"In the battle just now, I bet on you to win, and as a result, I lost a barbecue dinner."
After a brief silence, looking at the sunny and cute little face in front of her, Tsunade spoke with a stiff expression.
She didn't ask Minato why he admitted defeat; she could guess the reason without being told.
"Sorry."
Minato scratched his head and pulled a few banknotes from his pocket.
"Um, I still have some here..."
"Hah? Who do you think I am?"
Tsunade's face darkened.
Scaring him was one thing, but she could never bring herself to rob a child of his money.
Although she often felt no guilt about swindling her own younger brother out of his pocket money in various ways, that was her own brother, after all.
Anyone with a younger brother knew that such creatures were born to be their older sisters' slaves.
Glancing at the banknotes in Minato's hand, Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
"That's quite a bit of pocket money, kid."
"Actually, these are my living expenses for the week..."
"Living expenses..."
Tsunade seemed to realize something, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
"Are you..."
"An orphan."
Hearing that crisp voice, Tsunade silently set Minato down while simultaneously giving herself a mental slap.
Damn it! I'm such a jerk!
This kid is actually an orphan!
Wait, I should have thought of that earlier. What normal family would let a child come to the entrance exam alone?
At this thought, Tsunade suddenly felt a bit at a loss.
Watching Tsunade's changing expression, Minato also stood blankly in place.
He wanted something from Tsunade.
As the granddaughter of the First Hokage, her family must have a large collection of Wood Release ninjutsu.
Since Tsunade had unexpectedly approached him, Minato naturally didn't want to give up this opportunity.
However, his personality was quite introverted, and he didn't really know how to get close to girls.
In both his past and present lives, girls had always been the ones to approach him, so for a moment, he didn't know how to start building a rapport with Tsunade.
Seeing Tsunade's silence, Minato spoke tentatively.
"How about I treat you to a meal?"
"A meal?"
Tsunade was pondering what kind of apology would be best to avoid leaving a shadow on the child's heart.
Hearing this, she felt relieved but also couldn't help but smile playfully.
"Oh? You're already learning how to treat girls to dinner at this age, kid?"
"Um—"
Minato pursed his lips, finding that he really couldn't think of a suitable excuse.
In the end, he could only helplessly rub the back of his head and smile awkwardly.
"Actually, I have a favor to ask of you, haha..."
So he wanted a favor; no wonder the kid was being so attentive.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
"What is it? Speak up."
Minato shook his head and cast a subtle glance toward the school.
"If you don't mind... could we take a bit more time? My cooking skills should be okay."
It seems like a troublesome matter... but who told me to be so mean earlier?
Tsunade sighed helplessly.
"Then let's go. Let me see your cooking skills."
Minato's face lit up with joy.
He formed hand seals, and with a poof, created a Shadow Clone, dispatching it to buy groceries.
"You can even use the Shadow Clone Technique?"
Tsunade asked in amazement.
"It was among the ninjutsu my father left behind."
Minato nodded and led Tsunade toward his home.
Minato's house was the same as the one in Tsunade's Infinite Tsukuyomi; his home in the movie Road to Ninja was also this small building.
The location of the house was quite good, within the inner circle and not far from Hokage Rock.
There were plenty of major ninja clans nearby; even the Uchiha were currently located in this area.
Due to the slope of the terrain, the small building was built on a two-meter-high stone platform and was divided into two main sections.
One part was the residential area.
After ascending the iron stairs to the second floor, the second and third floors served as the daily living space.
The other part of the building looked like a giant thermos.
The interior was connected to the residential area.
The first floor was a warehouse, the second was a study, and the third was a tea room.
Because of the elevation, one could see most of Konoha's scenery from the third floor.
As soon as they entered the house, Minato ducked into the kitchen.
Tsunade leaned against the kitchen doorframe with her arms crossed under her ample chest, watching Minato skillfully wash and prepare vegetables.
Her tone was slightly gentler.
"Your house is in a great location, right in the center of the village. Why haven't I seen you before?"
"Well, after my parents passed away, I rarely went out. But recently, I've been getting up early to exercise."
"Getting up early to exercise..."
Tsunade chuckled.
Unless she was on a mission, she didn't have that kind of self-discipline, so it was no wonder she hadn't seen him.
As for him knowing her, that was no surprise.
As the granddaughter of the First Hokage, grandniece of the Second, and disciple of the Third, plus being both beautiful and powerful, it would be strange if anyone in the village didn't know her.
"So you only recently started your training?"
Minato shook his head.
"I started refining chakra half a year ago. My home has the training scrolls from when my father was a ninja.
I self-taught some simple ninjutsu from the scrolls. I only started exercising recently after hearing there was a taijutsu test for admission."
After quickly slicing the vegetables, the Shadow Clone returned home.
It handed the groceries to Minato and then dispersed.
"You're self-taught? What ninjutsu have you mastered?"
Tsunade asked curiously.
"Um... there's the Three Basic Jutsu, Wind Release: Vacuum Wave, Water Release: Water Vortex, Earth Release: Earth Wave, and the Shadow Clone Technique."
"Those are all basic... wait!"
Tsunade suddenly stood up straight, propping one hand against the doorframe, her eyes fixed intently on Minato.
"Wind, Water, Earth—you can release them all skillfully? What about your chakra nature? Have you tested it?"
Minato nodded.
"It's all five natures: Wind, Lightning, Water, Fire, and Earth.
However, my family doesn't have any Fire or Lightning ninjutsu, and except for the Vacuum Wave, they are all common D-rank ninjutsu."
Among these five natures, the Wind nature should be his own.
Water and Earth likely came from Senju Hashirama, while Fire and Lightning likely came from Uchiha Madara.
Furthermore, he had inherited Hashirama's seal-less self-healing and Madara's Sharingan, meaning he also possessed the abilities of Yang Release and Yin Release.
"Five natures..."
Tsunade looked at him as if he were a rare specimen, then suddenly smiled somewhat proudly.
"Your request... could it be that you've discovered your talent but are struggling due to a lack of ninjutsu, so you want to take me as your teacher?"
"Take you as my teacher..."
Minato paused; he really hadn't thought about taking a teacher.
According to the original plot, his teacher should be Jiraiya.
However, although the current Minato's personality wasn't much different from the original, with the influence of his past life's memories and knowledge, his perceptions and values were actually worlds apart.
Jiraiya longed for mutual understanding between people and spent his life searching for the Child of Prophecy mentioned by the Great Toad Sage who could bring peace.
He was a true and thorough idealist.
But ideals detached from reality were just empty talk.
Minato believed that people could understand each other, but understanding alone could not solve problems.
War is a continuation of politics, and politics, in the end, is just the pursuit of interests.
If the problem of resource distribution cannot be solved, conflict will naturally never cease.
Minato admired Jiraiya's idealism, but he did not agree with his philosophy.
The two were not on the same path; he did not intend to take Jiraiya as his teacher as in the original story.
But if it were Tsunade, although she might not be able to teach him much, she must have the legacy of Wood Release ninjutsu.
After all, at this time, Mito Uzumaki, the wife of the First Hokage, was still alive.
Noticing Minato's reaction, Tsunade also realized she seemed to be flattering herself, and she couldn't help but curl her lip.
"What, you don't want to take me as a teacher?"
Minato quickly waved his hands.
"No, no, no, actually I really want to take you as my teacher, Senior!"
"Too late, I don't like your attitude."
Tsunade gave a light hmph, but in her heart, she became increasingly curious about what Minato's request actually was.
He had clearly shown extraordinary talent, yet he still had secrets he was unwilling to expose to outsiders.
The only thing she could think of... was the possibility of a Kekkei Genkai.