The Hokage's Office.
"How is Minato Namikaze doing?"
Jiraiya leaned against the window frame and stretched. "He signed the Summoning Contract, and Sage Fukasaku reverse-summoned him to Mount Myōboku."
Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned. "Reverse-summoned?"
Jiraiya shrugged and spread his hands. "I don't know why Minato was reverse-summoned there either."
He hadn't understood it himself, so he'd even made a trip to Mount Myōboku.
There, he'd learned that Sage Fukasaku had taken Minato to meet the Great Toad Sage.
Hiruzen Sarutobi gave his pupil a long look. Ever since returning from his training at Mount Myōboku, Jiraiya had done nothing but talk about some Child of Prophecy. He'd even replaced the Konoha symbol on his forehead protector with the inexplicable character for "oil."
"If I remember correctly, you said you wouldn't consider taking Minato as your pupil until he graduated?"
Although Hiruzen Sarutobi disliked Mount Myōboku's mystical nonsense, he was pleased that Jiraiya wanted to take a pupil.
This was how the Will of Fire was passed on!
He recalled what Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya had been like as children, and a smile crossed his face.
"A kid named Moonlight Ruyun gave me some inspiration."
"Oh? Moonlight Ruyun?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze shifted slightly. Because of Kushina Uzumaki, that name had left a strong impression on him.
The ANBU had already gathered every detail of his life, from birth to the present.
If Mito Uzumaki hadn't indicated that they shouldn't interfere too much...
"What sort of inspiration?"
"He said life is short, so don't leave yourself with too many regrets."
Jiraiya stared absently outside, his voice low. "War might not be far off."
"Life is short, hm?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi considered those words carefully. Still in the prime of his life, he let out a soft sigh. "Is that why you want to take a pupil early? To help Minato grow as quickly as possible?"
"Not just Minato. If possible, I'd like to teach Kushina and Moonlight Ruyun as well."
"What did you say?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes widened.
Was this really his lazy, unreliable pupil who spent every day going on about some Child of Prophecy?
Could a single sentence really have such a profound effect on Jiraiya?
He used to have to plead with Jiraiya to take a pupil.
Now Jiraiya wanted to teach three of them on his own initiative?
"What do you think, old man?"
"Don't call me old man." Hiruzen Sarutobi corrected him, then thought for a moment. "It's good that you're willing, but... no."
"No?"
Jiraiya folded his arms and gave him a puzzled look.
"I have other arrangements for them. Just focus on teaching Minato."
"What arrangements? Minato, Moonlight Ruyun, and Kushina Uzumaki would make the perfect team."
"Enough. Don't bring this up again."
Hiruzen Sarutobi refused flatly, without the slightest hesitation.
He could tolerate Mount Myōboku "leading Jiraiya astray," and perhaps Minato as well.
But the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... absolutely not!
That was Konoha's bottom line.
There was no room for negotiation.
Jiraiya opened his mouth, but under Hiruzen Sarutobi's stern gaze, he swallowed the words he wanted to say.
"Then make your own arrangements. I'm leaving."
Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped the desk. "Wait. Haven't you forgotten to tell me something?"
Jiraiya stumbled, a bad feeling rising in his chest.
He forced a smile and said guiltily, "What? If there's nothing important, I'll be off. I still have to bring Minato back."
"My pipe?"
At those words, Jiraiya's anxious heart finally sank for good.
His shoulders slumped. "Sensei, your wife put me up to it. She said you were smoking too much..."
"Not calling me old man anymore?" Hiruzen Sarutobi teased.
"Oh, come on."
"Biwako already told me everything. All right, give me my pipe."
Hiruzen Sarutobi held out his hand.
This is bad, Jiraiya thought.
The pipe was with Moonlight Ruyun, and he'd already made his grand claims yesterday.
Minato and Kushina had been there to witness it, too.
Was he supposed to go to the boy himself now and ask him to return his "Hokage souvenir"?
