At a tempura restaurant in Konoha Village.
Kuto was holding the menu and ordering.
However, every time Kuto checked off a dish, Minato Namikaze's heart would twitch.
"Eel tempura, just thinking about it makes my mouth water! Order it!"
Just as Kuto was about to check off the next dish, Minato Namikaze couldn't hold it in any longer and reached out to press down on Kuto's hand holding the pen.
Minato Namikaze forced a smile and said, "Kuto, you've already ordered a lot from the menu. Let's eat what we have first, and if it's not enough, we can order more. Wouldn't it be a waste if we couldn't finish it?"
Kuto nodded, "Hmm, you're right. Lord Minato is truly thoughtful."
Minato Namikaze called over the waiter and specifically instructed, "Don't serve everything at once. After we finish the tempura on the table, then you can fry the next batch for us."
The waiter replied, "Understood."
Minato Namikaze thought that Kuto had ordered so much that he probably wouldn't be able to eat it all, and they could return the un-fried items later.
With Kuto's ordering style, his wallet truly couldn't handle it.
Soon, the first batch of tempura arrived at the table. Kuto looked at the tempura with expectant eyes, then at Minato Namikaze.
After all, Minato Namikaze was treating, so it would be impolite to start without his permission. Kuto could only eat after Minato Namikaze said it was okay.
Minato Namikaze smiled and said, "Alright, everyone, eat quickly. Tempura doesn't taste as good when it's cold."
Kuto picked up a piece of sea bream tempura and chewed it in his mouth.
The crispy texture and the deliciousness of the sea bream made Kuto, who had hardly ever eaten anything good, want to cry from how delicious it was.
To hell with etiquette! I'll worry about that after I've eaten my fill!
Kuto began to devour the food on the table like a whirlwind.
Because of his height, he couldn't reach some dishes while sitting, so Kuto directly stood up.
Minato Namikaze, Kakashi, Obito, and Rin Nohara stared in shock at the ravenous Kuto, their chopsticks suspended in mid-air.
A stunned Obito spoke with difficulty, "Didn't he... didn't he eat something when we were traveling today? Why does he look like he hasn't eaten in eight hundred years?"
Kakashi speculated, "He probably hasn't eaten such delicious food before. The Land of Wind is all sandstorms, with very few plants, let alone rivers. Resources are scarce, so the requirements for food are just to be edible and filling. So they probably don't have any demands regarding taste."
"Exactly, exactly, it's so delicious, so delicious I want to cry."
Kuto's words were muffled as his mouth was stuffed with food.
Rin Nohara looked at Kuto, who was still stuffing his already full mouth, and reminded him, "Kuto, it won't be good if you choke later. You can eat slowly, no one is fighting you for it."
Minato Namikaze now felt a faint melancholy lingering in his heart.
At Kuto's current eating pace, even if he couldn't finish everything later, the amount he would have to pay might not be small.
He regretted it a little.
One hour later.
"I really... can't eat anymore, bleh~ Ugh!"
Kuto had eaten so much that it was almost up to his throat. He nearly threw up while speaking, but he forced it back down.
Minato Namikaze and the three, including Kakashi, stared at Kuto with deadpan eyes.
No matter how delicious it was, was there really a need to eat like this?
"Sigh~"
Minato Namikaze sighed. In the end, Kuto had eaten almost everything they ordered by himself.
When paying, Minato Namikaze felt his heart bleeding.
After putting his flattened wallet back into his pocket, Minato Namikaze said, "Alright, it's paid. Let's go. It's time to see the Third Hokage."
Kuto, holding his big belly, slowly followed behind Minato Namikaze.
It wasn't that Kuto didn't want to walk faster; it was simply that if he walked faster now, even a slight jolt might cause the contents of his stomach to come up his throat.
Having finally eaten something so delicious, Kuto couldn't bear to throw it up.
It usually took half an hour to reach the Hokage Building, but now it took a full hour.
Upon arriving at the Hokage Building, Minato Namikaze said to Kakashi, the other two, and Kuto, "You all wait in the lobby for a while. I'll come call you after I report the mission and Kuto's situation to the Third Hokage."
Minato Namikaze went to the Hokage Office alone.
After knocking on the office door, a strong, resonant voice came from inside the office.
"Come in."
Minato Namikaze pushed the door open. Hiruzen Sarutobi, with a small black mustache on his chin, wearing a white Hokage robe and a red Ninja uniform underneath, was sitting in a chair.
Seeing that it was Minato Namikaze, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and said, "It's Minato."
Minato Namikaze said to Hiruzen Sarutobi, "Third Hokage, I've brought the child back. He's currently waiting in the Hokage Building's lobby."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression immediately became serious: "The child with the Magnet Release Bloodline Limit? I've already read Xiangyi's letter. That child, after Xiangyi's mind-reading Ninjutsu probed his memories, should be fine. So I plan to let that child join Konoha, acknowledge Konoha, and become a part of Konoha. What do you think, Minato?"
Minato Namikaze shook his head: "Third Hokage, that child is actually a spy sent by Hidden Sand Village to Konoha. He might have been subjected to some secret Ninjutsu, and a crucial part of his memory is missing, which prevented Xiangyi from detecting it. His goal is to gather intelligence, Ninjutsu, and secret Ninjutsu of Konoha.
Kuto, the Kazekage of Hidden Sand Village, intends to invade Konoha Village when the war fully begins, with that child leading the way, to seize Konoha's Ninjutsu, secret Ninjutsu..."
Hearing Minato Namikaze say that Kuto was a spy, Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes instantly became sharp.
But Hiruzen Sarutobi also felt something was amiss: "Minato, then how did you know that child was a spy?"
Minato Namikaze meticulously recounted his previous analysis, subsequent probing, and the Ren'ying's letter to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression was initially serious, with a deep frown, but as Minato Namikaze continued his narration, his expression relaxed, and his frown smoothed out. Now, his expression was peculiar.
Hiruzen Sarutobi asked in confusion, "That child thought being a spy was easier than going to the battlefield, which is why he agreed to be a spy. Now he feels being a spy seems even more difficult, so he wrote to Kuto wanting to go back? How could that guy Kuto find a child with no experience whatsoever to be a spy?"
Minato Namikaze speculated and analyzed, "Actually, I also found it strange at first, why they would send Kuto, who has no experience, as a spy. Later, I thought of a possibility.
Because Hidden Sand Village lacks high-level combat power, and Bloodline Limit Ninja are generally stronger than ordinary Ninja, the Kazekage wanted to lure us into a trap. He was reluctant to use his talented Bloodline Limit Ninja, and although Kuto possesses Bloodline Limit abilities, in his eyes, he is an untalented child.
Therefore, from his perspective, it would be best if Kuto could infiltrate Konoha as a spy. Even if he was exposed and discovered, giving up on him wouldn't be a loss for Hidden Sand Village.
Furthermore, Kuto is a social recluse, the kind who never leaves home, so he knows very little about Hidden Sand Village's situation. Therefore, we wouldn't be able to get any useful intelligence about Hidden Sand Village from Kuto.
Moreover, Kuto and the Kazekage are from the same clan, so the Kazekage also trusted that Kuto, as a fellow clansman, wouldn't betray Konoha. In the end, he decided to send Kuto to spy, to try his luck in Konoha."
Hiruzen Sarutobi felt Minato Namikaze's analysis made a lot of sense.
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