“Thanks.”
Minato took the steaming breakfast from Rei and thanked him in return.
The helplessness of being woken up so early in the morning immediately faded.
Minato invited Rei inside, and the two of them exchanged no unnecessary pleasantries.
They had been friends for more than a decade.
They had been playmates at the orphanage ever since they learned how to walk, later entering the Ninja Academy together and eventually becoming disciples of Jiraiya.
Their relationship was so close that they were practically brothers.
Sitting on the sofa in Minato’s living room, Rei began, “My good brother Minato, you…”
“As for the Flying Thunder God Technique, I haven’t made any progress so far.”
Minato spread his hands and answered before Shiranui Rei could finish.
Rei’s expression stiffened slightly.
“You can even predict that?”
“You came to see me this early in the morning carrying breakfast. What else could it possibly be about?” Minato Namikaze rubbed his golden hair.
“What do you mean by no progress?”
Minato answered honestly, “I’m stuck on the very first step.”
“The first step? You mean sensing the Flying Thunder God formula?”
Shiranui Rei nodded in understanding.
Indeed, sensing the Flying Thunder God formula required spatial perception.
That was a hard requirement.
Without the talent for spatial perception, no matter how much effort someone put in, they would never be able to get started.
And even those with a talent for spatial perception needed some time to bring that ability to the surface.
However, Minato scratched his head awkwardly.
“No. I mean I’m stuck on engraving the Flying Thunder God formula.”
“Huh?”
Shiranui Rei raised his eyes in disbelief.
Engraving the Flying Thunder God formula was actually the step in the Flying Thunder God Technique least related to space.
All that was required was precise chakra control to inscribe the formula.
Once that was done, the step was complete.
It was understandable if a genin or chunin couldn’t inscribe the formula because their chakra control wasn’t precise enough.
But Minato was a jonin.
How could he not even draw a formula?
“Actually, it’s like this…”
Minato suddenly stood up excitedly and used the Body Flicker Technique to make a round trip between the living room and bedroom.
When he returned to Shiranui Rei, he was already holding an astonishingly thick stack of drawings.
“…What’s this?”
Rei frowned slightly, suddenly realizing what was going on.
At this moment, Minato had completely shaken off the listlessness he had shown when opening the door.
He placed the thick stack of drawings on the table and practically dragged Shiranui Rei over to take a look.
“I feel that the overall design of the Second Hokage’s Flying Thunder God formula embodies the style of the Warring States era.
“This style has a certain sense of historical weight, but it lacks some of the vitality of the new era. It no longer suits the spirit of our generation.”
Minato pointed at the formula designed by the Second Hokage, whose overall pattern was constructed around circles, and spoke with a serious expression.
The corner of Shiranui Rei’s mouth twitched.
“You can even tell that it has the style of the Warring States era and a sense of historical weight?”
No matter how he looked at it, it was just a circle with some runes added to it at most.
“Anyway, I’ve been exploring new formula designs these past two days. I’ve made all these drafts, but I always feel like they’re missing something.”
Minato scratched his head in frustration.
Shiranui Rei sighed.
After all, this was a guy who could come up with ridiculously elaborate names for his techniques.
It wasn’t entirely incomprehensible that he would have some peculiar insistence when it came to this.
Rei snatched the pen from Minato’s hand and, without hesitation, began scribbling on a blank section of the paper.
A line of characters with a rather elegant, forceful stroke quickly took shape beneath his hand.
“This… this is!?”
Minato, sitting beside him, immediately lit up.
He planted both hands firmly on the coffee table and stared at the words that seemed almost naturally formed, as though they contained some profound truth.
Like a devout believer, he read the words one by one.
“The Sword of Shinobi Love!”
He turned around, placed both hands on Rei’s shoulders, and gazed at him with admiration.
“Rei! You’re simply a genius! How did I never realize you had this kind of talent!?”
“The Sword of Shinobi Love.
It represents patience and restraint, love and emotion.
At the same time, it can also be interpreted as the determination to protect the people and things one loves through the way of the shinobi!
“A kunai engraved with such a formula would become a shinobi’s sword containing deep and burning love and emotion, a sword that must endure and fight in order to protect that love!
“Rei! You’re practically a master of shinobi artistry!”
“…Sure, if you say so.”
Shiranui Rei rubbed his ears, which were beginning to ache from all the noise.
After his initial excitement, Minato’s expression suddenly became solemn again.
He respectfully held the drawing with both hands and presented it to Shiranui Rei.
“Rei, I imagine you must love such a formula as well. I can’t take something another person treasures, so…”
“I don’t love it that much!”
Seeing Minato looking as though he were painfully giving up something he cherished, Shiranui Rei felt a headache coming on and quickly steered the conversation back on track.
“Minato, I’ve run into some problems while practicing the Flying Thunder God Technique, so I came here to discuss them with you.”
“Problems?”
Once they returned to business, Minato reluctantly glanced at “The Sword of Shinobi Love” one last time before his expression became serious as well.
“I successfully activated the Flying Thunder God Technique yesterday, but there were some deviations in the result.”
“You actually learned it on the second day after obtaining the training method? Rei, you really are a genius!”
Minato flashed a bright smile.
There was no jealousy or resentment in his eyes at having fallen one step behind.
There was only genuine happiness for his friend.
But when he heard that there had been some deviation, concern appeared in his expression.
“Teacher Jiraiya said that learning the Flying Thunder God Technique can be somewhat dangerous. What exactly was the deviation?”
“My spatial destination deviates from the location of the Flying Thunder God formula and takes me somewhere else, even though there isn’t a formula there at all.
I can only land precisely at the intended location when I activate the formula for the second time.
“And for some reason, the place I deviate to always seems to be somewhere strange, like underneath a bed…”
Shiranui Rei briefly explained the problem.
Feeling that words alone wouldn’t make the situation clear, he simply stood up and swiped his hand across the wall in front of him, leaving behind a formula that embodied the style of the Warring States era and its weighty sense of history.
“I’ll demonstrate it. Watch closely.”
Under Minato’s hesitant gaze, Shiranui Rei instantly transformed into a streak of black light and disappeared from where he stood.
Minato looked up at the wall in front of him.
Sure enough, Rei hadn’t appeared there.
Then he had said that he would appear underneath a bed?
Under the bed!?
Oh no!
Realizing something, Minato used the Body Flicker Technique to rush into his bedroom.
He dropped down and looked underneath the bed.
After seeing that there was no one underneath it, along with several stacks of his “cherished books,” he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But another question immediately sent him deep into thought.
Where had his good brother, Shiranui Rei, gone?
“Where the hell did this send me?”
Lying on the deck and feeling the waves rolling around him, with the gentle sea breeze brushing past his ears, Shiranui Rei fell into deep thought.