"What?"
"Is that all?"
"Yeah, I didn't even see what happened!"
"Shen Ye's the only one who got a good look at it. We should ask him about it."
"I say we forget it. Lord Jiraiya's been focused on Shen Ye this whole time. The rest of us were just window dressing."
The chatter around him filled Shen Ye's ears. He shook his head helplessly.
Jiraiya really knew how to get him into trouble. Shen Ye's freshly repaired reputation had crumbled in an instant.
Now, not only would the male ninja be hostile toward him, but some of the female ninja would think poorly of him too.
Only the few people close to Shen Ye knew that what Jiraiya had taught them today was nowhere near as good as Shen Ye's own lessons.
Amid the noisy arguments, the day soon came to an end.
"Shen Ye, want to grab something to eat after school?"
"No, I have some things to take care of."
Before the bell rang, Shen Ye leaped through the window and landed neatly on the ground.
He raised a hand to wave at Minato and the others, then sauntered off.
The classroom erupted into another uproar. Shen Ye's name was suddenly on everyone's lips.
"That guy must've learned something really important. He didn't want to share it with us, so he ran off."
Some of the students started eyeing the exit, eager to follow Shen Ye, but the teacher nearby glared them back into place.
Once he left the Academy, Shen Ye picked a direction and hurried off.
From what he knew of Jiraiya, he was sure to find him there at this hour. He could ask him properly what was going on with the Rasengan.
In the original story, Namikaze Minato had taken three years to create the Rasengan, yet Jiraiya had learned it in just a few days.
But at this point, Namikaze Minato wasn't even a Genin, and he hadn't had much contact with Jiraiya.
Following a familiar route, Shen Ye arrived near the bathhouse where he had landed after crossing into this world.
He circled around the bathhouse and spotted Jiraiya with his rear in the air, peering over a wall. Every so often, he let out a sly chuckle.
"Knew you'd be here."
Shen Ye crept up behind Jiraiya without making a sound.
So engrossed was Jiraiya in his spying that he didn't notice anyone behind him. He kept watching intently.
"Strength of a Hundred: Gather!"
Shen Ye channeled the chakra in his body into his right foot and, without hesitation, planted it squarely on Jiraiya's rear.
"Ow! Who kicked me?"
Jiraiya clutched his backside and jumped to his feet. Hearing the commotion outside, the people in the bathhouse hurriedly got dressed.
"A pervert's spying on us! Girls, let's get him!"
The burly bathhouse owner charged outside with a broom in hand. Jiraiya had no time to react and hurriedly made a run for it.
Shen Ye covered his mouth and chuckled. Jiraiya had played a little trick on him at the Ninja Academy, so this was a chance to teach him a lesson.
"Hey, kid, did you see who was spying on us?"
"He ran that way. Didn't look like a Konoha ninja."
The group charged off in the direction Shen Ye had pointed. Jiraiya leaned against a tree and let out a long breath. He'd just barely escaped a disaster.
Once everything around them had gone quiet, Jiraiya jumped down from the tree and landed beside Shen Ye.
"Thanks for that, Shen Ye. If you hadn't helped me, I wouldn't have gotten away unscathed."
"Hmph. I have something important to ask you. Let's find somewhere quiet to sit."
Jiraiya nodded. The serious look on Shen Ye's face told him this wasn't a trivial matter, so he'd better answer carefully.
Neither of them broke the silence until they reached a secluded spot.
"How did you learn the Rasengan?"
"Oh? You mean that little blue ball? I've been able to use it for ages."
Jiraiya shrugged. He hadn't expected Shen Ye to be so serious about something like that.
On a mission some time ago, a few ideas had suddenly come to him, and he had quickly turned the Rasengan into a reality.
Shen Ye frowned and thought, Did my appearance change some of the rules and events in this world? I can't figure it out.
Jiraiya thought back carefully over how he'd created the technique and realized there might have been a connection to Shen Ye.
"Funny thing is, it was the day you showed up in the village that those mysterious ideas came to me. Maybe you're my lucky star."
Shen Ye shot Jiraiya a withering look, completely losing interest in continuing the conversation.
Still, Jiraiya's words confirmed Shen Ye's theory: his arrival really had changed some things in the ninja world.
Shen Ye waved at Jiraiya, got up, and prepared to leave.
Jiraiya scratched his head, baffled. Even now, he couldn't figure out why Shen Ye had suddenly asked about the Rasengan. Did he want to learn it?
After leaving Jiraiya, Shen Ye strolled slowly toward home.
"Shen Ye, what are you thinking about? You look distracted."
School had just let out. Yue Xing and Meishang were walking home together when they spotted Shen Ye on the road.
Shen Ye came back to his senses and looked up. A lamppost stood just a few centimeters away. If Yue Xing hadn't called out, he would have walked right into it.
"School's out already?"
"Yeah. You were just about to walk into that lamppost. Good thing I snapped you out of it. Were you thinking about Lord Jiraiya?"
Shen Ye smiled and shook his head. In fact, he'd been thinking about Namikaze Minato the whole time.
"By the way, how are those guys doing?"
"They've been making a fuss, saying they want to find you and hear from you about what Lord Jiraiya taught us today."
Shen Ye let out a long sigh and patted his forehead.
He'd been so focused on the Rasengan that he'd forgotten Jiraiya had caused him all this trouble. Otherwise, he never would've helped him escape from the women's bathhouse.
Since he'd run into the two girls, Shen Ye did the gentlemanly thing and walked each of them home.
The sky was growing dark. Shen Ye suddenly felt uneasy, so he hurried home.
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