In Minato's house in Konoha.
"Join Root?"
Minato wasn't surprised by Kaze's suggestion. Apparently, he had long anticipated this day.
"Okay, let's go and tell Teacher Orochimaru." He replied calmly, his voice steady.
Kaze accompanied Minato to Orochimaru's house, a small wooden cabin located on the edge of Konoha, away from the hustle and bustle.
Before the two even reached the door, Orochimaru had already pushed it open and stepped out.
He leaned against the doorframe, looking at the two with a half - smile on his face.
"Hehe, what brings you two here so late?"
Kaze and Minato took turns explaining the purpose of their visit.
Sigh...
After hearing that he didn't need to instruct Kaze anymore, Orochimaru secretly let out a sigh of relief.
For the first time in his life, he truly grasped the meaning of the word 'liberation'.
"Minato, if you encounter any confusion in the future, you can come to me directly." Orochimaru looked at Minato and said.
Minato was a little touched upon hearing this. He bowed slightly and said, "Okay, thank you, Teacher Orochimaru."
"What about me? What about me? What about me then?" Kaze kept asking beside them.
Orochimaru glanced at Kaze and said with a fake smile.
"Mr. Kaze, I have nothing more to teach you."
"Hehe, so it's differential treatment, right? Fine, I'll mark Orochimaru down in my mind!"
After saying goodbye to Orochimaru, the two went home together. Let's skip what happened that night.
The next day.
Kaze took Minato to Root and led him through the on - boarding procedures.
During this time, Nonou approached him and proposed to discuss something with him alone.
Leaving Minato aside.
The two went into an empty room. Nonou looked shy and stammered as she spoke.
"My young master, you said back then that I only needed to serve you for two years, and... Now that two years have passed... I..."
Kaze was sitting on the chair, looking at Nonou's pretty face in front of him, and said with a smile.
"What I said back then was to serve me for two years. The year you worked for Uncle Yuto naturally doesn't count."
"Ah?!"
Nonou was startled upon hearing this. Then, as if she understood something, she gently bit her lips, with mixed feelings in her heart.
"Is he not letting me go and deliberately making things difficult for me..."
Even so, Nonou didn't dare to show the slightest sign of refusal and could only silently lower her head.
"Alright, I'm just joking with you!" Seeing Nonou's aggrieved look, Kaze was a little helpless.
He took out a stack of banknotes from his pocket, gently took Nonou's delicate hand, and stuffed the money into her palm.
"You can leave Root now. As for this money, it should be enough for you to expand the orphanage."
"Thank you, my young master." Nonou tightly grasped the banknotes and bowed deeply to Kaze.
"No need to thank me. This is what you deserve." Kaze gave Nonou a gentle smile, and everything was understood without words.
"Goodbye, My young master. I hope you'll visit the orphanage when you have time," Nonou bid farewell.
"If I have time, I'll definitely come. Goodbye," Kaze replied with a smile.
Sigh...
Watching Nonou's back as she turned to leave, Kaze felt a bit sentimental.
There's one less mature and charming woman in white stockings on the team. Now there's only Ayako in black stockings left. It's like half the fun is gone.
It was a pity that if he hadn't wanted to recruit Minato into the team, he'd have added another mature and charming woman for sure.
The more Kaze thought about it, the more he felt he'd lost out. "No, this loss is too great. Minato has to compensate me!"
But how? Make Minato wear stockings?
Haha, how could he have such a crazy idea.
"Hey, Kaze."
Minato pushed the door open and walked right up to Kaze, but Kaze didn't react at all.
He didn't even notice Minato had come. He was still lost in his own world, wearing a mischievous smile, and nobody knew what he was thinking.
Seeing this, Minato sighed helplessly and raised his voice. "Kaze! What are you doing!"
"Ah!" Kaze was startled by Minato. He quickly stood up and coughed twice. "Cough, it's nothing, nothing."
"Come on, I'll introduce you to the other members of the team."
A week later.
