At 5 a.m., Kushina woke up from her sleep. As a Tokubetsu Jōnin in Konoha specializing in seals, she always made it a habit to wake up early, especially with Konoha currently engaged in warfare with Iwagakure after pushing back the forces from Kumogakure.
As a Ninja, she had to be prepared for any enemy attacks. She couldn't afford to be reckless or lazy. She remembered that the last thing she recalled was falling into Minato's arms after being struck fatally by Killer B, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki.
"I hope Minato isn't too worried about me," Kushina thought with a tinge of sadness.
Was she truly dead or had she simply passed out, only to wake up in a different location?
When she asked Wasuke where they were, he replied with "Sendai." Kushina wasn't familiar with the name of any small village other than the five major ones, and to be honest, she had never even heard of a village called Sendai.
She doubted if there was even a village named Sendaigakure No Sato.
This is all a new mystery for Kushina, who wants to solve it on her own without revealing her identity as a ninja to the two people who helped her.
Why is Kushina suddenly speculating that Wasuke and Jin don't know about ninjas?
She reached this conclusion by observing their reactions when she performed a jutsu right in front of them. They seemed surprised, even shocked. It was as if they were seeing a ninja demonstrating a jutsu for the first time in their lives.
It's strange for a village that is specifically for civilians (non-ninjas) to be so ignorant about ninjas. They should know that ninjas can perform jutsus. It's basic common sense, even for normal civilians.
So why were Wasuke and his son so shocked?
Maybe there are no ninjas in Sendai?
Or perhaps the ninjas in Sendai are so discreet that the civilians there do not know of their existence?
Ah, this problem is giving Kushina a headache. She'll think about it later. It will become a future concern for Kushina. Right now, she needs to focus on something else, like taking a shower. Kushina sniffed her armpits.
'Not too bad,' she thought.
But she still wanted to take a shower, especially after being on the battlefield for over four months. Taking a shower was a luxury in itself.
Kushina headed towards the door that Wasuke had shown her yesterday, indicating that it was the bathroom door. As she opened the bathroom door, her eyes widened.
"Woah," she exclaimed.
Kushina was completely taken aback. Wasuke and Jin's bathroom looked incredibly luxurious to her, on par with those owned by nobles in big villages. It was no wonder it looked so lavish - the bathroom was adorned with patterned ceramic tiles, predominantly in golden yellow and white.
Just plain ceramic tiles alone would be expensive to purchase, let alone ones with a gold motif. They must be extremely rare and costly, as it's unlikely that ceramic artisans would sell them at low prices.
They might even be equivalent to the sum Kushina receives after completing two consecutive S-rank missions.
Kushina also noticed the absence of a ladle in the bathroom; instead, there was a large body-sized bucket made from ceramic that wasn't filled with water, along with a stick attached to a metal rope hanging near the bucket, extending into the wall of the bathroom.
'How am I supposed to take a bath without water?'
She briefly considered using her water jutsu but quickly dismissed the idea. She didn't want a repeat of the previous incident.
Having to work her entire life to repay the damage caused by her jutsu was not something she was keen on. So, Kushina had to think of another way to shower.
'Maybe I can fetch water from the river and bring it here,' she thought.
Her violet eyes spotted a lever near the stick inside the bathroom. Curiosity got the better of her, and she turned the lever in the opposite direction.
"AH, SHIT-!" Kushina cursed as a sudden gush of water shot out from the stick, drenching her face.
Quickly, she turned the lever back to its original position, stopping the flow of water. Her long red hair was now soaked from the water that came out of the stick. But hey, at least Kushina now knew where she was and no accidents occurred in bathroom because of her.
At 6 a.m., Kushina, dressed in Jin's borrowed teenage clothes, prepared breakfast using the ingredients she found in the kitchen.
Thankfully, Wasuke had shown her how to operate the stove yesterday afternoon, or else Kushina might have ended up cooking over an open fire. She made onigiri, steamed vegetable-filled buns, and freshly cut medium-sized fruits for dessert.
'I hope they like it,' she thought to herself.
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Jin woke up from his sleep and checked on his twin babies who were still sound asleep in their small bed. Like a zombie, he mechanically walked towards the bathroom to get ready for work.
After showering and dressing up, he noticed a pleasant aroma coming from the kitchen. Curious, Jin approached the kitchen and found breakfast already set on the table. He saw Kushina arranging plates on the dining table.
"Uzumaki-san, you don't need to go through all this trouble to make breakfast," Jin said.
"It's alright, really," Kushina replied. "I woke up early with nothing else to do, so I thought I'd make breakfast for all of you. Besides, I haven't cooked in months, dattebane. Let me know if anything tastes off, okay?"
Hearing Kushina's words, Jin was momentarily taken aback, but then a smile appeared on his face and he chuckled softly.
