Karin Uzumaki had noticed something off about her big brother recently.
It wasn't a sudden shift, but a slow, creeping change over the last year.
Like right now!
In the kitchen, Big Sister Ayame and Big Brother were prepping dinner together.
Ayame was manning the stove, while he was on chopping and washing duty.
However, under Karin's hawk-eyed observation, her brother wasn't actually helping at all.
He washed two potatoes and a tomato.
It took him forever, and they still weren't clean.
In the span of a few minutes...
He "looked for" silverware eight times, checked the cooking utensils five times, and dropped the potato twice.
And every single time he moved, he just happened to brush past Ayame.
"Something is definitely up."
A gleam flashed across Karin's glasses.
"What's up?" Naruto Uzumaki, waiting for food nearby, leaned in.
Glancing at Naruto, Karin didn't give him the cold shoulder this time.
Sharing gossip was always better than keeping it to yourself.
She signaled toward Musashi with her eyes. "Look at those two."
Naruto looked over, confused.
No matter how he looked at it, it was just two people making dinner. What was the problem?
"What about them? Is something wrong?" Naruto asked, clueless.
"Idiot," Karin scoffed with disdain.
Preparing a simple dinner was taking at least twenty minutes longer than usual.
---
At the dinner table.
Karin pretended everything was normal, but she kept stealing glances at Musashi out of the corner of her eye.
Just as she thought.
Putting food in her bowl one second, handing her a napkin to wipe her mouth the next.
They couldn't just eat in peace.
Big Brother definitely has a problem lately, she thought to herself.
Naruto, on the other hand, couldn't keep things to himself like she could. Once he realized Musashi was indeed acting weird, he blurted out right at the table:
"Boss, are you and Big Sister Ayame dating or what?!"
"Pfft! Cough, cough, cough!~"
Ayame choked on her food, startled by the sudden question.
Even Musashi's face turned a bit red.
Karin rolled her eyes. "I called you an idiot, and you really are one. Big Brother and Big Sister Ayame have been together for ages!"
Ayame blushed even harder.
Musashi, embarrassed that his little moves had been spotted, scolded them.
"What do kids know!"
Karin talked back, "So what if we're kids? Kids know everything!"
Unable to refute that, Musashi changed the subject.
"Is your homework done for today?! Have you mastered the Three Academy Jutsu? How have you been behaving at school? Are your teachers satisfied with your performance?"
"Big Brother, don't change the subject!" Karin retorted. "I'm doing great at school. We're talking about you and Ayame right now."
Smack.
Musashi slammed his chopsticks onto the table, trying to project the authority of an older brother.
"Karin, if you hadn't mentioned it, I almost forgot. You call your behavior at school 'great'?"
"Iruka told me everything. You're always bullying the boys in your class, aren't you?"
Karin huffed, unconvinced. "Whatever. Teacher Iruka doesn't know the full story. Those boys started it."
"How did they provoke you?"
"They said my hair looks like a tomato and called my glasses lame."
Musashi paused, then said, "That doesn't mean you have to beat them until they cry."
Naruto suddenly chimed in, "It's more than that, Boss. Karin beat up every troublemaker and anyone who badmouthed her in class."
"Now the boys don't call her 'Tomato' anymore. They call her the 'Crimson Cobra.' They hide from her during class and after school."
Karin: "..."
Musashi: "..."
"And you, Naruto! Were you complaining about failing the Clone Jutsu earlier? If you don't go practice, do you even want to graduate?!"
Naruto immediately started shoveling rice into his mouth, looking sheepish.
With his sore spot poked, he lost the mood for gossip.
Karin was a bit bolder than him. She didn't take Musashi's scolding to heart and continued to size him up secretly, guessing how far their relationship had gone.
But as she thought about it, for some reason, she started feeling unhappy too.
---
After dinner, the two little ones slinked off to do their homework.
Ayame, face still red, left quickly too, leaving Musashi alone to wash the dishes.
In his mind, he was still replaying the scene of him and Ayame busy in the kitchen.
The water quickly submerged the dishes. It was about to overflow from the sink when he suddenly snapped out of it and hurriedly turned off the tap.
Cursing himself under his breath, he refocused and started washing.
Musashi knew he hadn't been quite right lately.
To be precise, over the last two years, as his training deepened and he grew taller...
His life force had become stronger and stronger.
It was so potent it was hard to control, even making him feel restless and anxious.
Every time the restlessness hit, he'd run an extra five hundred laps!
If that didn't work, five thousand!
Longer hours, heavier weights!
But recently, the effect seemed to be getting weaker and weaker.