"Oh?" Jiraiya had not expected to hear such words from five-year-old Naruto Uzumaki, and he was quite surprised.
After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Naruto, who taught you those things? And who is this teacher you mentioned?"
"My teacher..." Naruto seemed to sigh wistfully. His gaze unconsciously drifted toward the sky, and only after a moment did he reveal a bitter smile. "He's someone who doesn't exist in this world."
"Uh, Naruto, I'm sorry." Jiraiya had clearly misunderstood something and hurriedly apologized, though he was still muttering to himself inwardly. He'd never heard that Naruto had another teacher. It looked like he would have to find time to ask Minato about it.
"All right, Naruto, let's not talk about anything else. I'm very interested in what you just said—that peace requires the efforts of the shinobi themselves. For all these years, I've devoted myself to finding a way for people to understand one another. Unfortunately, they all ultimately failed. Naruto, I'd like to hear your thoughts."
Jiraiya said this with a smile. At this moment, he did not necessarily see Naruto as someone worth seriously discussing this with, but Naruto's earlier words had indeed moved him.
The pursuit of peace in the shinobi world had been his lifelong goal. Since rising to fame in the Second Shinobi World War, he had witnessed far too many human tragedies. No one treasured the peace before them more than he did, even if that peace was only temporary.
Naruto fell silent. This was not the first time he had discussed peace with Jiraiya, though it was the first time since his rebirth.
Before his rebirth, during the three years he had trained under Jiraiya, he had heard Jiraiya bring up this topic many times.
Most of the time, Jiraiya spoke while he