There Was No Room in My Heart for Myself!

The Land of Hot Water was dotted with hot springs. Men and women who had come from far and wide filled its streets and alleys, including a few dressed like them—as ninjas.

"The area seems fairly safe. If you don't mind, we can stay in town tonight and wait for Teacher to come find us. It'll be safer that way."

"We'll leave it to you, Senior."

They had all just been through a major battle. Even after taking Military Ration Pills, they couldn't recover their energy right away.

Resting here was the sensible choice.

"I'll go arrange our lodging."

Minato Namikaze nodded.

A short while later, he brought Kyohiko and the other two together in a room at the inn.

Then Minato took out a scroll and carefully wrote down how they had been attacked. He made sure to record only what had happened and what they had seen, without adding any subjective opinions.

Next, he bit his finger.

A moment later, chakra spread, and a small toad appeared amid the blood-spread summoning formula.

"Take this scroll to Teacher for me."

"Got it!"

The little toad answered, then clamped the scroll in its mouth and vanished.

Yugakure.

Jiraiya sat across from Genji and Dodai, pouring tea for them. The fragrance of tea soon filled the room.

Genji was about to bring something up.

Suddenly, a toad hopped out beside Jiraiya.

He immediately stopped speaking.

"Jiraiya, Minato asked me to bring this to you."

"Okay."

Jiraiya nodded, took the scroll, and opened it. The moment he read it, his mind erupted like a thunderclap.

They'd been attacked?

Ninja who used Earth Style.

He looked up at the two men before him, considering the possibility that one of their villages had launched the attack—

Kumogakure had very few Earth Style users.

The odds were extremely low.

Kirigakure...

Jiraiya put away the scroll and smiled. "I've been away too long. The village wants me to head back, so it looks like I can't stay and have tea with you."

"That's all right. The Chunin Exams are still a few days away."

The other two saw him off.

"I've sent it."

Minato tidied up a little, then reflected on what had happened that day.

Those ninjas had clearly been targeting someone. It was as if they'd come specifically to kill Kyohiko. There was no way this was a simple matter.

Kurenai Yuhi and Might Guy were cleaning up the rooms on either side.

Minato looked at Kyohiko.

Teacher had said his new student was very clever and had plenty of ideas.

"Kyohiko, what do you make of those people?"

"The target was obvious. It's hard to say exactly who sent them, but one thing's certain: since I graduated, the only ninjas I've fought have been from Kirigakure."

Kyohiko answered.

"Kirigakure?"

Minato thought of the news from the village.

At such a young age, this child had caught Biwa Juzo, a Jonin, off guard and dealt him a serious setback.

It wasn't impossible that Kirigakure feared him and had deliberately leaked information, or hired someone to ambush and assassinate him.

Every village did things like that to talented young ninjas during wartime.

But...

Such things were fairly rare in peacetime, and besides...

"There are spies in every country and village. It'd be hard to prove they were behind this."

"Why prove it?"

A hint of confusion appeared on Kyohiko's face.

"Why? Oh..."

Minato had barely asked before he understood what Kyohiko meant.

If they wanted to demand an explanation from Kirigakure, they'd need evidence. But if they weren't looking for an explanation and instead wanted to strike back and make trouble for Kirigakure...

Then they wouldn't need evidence.

He thought it over, then shook his head lightly. "It's peacetime. We shouldn't do something like that."

Then Minato sighed softly, filled with emotion—

Kyohiko was only seven or eight!

What had he been doing at that age?

He'd probably still been going to school with Kushina, learning at the Ninja Academy, studying ninjutsu, and occasionally picking up some Sealing Technique from Kushina.

That was it.

Kids these days were all so driven!

Minato sighed. Then he glanced at the time and got to his feet.

"Go take a bath. When Teacher gets here, we can talk it through in more detail."

"Yes!"

Even Jiraiya needed two or three hours to travel from Yugakure to the border town in the Land of Hot Water.

Kyohiko and Minato had already bathed.

The two of them discussed the finer points of the Body Flicker Technique for a while—

Although Kyohiko had already mastered it at the grandmaster level, different people used ninjutsu in different ways, and they didn't all have the same insights into the Body Flicker Technique.

Minato, for example, had exceptionally quick reflexes by nature.

He used the Body Flicker Technique mostly in combination with Kunai and Rasengan to create opportunities for a single decisive strike. He had a wealth of experience when it came to timing his attacks.

To reach the same level as Minato, Kyohiko would probably have to keep honing his White Fang Sword Technique.

On top of that, he'd shamelessly stolen Shisui's ideas for the Body Flicker Technique.

Minato was naturally impressed by his creativity.

They'd meant to keep talking, discussing how to use Clone Technique, Shadow Clone, and the Body Flicker Technique to create an effect like "Body Flicker Shisui," but unfortunately—

Jiraiya had arrived!

"I understand what happened. Minato, Kyohiko, you were there. Tell me what you think."

Jiraiya looked at them both.

Minato and Kyohiko each shared their thoughts.

Then Minato added, "If you're asking for my personal judgment, I lean toward this being the work of Iwa Ninja. I can't think of any other village besides Iwagakure that could field Earth Style users of that caliber in such numbers."

"It's possible. Iwagakure has recovered quickly in recent years, and some of the people under Ōnoki have been restless."

Jiraiya nodded.

His gaze shifted to Kyohiko.

"What do you think?"

"Teacher, here's how I see it. Whether Ōnoki knew about it or not, and whether Iwagakure was responsible or not, we should condemn them. We can also link this attack to their violation of the maritime trade agreement..."

Kyohiko shared what he considered a small suggestion.

Iwa Ninja attacking Konoha Genin—how serious was that, really?

If they pressed the matter, it would amount to little more than an apology or pinning the blame on some disposable underling.

But sabotaging peace talks among several ninja villages and undermining the Joint Chunin Exams—that was a different matter.

Shape public opinion and blow the incident out of proportion.

Kyohiko had seen tactics like this countless times in his previous life, but in the Shinobi World, they were clearly a new idea. Neither Jiraiya nor Minato had even considered it before, and now they both stared at him in bewilderment.

Still, they were Jonin with plenty of experience. They quickly understood.

Jiraiya smiled. "I thought you'd take this chance to ask me to teach you some ninjutsu for staying alive. I was already trying to decide what to teach you."

"How could I? Teacher, there's no room in my heart for myself!"

Kyohiko's tone was firm.

Jiraiya chuckled.

Minato, meanwhile, wiped away a bead of cold sweat.

This kid really only cared about the village's major affairs. He hadn't given a thought to how dangerous things had been for him today.

Minato had been nervous even while bathing that evening, but Kyohiko was acting as if nothing had happened.

He really had nerves of steel!

"They can deny it, or blame it on missing-nin," Minato analyzed.

Jiraiya had access to more intelligence and information, and his thoughts immediately began to race.

"The other villages might not help us either. They may even be glad to see us clash with Iwagakure. But, as you said, Kirigakure was most likely involved."

There might be spies in the area, but their route had taken them east, where Iwagakure had very few spies. It was Kirigakure that had done most of the infiltration and reconnaissance in this region.

Kirigakure was definitely involved!

Evidence?

They didn't need evidence!

Given the current situation, all the villages were already working together to pressure Kirigakure to stay out of maritime trade. Any kind of retaliation was possible.

Whether it worked or not, they could still plant a seed.

They had a plan.

They'd still need to think carefully about how to carry it out.

Jiraiya thought to himself.

He loved peace, but the other side had gone so far as to target his student. Was he supposed to keep playing nice with them?