Naruto Uzumaki picked at his ear, looking utterly unconcerned. He even casually rested the Truth-Seeking Orb Staff on his shoulder, as though he were chatting in the sunshine at the village entrance rather than fighting a duel to the death.
He tilted his head, pure curiosity on his face, and loudly asked a question entirely of his own accord:
"Hey, old man Six Paths, now that I think about it..."
Naruto drew out his words, blinking his Six-Tomoe Rinnegan:
"What kind of girls do you actually like?"
Asked in the heat of battle, the question was jarringly abrupt and inappropriate, even a little absurd.
But Naruto asked it so naturally, as though he really had just developed a sudden interest in this thousand-year-old man's taste in women.
The unexpected question stunned the Sage of Six Paths, and even the Amenonuhoko in his hand paused slightly.
He frowned, unsure what this kid was up to now.
But through some instinctive response, or because Naruto's description of someone "gentle, kind, and devoted to her family" had truly touched a tender place in his heart, his thoughts drifted uncontrollably into the distant past...
He remembered the wife who had given him warmth and support during those war-torn years, borne Asura and Indra with him, and stood beside him through the difficult early days of founding Ninshu.
She had been a truly gentle, kind, resilient woman who regarded her family and husband as her everything, one of the few havens in his long life that had brought him genuine peace and happiness.
Though his wife had long since passed into history, those memories and feelings remained treasured deep in his heart.
And so, under Naruto's faintly expectant gaze, the Sage of Six Paths unconsciously gave a slight nod. An exceedingly faint but genuine smile