"Uh… no! I didn't mean it that way!"
Minato panicked the moment he heard that, wanting to explain—but in the end, he gave up and chose to accept it openly.
Indeed, he could just repay Riku in the future when he needed help.
Minato had a fair amount of confidence in his own talent.
It was something he had come to understand better over the past month through his learning and training.
"Alright! You win. If you ever need something, just say the word! I'll do my best to help you!"
Minato promised sincerely.
"Haha! Now that's more like it!"
Riku laughed heartily and patted Minato's shoulder before glancing up at the sky.
"Alright, it's getting late—we'll stop here for today."
"Let's continue after school tomorrow. Time to eat!"
"Sounds good!"
Minato naturally had no objection—he was actually quite hungry too.
Soon, Riku brought Minato to a yakiniku place, and the two enjoyed a hearty meal.
As they parted ways, Riku pulled out a scroll from his robes and tossed it to Minato. "Here—take this and study it well. Try to master it as soon as possible."
"You'll need it if you want to keep up with my pace in training. Don't refuse—think of it as an investment."
"I'm off!"
With that, Riku waved over his shoulder and walked away coolly.
"You… I… See you tomorrow, Riku!"
Minato caught the scroll, gave it a quick glance, then looked up as if to say something—but in the end, he simply waved with deep gratitude and shouted his farewell.
Then, in just a few minutes, he returned home.
After closing the door behind him and sitting cross-legged in his room, he carefully unrolled the scroll.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)?"
"Why would Riku give me this jutsu?"
Though filled with excitement, Minato couldn't help but feel confused.
He knew this jutsu—it created tangible clones. It was useful for combat, reconnaissance, distraction, and many other things.
But wasn't this something a student his age shouldn't need to worry about yet?
"If Riku-kun gave it to me, he must have a reason. I should just focus on learning it for now."
Soon, Minato composed himself and began studying the scroll in earnest.
...
The next morning—
Riku arrived at the academy on time. After greeting a few classmates along the way, he took his seat near the back, second to last row, and waved at Minato beside him.
"Morning, Minato!"
"And you too—Shikaku, Inoichi, and Chōza!"
The three sat in the row ahead of Riku and Minato.
"Morning to you too, Riku!"
Shikaku and the others responded in kind.
After some casual chit-chat with them, Riku turned to Minato and asked in a low voice,
"So? Have you mastered the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?"
Minato gave a wry smile and shook his head.
"How could I be that fast? I've got some idea of how it works now. Give me a day or two more, and I should be there."
"But it'll take longer to get really good at using it."
"So… can you finally tell me why you gave me this jutsu?"
The curiosity was killing him. If he didn't get an answer, it would keep bothering him.
"Eh? Riku, you taught Minato the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?"
Shikaku and the others clearly overheard and couldn't help but turn around and ask in surprise.
Although Riku had lowered his voice, he hadn't really tried to hide it. With them sitting right in front, they could easily hear everything.
"Yeah."
Before Riku could say anything, Minato nodded with a bitter smile.
"I feel like I owe Riku-kun more and more now. I don't know if I'll ever repay him."
"Oho?"
The three of them were all a bit shocked. Shikaku looked at Riku suspiciously.
"You're really generous. I heard you two have been leaving school together a lot lately. Don't tell me you two are…?"
Noticing the teasing and mischievous expressions on their faces, both Riku and Minato's faces turned dark.
Riku rolled his eyes and explained,
"You guys have dirty minds!"
"We've just been going to train together after school!"
"Honestly, the stuff we learn in school isn't much help. If we don't train on our own, we'll graduate with barely any real strength to show for it."
"This world isn't peaceful. While we're still young and have time, we should work hard to grow stronger."
He patted Minato's shoulder and added,
"I think Minato's got real talent. But he's just a civilian kid—even an orphan. He hadn't even learned basic taijutsu before this, let alone any ninjutsu."
"So it's only natural I'd invest in him a little ahead of time, right?"
Hearing that, the others couldn't help but turn toward Minato.
Minato nodded and said with gratitude,
"That's right! I'm really grateful Riku-kun sees so much potential in me."
"I see~"
Shikaku nodded with understanding and gave Riku a thumbs-up.
"Big-hearted. And you've got an eye for talent!"
"But still, we're so young… do we really need to think that far ahead? Sounds exhausting."
Looking at Shikaku's lazy face, Riku couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his eye.
He sighed.
"You Nara folks really are a whole line of laid-back slackers, huh?"
"So smart, and yet all of you act like salted fish. Is that really okay?"
"The shinobi world isn't in a peaceful era. Working hard while we still can is the right thing to do."
"I don't want to find myself in a situation where I needed power to protect my loved ones—but couldn't. That kind of regret would haunt me for the rest of my life."
"Uh…"
That struck a nerve in all of them.
The laziness on their faces slowly faded as they all sank into silence.
Clearly, they were each thinking about family members they had lost.
Minato thought of his parents.
As for Shikaku, Inoichi, and Chōza—while their parents were still around, they'd all had close relatives lost over the years.
"Ugh…"
It was a while before Shikaku came back to his senses. He rubbed his temples with a pained expression and sighed.
"You really are a pain, Riku. So annoyingly mature."
"I kind of regret talking to you this morning now."
"After hearing all that, how am I supposed to go back to slacking off without guilt?"
Even though the term "salted fish" had only recently been introduced to him by Riku, he was already using it fluently.
It really did feel like the perfect word to describe himself—and quite a few others in the Nara clan.
It was way too accurate.
"Yeah."
Inoichi, Chōza, and even Minato all nodded with a sigh of helpless agreement.
...
At that moment, in the Hokage's office, the Sandaime was watching everything unfold through his crystal ball. Riku's words and actions fell right into his ears.
Stroking his beard, the Sandaime nodded with satisfaction.
"This child is surprisingly mature and composed for his age, and he even thinks ahead."
"No wonder he spoke of dreams like that..."
"Not wanting to regret due to lack of strength—wanting to protect himself and his loved ones, huh?"
"What a gentle soul."
"What do you think, Tsunade?"
As he said that, the Sandaime turned his gaze to the woman before him.
Tsunade, however, had been lost in thought because of Riku's words.
"Tch."
Her thoughts disrupted, she crossed her arms with a frown and said dismissively,
"What do I think? He's just a five-year-old brat!"
"So you called me over first thing in the morning just to show me a kid spouting lofty ideals?"
...
(End of Chapter)
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