Rasengan

At Ichiraku Ramen, Jiraiya watched Kushina wolf down bowl after bowl, then glanced silently at his own ramen. He felt as though he was already full.

"I remember Ichiraku Ramen being a new shop the last time I came back. I can't believe it's grown this much." Jiraiya looked around the lavishly decorated restaurant, which was worlds apart from the little noodle stand it had once been.

Minato quietly explained, "That's thanks to Kaede. I heard he sponsored Ichiraku Ramen, giving Teuchi the money to expand it."

Kaede ate his noodles unhurriedly. In all of Konoha, aside from his mother's cooking, Ichiraku Ramen was the only food he could stomach. The former was something he had no choice but to eat; the latter, at least, had something special about it.

Ignoring Jiraiya's gaze, he asked Kushina, "Want more? Order another bowl if you're still hungry!" Now that he was a shop owner, Kaede could afford to be generous. He could at least treat her to a bowl of ramen.

Before Kushina could answer, Minato hurriedly said, "That's enough, Kaede. We've had plenty."

Jiraiya braced both hands on the table. "Kid, are you from the Uchiha Clan?" For once, his voice held a note of seriousness. Rumor had it that the Uchiha's Sharingan could control Tailed Beasts. Was this kid getting close to Kushina with ulterior motives?

Beneath his seemingly carefree manner lay a careful mind and a tenderness toward all things in the world. A kind and dependable heart—that was Jiraiya's true charm!

Kaede spoke bluntly. "You can drop that pathetic attempt to sound me out, Lord Jiraiya. If I wanted to do something to the Nine-Tails inside Kushina, do you think I'd have waited until now?"

Opening his Sharingan, its single tomoe visible, Kaede met Jiraiya's gaze. No one liked a sycophant. Fearlessness and frankness were the prerequisites for a candid conversation.

"That evil Chakra of yours is unpleasant to be around, kid. You don't seem to have much respect for me." Jiraiya dropped his serious expression and turned playful again.

"I've shown you my sincerity. What you choose to think after that is up to you, Lord Jiraiya. Kushina and I have been friends for years. I won't let some baseless suspicion come between us." Kaede lowered his head and continued eating, speaking in an even tone.

Jiraiya wasn't the sort to dwell on matters like this. He wasn't worried about the Nine-Tails; he cared about Kushina herself. As long as she wasn't in danger, it wasn't his concern. The old Third Hokage was the one who ought to be worried.

"Teacher Jiraiya, actually, Kaede's greatest responsibility as an Anbu is protecting Kushina. It's an order from the Third Hokage." Minato smiled warmly at Jiraiya, his eyes narrowing with amusement.

The Kabuto squad had originally been formed as Anbu to protect the Jinchūriki. After Kaede and Shisui joined, they'd spent just two weeks under observation before the squad resumed its regular duties: "protecting the Jinchūriki."

Apart from the occasional emergency mission, all they had to do was keep an eye on Kushina in shifts. When it was Kaede's turn, he often took her out to eat to her heart's content, keeping her from getting the troublesome idea of "leaving the village."

"Are kids these days really that strong? They can join the Anbu at such a young age? Has Konoha's fighting strength started to decline while I've been away?"

After the Second Shinobi World War, Jiraiya had stayed behind to teach his three students, Nagato and the others. Later, he'd wandered the Shinobi World, following the Great Toad Sage's guidance in search of the child of prophecy—though he believed Nagato, with his Rinnegan, was that child.

"Whew, I'm stuffed." Kushina hurriedly clapped a hand over her mouth and darted a glance at the three people around her.

The three of them turned away, pretending nothing had happened.

Jiraiya moved closer to Minato, draped an arm over his shoulders, and whispered, "I've made a new discovery about that Ninjutsu of yours. Want to take a look?"

At that, Minato perked up with excitement. He'd invented the Rasengan, but as they moved on to developing it further, he and Teacher Jiraiya had been working on it together. Now that his teacher had a new idea, he could hardly wait to see it.

"Let's go to Training Ground Seven. It's usually empty, so we can test out the Ninjutsu there," Minato suggested.

"I'm coming too." Kushina grabbed Minato and fixed him with a threatening look.

Jiraiya turned to Kaede. "We're going to work on a secret Ninjutsu, kid. No tagalongs. Got it?"

"I'm here to protect Kushina."

"With Lord Jiraiya here, why would we need a little brat like you?"

"I'm here to protect Kushina."

"We're working on something as difficult as a hand-seal-free Ninjutsu. Your Sharingan is suspicious, kid. You're not coming." For once, Jiraiya was serious. Any other Anbu would do, but an Uchiha could copy Ninjutsu with the Sharingan far too easily.

Kaede stood up without a word and gave Jiraiya a disdainful look. "It's just a hand-seal-free Ninjutsu. I can do that too. Watch closely—Thunder Flash!"

Right in front of Jiraiya, Kaede showed them what it meant to summon lightning with his bare hands. He rubbed his fingers together, and a tiny white bolt of lightning curled around his fingertip like a snake. He flicked it away, and it shot out as a sharp streak of white light, piercing the ground and leaving behind a small black hole.

He hadn't used a single Hand Seal.

Jiraiya stared at the sight, unable to hide his disbelief. "Did you invent that Ninjutsu?"

"Have you ever seen anyone else use it?"

"Teacher Jiraiya, Kaede's a Ninjutsu prodigy. Thunder Flash is his own hand-seal-free technique. He might be able to help us improve the Rasengan," Minato suggested at just the right moment.

Of course, the main reason was that Kushina behind him was glaring fiercely. He was a little afraid of her.

Jiraiya finally relented. "Let's go! Training Ground Seven. I'll show you the might of Jiraiya, the Toad Sage!"

Training Ground Seven

"Watch closely! Lord Jiraiya is about to put on a show!" He gripped his right wrist with his left hand, and Chakra began to gather in his right palm, spinning at high speed.

"Rasengan!" A spinning sphere appeared in his hand.

Jiraiya held it up. "A regular Rasengan is only this big. But if I keep pouring in more Chakra—Giant Rasengan!"

Jiraiya raised a massive pale-blue sphere in his hand, many times larger than the original.

"I created the Rasengan based on the principle behind the Tailed Beast Bomb. Theoretically, it can grow without limit as long as you have enough Chakra. But you'd need as much Chakra as a Tailed Beast, so it isn't very useful in actual combat. That's why I've always focused on the Rasengan's penetrating power." Minato offered his assessment of Jiraiya's Giant Rasengan.

Looking at it, Kaede knew that when Jiraiya taught Naruto in the future, he'd only teach him the basic version: the Rasengan.

Perhaps he was hoping Naruto would reach the same heights as his father's generation.

"To increase its penetrating power, you need to change the Rasengan's shape. With my Thunder Flash, for example, I compress the lightning to its absolute limit. Combined with its incredible speed, that gives it tremendous penetrating power."

Kaede offered his suggestion at just the right moment.

Hearing him, Jiraiya said, "How about we trade techniques, kid? I'll give you the Rasengan in exchange for Thunder Flash."

Kaede shook his head. "The Rasengan and Thunder Flash are both offensive Ninjutsu, and each could be developed into an entire series of techniques. I don't have the time to work on the Rasengan while continuing my research into Thunder Flash. A ninja only has so much time and energy, so I have to refuse."