Time flowed slowly amidst one leaf after another being cut.
When Jiraiya returned carrying a one-meter-long fish, he saw from afar that the platform was full of Narutos, each with a leaf in his palm.
The faint sound of leaves shattering echoed continuously. The ground all around was covered in the remains of shattered leaves.
"This idiot, didn't I just tell him not to use this self-mutilating training method anymore?"
"What if he becomes an idiot?"
Jiraiya looked up at the group of Naruto, and although he scolded him, he didn't go up to interrupt.
He picked up a pile of dry vines from the nearby bushes, and used stones to circle a simple fire pit to light a fire. He skewered the cleaned fish with wooden sticks, set it over the fire, then sat cross-legged beside the fire.
He took out a notebook from his chest, flipped to a new page, and while twirling his brush, fell into a dual contemplation of yesterday's unfinished text and today's cooking time.
Hiss...
When the fish meat began to turn golden-brown and drip oil, several faint sounds rang out on the platform one after another.
These were the sounds of leaves being cut.
One Shadow Clone picked up the leaf in his hand that had been cut into two halves, a flash of uncontrollable excitement crossing his face.
Immediately after, another Clone also cut his leaf.
Then the third, the fourth, the fifth...
Naruto opened his eyes and glanced at Jiraiya, who was scratching his head over the notebook by the fire, then glanced at the fish that was almost burnt at the edges, and then formed hand seals to dispel the Shadow Clones.
Fifty clouds of white smoke exploded at the same instant, and fifty memories of Chakra nature transformation training converged in his mind simultaneously.
Naruto closed his eyes, archived and processed these memories under the guidance of Absolute Control, and only then opened his eyes.
Jiraiya closed his notebook and waved at Naruto. "It seems the training has come to an end. The fish is about to burn, hurry up and eat."
Naruto walked over and sat down on the stone opposite Jiraiya.
Jiraiya placed the grilled fish on a clean stone slab, and used a Kunai to cut open the fish belly, picking out the two fattest and thickest pieces of belly meat, handing one to Naruto and keeping one for himself.
Naruto took the fish belly meat and took a bite. The fish meat was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The savory oil of the fish belly fat melted in his mouth, accompanied by the crispy texture of the slightly charred fish skin.
"Pervy Sage, your fish-grilling skills are much better than your peeping skills."
"Nonsense, when I was training at Mount Myōboku, I had to grill bugs to eat every day. My skills were forced out of necessity. Idiot, that's not peeping, it's art."
Naruto smiled, continuing to bury his head in eating the fish.
Watching Naruto eat the fish, Jiraiya felt mixed emotions.
Ever since Minato died in battle, he had been searching for the Child of Prophecy in the Ninja World. This was the first time he had eaten with Naruto.
Jiraiya remembered the first time he saw Minato. He also lived alone in a dilapidated apartment, and he was just as quiet when eating. Later, he took Minato as his student and taught him.
After Naruto was almost done, Jiraiya asked, "Naruto, how is your training going?"
"I can already cut the leaf."
Naruto said as he picked up a leaf from the ground and injected Chakra into it. A cut appeared in the center of the leaf, smooth as if sliced by a sharp blade.
The whole process took less than three seconds.
"I estimate I will be able to fully master Wind Release Chakra nature transformation soon."
"There is still room for improvement in the conversion efficiency of the cutting property, but the direction is already clear."
Looking at the cut leaf, Jiraiya nodded calmly on the surface, but was shocked inside.
From the time he explained the principle of Chakra nature transformation to Naruto until now, it was less than half a day in total.
It took him nearly ten days from understanding the theory to succeeding back then, and even then, he was praised by Hiruzen for being not bad.
Jiraiya put the fish meat aside and looked at Naruto seriously. "Naruto, what is your dream?"
Naruto raised his hand, and wiped the corner of his mouth.
After thinking for a while, he looked into Jiraiya's eyes and said seriously, "Become the strongest ninja, and then become the Hokage."
When Jiraiya heard Naruto say this, he was dazed for a moment.
The image overlapped with the one deep in his memory in an instant. It was the same blonde hair and blue eyes and the same confident eyes looking at him.
Jiraiya came back to his senses, and asked, "Why do you want to become the Hokage?"
"Everyone says they want to be the Hokage, but everyone's reasons are different. So what is your reason?"
Naruto moved his gaze away from Jiraiya and looked at Konoha, which was gradually being enveloped by the twilight below.
"Wanting to be acknowledged by everyone is one reason, but not all of it."
"I have been an orphan since I was a child. I have no parents, no family, and no one is willing to get close to me. I know how painful that feeling is."
"But later I discovered that orphans like me are everywhere in the Ninja World. Orphans created by war, orphans left behind by ninjas who died in missions, children abandoned by their families, children raised as tools by the village, and so on. They are worse off than me."
"At least I still have the protection of Konoha, at least Iruka-sensei is willing to take care of me, and at least now I have teammates and partners. And some people have nothing."
"So I want to change the Ninja World after becoming the Hokage."
"I can't say exactly how to change it now, but I don't want to see tragedies happen again."
"I don't want to see things like what happened to Zabuza and Haku again, and I don't want to see anyone being treated as a tool because of their origin and bloodline."
"Because I have suffered this hardship, I don't want other children to suffer this hardship in the future."