The rain was still falling, pattering softly against the ground.
Shin-chan yawned, his eyelids beginning to droop.
"If you're tired, you can sleep for a while," Konan said softly. "The rain won't stop anytime soon."
"Then I'll sleep for half an hour." Shin-chan rubbed his eyes, found a relatively flat corner, and before long, his breathing became slow and even.
"A Konoha ninja, yet he has absolutely no sense of caution," Nagato said quietly. "In a place like this, anyone could kill him."
Yahiko shook his head. "He believes we won't hurt him."
Konan gently adjusted the wood in the fire, making the flames burn brighter. "He's different from every ninja we've ever met."
"Yeah." Yahiko looked at the endless curtain of rain outside the cave. "No one else would share their money with bandits or invite us to join something called the 'Chocolate Stick Alliance.'"
"The things he says sound stupid, but when you think about them carefully, they somehow make a little sense."
Nagato was silent for a while. "He's too naïve. This world can't be changed with chocolate sticks and kindness."
"Maybe." Yahiko sighed. "But if even that small amount of kindness disappears, then this world truly has no hope left."
The three of them fell silent. Only the sounds of rain and burning firewood echoed through the cave.
No one knew how much time passed before Shin-chan suddenly woke from his sleep and shot upright.
"What happened?" Yahiko jumped in surprise.
"Ramen!" Shin-chan said with a horrified expression. "I dreamed that I went to eat ramen, and the owner told me they had run out of chashu!"
Yahiko: "..."
Nagato: "..."
Konan: "..."
"Can't you dream about anything else?" Yahiko asked helplessly.
"No." Shin-chan shook his head with a serious expression. "In my dreams, food is the eternal theme."
He looked outside the cave. The rain had weakened considerably.
"I should get going." Shin-chan stood up and stretched. "I still need to check out some other places."
"It's too dangerous for you to go alone. The Land of Rain is full of wandering ninja and bandits right now. If you wander around by yourself, someone will easily stop you again."
"But I run really fast."
"Running fast and getting stopped are two different things." Nagato leaned against the cave wall. "Weren't you stopped earlier?"
"That was because I didn't want to run."
Yahiko stood up and brushed the dirt from his trousers. "We'll go with you. The three of us were going to patrol this area anyway, so it's on the way."
"On the way? You don't even know where I'm going."
"Then where are you going?" Konan also stood up.
Shin-chan looked upward and thought for a while before confidently answering, "I don't know."
"You don't know?" Yahiko thought he had misheard.
"All I know is that it rains every day in the Land of Rain and that a bunch of unidentified ninja have been wandering around the border. I don't know anything else."
Konan and Yahiko exchanged glances.
A Konoha ninja had been sent on a reconnaissance mission, yet he didn't even know what he was supposed to investigate and had simply charged into the Land of Rain by himself?
Nagato leaned against the cave wall, disbelief in his voice. "Does Konoha always assign missions this casually?"
"It wasn't casual." Shin-chan shook his head. "Grandpa Third gave me a money pouch and told me to be careful and not fight anyone. The mission instructions were very detailed."
Yahiko couldn't help retorting, "Everything except the actual mission was detailed."
"Then what are you going to do?" Konan asked.
Shin-chan fell silent for a moment, his expression becoming exceptionally solemn.
"First, I'm going to eat ramen."
The cave was silent for a full three seconds.
"What did you say?" Nagato was the first to react.
"Ramen," Shin-chan repeated. "I dreamed that they ran out of chashu. That means my body is warning me that something bad will happen if I don't eat ramen soon."
"What kind of strange warning is your body giving you?!"
"A ninja must learn to listen to his body." Shin-chan raised one finger. "My stomach just growled three times. In Konoha, we call that a 'Triple-Growl Warning.' It's the most urgent hunger signal."
Konan covered her mouth, her shoulders trembling slightly.
Nagato turned expressionlessly toward Yahiko. "Are we really going to follow this person?"
Before Yahiko could answer, Shin-chan had already walked to the cave entrance.
"Besides, think about it. Ramen shops are the best places to gather intelligence."
"Why?"
"Because people eating ramen always chat." Shin-chan turned around. "Which village's ninja have arrived, where bandits have started robbing people again—you can hear anything inside a ramen shop. In Konoha, we call it the 'Ramen Intelligence Network.' Apparently, it was a tactic invented by the Second Hokage."
Yahiko froze. "Your Second Hokage invented something like that?"
"Of course." Shin-chan spoke without changing his expression. "He also invented the 'Dipping Sauce Intelligence Network' and the 'Oden Intelligence Network.' But later, he discovered that the dipping sauce was too salty and the oden was too hot, so only the Ramen Intelligence Network remained."
Konan finally couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
Yahiko rubbed his temples. This was the first time anyone had ever discussed the intelligence value of ramen shops with him.
When the four of them left the cave, the sky was still grey and gloomy.
"So, do you usually operate around this area?"
"Not just here. We travel throughout the Land of Rain," Yahiko said as he walked at the front. "Wherever there are people who need help, we go."
Shin-chan nodded. With every step, he deliberately aimed for the deepest puddles, as though he were trying to make the muddy water splash.
"Can't you walk properly?" Nagato finally couldn't stand it anymore.
"I am walking properly."
"You call that walking properly?"
"This is serpentine movement," Shin-chan explained seriously. "If enemies are lying in ambush, moving in a straight line makes you easy to target. Moving in a zigzag reduces the chance of being hit."
"There aren't any enemies here."
"Enemies often appear when you're most relaxed."
Nagato fell silent and gave up discussing the matter with him.
After walking a few more steps, Shin-chan suddenly shouted, "I've got it!"
"Got what?"
"I was just wondering where I would hide if I were intelligence."
Yahiko raised an eyebrow. "And?"
"Then I put myself in the intelligence's position. If I were intelligence, I definitely wouldn't want anyone to find me, so I'd hide in the most inconspicuous place." Shin-chan rubbed his chin. "So, what is the most inconspicuous place in the Land of Rain?"
All three waited for his answer.
"I don't know." Shin-chan lowered his hand. "My knowledge of the Land of Rain is limited to 'it rains here every day.' If you asked me to point out the Land of Rain on a map, I'd probably have a fifty per cent chance of getting it right."
Yahiko couldn't help laughing. "Then what were you thinking about with such a serious expression?"
"I was trying to come up with an answer that sounded reasonable, but I failed."
Nagato closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Shin-chan showed no embarrassment whatsoever. "Anyway, I really don't know where to go. Why don't you recommend a few places?"