The next morning, Misae grabbed the corner of the blanket and flipped it up. Shin-chan rolled onto the floor together with his pajamas like a scoop of ice cream.
"Get up."
Shin-chan curled into a ball on the floor, eyes still closed, mumbling vaguely.
"Let me sleep a little longer..."
"No." Misae placed a letter in front of him. "Your classmate brought this."
Shin-chan opened one eye a crack.
On the floor was a pink envelope.
"Classmate?" Shin-chan sat up.
"A girl with brown hair." Misae thought about it.
"Rin?"
"I think that was her name." Misae turned and walked toward the kitchen. "A very polite child."
Shin-chan unfolded the letter. The handwriting on it was neat and proper.
[Shin-chan:
I heard you completed a C-rank mission. Congratulations!
A few of us discussed it and want to celebrate for you.
Obito said we definitely have to invite you, and Guy said it's been a long time since he saw you.
After school, we'll meet at the dango shop, the one we used to go to.
You have to come!
Rin]
Shin-chan shouted toward the kitchen.
"They said they want to eat together and celebrate us completing the mission."
Misae poked her head out from the kitchen. "When?"
"After school."
"Are you going?"
Shin-chan thought about it. "I'm going."
Rin would be there. Guy would be there. Obito would be there too.
It had been a long time since he had seen them. When was the last time?
He thought about it, but couldn't remember.
Forget it. He would see them today anyway.
When Shin-chan arrived at Namikaze Minato's apartment, the door wasn't locked.
He pushed it open and poked his head inside.
"Morning." Namikaze Minato sat at the table, several scrolls covered in jutsu diagrams spread out before him.
Shin-chan pushed the door open and walked in. "Where's the red-haired sister?"
"She has another mission today."
Shin-chan gave an "oh" and was quiet for about three seconds.
"Did the red-haired sister teach you sealing techniques?"
"Most of them." Namikaze Minato pushed a sheet of white paper in front of Shin-chan. Three formula symbols had already been drawn on it. "Let's start first."
Shin-chan lowered his head and looked at the symbols on the paper.
"I know this one. Fixing."
"Right." Namikaze Minato nodded and continued explaining.
At first, Shin-chan sat properly, but after about ten minutes, his body began tilting to the left.
Namikaze Minato suddenly stopped, his gaze shifting toward the window.
Almost at the same time, the window was pushed open from outside.
A tall man with white hair climbed in through the window frame. "Minato, listen to this..."
The moment his feet touched the floor, his gaze landed on Shin-chan sitting at the table.
His whole body froze for about a second.
Shin-chan lifted his head and looked at this white-haired man who had descended from the sky.
Then he raised one hand.
"Hi, weird uncle."
The corner of Jiraiya's eye twitched.
"Why are you here?"
Shin-chan tilted his head and thought about it.
"I walked here."
"That's not what I'm asking." Jiraiya scratched his hair. "I'm asking why you're here."
"I came to learn sealing techniques."
"He said that." Jiraiya pointed at Shin-chan and looked at Namikaze Minato. "Is it true?"
"It's true." Namikaze Minato nodded. "Lord Hokage asked me to teach him the Flying Thunder God Technique, so I'm first teaching him some basics of sealing techniques."
Jiraiya was silent for three seconds. "The old man told you to teach a five-year-old kid the Flying Thunder God Technique?"
"Yes."
Jiraiya walked to the table and lowered his head to look at the scrolls spread out there.
"Can you understand this?"
"No," Shin-chan answered simply.
"Interesting." Jiraiya sat down beside the table, one leg crossed and the other propped up. "You two continue. I'll watch."
Namikaze Minato turned his attention back to Shin-chan.
"Let's continue. We were talking about the central structure of the sealing formula..."
Shin-chan moved his gaze back to the formula diagram.
This time, he lasted about fifteen seconds before his eyes began spinning again.
Jiraiya sat beside them with his arms crossed, watching Shin-chan's head droop lower and lower.
Namikaze Minato was still explaining patiently.
"Look at the direction of this connecting line. It starts from the 'fixing' symbol..."
Shin-chan's head dropped onto the tabletop with a soft thud.
Jiraiya shook his head. "Minato."
Namikaze Minato stopped and looked up at him.
"Teaching like this won't work." Jiraiya jerked his chin toward Shin-chan. "Look at this kid. He's about to fall asleep."
Shin-chan's face was pressed against the tabletop. His eyes were still open, but his pupils had already lost focus.
"I'm not asleep." His voice squeezed out from the gap between the tabletop and his cheek. "I'm listening."
"You call this listening?" Jiraiya bent down and waved a hand in front of Shin-chan.
Shin-chan's eyes followed his hand for a moment, then stopped moving again.
"Sealing techniques aren't something a five-year-old kid can understand just by sitting and listening." Jiraiya looked at Namikaze Minato. "How old were you when you started learning sealing techniques?"
Namikaze Minato thought about it. "Ten."
"Ten." Jiraiya repeated. "And Minato, you have outstanding talent."
He walked to the window and pushed it open wider. Wind blew in from outside, lifting one corner of the papers on the table.
"If his brain is already full and you keep forcing more in, whatever you pour in will just leak out the other side." Jiraiya turned around. "Better to go outside and move around. Let his brain get some fresh air."
Namikaze Minato looked outside. The weather was good, the sunlight bright but not harsh.
Then he looked at Shin-chan.
Shin-chan had already lifted his head from the tabletop, light returning to his eyes.
"Go outside and move around?"
"Right." Jiraiya grinned.
"Where?"
Jiraiya didn't answer. He simply reached out and patted Shin-chan on the head. "Coming or not?"
Shin-chan bounced up from the floor and ran two pattering steps toward the door, then stopped and turned back to look at Namikaze Minato.
Namikaze Minato smiled, stood up, and gathered the scrolls on the table.
"Go ahead."
Shin-chan continued running toward the entryway.
Then Jiraiya grabbed him by the back of his collar and lifted him up.
"Why use the front door?"
"Huh?" Shin-chan's feet dangled in midair.
Jiraiya carried Shin-chan and turned toward the window. "Ninja use windows."
"Teacher Jiraiya..." Namikaze Minato opened his mouth, but in the end, he still followed.
The three of them climbed out through the window.
Shin-chan stood on the rooftop and looked around.
The rooftops of Konoha formed a connected sea, rising and falling at different heights. In the distance, the Hokage Rock glowed faintly gold beneath the sunlight.
"Where are we going?"
Jiraiya walked at the front, his wooden sandals clacking against the roof tiles.
"To a place where your brain can get some fresh air."
Then he grabbed Shin-chan by the back of the collar again and leaped off the rooftop.
Wind whistled past Shin-chan's ears. His hands and feet flailed in midair, and he made muffled sounds.
~~~
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