Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI - Chapter 170 - Heading to the Northern Border 01.

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV
Konoha, Year 39.
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The next day, Minato was standing at the village gate with Kushina.

“So you’re leaving… How long do you think you’ll be at war? I mean, how long do you think this war will last…” she asked cautiously.

“Maybe another two years… Now that we have the Hokage’s approval of Tsunade’s project, it won’t be long before we turn all the battlefields in our favor to the west of the country. Then, we can start sending more forces to the other sides,” Minato said.

“I see… then I’ll wait for you…” Kushina murmured, looking at him with a certain passion, as Minato nodded.

“There’s something I wanted to give you. I took the chance to order it on Saturday…” Minato said, pulling a small box from his pocket and opening it to reveal rings.

“This…” Kushina murmured, before looking at Minato and jumping on him with a joyful laugh. “This is so cool, Dattebane!” she said, clinging to his neck.

“I think we need to make it official, don’t you?” Minato said calmly, crossing his hands behind Kushina’s back.

“Put it on me, Minato!” she demanded, stepping away from Minato and holding out her finger.

Some people entering and leaving the gate looked at the scene curiously, as the girl raised her finger. Minato obliged, sliding the ring perfectly onto her finger.

“How beautiful! This must have cost a lot of money, didn’t it?” she asked, raising her finger as the ring caught a bit of the morning sunlight, and soon she returned to him. “Wear yours too. I don’t want any kunoichi trying anything with you. They should see you’re a committed man!” she insisted, and Minato only sighed but took one of the two remaining rings from the box and placed it on his finger.

“Perfect! It’s a shame our wedding is five years away. I’ll be looking forward to it, Dattebane!” she exclaimed, and before Minato could react, Kushina, without warning, jumped on him, kissing him with an assertive demeanor.

“Well… I think I should go,” Minato said in the end; he was already late.

“All right… Go and win this war, Minato!” she exclaimed.

Minato nodded, turned his back to her, and tightened his headband to ensure everything was in place while he kept his jonin uniform on. In the next moment, he disappeared.

The space around Minato distorted before stabilizing again, and he found himself near a camp—the 12th camp, north of the western border and the battlefield against Suna and Iwa.

He approached, with a few sentries in the trees looking at him in confusion, recognizing him, but no one stopped him as he entered the camp and headed to Jiraiya’s tent.

As soon as he approached, Jiraiya immediately exited his tent, surprised after sensing his chakra approaching.

“Minato, you’re back…” he said, smiling. “Come inside… I’ve received some reports about your rescue. Let’s talk inside,” he requested, and Minato nodded, following his sensei into the tent.

He stood in front of Jiraiya, touching his wrist to summon a small scroll, which he took and handed to his sensei.

“I have something here, Sensei, before we start. This was delivered by the Hokage to you yesterday,” he said, having been summoned once more to deliver direct orders from Hiruzen.

Jiraiya took the scroll and read it calmly, raising an eyebrow. He looked at Minato afterward, a bit surprised.

“Are you sure about this? Acting on the northern border?” he murmured, as Minato’s request and its authorization were in the scroll.

“For a while, yes. I know I can stay there for up to a year since I need to work with Might Guy on developing a new technique,” Minato said.

“I understand. That won’t be a problem, but you don’t want to go alone, do you?” Jiraiya asked.

Minato shook his head. “No, I want to take the girls with me. After all, they are my team, and you can’t leave the camp’s command. So it would be better to have them with me,” Minato explained.

Jiraiya nodded. "All right, I'll allow you to do that then. Just come back soon, I’m feeling like a lousy sensei, after all, I couldn’t teach you everything I could have," he said.

“It’s all right, Sensei. Are you still training the Rasengan I taught you?” Minato asked with a smile.

“I’m trying, but an S-rank jutsu is very difficult…” Jiraiya commented.

The older man then called one of the guards into the tent and asked him to summon the two girls from Team 7. Meanwhile, he continued talking to Minato about what had happened.

“Well, that was unexpected. When you left here, I didn’t expect things to escalate so quickly. But I’m glad you managed to save her. I see you even have a ring,” he remarked, with a slight smile. “I bet Kushina is happy. But I also heard some comments from Tsunade… Did you also get engaged to her daughter?” Jiraiya asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I’m engaged to both of them, Sensei. I’m going to marry both,” Minato said calmly, without any hesitation.

“Well… I guess I can say your sensei is proud of you. A Senju and an Uzumaki, you’re ambitious, kid,” Jiraiya murmured in the end.

“Anyway, Sensei, I have permission to go to the medical camp. I’d like to check on a few things there and even invite Tsuna to come with me to the northern border, which might be difficult, but I’ll ask anyway,” Minato said.

“No problem. You can do that,” Jiraiya replied. “Minato, if you’re staying here for a few days, you’ll be free. There’s no reason to tie you down to camp duties,” he said.

At that moment, Mikoto and Hanabi entered the tent, looking at Minato.

