Reunited After a Long Separation

The climate of the ninja world was bizarre. Judging by latitude, the Land of Iron was located roughly in the same region as Cloud Village and Iwagakure, yet its climate resembled that of the Land of Snow—cold enough to restore a husky's normal intelligence.

Temari and Kankuro were still wearing the same outfits they had worn in the desert: summer clothes with cloaks that protected them from the sun and sandstorms, but were not warm enough.

The two of them shivered in the freezing wind. They were ninja, after all; ordinary people might already have collapsed.

Gaara showed no particular reaction, perhaps because he normally wore long robes and trousers, and also had an extra layer of Sand Armor.

Actually, if Temari and Kankuro had not thought it dirty, Gaara would not have minded making them each a set of Sand Armor as well.

Naruto and the others were fine. They had come prepared, changing into light padded clothes and windproof cloaks, so they did not feel especially cold even as they traveled through the wind and snow.

Because he was wearing a conical hat, Minato had not pulled up his hood.

So Naruto secretly packed a snowball and stuffed it down the back of Minato's collar.

"Brr, that's cold!" Minato had been completely unprepared for Naruto's sneak attack, but he quickly reacted and pulled out the snowball before it had fully melted.

Faced with his son's prank, Minato smiled lightly. The next second, the snowball was inside Naruto's clothes.

"Hey, hey, hey? Isn't that going too far? You even used Flying Thunder God for a prank!" Naruto shuddered and yelped as he lifted the hem of his shirt, hopping around while shaking the snow out of his clothes.

The icy snow rapidly absorbed his body heat and melted into water, running down his body. That feeling was truly awful.

"Haha..." Minato and Shisui heartlessly laughed as they watched Naruto bounce around.

Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura, who were observing from the shadows, were also secretly laughing. Only his own father could handle this guy, probably.

If I were standing next to him, that snowball would most likely have ended up down my collar. Kakashi and Sasuke thought the exact same thing.

Naruto was furious. He decided that once they got home, he would pretend to catch a cold and say Old Dad had set him up!

Minato felt a chill down his back. He guessed it was probably because Naruto had stuffed a snowball down his collar, but he did not pay it any mind.

The farther north they went, the stronger the wind and snow became, and the colder the weather grew. At last, Naruto caught sight of their destination.

It was a very peculiar mountain, with cliffs extending out in three different directions. Because it snowed year-round, rows of icicles had formed beneath the cliffs, making them look like a crocodile's upper jaw from afar.

The enormous cave beneath those cliffs was where this Five Kage Summit would be held.

Unlike other dark and damp caves, this enormous cavern had been built with great orderliness. The walls even bore exquisite carvings.

They walked all the way to the deepest part of the cave, where the view suddenly opened up. It was unexpectedly an open-air plaza, with snowflakes drifting down from above. A pyramid-shaped building stood there, its tiered eaves blanketed in snow.

"We have been awaiting you for some time." A samurai whose status in the Land of Iron was comparable to Izumo and Kotetsu stepped forward to greet them.

More than a dozen samurai stood guard at the entrance. Every one of them was fully armored, with helmets on their heads and... gas masks over their faces?

Perhaps Mifune had been traumatized after being poisoned by Salamander Hanzo back then, which was why all the samurai now wore something resembling gas masks.

They were wrapped up so tightly that their armor plates clanked whenever they moved, making them look like unpainted armored heroes.

"You've worked hard." Minato offered a greeting. These people did indeed look like they had it rough; thick layers of snow had piled up on their helmets and shoulder guards.

Naruto recalled the line, "The protector's iron armor is cold and hard to wear," which probably described weather like this.

"It is our duty. Please follow me." The samurai turned around, lightly brushed the snow from his body, and led the three of them inside toward the meeting room. As for Kakashi and the others, they could only stand guard outside.

Minato took off his cloak and handed it to Naruto, then politely asked, "May I ask how many people have arrived?"

The samurai replied, "Lord Raikage and Lord Mizukage have arrived one after another. The leader of Hidden Waterfall Village has also arrived."

Naruto took off his cloak as well, shook it together with Minato's, then put them away. "Looks like we're not too late. I wonder who Cloud Village sent. Were any of them among the ones I beat up?"

Shisui patted Naruto on the shoulder. "Naruto, it would be best not to bring that up later."

"Oh, I get it." Naruto nodded, then quickly added, "But someone from Kirigakure might have been beaten up by you, Big Brother Shisui."

"Uh..." Shisui awkwardly scratched his cheek. That really was possible. After all, Body Flicker Shisui had made his name on the Kirigakure battlefield. Not everyone he fought had been killed by him, so one of the people coming today might really have been beaten up by him.

Naruto comforted him, "It's no big deal. Didn't the Raikage get beaten up by my dad too?"

Shisui did not know how to respond to that.

Even the samurai leading the way was breaking out in a cold sweat. This kid really dared to say anything. The Raikage did not look like someone easy to provoke.

Minato turned back and said, "Stop fooling around, Naruto. Strictly speaking, the AB Brothers and I never determined a winner. Don't go saying things like that."

"Oh, then have you met the leader of Hidden Waterfall Village before?" Naruto obediently changed the subject.

Minato said, "No. In some ways, Hidden Waterfall Village is even more mysterious than Kirigakure. But didn't you meet several examinees from Hidden Waterfall Village?"

"Yeah, Fu and I got along pretty well." Naruto remembered the green-haired girl. That huge bag of personal items she had given him last time was still with Hinata. He wondered whether there was anything strange inside and whether Hinata had thrown it away.

Naruto thought for a moment before adding, "Fu was fine, actually, but her two teammates were pretty shameless. They were clearly jonin, yet they pretended to be genin to take the Chunin Exams. Ugh~"

Especially since those two were ugly as well. Naruto wore a look of disgust.

Speak of the devil, and the devil appeared. Fu fluttered out of the meeting room on two pairs of little wings, then flew straight at Naruto and hugged his head, hanging from him—literally flying into him.

Fu happily shouted, "Naruto! Long time no see!"

"Get down first." Naruto placed both hands on Fu's shoulders and lifted her off himself.

His nose felt like it had been hit and hurt a little. Why was this girl like Sakura Bro? After all this time, she had not grown at all. I really do like Hinata best.

"Hey, you promised to come to the village and play with me, but you haven't come even once in all this time!" Fu folded her arms and voiced a little of her dissatisfaction.

"Well... I've always been busy..." Actually, whenever he had free time, he went to play with Hinata. Going to Hidden Waterfall Village was pretty troublesome, so Naruto guiltily looked away.

Then he saw Kagen and Yoro behind Fu, both wearing awkward expressions. Naruto felt even more awkward than they did. After all, he had just called them shameless, and judging by their expressions, they had definitely heard every word.

Sure enough, you should never talk badly about people behind their backs!