Many people were stunned. Of course, they knew who Shinichi Higashino was.
This name was practically known by everyone in Konoha.
Konoha's brightest new star, the most outstanding genius in recent years.
Just over a month ago, he had fought that powerful samurai from the Land of Iron to a draw in the arena and was publicly called the strongest genius youth by the opponent.
That battle had spread throughout the entire village. Everyone knew about it.
But Special Jonin?
He was only ten years old.
Even if his strength was absurdly high, even if he could rank among Jonin, this was still too fast, wasn't it?
Some frowned, some shook their heads, some were indifferent, but regardless of what they thought, they continued flipping through the document.
Then, very quickly, their page-turning stopped.
In the home of Minato Namikaze, the lights were warm.
The sounds of cooking came from the kitchen.
Kushina, wearing an apron, was busy at the stove, skillfully stirring the ingredients in the pot while humming an unknown tune. Her mood was clearly good.
After Shinichi developed the Rasengan, Minato Namikaze learned the Ninjutsu and applied its chakra-control principles to help Kushina better control the power of the nine-tails within her.
The results were unexpectedly good.
As a result, Kushina gained greater freedom and could now walk and live normally within Konoha, no longer needing to be strictly monitored like before.
Soon, the two began living together naturally.
At the low table in the living room, Minato Namikaze held a document, his eyes focused as he carefully read every word on the page.
Across from him, Jiraiya sat cross-legged without any regard for appearance, also holding a document, his brows tightly furrowed. His usually bold and unrestrained face now showed a rare look of seriousness.
Jiraiya had returned to Konoha on his own a month ago. He usually traveled outside and was hard to track. Still, this time, even before the third Hokage could send someone to find him, he had already sensed the increasingly turbulent undercurrent in the Shinobi World, the expansion of military forces in major nations, escalating border conflicts, and the strange movements within the Village Hidden in the Sand.
Following the third Hokage's intentions, he returned to Konoha.
After returning, he often came to Minato's place for meals.
One reason was that Kushina's cooking was indeed delicious.
Another was that there was someone here he could talk to.
"Minato."
Jiraiya suddenly spoke as he put down the document in his hand and looked at his disciple with a serious expression.
"What do you think? Do you really believe the situation will develop as that kid, Shinichi, has deduced? In this war, could Konoha really face a four-sided attack from the Village Hidden in the Sand, Village Hidden in the Cloud, the Village Hidden in the Stones, and the Village Hidden in the Mist?"
Minato was silent for a few seconds. He picked up his teacup, took a sip, then slowly put it down.
"Jiraiya-sensei, I think it's very possible."
"I've read this document three times already. Even the third time, I read it with the intention of refuting it."
"I wanted to find flaws in his logic, find points in his deductions that couldn't hold up."
At this point, Minato paused briefly before continuing, "But I couldn't find any."
"Every inference in it has a basis. Every basis can be matched to reality. It all starts from the actual needs of each force, what they must do, and from that, deduce what they will inevitably do."
"It's frightening."
Jiraiya fell silent.
Minato continued, speaking more slowly than usual, as if thinking while talking: "And Jiraiya-sensei, since the village has distributed this document, it means the third Hokage and the others have already conducted multiple evaluations. With the third Hokage's caution and the experience of the three advisors, they wouldn't make such a major decision based solely on Shinichi's analysis."
"They must have used their own methods to repeatedly simulate it, confirming that what this child said is correct, confirming that the situation is very likely to develop in this direction, before distributing the document."
Jiraiya nodded without speaking.
Outside the window, the night was deep. The lights of Konoha flickered in the darkness. He stared out the window, lost in thought.
After a long time, he finally spoke, his voice much lower than usual: "Minato, tell me… will the day when people truly understand each other ever come?"
Minato was taken aback. He was silent for a few seconds, then smiled, a bright, warm smile like sunlight.
"Jiraiya-sensei, although I don't know how to achieve it or when that day will come, I believe that the day you believe in will definitely arrive."
Jiraiya turned his head and looked at him.
The master and disciple stared at each other for a few seconds.
Then Jiraiya let out a snort of laughter, reached up to scratch his head, and the heavy expression he had just now instantly faded by more than half. "You brat, you still talk like this…"
Before he could finish speaking, the kitchen door was pushed open.
Kushina came out carrying a large pot of steaming stew. Her red hair swayed gently with her movements. She set the pot on the table, put her hands on her hips, and looked at the two grown men in the living room.
"Time to eat! Why do you two look so gloomy? Why so serious?"
Jiraiya immediately sprang up from the floor, his face full of smiles. "No, no, we were just discussing today's weather! Wow, this smells really good!"
He leaned closer to the pot, the steam hitting his face, and then he suddenly froze for a moment.
"Huh? Isn't this Malatang?"
Minato also walked over, lowered his head to look at the red, oily broth boiling in the pot along with all kinds of ingredients, and smiled. "It really is Malatang. Kushina has been obsessed with this lately."
Kushina raised her chin proudly. "Well? I especially learned it! That recipe was actually published by Shinichi in a manga appendix. I tried several times, and this one should be the most successful."
Jiraiya picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, blew on it, and stuffed it into his mouth.
It was so hot that he bared his teeth, yet he refused to spit it out, mumbling unclearly, "Mm… delicious! It has quite a strong flavor!"
Seeing him like that, Kushina couldn't help but laugh. Then she suddenly thought of something and asked, "Jiraiya-sensei, you know about Malatang too? Weren't you traveling to foreign countries during that time?"
"Of course I know."
Jiraiya waved his hand with a smile. "You don't know this, Kushina. This thing has already spread overseas. When I was in the Land of Hot Water, I could see several shops on the street with signs saying "Shinichi-style Malatang."
"Huh? Using Shinichi's name?"
Kushina was stunned for a moment, then her brows furrowed. She put down her chopsticks, and a bit of indignation appeared on her face.
"Isn't that piracy? Did they pay Shinichi any copyright fees?"
Jiraiya was amused by her sudden seriousness and scratched his head.
"Uh… I really didn't ask about that."
"They definitely didn't pay!"
Kushina snorted. "Shinichi worked so hard to develop that recipe. It's already bad enough that they just use it, but they're even making money under his name. That's too much!"
Minato smiled to the side and scooped himself a spoonful of soup.
"I think even if Shinichi knew, he wouldn't say anything. After all, Shinichi once said in the manga that food is meant to bring happiness to people."
Kushina blinked, and the indignation on her face gradually faded a little.