Kaze carried a gift in his hand and followed his father to Hiruzen Sarutobi's house.
On the way, looking at his father's still handsome face without bandages, Kaze's thoughts wandered.
Thanks to his presence as this little Butterfly, Tanzō hadn't been severely injured in the Second Ninja War.
Moreover, aside from some minor side effects, Tanzō had fully adapted to Hashirama's cells.
"I wonder how powerful father is now. Can he beat Hiruzen Sarutobi?" Kaze thought.
As the Hokage, Hiruzen had a large two - story villa in a quiet part of the village.
After Tanzō and Kaze arrived, the servants warmly welcomed them and led them to the hall.
Looking at the beautiful maids that were almost too many to take in, Kaze couldn't help whispering to Tanzō.
"Father, look. The Sarutobi family has so many servants. Should we...?"
Tanzō gave his son a sidelong glance. Of course he knew what his son was up to. He let out a snort and said.
"Then I'll find a few strong servants to come home. They can take care of the chores and guard the house."
Strong... strong servants?
"Father, that's really not necessary," Kaze smacked his lips and immediately gave up the idea.
In the hall, there were only Hiruzen and his two sons. His wife, Biwa, was in the kitchen preparing dinner.
"Tanzō!" Seeing his old friend coming to the dinner, Hiruzen was very happy and stood up to greet him.
Nagare reluctantly got to his feet too but didn't even bother to say hello.
"Hiruzen," Tanzō nodded slightly as a greeting.
"Hello, Uncle Hiruzen. This is a present for you.
"
Kaze first greeted Hiruzen voluntarily, then presented the prepared gift with both hands.
"There are the tobacco leaves you like to smoke in here. My father specifically had someone get them from the Land of Grass for you."
"Tanzō..."
Hearing this, Hiruzen looked at Tanzō with some emotion. He didn't expect the other person still remembered his preference.
But Tanzō gave a soft snort and avoided his sight, obviously still angry about the previous argument.
Hiruzen smiled helplessly, then stroked Kaze's head and said with a big grin.
"Long time no see, little Kaze. You've grown so tall now."
"Damn it, this old fox Hiruzen starts with the most formal greeting!" Kaze smiled on the surface but had other thoughts in his heart.
"Nagare, why don't you quickly say hello to your Uncle Tanzō and your brother Kaze?!"
Seeing his son behind with a straight face and not knowing to say hello, Hiruzen scolded.
"Oh, hello, Uncle Tanzō. Hello, Kaze."
Nagare's perfunctory attitude made Hiruzen's beard twitch with anger: "You child!"
Kaze couldn't be bothered with Nagare and looked at Asuma, who was sitting on the sofa beside, giggling alone.
Pfft!
Seeing this, Kaze almost burst out laughing.
This kid was only three or four years old, but he had a face like a 20 - year - old. It was so comical.
No wonder Asuma looked like a forty - year - old when he was twenty. It turned out he was ahead of others since childhood.
Tanzō and Hiruzen went into the main house together. Maybe they had some things to discuss and it was not convenient for the kids to hear.
So, Kaze was left in the hall, staying with Nagare whom he disliked.
Nagare disdained to care about Kaze, and Kaze was also too lazy to talk to Nagare. He walked straight up to Asuma.
"Asuma, what are you doing~" Kaze reached out a hand with a big smile, trying to tease the little guy.
"Don't touch my brother!" Nagare beside looked unhappy and rudely tried to step forward to push Kaze away.
Huh?
Kaze dodged subconsciously. Before he could even think, his body instinctively reacted, and he backhanded Nagare across the face.
"Slap!"
The crisp sound echoed in the hall. There was a bright red slap mark on Nagare's face, stinging.
He covered his cheek and looked at Kaze in disbelief. Then endless anger gushed out of his eyes.
Nagare roared, "Kaze Shimura!"
"Uh..."
Kaze was a bit scared and responded in a low voice, "Hey, why are you calling your dad?"
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