I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 338 A gift is something you like but don't want to part with, which you buy and give to someone else.

"Tatsuma, is this all you're giving me? Even though you and Kushina aren't exactly close, it doesn't have to be this perfunctory, does it?"

At home, Tsunade held some commonly used medicines and skincare products she had bought from a drugstore. She looked at her disciple, who had prepared a pack of tissues and a pack of toilet paper, and twitched the corner of her mouth.

Tatsuma picked up a tissue and said, "Teacher, this is what you don't understand. I roughly calculated that Minato and Kushina will invite about twenty to thirty people, and at least five of them will prepare the same gift as you."

Then there will be five options to send kitchen and bathroom supplies, such as detergent, shower gel, towels, etc.; five options to send various stationery; and five options to send decorations as gifts to clueless people.

The rest were just gifts that I was too lazy to buy. I just found some ninja-related supplies in my own inventory, packed them up, and gave them as gifts. But when I gave tissues, it was a very thoughtful and meaningful gesture.

When moving to a new house, tissues are used up very quickly, especially on glass, tiles, and glossy surfaces. Once they get stained, people are reluctant to use rags, since rags get dirtier the more they wipe. Therefore, most people choose tissues instead.

I've never made a mistake when it comes to choosing gifts, and I put a lot of thought into this one. These are four-ply, printed, baby-grade tissues; I wouldn't even use them myself.

Although Tatsuma's words were reasonable and well-founded, Tsunade couldn't help but have some doubts. She put herself in his shoes; if someone gave her tissues as a housewarming gift, what an unwelcome guest! Absolutely an unwelcome guest!

However, Tatsuma did make a valid point: Tsunade looked down at her gifts—common medicines and skincare products—which seemed like an easy choice for a new home.

It seems that Nono bought two portions, one for herself and one for her.

Forget it, she's an elder! Just attending is already giving her face, it seems a bit too much to ask me to prepare a special gift on top of that.

"Come on, if you get kicked out, don't blame me for not warning you."

Tsunade, too tired to think about it anymore, urged Tatsuma to leave. Tatsuma, carrying two bundles of tissues, walked beside Tsunade, thinking to himself that he was truly an incredibly thoughtful friend, giving her unique gifts. But then…

"You're giving out tissues too?"

Upon arriving at the agreed-upon location, Shikaku looked at the tissue in Tatsuma's hand, then at the tissue in his own, and became lost in thought about Tatsuma, just as Tatsuma did.

Tsunade laughed so hard she almost fell over. Tatsuma had just been telling her about bumping into someone with a gift, but it turned out he was the one who bumped into someone with a gift. It was hilarious.

Tatsuma's lips twitched slightly. He glanced at the tissue in Shikaku's hand, which seemed to be exactly the same as his own, and said, "A four-ply, patterned one?"

Lu Jiu nodded and said, "Scentless, fluorescent agent-free, and bleach-free baby-grade tissues?"

Tatsuma nodded, and the two fell silent again. After a while, Tatsuma broke the awkward silence, saying, "As expected of us, highly intelligent people, even our gifts are the same."

That makes sense.

Shikaku chimed in, while Tsunade stared at the two of them speechlessly. How could they even make this sound so plausible? Truly, they were worthy of being called high-IQ ninjas.

But after a while, as more and more people gathered, Tsunade's expression turned grim, because she could vaguely see that there were indeed three or four other people carrying similar gifts to her.

"Hahaha~ Orochimaru, that idiot, actually chose tissues as a gift. He even said that only a smart person would think of using tissues as a gift."

Jiraiya's voice rang out, and Tsunade and the others turned around to look. They saw that Jiraiya was holding two large flowerpots, while Orochimaru next to him was carrying two bundles of tissues, which looked very familiar.

Orochimaru rolled his eyes at Jiraiya, then cast an admiring glance at Tatsuma and Shikaku, who were looking over, and said, "I never make a mistake."

Jiraiya then noticed that Sakamoto Tatsuma, the most outstanding young man of his generation, and Nara Shikaku, who inherited the intelligence befitting his surname, both chose the same tissues as Orochimaru.

Jiraiya fell into self-doubt, as did everyone else. Tatsuma was also surprised that Minato knew so many smart people. It was a real pity that the tissues he had spent so much time and money to buy weren't unique.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Two streaks of light, one gold and one red, flashed by, and Minato and Kushina appeared. Minato released Kushina's hand and said apologetically:

"I'm so sorry, Kushina will take everyone inside first. I forgot to buy tissues, so I'll have to leave for a bit."

"No need, we brought gifts."

Tatsuma spoke, and then he, Orochimaru, and Shikaku all raised the tissues in their hands. Upon seeing the tissues, Minato and Kushina's eyes lit up, and Minato said gratefully:

"Your gifts are so timely, everyone please follow me."

Minato quickly accepted the gifts from the three of them, and then, together with Kushina, led everyone to begin climbing the mountain.

The Uzumaki clan's property in Konoha was not in the center of the village, but on a hillside opposite the Hokage Rock. It consisted of a tall building, a short building, and some row houses.

Seeing the size of the area, Chenma finally understood why the renovation work had lasted for more than a year; just the structural reinforcement and water and electricity upgrades alone would take a lot of time.

Minato and Kushina didn't take them to the two buildings, but instead led them into a row of houses. The houses weren't decorated in a complicated way, but they were very new, and the Uzumaki clan's symbols were visible everywhere.

There were also plenty of snacks and drinks prepared inside, and even some designated areas for chatting, so that familiar people could stay in a small space and chat amongst themselves.