“We heard what happened. Is Kushina okay?” Mikoto asked immediately.

Minato nodded. “Yes, she’s doing very well now. Anyway, I have some news. I’m heading to the northern border,” he said, leaving Mikoto and Hanabi wide-eyed. Minato continued before they could say anything. “I plan to take you both with me. I hope you’re okay with that.”

The two exchanged glances. “You’re taking us to the northern border?” Hanabi asked.

“Yes, you’re my team. You’ll be better off with me than here. After all, you’ll continue to train with me,” Minato explained.

“All right, we’ll go with you, Minato,” they replied in unison.

“Great. Prepare your things; we’ll be leaving in two days. I’d also like to check on your training. Today, I’ll be heading to the medical camp, but I’ll be back tomorrow for a bit of training,” Minato said, and the girls nodded.

He then turned to Jiraiya. “Anyway, Sensei, I’m off,” he said, disappearing in the next moment.

“Did you see the ring on his hand?” Hanabi murmured to Mikoto with a strange look.

“Yes, I saw…” Mikoto said, almost whispering, her voice nearly breaking.

Jiraiya just listened, scratching his head, not knowing what to say to the girls as they began to leave the tent.

“Man, this student of mine is either going to break two hearts or keep both for himself. After all, if there’s room for two, why not three or four?” he muttered, but with a certain pride in Minato.

Tsuna was surprised as she was studying a poison that had begun to emerge on the battlefield, created by Suna after many months at her mother’s request.

A nurse entered the medical tent, informing her that Minato Namikaze was there. Now, being a hero, he had his own privileges and wasn’t as restricted from passing through any area in the medical tent. However, Minato didn’t enter as he usually did and instead asked for someone to call his fiancée.

“Minato?” Tsuna approached, throwing away her gloves, going up to him outside.

“Tsuna.” He smiled warmly.

“I heard about what happened with Kushina. Is she okay?” Tsuna asked with concern. It was obvious the news had already spread among the camp leaders.

“Yes, she’s fine. How about we talk somewhere else?” Minato suggested, gesturing for them to step outside.

So, Minato revealed everything to her in a place outside the camp.

“So, Kushina accepted our condition?” Tsuna murmured, unsure whether to feel guilty or not for making her share the man the Uzumaki loved.

“Yes, as you can see, I have a ring, and I brought one for you too,” he said, once again taking a small box from his pocket. Tsuna’s lips curved into a smile when she saw the object reflecting the sunlight inside.

“Come on, put it on my finger,” she asked, excited, as Minato repeated the gesture he had made with Kushina. “Now we’re official,” she murmured, looking at the ring placed by Minato.

“Yes, but there’s one more thing. I’m going to the northern border,” he said suddenly, breaking the girl’s momentary happiness and making her look surprised. “It’s temporary. I even thought about asking you to come, but I bet you won’t be able to, right?” Minato asked.

“No, I’m still in training with my mother. We’re almost entering the final stage,” she said. “She’s going to teach me a super-strong technique now; it’s the reason she has that crystal on her forehead…” Tsuna explained, remembering she was close to completing her training with Tsunade. This was a sign that the heir was about to master the technique that only Tsunade possessed.

Minato understood and nodded without issues. “That’s good. Speaking of which, I’ll be staying here today, but I also want to talk to your mother… I have some important news from the Hokage,” Minato commented, pulling out a second scroll.

She nodded and led Minato to her mother’s tent, where Tsunade was giving orders to a group of medical ninjas.

They waited at the entrance while Tsunade had already noticed Minato and Tsuna from the corner of her eye but continued her meeting until it concluded.

“You know… I’m becoming a very powerful medical ninja,” Tsuna suddenly said.

“I can imagine… You might even surpass your mother,” Minato replied.

It was at that moment that Tsunade ended the meeting and approached them, her eyes narrowing, especially as she looked at Tsuna’s fingers.

“So, you managed to rescue Kushina. That’s very good, brat,” Tsunade murmured, eyeing Minato sharply. “But I see you’re rushing things. I don’t recall giving permission for you to marry my daughter yet,” she said, not seeming pleased with the ring on Tsuna’s finger.

“Mother! I’m going to marry Minato!” Tsuna stomped her foot quickly.

“Tsk,” Tsunade clicked her tongue, but Minato was quick to intervene before the argument could start.

“Here, an important order from the Hokage. A group of ninjas will come here to provide more information, but your sensei asked me to give you a heads-up,” Minato said, handing over the scroll.

“Let’s see…” she murmured, beginning to read, before becoming quite stunned by what she was reading. “He approved my program!!” she couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Mother?” Tsuna looked surprised at this, while Tsunade turned back to Minato.

“You did something, didn’t you?” She couldn’t believe it.

“Of course, I’ve always believed in your project and convinced the Hokage with my achievements for the village. I’m here to support my mother-in-law,” he said, flashing a bolder smile.

“I’m very happy about this, brat, but I haven’t given you permission to call me that!” she retorted.