The knocking had barely sounded twice before the door was pushed open on its own.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's face darkened. He hurriedly put away the Crystal Ball, then snapped irritably, "Can't you knock properly for once?!"
"I'm just happy!" The newcomer was tall, wore wooden clogs, had a head of white hair, and a forehead protector marked with the character for oil. Everything about him radiated the air of an unrestrained, unreliable wanderer.
One of Konoha's Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya!
"What are you happy about?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked grumpily, then suddenly remembered something. "Wait, have you met Namikaze Minato?"
"Yeah!" Jiraiya nodded. "I got to know him a little."
"What did you think?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.
"He's outstanding!" At the mention of Minato, Jiraiya's eyes lit up as he raised a thumb. "A genius—no, a super genius. In all my life, I've never seen such a gifted kid!"
"Hm?" Hiruzen Sarutobi had recently become a little allergic to the word genius. He frowned instinctively. "Are you serious? Remember, your teammate is Orochimaru!"
With Orochimaru as either a student or teammate, both Hiruzen Sarutobi and Jiraiya should have had a standard by which to judge geniuses!
Even if he could not match Orochimaru, he should at least have seventy or eighty percent of his talent!
Could Minato really be that impressive?
"Orochimaru?" Jiraiya shook his head. "He's far better than Orochimaru!"
"Really?" Hiruzen Sarutobi was immensely surprised and recalled Namikaze Minato's file.
He was born into the Namikaze Clan, but it was not a Ninja Clan. It was a family that had only begun learning ninjutsu after Konoha was founded. Both his parents had been Chunin, and both had died on the battlefield.
Namikaze Minato had excelled in school, and ever since combat classes began, he had never lost in either class or