Since Xing Liu brought Tsunade over at a time neither too early nor too late, it was just about the time when most office workers were getting ready to head out for work. At that moment, the person opening the door to his home was none other than Minato Namikaze, who had not yet left for work.
"So, you brought Tsunade-sama here this early in the morning—what exactly are you planning to do?"
Minato, who had planned to leave the house, initially wondered who was knocking on his door so early. However, when he opened the door, he found that it was Xing Liu and, surprisingly, Tsunade, who shouldn't have been there at all.
It wasn't that Tsunade couldn't appear in front of Minato's house; the two of them only had a relationship as a friend of Minato's teacher and a disciple of his friend. So, normally, Tsunade wouldn't be here, especially not so early in the morning to visit him.
But with the man before him—a man whose actions couldn't be measured by normal standards—things were different. Considering that, it seemed entirely reasonable for Tsunade to suddenly appear at his doorstep.
"Heh, so you haven't gone to work yet, huh?" Xing Liu had already anticipated that Minato might still be at home at this hour, but he hadn't expected Minato himself to open the door.
"Enough already. What does it matter to you, you lazy fish, whether I've gone to work or not? But what about you? Why are you knocking on my door so early in the morning? Were you simply asking if I'd left for work?" Minato said, intentionally glancing at Tsunade, who stood beside Xing Liu.
"And at this time, aren't you supposed to be lying in your own room?"
"How come you're suddenly bringing Tsunade-sama here this early in the morning?"
Minato couldn't help but wonder if the sound of the door falling down was too loud for him not to have heard it. After all, even though Xing Liu and Minato lived next door to each other, he hadn't heard a thing.
Had it not been for the sound of the door collapsing, he would never have asked why Tsunade appeared at his doorstep.
"There's a reason Tsunade-sama is here so early..." Xing Liu decided to tell Minato everything, except for his desire to see Kushina and Tsunade fight, of course.
This included the fact that Uchiha Sasuke had the cursed seal of Heaven placed by Orochimaru and that he had already left Konohagakure. Xing Liu also told Minato about the tragic death of his own door, which was a casualty in the process.
"Can't you fix your own door? And you know Wood Style. Instead of waiting for me to send someone to repair it, you could've done it yourself; it would have been faster."
The news of Sasuke leaving the village was likely already on Minato's desk, and if he went back to his office, he would probably find some intelligence that Xing Liu didn't know about.
But what struck him as absurd was that the lazy fish had just invited someone over for dinner the night before, and now, either the same day or the next evening, the person had already left the village.
Did this lazy fish know something that Minato didn't? Had he invited Sasuke over to his house to "sponge" food for some inside information?
If that were the case, then Minato might have wrongly accused Xing Liu.
Minato had been warned by Xing Liu earlier, but it wasn't until now that he realized the truth…
Thinking this over, Minato looked at Xing Liu with a softened gaze, no longer the disdain he had shown earlier.
"I already know about this matter. Leave the rest to us." After confirming the official business, Minato looked at Xing Liu and Tsunade with a slightly gentler expression than usual.
"If you haven't had breakfast yet, would you like to come to my place to eat?"
"Huh? Why is this bastard suddenly looking at me so gently? Is he planning something devious?" Xing Liu, noticing the unusual warmth in Minato's tone, instinctively thought that Minato must be hiding something.
So, after a moment's thought, he decided it would be best to take Tsunade out for breakfast at Ichiraku Ramen.
"We still have some important matters to attend to, so we won't disturb you and Kushina's rare alone time," Xing Liu said quickly, ushering Tsunade away as if fearing that if they lingered any longer, Minato might stop them.
Watching Xing Liu hurry away as if running from a flood or a wild beast, Minato was struck by the thought that perhaps his status as the Fourth Hokage wasn't as effective as he had imagined.
But, considering how much of a lazy fish Xing Liu usually was, how could he possibly have something truly important to do?
"Important business? I bet it's just going to the gambling hall to play cards with Tsunade-sama," Minato thought with a smirk.
To think someone could call going to the gambling hall to play cards "important business"—that kid was something else.
Initially, Minato had planned to scold Xing Liu, but then he remembered the two women he had seen in the gambling hall yesterday, and suddenly didn't feel so opposed to the idea of Xing Liu playing cards.
"Heh, I thought this brat was so serious, but it looks like he can't hold back when he sees someone he fancies."
"Though, can he really handle both of these younger and older sisters?"
"What younger and older sisters?" At that moment, Kushina, who had been waiting for Minato to return, walked out of the room. As soon as she stepped outside, she overheard Minato talking about some "younger and older sisters."
"You're not planning to find another pair of sisters to serve you, are you? Didn't I already squeeze you dry last night?" Kushina said with a half-smile, looking at her husband, who had only mentioned wanting to enjoy some rare alone time with her, yet only a few hours had passed.
If Minato hadn't pleaded for mercy with the excuse of needing to work the next morning, he'd still be lying motionless in bed now.
It was better that Kushina hadn't brought up this matter, but as soon as she did, Minato felt an ache in a place that had long since been drained dry.
Under his wife's teasing smile, Minato decided to tell her about Xing Liu's plan to take Tsunade to the gambling hall to pick up girls…
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