The doorbell rang.
Misae walked to the entrance and opened the door.
Shin-chan poked his head out from beside Misae, glanced at the visitor, then squeezed past her and slipped out.
"Uncle."
Maruboshi Kosuke lowered his head and looked at the little boy in front of him. The corner of his mouth moved. "Shin-chan."
"Uncle, why are you here?"
Maruboshi Kosuke was silent for a short while, as if organizing his words.
"I came to see you."
"See me?" Shin-chan pointed at his own nose.
"Mm." Maruboshi Kosuke nodded. "I wanted to take you out for a walk."
Shin-chan looked back at Misae.
Misae hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Don't come back too late."
"Okay."
Shin-chan followed Maruboshi Kosuke outside.
Night had already fallen, and the streetlights were lighting up one by one.
"Uncle, listen."
Maruboshi Kosuke lowered his head to look at him.
"I studied sealing techniques all day today." Shin-chan put both hands behind his back. "Those symbols were like tadpoles, swimming all over the place."
Maruboshi Kosuke said nothing and quietly listened.
"Then I thought of a way. I used shadow clones to help me look." When Shin-chan reached this part, a proud expression appeared on his face. "I made lots and lots of them."
"And then?"
"Then they all became like me. Their eyes turned into mosquito coils." Shin-chan's shoulders slumped. "After Dad came home, he made me dispel all of them."
The corner of Maruboshi Kosuke's mouth moved.
"But I didn't give up." Shin-chan puffed out his chest again.
The two walked forward along the street. The surrounding houses gradually became fewer, and the trees grew more numerous.
Shin-chan talked the whole way, from sealing techniques to Misae's dinner, then from dinner to pretty big sisters.
Maruboshi Kosuke listened quietly the entire time, occasionally nodding and giving a short "mm."
They arrived at the training ground.
The river nearby reflected the moonlight, breaking it into silver-white fragments.
Maruboshi Kosuke walked to the riverbank and stood facing the water for a long time.
"About what happened that night..." Maruboshi Kosuke paused. "I didn't do what I should have."
Shin-chan blinked and said nothing.
"I was the leader of that mission." Maruboshi Kosuke's voice deepened. "Protecting you was my responsibility, but I let you run out of my sight and almost..."
His voice caught.
The river flowed with a soft rush, filling the silence between them.
"I was the one who ran off on my own."
Maruboshi Kosuke lowered his head and looked at the little boy standing beside his leg.
"I run really fast," Shin-chan said. "I go whoosh and I'm far away. It's normal that you couldn't catch up."
The corner of Maruboshi Kosuke's mouth moved.
"Even my mom can't catch me." Shin-chan put both hands behind his back. "Every time she chases me, she gets all out of breath and says, 'Shin-chan, stop right there!'"
Maruboshi Kosuke looked at him and remained silent for a long time.
The river rushed by at their feet, carrying the moonlight away into the distance.
"Many years ago," Maruboshi Kosuke suddenly changed the topic, "Lord Second Hokage once whipped me with a Water Style jutsu."
"Water Style?"
"Mm." Maruboshi Kosuke raised his right hand and looked at his callused palm. "I want to teach you that Water Style technique."
Shin-chan's face immediately fell.
A whole day of studying.
His head was full of tadpoles.
He raised both hands over his head in surrender.
"No."
"Shin-chan."
"I already studied for eight hours today." Shin-chan dragged out his voice. "My brain is going to explode. It's full of tadpoles having a meeting."
Maruboshi Kosuke said nothing more. He faced the river and formed hand seals in front of his chest.
Rat, Dragon, Hare, Tiger.
Chakra surged from Maruboshi Kosuke's body, and the river water suddenly rose from the riverbed. A dragon formed from flowing water lifted itself from the surface.
Shin-chan's mouth fell open. "So cool."
The dragon circled through the air, then dove down with a low rumble, skimming across the river's surface.
"This is what Lord Tobirama taught me," Maruboshi Kosuke said as he looked at the river. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu."
"So cool."
"The hand seals for Water Dragon Bullet are Rat, Dragon, Hare, Tiger." Maruboshi Kosuke slowly demonstrated them once.
Shin-chan's fingers were short, and when he formed the seals, two of his fingers got tangled together. It took him a long time to untangle them.
"They're stuck."
"Take it slowly."
Shin-chan tried a few more times by himself, and finally he managed to form the seals smoothly.
"Forming the seals is only the first step," Maruboshi Kosuke said. "Water Dragon Bullet requires you to pull up a dragon shape from the water surface. You have to make the water take the shape you want."
Shin-chan looked a little lost.
"You learned Moving Earth Core in one night," Maruboshi Kosuke comforted him. "Water Dragon Bullet won't be harder than that."
Shin-chan was silent for a while, then took a deep breath.
"Okay then."
Shin-chan finished forming the seals, then pushed both hands forward.
Nothing happened.
The river surface was quiet and still. There wasn't even a splash.
Shin-chan looked at his hands, then at the river.
"Again," Maruboshi Kosuke said.
Shin-chan formed the seals again.
A ring of ripples spread across the river surface.
"No good." Shin-chan lowered his hands. "The water won't listen to me."
Maruboshi Kosuke silently looked at the river. Shin-chan was a genius, just like how he had learned Moving Earth Core in one night.
"Again."
Shin-chan began forming seals again.
Over the following stretch of time, all kinds of shapes appeared on the river surface one after another: a crooked, wobbly pillar, a strangely bulging patch of water that made no sense...
Every time Shin-chan failed, he would look at Maruboshi Kosuke. Maruboshi Kosuke said nothing and only nodded, so Shin-chan turned back and continued.
The moon rose from behind the treetops, lighting up the entire river.
Shin-chan's arms dropped down and swayed at his sides. "Uncle, I'm tired."
"Then rest for a while." Maruboshi Kosuke sighed.
Shin-chan sat down on the grass by the riverbank, his two feet hanging above the water and swinging back and forth. Maruboshi Kosuke sat down beside him, and the two of them watched the river side by side.
"Uncle."
"Mm."
"This Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu..." Shin-chan's voice was sleepy and muffled. "I still haven't learned it."
"It's fine."
"Then you still have to teach me later."
Maruboshi Kosuke turned his head and looked at him.
Shin-chan wasn't looking at him. He had his head tilted up, gazing at the moon in the sky.
Later...
Maruboshi Kosuke looked at Shin-chan's side profile and suddenly wasn't sure whether this child had truly failed to learn it, or was pretending not to have learned it.
Someone who could learn Moving Earth Core in one night shouldn't be stuck on Water Dragon Bullet.
But Shin-chan had failed for the entire night. Every single time, he made some strange, misshapen splash of water, and every single time, he tilted his head to look at Maruboshi Kosuke's reaction.
Maruboshi Kosuke lowered his head.
A lifelong genin like him, once the mission ended, ought to retreat back to the place that belonged to him.
In the future, he probably shouldn't have any more connection with these children.
"Uncle?"
Shin-chan's voice pulled him back.
Maruboshi Kosuke closed his hand into a loose fist.
"Alright."
Shin-chan's eyes curved into a smile, as if he had received some incredible promise.
"Then I'll come find you to learn again later."