"Hmm... I will," he said.
He sat in one of the chairs at the dining table as Kushina placed a plate containing small portions of food on the table. Just as Jin was about to take a bite, he noticed Kushina sitting across from him, her face filled with curiosity.
"So, what do you think? Please tell me!" Kushina appeared nervous as she watched Jin finish chewing and swallowing the food she had made.
"It's delicious," Jin said with a gentle smile.
"I'm glad my cooking still tastes good! I was worried that I might have poisoned you with my bad cooking skills, considering I haven't cooked in months! I purposely made a little extra for breakfast because some ingredients were about to go bad. So, instead of wasting them, I made a larger portion. I hope that's okay, dattebane?" Kushina asked again.
"Yeah, it's totally fine, Uzumaki-san," Jin replied, while eating his breakfast.
"Why do you still call me by my last name, dattebane? Uzumaki-san is my mother. I'm just Kushina. So, just call me Kushina!" Kushina said firmly. He's blushed slightly as Kushina asked him to address her by her first name instead of her last name.
It felt quite informal.
"A-alright, Kushina-san," Jin stammered, his face still flushed.
Kushina smiled at him, making Jin even more flustered by the sight of this beautiful woman smiling at him. Luckily, Dad has entered the dining room and joined them for breakfast.
Otherwise, Jin felt like he might faint right there from his heart beating faster at the sight of Kushina's smile.
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Wasuke considered his decision to hire Kushina as a babysitter for his twin grandchildren to be one of the best decisions he had made since his wife passed away.
Kushina was able to feed one of the grandchildren, Sukuna, with a bottle very skillfully, without the scenario where Sukuna would usually throw the empty bottle to the other end of the room and break it.
Because of this, Wasuke always had a replacement bottle ready in case Sukuna broke another one.
He didn't have to constantly go back and forth to the supermarket. It was a bit expensive for Wasuke to buy a dozen bottles at once, but he didn't have a choice since one of his grandchildren had a knack for behaving this way.
This was Wasuke's personal experience when it came to feeding Sukuna with a bottle. However, when Kushina handed the bottle and held Sukuna in her arms, softly singing a lullaby, Wasuke noticed that Sukuna appeared calm. He finished the bottle of milk and fell back asleep.
It was like a miracle from God himself.
On the other hand, the scenarios that Wasuke often experienced usually went like this:
"Brat, don't you dare throw the bottle again," said Wasuke when he saw his grandson Sukuna's little hand getting ready to throw his bottle. However, Wasuke saw his grandson's mischievous grin directed at him intentionally as he threw his bottle again.
Wasuke wanted to catch the bottle, but he didn't notice the rubber duck on the floor, causing him to slip and fall. Sukuna's bottle shattered once again. Wasuke was in pain on the floor while his grandson Sukuna seemed to laugh in baby language.
He's started to develop a theory that Sukuna just loved pranking him or that his grandson used to be a menace to society before being reincarnated in this life.
Despite all the mischief, Wasuke still loves his grandkids to bits. Sukuna, being the naughty one, often gets up to no good, while his twin brother is more peaceful and calm.
But lo and behold Sukuna's twin, Yuuji, can also make some trouble on his own. For the time when Wasuke woke up abruptly, only to find the freshly changed diaper magically filled with poop again after right 10 minutes Wasuke changed it, courtesy of little Yuuji.
And when Yuuji fills his diaper, he cries so loud that will absolutely wake up the whole neighbourhood until the clean diaper is back on his little tushie in no time.
Yep, Yuuji just loves his poop adventures and Sukuna, well, he's a fan of smashing his milk bottles. Thank goodness for Kushina, who lightens the load and makes Wasuke's burden feel much lighter.
He even had enough free time to sip tea while sitting on the front porch, admiring the vast expanse of the rice fields.
Today was a peaceful day indeed.
After tending to the twins by feeding them, changing their diapers, and putting them to sleep, Wasuke instructed Kushina to head into town to buy ingredients for tonight's dinner while he stayed home to look after his grandchildren.
Originally, it was Wasuke who was supposed to venture to the supermarket in town while Kushina stayed behind to look after the twins. But Kushina insisted on taking the task upon herself, and Wasuke reluctantly agreed.
Not forgetting his responsibilities, Wasuke gave her some money and his bus card. As the gentle breeze lightly caressed Wasuke, tempting him to drift into the realm of dreams, a thought entered his mind.
Kushina came from a remote island, where identification cards were nonexistent, and she wasn't the most tech-savvy person either. Would she be okay in the high-tech city?
'Nah, she's a grown-ass woman, she'll be fine,' he smirked to himself before peacefully nodding off to sleep.
I mean, it's her first time in a big town, what's the worst that could happen?
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