"Every time I see you like this... it's so embarrassing, so unseemly."
"It's just the Eight-Tails. Even though I scolded Minato, on the battlefield, a ninja ultimately shouldn't harbor thoughts of relying on someone else's protection. What do they call you again? The White Yaksha? Look at you now, you've turned into the Red Yaksha."
The Nine-Tails despising the Eight-Tails was understandable; after all, it had one more tail. But what did it mean for Kushina to despise the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki?
Regarding the injury, she generally scolded Minato to his face, and did the exact same to Hagoromo. However, words were just words. She naturally knew the enemy Jinchuriki wasn't an ordinary ninja. At the time, neither of the boys had told her the detailed process of the battle, so she genuinely believed her disciple was injured because he was simply outmatched.
Although Kushina had been incredibly worried upon first hearing the news, she never showed it after the youth returned to Konoha. After all, that wasn't in her nature.
If you said she was scolding someone, she genuinely was scolding them. She had no tsundere traits. From her tone, it sounded like if she had been on the battlefield, she would have directly schooled him on the most effective way to deal with a Tailed Beast. But ultimately, it stemmed from a place of care, and Hagoromo could naturally distinguish that.
Thus, he quickly raised his hands in surrender. This was exactly that "sometimes" when she would act like a nagging mother figure. Every time she came to the hospital, she would repeat those exact sentences.
Since returning to the village, Hagoromo had stayed in the Konoha Hospital, cultivating his mind and resting to wait for his body to slowly recover.
At this moment, he was half-lying on his bed, with his teacher sitting in a chair beside him.
Regarding her complaints and scoldings, he had properly explained things in the beginning. But as the times piled up, it was better to just ignore them.
So, he spoke up, "Kushina-sensei, you don't need to come over every day. After all, you still have wedding preparations to busy yourself with."
She would come to visit him every morning, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. He couldn't possibly dislike this, but the key issue was that every time, under the guise of helping her disciple recover sooner, she would bring an ample, handmade "nutritious lunch"... If you actually tasted it, it didn't taste handmade at all. Instead, it tasted like a product straight off a factory assembly line.
Don't misunderstand; not a food production assembly line, but a chemical product assembly line.
In short, ever since those nutritious lunches became a thing, Hagoromo lived every day just looking forward to dinner.
"There actually aren't that many things to do for the wedding. Given the current period, we're just holding a simple ceremony. Anyway, it's all minor stuff, so I've left it all to Minato to handle."
"Huh?"
He was dumbfounded for a moment. When it came to weddings, it was his first time hearing of a bride acting as a hands-off boss. Who exactly was marrying whom here?
"Anyway, you don't need to worry about this." Kushina waved her hand, indicating they were moving past the topic. To be honest, every time he brought this kind of thing up, she felt a bit awkward and weirded out.
Of course she felt awkward. His tone of admonishment made it sound as if he wasn't marrying off his teacher, but giving away his daughter.
"But, do we really not need to postpone the wedding?" she asked again.
"No need, absolutely no need. I don't want to cause you two any trouble," he quickly shook his head.
She hadn't mentioned this just once.
With his current physical condition, there was definitely no way he could attend the ceremony. Therefore, she wanted to postpone it until after he recovered, or at least until he had mobility... However, he adamantly opposed this. It was one thing if he couldn't help with the preparations, but if he ended up causing trouble instead, he would feel far too guilty.
"Anyway, there aren't many guests, so it's not much trouble. We'd just need to notify everyone again, but..." But never mind. She didn't want this matter to cause her disciple to feel guilty.
"Speaking of which..."
"What is it?"
Kushina first turned her head to look out the window. After a while, she said, "None of our disciples will be able to attend the wedding."
A few disciples... In reality, she and Minato only had two left. The other two would naturally never be able to attend.
"Not even Kakashi?" he asked.
"Kakashi probably has Anbu missions..." A person in the Anbu is not their own master. Besides, he wasn't the type who liked to join in on the fun—especially not the Kakashi of this period.
"Is that so..."
Hagoromo didn't know what to say. Put that way, as Kushina's sole disciple, he truly shouldn't be absent.
Was he supposed to attend the wedding injured? Roll up in a wheelchair or on a stretcher? That was a bit unjustifiable. It was a wedding, and as a disabled person right now, going there would only add to the chaos.
Seeing the conflicted expression on the boy's face, Kushina suddenly burst out laughing.
"What is it, Kushina-sensei?" He was baffled.
She recalled the version of him from a few years ago; this expression was exactly the same.
"Come to think of it, you're already taller than me now."
"Am I... I don't think so?"
He genuinely hadn't paid attention to this. Come to think of it, it had been a long time since he focused on things like his age, height, and weight.
"You are. You're 170 centimeters, a whole fist taller than me."
As expected, using a fist as a unit of measurement for height.
"I'm a professional ninja too. I can at least estimate this much height."
So a professional ninja could estimate the height of someone half-lying down. He had gained some new insight today.
"I remember the first time I saw you, you were only about this tall, right?" As she spoke, she gestured slightly above her knee.
This left him feeling incredibly depressed.
Did his teacher store her memories in her cerebellum? That was way too exaggerated. He was taller than that when he was three.
"Speaking of which, that was quite a few years ago now, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, a good few years ago... After all these years, you really haven't changed much."
"Change? There's been some of that." He actually wished he had never changed, but he knew he had. However, exactly where he had changed was something he couldn't clearly articulate on the spot.
He fell silent for a moment.
"Look at the time, I have to go. Between wedding stuff and hanging around youngsters like you, I'm starting to feel old."
After sitting there for a little while longer, she prepared to leave. If it were the her from the past, she might have genuinely ignored the wedding preparations, but the current her wouldn't do that anymore.
People always change.
"Remember to eat the lunch I made."
The reminder instantly made his face turn bitter. It was the thought that counted, and he had to eat it regardless, but honestly, why did he care so much about her?
This question was something he couldn't understand...
But could he really not understand it?
Actually, this question was very simple to explain, yet simultaneously very complex to explain.
But it could not be explained, nor should it be clearly explained.
Things were perfectly fine the way they were right now.
"So it's already been five years. I'm already fifteen years old. It feels... really awkward."
It was indeed very awkward. His actual lived age was already an integer multiple of fifteen, yet he was still fifteen. Saying the word out of his own mouth always made him feel like he was pretending to be young.
He was the one who was truly old.
Damn it, why do I have to think about this kind of thing? It's mentally exhausting.
It wasn't his fault either. The word "marriage" always made people associate it with the cycle of birth, aging, illness, and death, leading to bouts of sentimental melancholy.
Right now, his mission was to hurry up and recover. At the same time, he needed to use this period to rest well and think. He had many things to do later, and he probably would never get such leisurely rest again.
Anyway, first he'd eat the lunch, and then take a nap.
Napping was a good habit.
However, Hagoromo ultimately thought of the problem too simply. After eating that nutritious meal, those "nutrients" made it absolutely impossible for him to sleep peacefully.
He Powered Up.
Did this nutrition have half a pound of vintage 1982 fermented pickles mixed into it?
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