Naruto God of The Shinobi

CHAPTER 32

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Chapter Thirty-Two

Naruto remained in his meditative state even as he heard the footsteps approaching. He felt no need to address the person that walked closer to his seated position in the shrine of the Namikaze Compound's garden.

They might not be approaching to talk to him, but instead looking for peace of their own in the quiet and solitude of the garden. It was a longshot considering that he had never seen anyone use the garden for the privacy that it provided, besides himself, but there was always a first time for everything.

Despite these thoughts, Naruto prepared himself to speak with Kushina as she approached, her chakra giving away her identity before he laid eyes on her.

She walked up the steps of the shrine and came to a stop, but still said nothing to him. A second later, she sat down, facing Naruto's front.

For almost a minute after she had seated herself Kushina was silent aside from the odd shuffle of her body. Naruto idly wondered if she waiting for him to acknowledge her presence, in which case, he prepared to finally open his eyes and greet her, only for the red-head to finally begin speaking.

"Naruto," Kushina paused for a moment, hesitant about how to approach the subject of this visit. It was at this moment that Naruto realised that he and Kushina probably hadn't talked as frequently as he had initially thought. This might have contributed to why she was so hesitant. "I know that I don't really have much of a reason to ask this..."

Naruto groaned internally as the words reached him, but showed no external change. So this was going to be one of those talks where he was asked to do something? Perfect.

In his current, irritable, mood, Naruto would have, at this point, told whoever was asking to go away, albeit maybe not as nicely. He was a second away from doing it too but, at the same time, realised that he hadn't done much for Kushina. He'd saved Hitomi, which while asked by Minato, was on Kushina's behalf.

However, that in no way meant that he'd say yes to this request, it meant he'd hear what Kushina had to say instead of brushing her off immediately.

"I was wondering if you could train Kōji like you trained Minato, in Jinton (Swift Release)," Kushina continued, unconsciously tugging on a lock of her hair with her fingers, unaffected by Naruto's thoughts. Opening his eyes, he stared his daughter-in-law, finally acknowledging her presence.

"Before I say anything, why do you want me to?" Naruto kept his gaze locked on Kushina's and didn't allow it to slip. "Even you must realise that Kōji's too immature to have such power within his grasp."

"I know," She admitted, her lips pushed into a line. Kōji may take after his father in a few aspects but he was still a child prone to mistakes. "I know that he's too young but couldn't you-"

"I am still waiting for a reason, Kushina," Naruto interrupted, his eyes still holding her own.

For several seconds, Kushina said nothing, but Naruto could see the internal debate happening as her eyes, while still directed at him, lost focus. Silence descended between the two as her inner debate continued, Naruto waiting patiently, until finally she sighed.

"Minato told me about what you said to Kakashi," she began, speaking hesitantly as if she wasn't supposed to say anything. Naruto didn't particularly care. Kakashi could tell whoever he wanted, it wouldn't change that he would have to decide eventually. "About what you said to him about fixing his... issues, or resigning as Kōji's sensei. Minato disagrees with you." That wasn't surprising to Naruto, he knew that his son's faith in whoever he had placed as grandson's teacher wouldn't have been weak enough to make him want to remove that person after one bad mission. It was unfortunate that Naruto's own faith wasn't so sturdy.