Naruto: Puppet Master Undercover in Konoha

Two more days passed.

The medical ninja entered the hospital room to examine Shindai and Minato Namikaze.

"Your injuries have healed completely. You're free to leave, though make sure not to overexert yourselves for the next week."

"Hooray! I'm finally outta here!"

Shindai jumped off the hospital bed cheerfully. Life in the hospital had been comfortable, but after so long, it was starting to get boring—reading was just about the only thing to do.

Besides, inspiration from all those books needed practical application, and Kannazuki also required maintenance.

Right now, Kannazuki was still in disrepair.

Minato Namikaze smiled as well.

During these days at the ninja hospital, he felt like his body was about to rust.

Kushina Uzumaki smiled brightly at Shindai. "Shindai, to celebrate your discharge, let me treat you to dinner."

Shindai looked at Kushina with delighted surprise. "Really? Great! Obito, Kakashi, Rin—you guys get to enjoy a feast because of me!"

Kushina turned to look at the three, slightly raising her eyebrows. "Oh? Do you want to come too?"

"Ahh no no no, I have something else to do."

"I still need to train!"

"I have to help an old lady later!"

Obito and the others hurriedly declined, afraid they'd be too late saying no.

Minato cast Shindai a pitying glance but hesitated before trying to persuade Kushina again. 

However, Kushina fixed Minato with a sharp glare. "What? You want to go too?"

Minato immediately stood up straight and denied. "Uh... No, I just finished eating. Never mind."

Shindai wasn't stupid—he sensed something wrong and took several steps back. "You know what, I think I'm still full."

Kushina reached out, hooked her arm around Shindai's neck, and said sweetly, "Nonsense! Didn't you complain last time that it wasn't enough? Right now, I'm going to make sure you eat until you're full!"

All the hair on Shindai's body seemed to stand on end as he quickly protested, "Lady Kushina, you said you'd take care of me of your own will—I never forced you into this!"

Kushina grinned radiantly. "Exactly! It's my choice! And I didn't say you forced me either! Come on then, we're leaving now, and I'll feed you until you burst."

She locked her arms around Shindai's neck and practically dragged him outside by force.

Shindai shot desperate pleading glances at Minato and Obito's group.

Minato and the other four immediately turned their heads away pretending not to see anything.

After all, who asked you to act so cocky these past few days? Now your karma's here. They'd warned him before, but since he wouldn't listen, there was nothing they could do.

And naturally, Shindai knew exactly what kind of trouble he'd brought on himself—he did it on purpose.

Who asked Kushina to give him a heavy slap on the back of the head every time they met, sending him right back to the hospital?

Shindai grumbled inwardly, thinking that acting up a bit during his recovery wouldn't be too unreasonable—after all, he got hurt protecting Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki!

But Shindai had underestimated Kushina Uzumaki's fiery temper.

That Kushina had managed to restrain her fiery temper for so many days was something even Minato found hard to believe.

There were several times when Minato felt Kushina wouldn't be able to suppress her anger any longer. Yet she still somehow held back, continuing to grit her teeth as she took care of Shindai.

Struggling desperately, Shindai shouted at Kushina, "You can't do this! You're repaying kindness with malice! I ended up in the hospital because you hit me with your tail!"

Kushina replied naturally, "That's exactly why I've been swallowing my pride and taking care of you these past few days in the hospital. Now that you've left, I've already repaid my debt."

"That's such a convenient excuse! I also helped Lord Minato control—mmpf!"

[Shifting Body Technique] Minato immediately covered Shindai's mouth: "Shindai, we don't talk about this!"

The fact that Kushina was a jinchuriki was top secret; if Shindai let it slip, things would become troublesome.

Unable to speak about that, Shindai quickly changed his argument: "Since the favor has been returned, there's no longer any connection between us. Then why are you still trying to take revenge on me? Let go now!"

Grabbing Shindai by the scruff of his neck and pulling him close, Kushina smiled very 'sweetly': "I simply want to treat you to some "food" right now! No other motives whatsoever."

Realizing that Kushina was dead set on beating him up, Shindai pleaded toward Minato: "Lord Minato, aren't you going to stop her? This behavior is completely lawless! I'm your benefactor, you know!"

Hesitantly, Minato said to Kushina, "Kushina... maybe—"

Kushina turned her head to look at Minato. Her red hair moved on its own without wind, and her eyes seemed to glow like electric lamps.

Seeing this, Obito and the others fearfully backed away repeatedly.

Not only were Obito and his companions terrified; even Minato himself felt afraid, instantly closing his mouth.

Kushina dragged Shindai outside the ninja hospital, into a small alley, beginning to 'feed' him.

"Ugh~ah! Oh~owww!!!"

Half an hour later, a fully 'fed' Shindai followed behind Kushina with a black-eyed and swollen-faced appearance.

Kushina wore a genuinely delighted smile on her face.

All the frustration from these past days finally lifted, leaving her feeling refreshed and clear-minded!

Contrary to Shindai's initially unfavorable view of Kushina when they first met, Kushina actually held quite a favorable impression of him.

When Minato told her about Shindai, she found him quite intriguing.

Moreover, Shindai shared some similarities with herself—they had both arrived in Konoha completely alone. The difference was that she originally traveled with Mito Uzumaki, while Shindai had absolutely nobody.

Plus, last time they would have both been in big trouble if Shindai hadn't made Nine-Tails pause for a moment.

Actually, Kushina Uzumaki quite wanted to get along well with Shindai.

It's just that sometimes Shindai acted too cheeky, making her lose her temper more than once.

Kushina looked at the black-eyed and swollen-faced Shindai with a gentle smile on her face. "Come on," she said, "let me treat you to dinner."

Shindai instinctively shuddered and shook his hand repeatedly, mumbling unclearly, "No thanks, no thanks! I've already eaten plenty, really full!"

Raising an eyebrow, Kushina said, "This dinner isn't about hitting you—it's genuine. I'm treating you to celebrate your and Minato's discharge from the hospital."

Carefully, Shindai asked, "So does that mean Minato and Obito are coming too?"

"Of course!"

"Well then... okay!"

Rubbing his cheeks, Shindai thought: He'd already taken a beating—why not eat for free?

Since he couldn't beat Kushina Uzumaki, he might as well try to eat her out of house and home!

Obito leaned in close to Shindai and gave the bump on his head an experimental poke.

Shindai winced and bared his teeth as Obito poked him.

Just as he was about to lay into Obito, he suddenly froze.

Obito's words sparked a flicker of inspiration in Shindai's mind.

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