In his previous life, he had seen people online offer their assessments of Minato Namikaze.
Things like using the greatest speed to flirt with the hottest girl.
Becoming the youngest Hokage and sealing the strongest Tailed Beast.
Or fathering the fiercest son and being the first to kick the bucket, and so on.
But what Senju Chen admired most was how he had started with none of the three advantages: no Kekkei Genkai, no secret clan techniques, and no Tailed Beast.
Through training, he had become the fastest man in the Shinobi World and the Hokage of its strongest ninja village.
An ordinary man had actually managed to turn even the Uzumaki Family's red-haired genes blond. All one could say was that this man was terrifying indeed.
Minato Namikaze had truly relied on no cheats whatsoever, getting by purely on talent and ability. In Senju Chen's eyes, even Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan, might not measure up to him.
With a mere mortal's body, he had even split the Nine-Tails and sealed its halves separately. The last person to separate Tailed Beasts had been the Sage of Six Paths. Later on, with only half the Nine-Tails inside him, he had dared to trade blows with Six Paths Obito.
He had been only twenty-four when he died, yet he already possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique, enough to cement his legendary status, and the Rasengan, a hand-seal-free ninjutsu he had developed himself. If Minato had survived the later Nine-Tails invasion, the mark he had left on Obito's back probably would have forced Obito to watch himself even when going to the toilet.
The Nine-Tails' rampage would happen in roughly seven or eight years. If his abilities were sufficient by then, perhaps he could try to save this Fourth Hokage who had died so young.
Minato Namikaze's arrival was like a ray of warm sunlight, dispelling the awkwardness and gloom Jiraiya had brought. This man was a walking affection magnet.
His appearance even softened Sister Tsunade's expression a little.
He was neither as flighty as Jiraiya nor as scrutinizing as other ninja. He simply smiled gently, his azure eyes as clear as the sky after rain, without a trace of impurity.
With Senju Chen's deliberate "assistance," this genius ninja known as the "Yellow Flash" became a new regular at the Senju estate.
Sometimes, Jiraiya dragged him there as a "shield"; other times, he brought novel little trinkets of his own accord to visit Tsunade and the Senju Clan's "young master."
To Tsunade, Minato was one of the few younger ninja she could stand and genuinely appreciated. His visits allowed her taut nerves to relax, and even her drinking became considerably less frequent.
For Senju Chen, meanwhile, this was a heaven-sent opportunity.
Recently, Senju Chen had studied and copied the many Sealing Jutsu scrolls left behind by the clan. He had not sought complete accuracy, only a resemblance. After this period of practice, he could already reproduce basic Sealing Jutsu without the slightest discrepancy.
Whenever Minato Namikaze visited, he dropped the wariness and timidity he showed around Jiraiya, instead displaying the wholehearted adoration and closeness that fans in his previous life had shown toward celebrities.
"Big Brother Minato, did your last mission take you to the Land of Wind? Is the sand there hot enough to cook an egg?"
That afternoon, Senju Chen clutched the hem of Minato's jonin vest in his little hand and looked up, his eyes shining with the purest yearning and curiosity toward the unknown world.
His body was soft and warm, carrying a faint milky scent that easily touched the softest part of the battle-hardened Minato Namikaze's heart.
"Yes, the sand gets very hot." Minato's voice was gentle and smooth as he patiently answered the little fellow's many strange questions. "But ninja have special shoes, so we don't burn ourselves walking on it."
"Then... Big Brother Minato, have you ever met really, really bad people on your missions? Do you use really powerful ninjutsu to send them flying with a 'whoosh'?" As Senju Chen spoke, he made an exaggerated gesture with his little hands, making both Minato and Shizune, who was preparing tea nearby, laugh.
Tsunade leaned against a veranda pillar, holding a cup of plain tea. As she watched the heartwarming scene, her gaze was softer than ever. Minato deserved much of the credit for her little brother emerging from the shadows of his past and becoming so lively and cheerful.
Only Jiraiya, sitting nearby and forced to listen, grumbled inwardly.
This brat... why does he seem like a completely different person? Just a few days ago, he was scared stiff of me, and now he's so friendly with Minato? Was I born with a villain's face?
Jiraiya rubbed the stubble on his chin, utterly baffled.
Senju Chen took in everyone's reactions. He knew the time was ripening. The closeness and adoration he displayed were like slowly boiling a frog, lowering Minato's guard bit by bit and drawing him into the net he had carefully woven.
During another conversation, Minato explained the principles behind the Flying Thunder God Technique to Senju Chen-naturally, in a fairy-tale version a four-year-old could understand.
