“Oh?”
Shiranui Rei raised an eyebrow, initially somewhat puzzled.
But after thinking about it, he could roughly guess what this was about.
Ever since they had been promoted to jonin, he and Minato had continued living much the same way they had as chunin: carrying out missions, training, resting, and then repeating the cycle.
Many jonin lived exactly the same kind of life.
But there was one important difference.
Both he and Minato were Jiraiya’s students and had been born as civilian shinobi.
As far as the Hokage was concerned, they were ideal candidates—shinobi with no ties to any of the major clans and completely trustworthy from the village’s perspective.
The Third Hokage obviously couldn’t simply leave such promising young shinobi to develop on their own.
Instead, he would plan their future growth and guide them along the path the higher-ups of Konoha most wanted them to take.
Minato, Kakashi, and others in the original story had followed similar paths.
Of course, whether this was beneficial or harmful to him and Minato depended on how they chose to approach it.
After saying what he needed to say, Jiraiya waved his hand and prepared to leave.
After all, from his perspective, his student might be busy flirting with a girl.
As a seasoned expert in romance, how could he not understand that he shouldn’t stick around and become a third wheel?
“By the way, Rei.”
Before leaving, Jiraiya’s expression suddenly became serious.
He warned him, “The Flying Thunder God Technique isn’t a ninjutsu you can master through talent alone. Don’t rush yourself. If you really can’t learn it, at worst, you can ask the old man to let you choose another technique.”
“Sure thing, Old Man!”
A warm current flowed through Shiranui Rei’s heart, and he grinned.
Being allowed to exchange the technique rewarded by the Hokage for another one if he couldn’t master it showed just how much Jiraiya cared about his students.
Hearing what his disciple called him, the corner of Jiraiya’s mouth twitched.
“Of all the things I’ve taught you, you only learned the bad ones.”
After giving him a few more instructions, Jiraiya left.
He had only happened to hear about the disturbance here and rushed over to help his student out of trouble.
Now that the situation had been resolved, he had his own business to attend to.
As for whether that business was respectable or not…
Don’t ask.
The disturbance had also ruined Shiranui Rei and Uchiha Mikoto’s appetite for staying at the barbecue restaurant.
After paying the bill, the two walked side by side through the streets of Konoha.
A gentle breeze drifted past under the warm sunlight, seemingly smoothing away the wrinkles in one’s heart.
“Thanks for earlier, Mikoto-san.”
Shiranui Rei turned his head toward the girl walking quietly beside him.
Her face usually carried a gentle smile, but now she seemed somewhat dejected.
Hearing Rei’s thanks, Mikoto instinctively turned her head toward him.
“No, today’s trouble happened because of me…”
Before she could finish, a finger held up in front of her lips stopped the rest of her words.
Shiranui Rei stepped forward, putting one stride between them, then turned around to face her.
Looking into her beautiful eyes, which contained a hint of guilt and self-reproach, Shiranui Rei spoke seriously.
“I was the one who invited you to lunch today.”
“Those guys only caused trouble because they didn’t like me and thought I was an easy target.”
“So, Mikoto-san, you don’t need to blame yourself.”
“Mm. Okay… okay.”
Uchiha Mikoto stared blankly at his handsome face, which had gradually shed its youthful innocence.
That cool little boy who had once carried her out of the battlefield was now gradually growing into a handsome young man.
“But…”
Shiranui Rei suddenly changed his tone, a hint of teasing entering his voice.
“The only connection you have to today’s incident is that you’re simply too outstanding and attract too much attention.”
“But how could being excellent possibly be a mistake?”
“Honestly, Rei-kun, when did you become so smooth-talking?”
Mikoto’s eyes flickered several times.
But because she feared what might happen if she spoke her heart and didn’t know how he would respond, she ultimately kept those words to herself.
Perhaps it was better to leave things this way for now.
“Rei-kun, there’s a newly opened clothing store over there. I heard they have some new styles from other countries. Want to take a look?”
“But if I wear clothes like those on a mission, won’t there be a risk of my fellow Konoha shinobi mistaking me for an enemy shinobi from another country and attacking me?”
“I mean for everyday life. And besides, Rei-kun, make sure you wear your shinobi vest properly when you’re on missions, okay~”
“Got it, Mikoto-san.”
…
Evening.
The sky gradually darkened.
The final rays of the setting sun marked the end of the day’s bustle.
Shiranui Rei carried a bag of clothes in his left hand.
With his right hand, he took out his key, inserted it into the lock, and turned it twice.
Click.
The door opened.
After changing into his slippers at the entrance, he looked at the neat living room.
The sight reminded him of the scene from that morning when he and Mikoto had cleaned the place together.
A knowing smile appeared on his lips.
Carrying the clothes Mikoto had helped him pick out that day, he walked straight into the bedroom and opened the wardrobe.
Inevitably, his mind once again returned to what he had accidentally witnessed that morning.
He shook his head, banishing those chaotic thoughts, then neatly hung the newly purchased clothes inside the wardrobe.
In the end, Mikoto had chosen a light-purple long-sleeved shirt for him.
It was the same color as the kimono she loved wearing.
After taking a shower, Rei leaned against the sofa in light-gray pajamas.
His gaze remained fixed on the pair of cream-colored slippers by the entrance.
He stared at them absentmindedly.
After spending the entire day together, returning to his empty home naturally left him feeling somewhat lonely.
Lonely?
Then train!
Shiranui Rei immediately got into the mood.
His black eyes, seemingly filled with twinkling stars, locked onto the Flying Thunder God formula engraved on the wall.
Once inscribed, the formula could not be erased by anyone other than him.
That was another unreasonable aspect of the Flying Thunder God Technique.
“Could it be that after failing twice and succeeding twice, I’ve already mastered Flying Thunder God?”
The skies had cleared, the rain had stopped, and Rei felt invincible again.
And so…
“Flying Thunder God Technique!”
Black light flashed.
…
Once again lying beneath the bed in his bedroom, Rei closed his eyes in utter despair.
On this lonely night, his Flying Thunder God had deviated from the coordinates for the third time.
I’m tired.
I’ll just sleep here tonight…
Several minutes later, however, the cold, hard floor had left his back and waist aching.
He slowly crawled out from beneath the bed and dragged his exhausted body onto the mattress.
Because his mastery was still insufficient, Flying Thunder God consumed a tremendous amount of physical strength and chakra.
He had activated Flying Thunder God five times today.
Combined with the half-day he had spent walking around outside, he had almost completely exhausted himself.
As his consciousness gradually became hazy, several strands of the girl’s unique fragrance drifted into his nose.
It was the lingering scent left behind from when Mikoto had lain on this bed that morning.
…
Early the next morning.
Shiranui Rei carried a steaming breakfast packed from a street-side shop and knocked on the door of his good friend Minato’s home.
“Minato, your brother is here to see you!”
“Huh? Coming!”
A somewhat surprised response came from inside.
Not long afterward, the door opened from within, revealing the blond-haired young man rubbing his sleepy eyes.
Minato glanced at the sky outside, which seemed to have only just begun to brighten, and sighed.
“Rei, isn’t this a little too early?”
“One day…”
“All right, all right. A day begins in the morning, right?”
Having heard it countless times, Minato Namikaze had already memorized the phrase.
After more than a decade of friendship, he knew his good friend all too well.
Shiranui Rei was an absolute workaholic when it came to training.