even I told her she was overdoing it. Looks like she wasn't."
Ryusei gave a small nod, keeping his expression gentle, his narrowed eyes still in place. "I see. No wonder they stand out."
Ryusei let the silence stretch a moment longer, then spoke again, voice still mild, carrying that same air of polite restraint.
"I've been trying to learn on my own, these days, you know..." He said. "But there's only so far a beginner can get by copying practice patterns. If there was… even the smallest bit of written guidance, from a real expert, to follow, I'd make good use of it. Nothing advanced, just a path forward, something to stop me from wasting months stumbling in the dark."
His words were measured, his eyes narrowed as always, the practiced gentleness on his face never breaking.
To anyone else, it sounded like earnestness, but Kushina's gaze sharpened.
She hadn't looked away once since he first stepped in, and she sensed him up close for the first time.
The chakra hum around her was steady, but the slight bend of her brow deepened.
She couldn't put words to it yet, but there was something off about him, an intent she didn't like.
Minato, though, missed it.
He considered the boy's bow, his careful tone, his decent manners.
For someone that young to speak with such control, to stand steady without a trace of arrogance, it stirred something in him.
Minato was already thinking ahead, already seeing the young teen as one of the future's pillars if given the right guidance, as he also had quite a considerable talent to be that strong at that age, not much different from himself back then.
A bit of help now, a scroll here or there slipped through the mail, would cost him nothing but might raise a loyal ally for the village.
Moreover, he never asked them for any personal or advanced techniques, only for basic sealing knowledge, the kind most teens his age didn't even bother with.
His lips parted, the beginning of agreement in his breath—
But Kushina cut across before he could give it shape.
"Fuinjutsu's not something you learn from scraps and handouts," she said, voice firm, just enough edge to leave no room for negotiation. "You want real progress? You work it out yourself. That's how you actually get anywhere with it."
Her words weren't harsh, not exactly, but final.
Minato blinked, the thought of offering help stalling unspoken in his throat.
He glanced at her, and the faint crease in her brows told him enough.
Ryusei only smiled, still gentle, still narrow-eyed. Inside, though, his thoughts moved faster.
He dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement, as if to thank her for the advice.
"Understood," he said softly. "I'll do my best with what I can manage."
Minato cleared his throat, a little awkward, and offered a few words of encouragement to Ryusei. He called out his parting words to Takumi, still inside, then stepped out with Kushina.
She carried a faint frown now, her expression edged with something close to hostility. Minato said nothing about offering Ryusei help.
He didn't need to. Even without fully understanding why Kushina reacted so sharply, the fact that she had at all told him enough.
She was never like that without cause. He trusted her instincts, knew her sensing was sharper than almost anyone's in the village, honed by both her bloodline and years of training. If she had felt something off about the boy, then there was something off.
Inside the shop, Ryusei remained standing alone. His polite smile stayed fixed, eyes still narrowed, but his hand betrayed him for an instant.
A faint tightening of the fist, the smallest crack in his mask, anger buried deep, beneath countless layers, had slipped through.
Meanwhile, once they were a good distance from the shop, Minato glanced sideways at her, sensing the tension still radiating from her silence. Kushina didn't even wait for him to speak.
"I know what you want to ask," she said flatly, arms crossed as her long hair swayed behind her.
He gave a small nod. "Yeah."
Kushina let out a faint breath, her brow still tight.
"Before we even went in, I'd already been keeping an eye on him for a bit. Nothing suspicious then- just a kid with good chakra and a strong body. Pretty gifted for his age."
Minato's expression stayed calm, and he nodded, letting her go on; he also noticed that.
"But when he walked inside and started talking, I took a closer look. Out of habit, really. After so many missions, it's automatic." Her voice hardened.
"What I felt wasn't right. His words said one thing, but the intent behind them… it was greedy. Like he wanted to use us. Trick us."
Minato frowned slightly. "Greedy?"
Kushina's hands clenched a little. "Not just that. His aura… it was dark. Vicious. Cold in a way I don't like. There's something primal about him - like he doesn't care about right or wrong, only what he wants." She shook her head, lips pressed tight. "Even if it was only a hint, I couldn't ignore it."
For a moment, silence stretched between them, broken only by the wind tugging at their cloaks.
It was well known that the chakra carried the traces of the user's intent, emotion, and mental state. Chakra wasn't just energy after all; it was coded will. But not everyone could decode it.
"That's why you cut him off," Minato said quietly.
Kushina shot him a look. "Of course I did. What, you expected me to just stand there and let you hand over favors to someone like that? No way."
Minato chuckled under his breath, his usual gentle tone slipping back in. "Honestly, the fact you didn't explode right there in the shop is already amazing."
Hearing his last words, Kushina stayed quiet, not reacting to the joke the way she normally would.
Something else had crossed her mind, something she hadn't told Minato.
The boy's chakra didn't just feel potent for his age; it felt distantly familiar.
Strangely similar to her own, and even to Minato's.
Almost like there was a distant thread tying them together.
However, the only other signature she'd ever felt that was actually the closest to it in structure… belonged only to Tsunade-sama.
That was why she hadn't made a bigger scene.
A clan like that wasn't supposed to have any pure, high-blooded descendants left.
And yet, here he was.
Which meant someone, somewhere, probably already had their eye on him.
So, another reason she'd stopped Minato was simpler.
She didn't want him tied to someone like that.
There were things in this village that Minato should never know.
She'd learned a bit more because being a Jinchūriki meant growing up faster, harsher, than other kids.
If she carried those burdens, fine.
But Minato…
Minato was the one thing anchoring her the most to this kind of place, and the one person she never wanted tainted by the darker truths hidden under his Hokage and village dreams.