"...Just like that, I leave a special mark somewhere first. Then, wherever I am, whenever I want, I can go 'whoosh' and return to that mark."
Listening in "rapt fascination," Senju Chen picked up paper and a brush from the low table nearby and began scribbling, muttering as he did, "A mark... is it like drawing?"
He drew some shapeless, crooked lines that looked exactly like a child's idle doodles.
As he drew, he suddenly stopped, furrowed his little brows in distress, and pouted. "Grandpa First's and Grandpa Second's notes have lots and lots of complicated patterns too. They're a hundred times more complicated than the marks Big Brother Minato talked about! I can't understand any of them."
Those words successfully drew everyone's attention.
Tsunade smiled. "Little Chen, those aren't patterns. They're sealing formulas Grandpa left behind, some of the most powerful jutsu in the world."
"Sealing Jutsu?" Senju Chen's eyes instantly lit up. Dropping the brush, he ran over to Minato in a few steps and took his hand, looking at him with longing in his eyes. "Big Brother Minato, can you draw those really powerful symbols? The kind that lock bad guys up so they can't move!"
His innocent, slightly excited tone made it impossible to refuse.
Amused by his earnest expression, Minato affectionately ruffled Senju Chen's soft hair and smiled. "Sure. I'll draw the simplest one for you."
With that, he picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and turned his wrist. A simple, flowing symbol appeared on the paper. It was the most basic "binding" sealing formula, introductory material taught at the Ninja Academy.
"See? Just like this. All you need to do is channel chakra..."
Before Minato could finish, he stopped.
Across from him, Senju Chen had merely taken one focused look at the formula he had drawn before silently picking up another brush.
Everyone's eyes involuntarily focused on that fair, tender little hand, which still carried a little baby fat.
That little hand held a brush far too large for it, yet remained astonishingly steady.
There was not the slightest hesitation, not the faintest pause.
Stroke by stroke.
Beginning, continuation, turn, and finish.
A "binding" formula identical to Minato's appeared on another sheet of white paper, almost as though it had been duplicated.
The thickness of the lines, the shades of the ink, and even the markings of several key points in the formula's structure that represented the flow of chakra were all flawlessly accurate!
In the sitting room, one could have heard a pin drop.
The smile froze on Tsunade's face.
Jiraiya's hand, which had just lifted his teacup, stopped in midair, his mouth falling slightly open.
And on the face of Minato Namikaze, the "Yellow Flash" renowned for his composure and speed, that gentle smile seemed to freeze and crack apart inch by inch.
A four-year-old child... with a photographic memory?
No, a photographic memory alone couldn't explain this anymore. Such perfect comprehension and reproduction of a formula's structure was practically... practically an inborn instinct!
Yet something that would make Minato's scalp prickle even more was still to come.
"Big Brother Minato, did I draw it right?"
A four-year-old child...
He hadn't merely understood it. He had even... reproduced it?
This... this was beyond anything the word "talent" could encompass!
The teacup in Jiraiya's hand fell to the floor with a crack, shattering into pieces, but he did not notice at all. He stared fixedly at Senju Chen, towering waves surging through his clouded eyes.
The Child of Prophecy... the Great Toad Sage's prophecy... could it... could it really mean...
That thought grew like wild weeds, impossible to restrain!
Tsunade was the only one who did not think that deeply. She recovered from her initial shock, which gave way to unparalleled pride!
As expected of the Senju Clan's bloodline! As expected of my little brother!
She stepped forward, swept Senju Chen into her arms, and planted a hard kiss on his tender cheek. "Little Chen really is a genius!"
Held in her arms, Senju Chen obediently nuzzled Tsunade's cheek, his face showing the shyness and happiness of being praised.
At that moment, he could clearly sense that the way Minato Namikaze looked at him had changed completely.
There was shock, appreciation, and disbelief in that gaze, but more than anything, there was the affection and regard of someone who had discovered an unparalleled treasure.
Sure enough, Minato took a deep breath, calmed the turmoil within him, and walked up to Senju Chen. "Little Chen, you... you really are a Sealing Jutsu genius!"
He paused, a smile of unprecedented warmth appearing on his face.
"Speaking of which, a friend of mine is a true master of Sealing Jutsu. Next time, I'll definitely introduce you to her!"
Anyone who had watched Naruto knew that the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu was renowned throughout the world. Eighty percent of the Sealing Jutsu in the Naruto world came from the Uzumaki Clan, and as for Minato Namikaze's friend... hehehe...
Senju Chen raised his head, his eyes shining with "anticipation," and nodded vigorously, his voice clear and bright:
"Okay! Thank you, Big Brother Minato!"