On the screen.
Naruto, in the dream, looked at the "father" in front of him, who had the same hair and eye color as him, with a mix of surprise and familiarity.
"Huh? Who is this uncle...? I feel like... I've seen him somewhere before? He looks so familiar..."
Naruto, being the dead last, didn't bother with textbooks.
As for the Hokage Rock... asking him to memorize the statues' appearances and then match them to real people was just too much for him; he usually remembered his classmates by giving them nicknames.
Looking at the living Minato now, he only felt an unusual sense of closeness and familiarity, but he couldn't connect him with the legendary hero.
He just stared blankly as Minato walked over, washed his hands, and then sat down between him and "Mom" with a smile.
"Alright, let's eat."
Kushina picked up her chopsticks and enthusiastically served Naruto a large, glistening piece of braised pork belly. "Naruto, eat more. Look how thin you are. Today's a big day, your first day as a Genin, so you must eat your fill."
Minato also smiled and put a golden-brown fried chicken drumstick into Naruto's bowl, saying gently, "That's right, being a Ninja is tough. You need to get enough nutrients."
"Mm! Mm!" Naruto looked at the mountain of food piled in his bowl, then at the gentle smiles of "Dad" and "Mom" beside him, feeling as if he were in paradise.
He nodded vigorously, picked up his chopsticks, and began to eat heartily.
Although he knew this might be a dream, but...
The dishes his mom and dad served... were really delicious!
This feeling of being cared for, being loved, and a family sitting together to eat... it was real.
Naruto ate this meal with immense joy and satisfaction.
He felt it was the most delicious meal he had ever eaten in his life.
Even... a hundred times better than Ichiraku Ramen.
A silly smile was plastered on his face the whole time, so happy he felt like he would melt.
"Ding! Emotional fluctuation from Uzumaki Naruto captured! Emotion value +2000!!"
"Ding! Detected that Uzumaki Naruto's deep-seated obsession/dream 'Dining with Parents' has been perfectly fulfilled in the dream instance!"
"Congratulations, Host, for triggering a special reward! You have received a one-time emotion value: 10,000 points!"
...
"Holy crap!! Ten thousand points?!"
Shigure, hidden in the darkness, almost bit his tongue in excitement as he saw the numbers on the system panel instantly skyrocket.
"I'm rich, I'm rich! I've really hit the jackpot this time!"
"It seems... touching the deepest obsessions of a character's heart is the best way to gain a large amount of emotion value. I'll have to study the psychological needs of my 'clients' more in the future. My psychology counseling major wasn't for nothing after all."
Shigure looked at his total emotion value, which had instantly surged to nearly twenty thousand, feeling that he was a big step closer to his goal of exchanging for advanced bloodlines and Ninjutsu.
...
In the audience.
Kakashi looked at the heartwarming scene of the family of three happily eating on the screen, his eyes filled with extreme complexity.
If Lord Minato and Lady Kushina hadn't sacrificed themselves that night twelve years ago...
Then this kind of life should have been Naruto's daily routine...
He would have grown up like an ordinary child, under the care of his parents, he would have acted spoiled, complained, and enjoyed everything that should have belonged to him...
An indescribable pang of sorrow and regret surged into his heart once more.
"Ding! Emotional fluctuation from Kakashi Hatake captured! Emotion value +500!"
...
In the dream, the warm dinner time quickly ended.
Naruto rubbed his round belly, sitting on the stool, giggling foolishly, feeling so happy he was almost dizzy.
Minato stood up and began to skillfully clear the dishes from the table. He smiled at Naruto and said, "Naruto, you can't just sit there after eating your fill. Come on, you're a man now, let's go wash the dishes."
"Huh? Wash dishes?" Naruto didn't react for a moment.
Minato winked, revealing a mischievous smile: "Of course! We can't let Mom do all the hard work alone, can we? We have to help Mom with the chores."
"Oh, okay, okay!" Naruto finally reacted and immediately jumped off the stool, responding excitedly, "I'll help Mom wash the dishes!"
So, the father and son went to the kitchen sink together.
Minato was responsible for scrubbing the pots, while Naruto was responsible for washing the greasy dishes.
Naruto, having grown up eating either instant noodles or Ichiraku Ramen, had almost never cooked for himself, let alone washed dishes. His movements were clumsy; he either knocked over plates or got covered in foam.
But he didn't feel annoyed at all; instead, he enjoyed it.
The feeling of doing chores with "Dad"... was really nice.
Just as Naruto was humming a little tune, clumsily battling the greasy dishes, Minato, who was scrubbing a pot nearby, suddenly spoke mysteriously:
"By the way, Naruto."
"Hmm? What is it, Dad?"
Minato stopped his movements, turned his head, and smiled at Naruto: "To celebrate you officially becoming a Genin today, Dad has decided... to teach you a super amazing Ninjutsu!"
"Eh? A super amazing Ninjutsu?" Naruto's eyes lit up, but then he looked a bit confused.
