April 1st.
The Ninja Academy began a new academic year once again, and Gojo Yoru's batch advanced to the fifth grade.
Also starting from this day, Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina no longer attended classes in their main bodies, only sending Shadow Clones to deal with the school.
Gojo Yoru stopped pretending!
The signal conveyed by the super-large scroll indicated that some of his actions had been seen by Sarutobi Hiruzen and Uzumaki Mito.
Using Shadow Clones to take exams for himself and Uzumaki Kushina must have also been noticed by Sarutobi Hiruzen.
There was no need for Gojo Yoru to hide anymore.
Moreover, he had a very good reason to skip class with Uzumaki Kushina.
That was to teach Uzumaki Kushina Ninjutsu, enrich her arsenal, and improve her strength.
Gojo Yoru even stopped hiding the Rasengan.
Since those big shots had decided to invest in him, he had to let them see a high return.
When Sarutobi Hiruzen saw Gojo Yoru perform a hand-seal-less Ninjutsu, he became even more determined to nurture him.
Such Ninjutsu talent, such Body Flicker talent, plus that hair color and appearance... Sarutobi Hiruzen seemed to see the reflection of Tobirama-sensei in Gojo Yoru.
If it were Gojo Yoru, maybe he could really learn the Flying Thunder God Technique, which no one in Konoha had been able to master since Tobirama-sensei.
Once Gojo Yoru mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique, Konoha would have another layer of security. Even if Uzumaki Kushina lost control, he could transfer her out of the central streets of Konoha before she transformed into a Tailed Beast.
However, before teaching the Flying Thunder God Technique to Gojo Yoru, Sarutobi Hiruzen had to put a brand on him to ensure he was one of them.
Otherwise, the thought of an out-of-control Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and a Flying Thunder God user together was terrifying.
The days of training together with Gojo Yoru in their two-person world completely healed Uzumaki Kushina's heart.
The girl who used to be afraid of sleeping and often had nightmares recalling the scenes of her clan's extermination had rarely woken up from her dreams since the beginning of this year.
Instead, she often showed a sweet smile while sleeping soundly, clearly having good dreams.
Her changes were all seen by Uzumaki Mito, making the old woman feel incredibly relieved.
She had originally intended to take Uzumaki Kushina out for a trip to give this clansman and junior a lesson.
Now it seemed there was no need for that anymore.
...
May 10th.
A piece of bad news suddenly spread throughout Konoha and quickly reached the entire Ninja World, making countless people heave a sigh of relief.
The bad news was that the wife of the First Hokage had passed away.
In the eyes of ordinary people, the First Hokage's wife had died of old age, and another representative figure from the Warring States period was gone.
But in the eyes of those who knew Uzumaki Mito was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, a ticking time bomb had been dismantled.
Especially the countries that destroyed the Land of Whirlpools; they could finally rest easy.
They dared to attack the Land of Whirlpools because they knew Uzumaki Mito was old, and any action she took would be her last battle.
After destroying the Land of Whirlpools, they worried that Uzumaki Mito would choose to fight them to the death, randomly picking a ninja village to self-destruct upon.
Fortunately, this old woman chose the future of Konoha over hatred.
Uzumaki Mito's death meant that Konoha had successfully transferred the Nine-Tails.
Thus, various forces began to mobilize their intelligence agencies, wanting to send spies into Konoha to find out the identity of the second Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Regarding Uzumaki Mito's passing, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt some sadness, but mostly relief.
Not only was a mountain removed from above his head, but an aging Jinchuriki had actually lost the ability to suppress the Tailed Beast.
For Jinchuriki of other ninja villages, once they got old, they would either transfer the Tailed Beast in advance or move their residence into a barrier.
Only Uzumaki Mito could stay in the central streets of Konoha all along without anyone daring to voice a single objection.
Now that Uzumaki Mito had passed away, Sarutobi Hiruzen officially ascended to the pinnacle of power.
With all power in his hands, the first thing Sarutobi Hiruzen did was to fully activate the barrier that had been set up since the day Uzumaki Kushina entered Konoha.
An invisible barrier covered the entire central street of Konoha.
From now on, Uzumaki Kushina's area of activity was also restricted to the central streets of Konoha.
The Anbu responsible for monitoring and protecting Uzumaki Kushina also increased from one to two.
"Yoru, Mito-sama is gone, my last clansman is gone too, waaah..."
Just after the grand funeral ended, Uzumaki Kushina found Gojo Yoru, threw herself into his arms, and cried loudly.
"People come into this world, and there will always be a day when they leave. What we need to do is live happily in this process and leave no regrets." Gojo Yoru hugged Uzumaki Kushina, speaking mature words completely inconsistent with his age. "I believe that when Mito-sama left, she left with a smile."
"How... how do you know?"
Uzumaki Kushina forgot to cry for a moment and looked at Gojo Yoru blankly.
"Because Mito-sama had no regrets left." Gojo Yoru said softly, "Witnessing her granddaughter become an independent ninja, her grandson become an official Genin, and having you, a clansman inheriting her mantle, her later years were already complete."
"Is... is this why Mito-sama chose to transfer the Nine-Tails after her birthday?" Uzumaki Kushina murmured. Being young, she couldn't understand these things yet.
Gojo Yoru asked with a worried expression, "How is your condition?"
"I'm fine."
Uzumaki Kushina shook her head, placed her hand on her abdomen, and said, "Before she left, Mito-sama sealed her last bit of Chakra inside my body to clamp down on the Nine-Tails. This Chakra can last for a few years."
If Gojo Yoru could enter the spiritual space where Uzumaki Kushina and the Nine-Tails communicated, he would see that the current Nine-Tails was not locked in an iron cage, but pinned to a wall by a giant black iron nail, its body wrapped in chains.
If it weren't pinned to the wall but embedded in a stone ball, the Nine-Tails' current appearance would look just like the Fire Monk from the movies.
"So that's how it is."
Gojo Yoru suddenly understood; several plot holes in the original work were now explained.
In the original work, Uzumaki Kushina definitely became the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki first before being captured by the Cloud Ninja.
If Uzumaki Mito were still around, Sarutobi Hiruzen certainly wouldn't dare to plot against Uzumaki Kushina, nor would he dare to joke around with the only vessel for the Nine-Tails.
Those two Cloud Ninjas would have been discovered by Uzumaki Mito, who possessed Negative Emotion Sensing, before they could even infiltrate the grand mansion.
But how could the twelve-year-old Uzumaki Kushina, who couldn't even deal with two Cloud Ninjas, have the ability to suppress the complete Nine-Tails?
Now hearing Uzumaki Kushina's words, Gojo Yoru finally understood.
It turned out that Uzumaki Mito sacrificed herself in advance to buy Uzumaki Kushina a few years of growth.
"Then for the next few years, we have to double our efforts." Gojo Yoru patted Uzumaki Kushina's head and smiled.
"Mhm!"
Uzumaki Kushina nodded vigorously, her eyes determined.
Not just for herself, but for Gojo Yoru, Mito-sama, and this village she had gradually grown to like, she would absolutely not allow that monster to seize control of her body.
<><><><><
Read Advaned Chapters on : patreon.com/Kaizo247
~ Every 150 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~ Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]