Most of the girls Minato knew, Tatsuma also knew. It was different with Kushina. Tatsuma only knew Nonou and Inuzuka Tsuru, who got married young. These two were his classmates. Tatsuma didn't know any of the other girls.

Tatsuma didn't bother Minato or overstep his bounds by helping with the hospitality. He simply sat next to the Sannin and listened to them talk about recent events in the village and interesting stories about Jiraiya in the ninja world.

Not all the guests stayed. People like Ino-Shika-Cho and Shinnosuke left after giving their gifts and exchanging a few pleasantries.

After seeing off those who had only come to offer their congratulations, the house became a bit quieter. Minato glanced at Kushina, who was chatting happily with the other girls, but didn't go over to disturb her. Instead, he gave Tatsuma a look.

Tatsuma understood and immediately got up and walked towards him. Tsunade and the others didn't ask anything, since everyone in Konoha knew about the friendship between Tatsuma and Minato.

As Minato and Tatsuma stepped outside, Tatsuma asked, "You don't seem very happy. Is it because you don't want to be a kept woman? After all, Kushina is practically a landlord now."

Hearing Tatsuma's teasing, Minato smiled politely, then composed himself and said, "Kushina has been acting strangely lately. I've been spending a lot of time with her these past few days, and I've been observing her."

With this place as the center, the farther away Kushina is, the more easily her emotions seem to get out of control. Yesterday I took her to the edge of the village, and she almost got into a conflict with a passerby, or rather, she already did.

Kushina almost attacked the civilians, but she eventually regained her senses.

Tatsuma frowned. He had sensed Kushina's strangeness a few days ago, but he hadn't expected Minato to be so sensitive as well, and not to be overly tolerant just because she was his sweetheart.

At the same time, Tatsuma also grasped the key point and asked, "With this place as the center?"

"Oh, right, I haven't introduced you to her yet."

Minato's smile returned, concealing his worry. He walked to the low building, climbed the steps, opened the door, and went inside. Tatsuma followed closely behind. The building appeared to be a small shrine, but instead of a shrine, it housed...

One mask after another.

"This is Namendo. According to Kushina, Grandma Mito told her that the Uzumaki clan buried their most mysterious sealing technique here. However, Kushina has been watching the construction for the past year and has not found any sealing technique."

But both she and I felt that Grandma Mito hadn't lied; it's just that perhaps the method she used to conceal things wasn't a simple concealment in the literal sense. You should understand what I mean, right? Sealing technique."

Minato looked at the masks and said to Tatsuma, who nodded, understanding that Minato's guess that Kushina's emotions might be related to the sealing technique mentioned by Mito Uzumaki.

However, Tatsuma didn't think so. After all, he was fairly certain what the sealing technique that Uzumaki Mito mentioned was buried here. It should be the Corpse Demon Sealing Technique.

That was indeed a miraculous sealing technique, but it shouldn't be related to the sealing of the Nine-Tails. After all, he was one of the people who witnessed the Nine-Tails being sealed. It was a sealing seal inscribed by Mito Uzumaki, and its principle and implementation logic had little to do with the Reaper Death Seal.

Minato, who was extremely familiar with Tatsuma, naturally saw that Tatsuma had given a negative answer after thinking about it. In fact, he thought so too, but he wanted to retain all possible doubts before he was sure.

"Come over here."

Minato and Tatsuma left Namendo and entered a tall building in the distance. The building was empty, with a large vortex symbol on the ground and spiral staircases surrounding the walls.

Chenma couldn't help but look up and saw a character for "heaven" above the open-air floor. But upon closer inspection, it seemed that the character for "heaven" was not carved on the roof, but rather suspended in the air.

Seeing the same shock that Minato had shown when he first saw Tatsuma, Minato said, "This place is magical. It seems that once you enter here, your mood will become calm, just like the strange phenomenon of calm waters in the center of a whirlpool."

Kushina said she had been here before, after the incident involving the Uzumaki clan, brought by Grandma Mito, but she wouldn't say specifically why she came.

Tatsuma did not respond to Minato's words, but instead walked to the center of the vortex on the ground. When he stepped on that spot, he seemed to understand what it meant to be free from attachment and achieve purity.

Or perhaps he didn't understand, since at that moment he seemed to be thinking of nothing at all.

"Tatsuma!"

Noticing his close friend's unusual behavior, Minato went over and patted him on the shoulder. Tatsuma suddenly snapped out of his reverie, looked down at the whirlpool, then up at the character "天" (heaven), and said, "If I'm not mistaken, this is the center of the barrier."

"A barrier?"

"Um"

Chenma suddenly raised his hands, and a vortex-shaped sealing technique appeared on his left hand, while a sealing technique with the character "天" (heaven) appeared on his right hand. His hands gradually approached each other, and then both techniques began to tremble before disintegrating into some small, fragmented sealing techniques.

Looking at these intricate sealing techniques, Chenma said, "This is... the sealing tail seal! However, it's an incomplete sealing tail seal, requiring a 'key' to activate. Once activated, it will activate the barrier beneath our feet."

Once the barrier is activated, it's equivalent to being inside the barrier, and Kushina will bear a double seal on her tail.

This was probably a backup plan left to the village by Grandma Mito. If Kushina lost control and no one could stop her, the barrier would likely be activated, and once that happened...

The village might lose its highest hopes for Kushina; a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki who can't control the Nine-Tails probably won't even be allowed to leave the barrier.

"What?!"

Minato's eyes widened. The thought of that situation, coupled with Kushina's recent strange behavior, caused a sudden pang in his heart.

"Boom! Rumble rumble~"

Just then, a terrifying explosion was heard outside.

(End of this chapter)