No. Absolutely not!
Just thinking about it made Jiraiya's face burn. He couldn't bear that humiliation.
After a moment's thought, he gave an awkward chuckle. "Well... I tossed it away at Mount Myōboku."
"What?" Hiruzen Sarutobi froze. "Why would you throw a pipe away at Mount Myōboku?"
His heart ached a little. He'd used that pipe for over ten years.
"Bring it back when you go to fetch Minato."
"I can't." Jiraiya stiffened his neck. "Mount Myōboku is too big. I forgot where I tossed it."
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "..."
Knock, knock, knock!
Someone knocked on the office door.
"Come in."
An ANBU member wearing an animal mask pushed the door open and said respectfully, "Lord Hokage, regarding Moonlight Ruyun..."
Hearing Moonlight Ruyun's name, Jiraiya stopped trying to slip away.
"You're saying someone named Hayato publicly challenged Moonlight Ruyun?"
"Yes, Lord Jiraiya."
Jiraiya looked puzzled. "Does something that trivial really need to be reported?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi waved a hand, and the ANBU member quietly withdrew.
He leaned back in his chair, considered for a moment, then took out a fist-sized crystal ball.
"Jiraiya, if you have something to do, go ahead."
Jiraiya firmly shook his head, eyeing the crystal ball with interest. "Sensei, could you give me one of those?"
"No."
"Stingy!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi ignored him and placed his palm on the crystal ball.
A blurry image gradually appeared on its surface, becoming clear within a few breaths.
A training ground, two people facing each other and making the Seal of Confrontation, and a crowd of onlookers.
"Moonlight Ruyun, open your eyes and watch closely! Despair over your fate-you haven't even learned ninjutsu!"
Hayato shouted at the top of his lungs, veins bulging in his neck.
His hands formed seals clumsily.
Moonlight Ruyun glanced toward Kushina, who stood at the edge of the field itching to jump in, and signaled with his eyes for her not to act rashly.
If she spat out a fireball over ten meters across...
Hayato would be lucky to leave an intact corpse.
"What are you babbling about?"
Since Hayato wanted to use ninjutsu, he had no intention of drawing his sword and charging in.
Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger.
He rapidly completed the seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
His chest swelled, his index and middle fingers held together as the hem of his clothes snapped in the wind.
An instant later, he spat out a fireball roughly a meter across.
Hayato stared blankly at the fireball already almost upon him, its searing heat burning his skin.
"How do you know ninjutsu too? I won't accept this! Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!"
"Urgh-"
The jutsu failed, and blood poured from Hayato's mouth and nose.
The teacher's expression changed. In an instant, he appeared just behind Hayato to one side, grabbed his shoulder, and hurled him aside.
A second later, the fireball slammed into the ground.
Boom!
With a deafening explosion, a large crater blasted open in the ground, sending dirt flying everywhere.
Some even flew into the half-open mouth of a boy in the front row.
He instinctively closed his mouth, then spat several times once he realized what had happened.
Only then did the crowd snap out of its daze.
"Ninjutsu?!"
No one knew who spoke first, but cries of astonishment rose from the crowd one after another.
The Hokage's Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi swept his palm over the crystal ball, and the image vanished.
"I knew I had a good eye for talent. Did he deliberately limit the Great Fireball's power?" Jiraiya rubbed his chin and nodded in satisfaction. "He wasn't aiming at his classmate either, but at the ground."
Hiruzen Sarutobi silently nodded. Anyone who could unleash a Great Fireball of that power at this age deserved to be called a genius.
Of course, what he valued even more was the Will of Fire burning brightly within the boy.
As for Hayato, he wasn't worth their attention.
He'd issued the challenge himself, so he had no one else to blame.
His jutsu had merely gone out of control. A few months in bed would set him right.
"Sensei, who do you want to teach Ruyun and Kushina?"
Before you continue