They stepped out of the restaurant into the dazzling afternoon sunlight.
Shin-chan walked between them, rubbing his round belly with one hand, and let out a loud burp.
"I'm full."
"Good." Minato Namikaze walked on the side nearest the street. "Here's the plan for this afternoon."
Shin-chan turned to look at him.
"We covered some Sealing Technique theory this morning," Minato Namikaze said. "This afternoon, we'll try something different. We'll use actual formula diagrams and have you try drawing the basic structure of a Sealing Formula."
"Those things you were talking about." Shin-chan traced a few squiggly lines in the air. "The ones that look like tadpoles."
"Those are formula symbols," Kushina corrected him.
"But they do look like tadpoles." Shin-chan put his hands behind his back. "Swimming all over the place. I can't understand a single one."
Minato Namikaze turned toward him. "It's normal not to understand them at first. When I started learning Sealing Techniques, it took me a long time just to memorize the first symbol."
Shin-chan looked up at him.
"Really?"
"Really." Minato Namikaze nodded.
Shin-chan walked a few steps with his head lowered, apparently wrestling with some fierce internal conflict.
Then he raised his head and fixed his gaze on a spot across the street.
His whole body froze as though someone had hit the pause button.
Minato Namikaze followed his gaze.
Across the street was a dumpling shop. A young woman in a kimono stood outside, her hair jet-black, bending slightly as she spoke to the owner inside.
"Pretty lady!!!"
Shin-chan's feet were already carrying him across the street.
"Wait." Kushina's eyebrow twitched. She reached for the back of Shin-chan's collar, but caught nothing.
Hearing the shout, the young woman turned to find a tiny boy sprinting toward her.
"Pretty lady." Shin-chan screeched to