Minato Namikaze! (Seeking follow-up reads, seeking collection!!)

Leaf Village.

Uchiha Clan compound, Uchiha Chen's residence.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A series of urgent knocks echoed out.

"Coming, coming! What are you pounding so hard for?"

"If you break my door, are you going to pay for it?"

"Damn it, that old bastard Uchiha Sanhe still hasn't sent the money over after all these months. When I have the time, I'm definitely going to storm his place and get it back!"

Uchiha Chen grumbled and cursed as he walked out from the inner room, heading straight for the front gate.

With a creak, Uchiha Chen opened the door to find an Anbu member standing outside, wearing a cat mask and a white cloak.

Uchiha Chen recognized this Anbu member; he was one of the personal guards belonging to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, codenamed Xiang.

Uchiha Chen only knew him because of Jiraiya.

Ever since Uchiha Chen and Jiraiya had started calling each other brothers five months ago, Jiraiya had been living at Uchiha Chen's place.

Whenever the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, needed to find Jiraiya, he would send Xiang as a messenger. Through these repeated visits, Uchiha Chen had gotten to know him.

However, because Jiraiya was always staying here, combined with the deterrent presence of Tsunade, who would drop by from time to time, those who had originally wanted to cause trouble for Uchiha Chen could never find the right opportunity.

In a way, this had indirectly saved Uchiha Chen from quite a lot of headaches.

Seeing the grumbling Uchiha Chen, Xiang didn't seem flustered in the slightest; clearly, this wasn't his first time experiencing such a scene.

"Big Brother, Xiang is here. I bet the old man is looking for you again!"

The moment he saw Xiang, Uchiha Chen guessed his purpose. He didn't even bother asking, simply turning his head to shout toward the inner room.

After all, every time Xiang came, it was to find Jiraiya.

Although Xiang stood perfectly still, the face hidden beneath his mask twitched from time to time. Aside from Uchiha Chen and Jiraiya, probably no one else dared to call the Third Hokage "the old man."

"Not going, not going! Go back and tell the old man I'm heading out to gather material—I'm busy!"

Before long, Jiraiya's lazy voice drifted out from the inner room.

Gathering material, my foot. He stayed at Uchiha Chen's place every single day without even stepping out the door; what kind of material was he gathering?

Though he complained internally, Xiang didn't dare voice those thoughts.

Instead, Xiang stepped forward and cupped his hands around his mouth, forming a megaphone.

Wearing a mask, does that really amplify the sound?

Uchiha Chen stared at Xiang's actions, unable to stop himself from wanting to mock him.

As Xiang shouted loudly, his voice still sounded muffled.

"Lord Jiraiya, this time the Third Hokage only asked me to convey one message: Lord Minato has returned to the village!"

Minato? He's back in the village? Does this mean the Third Shinobi World War is coming to an end?

Hearing that Minato had returned, these thoughts instantly popped into Uchiha Chen's mind.

Just as Uchiha Chen was lost in thought, Jiraiya appeared at his side, seemingly out of nowhere, and asked hurriedly, "What? Minato is back?"

"Yes, Lord Minato is currently with the Third Hokage."

Xiang nodded honestly.

"Brother Chen, shall we go? How about I take you to meet Minato?"

Jiraiya tilted his head and extended an invitation to Uchiha Chen.

"Let's go!"

Uchiha Chen didn't even hesitate to accept Jiraiya's invitation.

If there was anyone in the original story for whom Uchiha Chen felt a natural affinity and rose-tinted glasses, aside from Jiraiya, it was Minato.

This was a man who could be called perfect—the Yellow Flash!

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

No sooner had the words left his lips than Jiraiya and Uchiha Chen activated the Body Flicker Technique, turning into two afterimages as they departed.

"Xiang, please help me close the door on your way out~~"

Before Xiang could even marvel at how fast Jiraiya and Uchiha Chen's Body Flicker techniques were, Uchiha Chen's voice drifted back. Xiang felt his entire mood sour instantly.

Leaf Village, Hokage Office.

Looking at Minato and Hatake Kakashi before him, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, stroked his goatee with great satisfaction.

These two people standing before him were the two individuals who had performed the most brilliantly on the Leaf's side during this Shinobi World War.

The key was that both of them were still very young—one twenty-five, the other fourteen—and they were teacher and student at that.

The most crucial point of all was that Minato was the student of his own student; it was a direct lineage!

"Minato, this time..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi gripped his pipe, preparing to speak, when two whistling sounds cut through the air outside the window.

The sounds drew closer, followed by two sharp swish noises as a pair of blurs streaked past, and suddenly, two people appeared inside the Hokage's office.

"Yo, old man, I've brought someone to see you!"

These two were none other than Uchiha Chen and Jiraiya, who had just arrived.

"See me? Do you even believe that yourself?"

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Teacher!"

Seeing that the person who had arrived was his teacher, Jiraiya, Minato was filled with pleasant surprise.

"Haha, Minato, this time your teacher has brought you something good!"

Jiraiya laughed heartily, pulled a book from his robes, and handed it to Minato.

Uchiha Chen glanced at it; the so-called "good thing" was none other than the novel Tales of a Gutsy Ninja written by Jiraiya himself. Uchiha Chen had read it before, and it was just average—compared to the novels written by the great masters he had read in his past life, there was still a significant gap.

"Thank you, Teacher. You've really worked hard!"

Taking the novel, Minato's eyes lit up; it was clear he liked this book very much.

Just as Jiraiya and Minato were sharing their teacher-student bond, Uchiha Chen, standing to the side, let his eyes dart around, observing the people in the room.

There weren't many people present; aside from himself, there were only four others.

He recognized Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi and Jiraiya.

Then there was Minato, who was currently talking to Jiraiya. With that striking yellow hair, blue eyes, and sunny, handsome face, Uchiha Chen recognized him at a single glance. This person in the flesh looked almost exactly as if he had walked right out of the manga!

The only one left was the white-masked youth beside Minato. There was no need to guess; this was Hatake Kakashi. Looking at his despondent appearance, Rin Nohara must have met the same fate as in the original story, choosing to die by Hatake Kakashi's Chidori...

After a long while, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi rapped his desk hard and spoke up.

"Alright, everyone be quiet. I didn't call you here today for you to reminisce!"

Seeing that everyone had stopped, Hiruzen Sarutobi cleared his throat and continued.

"Minato, your performance this time was truly stunning. Relying on your own strength to heavily damage the main forces of Iwagakure and Kirigakure has given our Konoha a chance to breathe. This is a great achievement."

"However..."