Chapter 38
"So boring… I'll just wait for him outside."
After sitting for a while, Kushina's restless nature kicked in. She left a small note and dashed out.
"Red hair—that's her! She's out!"
"Ling Yu isn't with her. She's alone."
"Quick—surround her! Don't let her escape!"
The moment Kushina ran out of the school gate, four or five boys—each half a head taller than her—burst out from the sides and boxed her in.
"Huh? Who are you guys?"
Kushina hadn't even reacted before they surrounded her. Startled, she quickly took a few steps back.
"That's her, right?" The leader pointed at Kushina and asked the others behind him.
"Yeah, that's her."
A shorter boy pushed his way forward from the back—the same one from Ling Yu's class who'd lost money in the bet. He pointed accusingly at Kushina.
"How can someone have red hair? Looks so ugly."
"Right! Red hair, and her face is so round—like a tomato!"
"Hahaha, keep talking and she'll cry! Look—she's shaking with fear already!"
One mocking remark after another poured into Kushina's ears. She lowered her head. No one could see that her face had already turned pitch black with rage.
…
Meanwhile, Minato was walking Rina toward the Senju compound.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, a strange, oppressive feeling gripped Minato's chest.
"Rina, you know the way back now, right? I think I left something in the classroom. I'll go check."
The heavier the pressure in his chest became, the harder it was to breathe. Without waiting for a reply, Minato turned and sprinted back toward the school.
His instincts told him something was happening.
"Minato-kun! You…"
Watching Minato's figure disappear, Rina's expression turned complicated. She reached out as if to say something, but the words never came.
Only after Minato vanished completely did Rina turn and leave. In the golden glow of the setting sun, her small figure looked somewhat lonely.
At the same time—inside Teacher Yamano's office
"Ling Yu, your grades may be at the top of the class, but that doesn't mean you can skip whenever you want—let alone drag a new transfer student into it with you. There are still two students with better grades than you: Namikaze Minato and Uchiha Mikoto."
"Do you know why their grades are so good?"
"No idea."
"Don't play dumb with me."
"Oh."
Yamano sat behind his desk, lecturing Ling Yu with a stern face. Seeing the boy's half-hearted responses, he felt deeply helpless.
For students like this—top of the class and backed by powerful clans—Yamano couldn't punish them harshly or scold too much. He was afraid of offending their families.
"This time you skipped with Kushina. That seriously disrupts the school's teaching atmosphere. If—"
With dead fish eyes, Ling Yu stood with his head lowered, letting Yamano's words go in one ear and out the other. He didn't care at all.
Better grades? That was only because he'd deliberately held back. If he wanted to, he could crush Minato in an instant—he just stayed low-key.
Suddenly, a very familiar chakra signature appeared in his perception. The mark he'd left on Kushina had been triggered.
Without thinking twice, Ling Yu spun around, made up an excuse, and bolted for the door.
"Teacher, I suddenly remembered something urgent at home. That's all for today—I'm leaving."
"Hey! Ling Yu! Senju Ling Yu! Where are you going? If you run off, I'm calling your guardian to school tomorrow!"
"Do whatever you want!"
Yamano hurried after him, but by the time he reached the hallway, Ling Yu had already vanished.
"Damn it… these kids are getting more and more out of control."
…
Using Space Power, Ling Yu escaped from Yamano's office and instantly arrived at Kushina's location.
He looked around and saw a scene that left him both laughing and speechless.
"Ahhh! You dare call me a tomato? Think this lady is easy to bully?!"
"So what if you're taller? Your strength isn't even half of mine—I can knock you down with one punch!"
"So what if there's more of you? Planning to gang up on me? Come on! Think I'm scared?!"
"Today, Uzumaki Kushina is taking on ten!"
Kushina stood in the center. Her fiery red hair stood on end. Golden chains extended from her back, spinning rapidly in the air. Each chain had a person tied to the end.
While swinging the chains wildly, she shouted nonstop. At her feet lay several boys—faces bruised and swollen, barely conscious.
Seeing Kushina in full war-god mode, Ling Yu swallowed hard, his emotions complicated.
"Alright, Kushina—that's enough."
Using Kyōka Suigetsu, he dismissed the ANBU who had been secretly protecting Kushina and erased their memory of what they'd just witnessed.
Ling Yu walked up beside her and called out, looking at the dizzy figures still spinning in the air.
"You here to bully me too?"
Kushina whipped around, face full of rage. As she spoke, one of the chains shot toward Ling Yu at high speed.
Snap!
Ling Yu casually caught the incoming chain. More chains came flying at him one after another. He frowned—Kushina had clearly lost her temper.
Space Power activated. Using the marker he'd placed on her earlier, he instantly appeared behind her.
"Snap out of it."
He wrapped his arms around Kushina, turned her head toward him, and looked directly into her eyes. The overwhelming spiritual pressure of the Rinnegan pressed down on her.
"Mmm… Ling Yu? Why are you here? And why are you hugging me?"
After a brief moment of daze, Kushina's eyes gradually cleared. She looked at him in confusion.
"I think you should put them down first."
Releasing her, Ling Yu pointed at the people still spinning wildly overhead, face full of helplessness.
"Those guys? They tried to gang up on me, but I beat them all flat. Too weak."
Kushina dropped them to the ground, fixed her slightly messy hair, turned to Ling Yu, and struck a proud, expectant pose.
"You're really something. Alright, you've had your fun. Let's go—I'll make you something delicious tonight."
Following her mood, Ling Yu praised her, then took her hand and left the scene. Kushina didn't resist—she bounced along happily beside him.
"Can you cook?"
"Of course. And it's really good."
"What if you're lying to me?"
"A real man never goes back on his word."
"Tch. I could take on ten by myself."
"I'm not the same as those weaklings, okay?"
"Who knows."
As for the unconscious boys left behind—he didn't care. No one had seen. The only witnesses had already had their memories erased. Let this become an unsolved mystery.
What if they tried to report it? They wouldn't dare. Five boys ganging up on one small girl—and getting beaten senseless? Who would have the face to admit that? If word got out, they'd never lift their heads in school again.
"What… happened here…?"
Only after Kushina and Ling Yu left did Minato finally arrive. The oppressive feeling in his chest had vanished. All he saw were several unconscious boys on the ground.
Though puzzled about what had happened, as a good student, he couldn't just leave them. One by one, he carried them to the infirmary to get help from the teachers.
What Minato didn't know was that his fate with Kushina had already completely diverged from its original path.
-----------------------------
Support me Read 100+ Chapters Ahead of webnovel!:
patreon.com/inkshield