"Hey! You red-haired brat, don't throw wet wood on the fire. It's making too much smoke!"
"You there, Orange Hair, don't just stand around watching. Go help Minato block that drafty hole!"
"And you, little girl with blue hair... Oh, Konan, you can stay seated. Leave the heavy work to the men."
Inside the abandoned cave, Jiraiya was directing the work like a foreman.
After half a day of repairs, the drafty old cave finally started to feel a little like home.
Nishikawa Tetsu had rebuilt the support pillars using the principles of mechanics, Namikaze Minato had used his speed to haul huge stones over and plug the gaps, and the three orphans had been clearing away rubble and weeds.
When the first pot of steaming wild-vegetable and mushroom soup was ready, the five young people gathered around the fire, holding chipped wooden bowls. The firelight turned their faces red.
Yahiko took a big gulp of soup and burned his mouth, but his eyes shone with startling brightness.
He looked at the powerful Konoha ninja beside him and felt as if he were dreaming.
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something. He sprang to his feet, pointed at Nishikawa Tetsu, and stared wide-eyed. "Ah! I remember now! It was you!"
His shout startled Konan, who had been warming herself by the fire. Nagato timidly raised his head, too.
"What is it, Yahiko?" Jiraiya asked in confusion.
"Sensei! These two..." Yahiko pointed at Nishikawa Tetsu and Minato, his voice rising with excitement. "They were the people at that abandoned shrine! They were filthy back then, and they gave us food!"
At Yahiko's reminder, Nagato's gaze fell on Nishikawa Tetsu, too. Looking at his calm, somewhat distant eyes, Nagato's memories suddenly came rushing back.
That rainy night. The boy who had given him candy and told him to "take good care of your eyes."
"It's you..." Nagato instinctively touched his pocket. He still hadn't eaten that piece of candy; he had kept it all this time.
"Finally recognized me?"
Nishikawa Tetsu didn't deny it. Instead, he gave a faint smile. "You have a good memory."
Namikaze Minato scratched his head and gave his trademark sunny smile. "Sorry. Things were complicated back then. We were hiding from Hanzō's personal guard, so we changed our appearance and didn't dare say much."
Yahiko sat back down, looking a little embarrassed. "Thank you for the food. If you hadn't helped us that day, Konan would've fainted from hunger."
With the misunderstanding cleared up, the awkwardness caused by their unfamiliarity quickly faded.
"Since we know each other already, let's properly introduce ourselves."
Minato held out his hand first. "I'm Namikaze Minato, a Konoha Chunin. My dream is to become Hokage."
"My name is Nishikawa Tetsu." Tetsu gave a simple nod. "I'm a Chunin, too. I believe in science."
The three children exchanged glances, then summoned the courage to introduce themselves.
"I'm Yahiko! I'm going to change this country!"
"I'm Konan."
"I... I'm Nagato."
Jiraiya watched them, grinning from ear to ear.
He picked up a stick of firewood and tossed it into the flames, sending a few sparks flying.
"All right. Now that everyone knows each other, and we've eaten our fill, it's time to talk business."
Jiraiya set down his bowl and sat cross-legged on a large rock, his expression turning serious.
He looked at the five apprentices before him, each different in age and ability, and cleared his throat.
"Since I've decided to stay, I have to take responsibility for you. Starting today, I'm your teacher."
"But!" Jiraiya continued, raising two fingers. "I'll teach each of you according to your abilities. You have different foundations, so your training will be completely different."
He pointed at Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan.
"You three can't even mold Chakra yet, and you're all too weak. So your first lesson is—survival."
"I'll teach you how to mold Chakra, how to use ninja tools, and..." Jiraiya's gaze deepened. "I'll teach you the 'heart' of a ninja. I don't want you to learn ninjutsu and then become people who abuse their power. Power is meant to protect, not create more tragedies."
Yahiko nodded, only half understanding, and clenched his fist. "As long as I can get stronger and protect everyone, I'll learn anything!"
Then Jiraiya turned to Namikaze Minato and Nishikawa Tetsu.
"As for you two..."
Jiraiya grinned and pulled an enormous orange scroll from the giant one on his back, slamming it onto the ground.
"Poof!"
Dust billowed into the air.
"You're already Chunin who can hold your own. I don't need to teach you the basics. Besides, Minato is developing that ninjutsu that requires no hand seals, and Tetsu is working on his scientific inventions."
"So what I can teach you is something else—the Summoning Technique."
"Summoning Jutsu?" Minato's eyes lit up. He immediately thought of the enormous toad he had seen on the battlefield.
"That's right." Jiraiya unrolled the scroll, revealing row upon row of bloody handprints and names. "This is the contract scroll for the Toad Clan of Mount Myōboku. Sign your name and press your bloodied hand to it, and you'll be able to call upon the power of Mount Myōboku."