Can... can I learn Ninjutsu in a dream?
Minato smiled mysteriously, keeping him in suspense: "After you finish washing the dishes, we'll go to the backyard."
He even added, proudly stating, "This Ninjutsu, I spent three years creating it, and it's incredibly powerful. Its name is also very cool."
Naruto grew even more curious, but still felt a bit strange.
In a dream... learning Dad's amazing self-created Ninjutsu?
No matter how he thought about it... it seemed a bit unreliable.
...
In the audience.
"A self-created Ninjutsu?" Sakura heard this and became interested, asking curiously, "Did the Fourth Hokage ever create any amazing Ninjutsu?"
She looked at Sasuke and Kakashi beside her.
Sasuke shook his head, indicating he didn't know.
In the Ninja Academy's history textbooks, most of the records about the Fourth Hokage focused on his "Yellow Flash" speed and his heroic feat of sealing the Nine-Tailed, with not much description of the specific Ninjutsu he excelled at or created.
Sakura pouted and muttered, "Ultimately, this must still be that idiot Naruto's own fantasy, right? How could he be the Fourth Hokage's son? If he were the Fourth Hokage's son, how could he have had such a miserable life growing up? The Fourth Hokage was a hero who sacrificed himself to save the Village. This Naruto fellow... must just be dreaming, dreaming that he's the son of a hero."
Kakashi listened to Sakura's well-reasoned analysis and sighed helplessly again.
It was just that Naruto's background and the Third Hokage's arrangements for him back then involved too many complex reasons and helplessness.
Kakashi himself wasn't entirely clear.
But at this moment, he was increasingly convinced that everything before his eyes was not merely Naruto's "dream"!
Lord Minato... self-created... incredibly powerful Ninjutsu...
Kakashi's heart tightened suddenly.
As Minato's most favored disciple, how could he not know his teacher's trump card technique?!
He not only clearly knew what it was! In fact... he could use it himself! Although... not perfectly.
So he referenced that Ninjutsu and invented a Ninjutsu more suitable for himself.
Could it be...
Is it really that Jutsu?!
Kakashi's brows furrowed even tighter instantly.
He stared intently at the screen.
...
On the screen.
The dream's scene had already shifted to the backyard of that cozy little home.
Can one truly learn Ninjutsu in a dream?
However, since it was with "Dad," anything was fine.
He looked at the gently smiling "father" in front of him and decided to cooperate actively.
Minato, with a mysterious expression, extended his right hand, palm facing upwards.
The next second—
Hum.
Without any warning.
A sphere of pale blue, rapidly rotating Chakra energy, suddenly appeared in his palm!
That blue orb spun rapidly, emitting a faint, unique hum, and the surrounding air seemed to be drawn by it, creating visible distortions.
...
In the audience.
The moment they saw that blue orb appear.
Kakashi froze completely, as if under a paralysis Jutsu! His pupils constricted to their extreme in an instant!
"It... it really is...!"
He could no longer remain calm and abruptly stood up from his seat again.
"Rasengan!"
"Ding! Emotional fluctuation from Kakashi Hatake captured! Emotion value +1000!"
Yes, it was indeed the Rasengan.
It was his teacher, Minato Namikaze, who had spent a full three years observing the principles of the Tailed Beast Ball, finally developing this ultimate Ninjutsu—an A-rank Secret Technique, the Rasengan—that perfectly combined the ultimate in shape transformation with high-density Chakra, requiring no hand seals!
This was definitely not a coincidence.
What made Kakashi's scalp tingle even more was—
The posture in which Lord Minato was now demonstrating the Rasengan, the method of condensing Chakra, and even the expression on his face, with that gentle smile, as he prepared to teach his disciple his secret technique...
It was exactly the same as when he...
Not long after he was promoted to Jonin, one evening, Lord Minato called him alone to the training ground and first demonstrated and taught him the Rasengan...
It was identical!
This absolutely, absolutely could not be simulated by a simple dream.
The Rasengan was Lord Minato's unique, self-created Ninjutsu. Its principles and training methods were extremely complex. His teacher had died young and simply hadn't had time to popularize this Jutsu.
In the entire Ninja World, apart from the teacher himself, only he and Lord Jiraiya truly mastered this Jutsu now.
Naruto, how could he possibly see such an accurate and realistic... Rasengan instruction... in a dream?!
This was not Genjutsu, nor was it an ordinary dream.
This... the existence controlling everything behind the scenes...
Who exactly was it?
Kakashi felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
He had originally intended to observe further, and then report to Lord Third Hokage after gathering more clues.
But now...
No!
He couldn't wait any longer!
The strangeness of this matter had far exceeded his comprehension.
He must immediately! Right now! Report everything that was happening here, exactly as it was, to Lord Third!
Perhaps...
Only Lord Third Hokage, who was known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu" and proficient in all Ninjutsu, could find the answer and unravel this mystery!
Kakashi took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the tumultuous waves in his heart, clearly having made a certain decision.