Nishikawa Tetsu looked at the scroll. Mount Myōboku was one of the Three Great Sage Lands, and it held the legacy of Senjutsu.
For someone like him, with limited Chakra, it might be a shortcut to accessing Natural Energy.
"I'll go first."
Namikaze Minato didn't hesitate. He bit his finger, carefully wrote the four characters of "Namikaze Minato" beneath the names of the legendary summoners, and pressed his handprint beside them.
"Good." Jiraiya nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Nishikawa Tetsu.
Tetsu didn't hesitate either and signed his name.
"The hand seals are: Boar, Dog, Rooster, Monkey, Ram. Remember, your Chakra must burst forth instantly. Picture the companion you want to summon."
Jiraiya demonstrated the sequence.
"Summoning Technique!"
"Poof!"
A tadpole no bigger than a palm hopped twice in front of Minato.
"Uh..." Minato scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed. "Did I... fail?"
"Hahahaha!" Jiraiya burst out laughing, tears welling in his eyes. "Summoning a tadpole on your first try means you've got talent! Back in my day, I only..." He abruptly shut his mouth, apparently remembering some embarrassing history he'd rather not bring up.
It was Nishikawa Tetsu's turn.
He didn't rush to make the hand seals. Instead, he quickly constructed a model in his mind.
Summoning Jutsu was essentially a Space-Time Ninjutsu.
The blood contract acted as a coordinate, and Chakra opened a passage between two spaces.
The amount of Chakra determined the size of the passage, and thus the size of the summoned creature.
I have less Chakra than Minato. If I try to summon a combat toad, it might drain me dry.
Then I'll have to work on the "frequency" and precisely locate toads that are small but useful.
Nishikawa Tetsu took a deep breath and formed the hand seals, his movements textbook-perfect.
"Summoning Technique!"
"Poof!"
The white smoke cleared.
A bright green toad with a little pack on its back appeared on the ground.
It was only the size of a kitten and wore glasses, looking like a refined scholar.
"Hm? A new contractor?" The green-skinned toad pushed up his glasses and looked at Nishikawa Tetsu. "I'm Kosuke, the Messenger Toad of Mount Myōboku. I'm not much of a fighter, but I can run very fast and I'm good at delivering information."
"He did it!" Yahiko cried out from the side, his eyes sparkling with admiration.
Jiraiya looked at Nishikawa Tetsu in surprise.
"You actually summoned a utility toad on your first try? You brat... did you plan that?"
"More or less." Nishikawa Tetsu crouched down and shook Kosuke's hand. "My Chakra reserves are limited, after all."
"Tch, what an unpleasant brat," Jiraiya muttered.
In the days that followed, the secluded place grew lively.
They built a house there, with a room for everyone, and settled in for the time being.
In the mornings, Jiraiya put Yahiko and the others through physical training, teaching them how to sense nature and mold Chakra.
At noon, Minato practiced Chakra control beneath a waterfall, trying to stabilize the chaotic swirl of energy.
Meanwhile, deep in the cave, Nishikawa Tetsu studied the materials he had brought back from Amegakure and talked with Nagato.
"What are you doing?"
Red-haired Nagato hugged his knees as he sat beside Nishikawa Tetsu, sneaking glances at the test tube in Tetsu's hand through the hair hiding his eyes.
"I'm extracting something called Penicillin." Nishikawa Tetsu swirled the liquid in the test tube. "This mold can kill bacteria and prevent wounds from getting infected. In a world where medicine is scarce, this stuff is worth more than gold."
"Can it save people?" Nagato asked quietly.
"It can save a lot of people." Nishikawa Tetsu turned to look at Nagato, his gaze seeming to pierce the red strands of hair and settle on those Rinnegan.
"Nagato, there are many kinds of power. Ninjutsu is power, science is power, and this medicine is power, too," Nishikawa Tetsu said meaningfully.
He didn't dare be too explicit. Who knew whether that creep Zetsu might be nearby, eavesdropping?
Nagato froze.
Medicine was power, too? He didn't quite understand.
Nishikawa Tetsu smiled and handed him a piece of compressed ration. "But before any of that, eat your fill and build up your strength."
At the cave entrance,
Jiraiya leaned against the rock wall and watched them, a look of satisfaction on his face.
"Looks like keeping those two brats around was the right call."
He watched Minato "sparring" in Taijutsu with Yahiko, then looked over at Nishikawa Tetsu "giving Nagato a lesson."
"The young shoots of Konoha and the seedlings of the Land of Rain are intertwined in this little cave."
"Perhaps... this is where change begins."
Before you continue