After declining Jiraiya's invitation, Naruto Uzumaki took a deep look at the man's departing back.
After witnessing the power of the Spiral Wheel Orb (original: Helix Lunyu — likely a mistranslation of a Rasengan-type technique), Jiraiya seemed to lose interest in sightseeing and slowly walked toward the center of Uzushiogakure without even turning around.
Naruto didn't immediately follow him. He didn't believe Jiraiya would suddenly try to stir up chaos in Uzushiogakure.
In Naruto's impression, Jiraiya was still a good old man who pursued peace in the ninja world—provided that the peace was achieved under the leadership of Konoha.
But paradoxically, Jiraiya had always been searching for the Child of Prophecy, someone who would bring peace to the world, rather than trying to become that person himself.
To Naruto, pinning the future of the world on some vague savior was unreliable as hell. It would be far better to become Hokage and create the future directly as the leader of the strongest ninja village.
Compared to that fundamental issue, whether his identity as the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki was exposed was secondary.
Neither Jiraiya nor the Hiruzen Sarutobi would publicly reveal his identity. As for Danzo Shimura, Naruto didn't consider him a threat at all. If Danzo dared to step out of Konoha, there were plenty of people who would happily try to cut that bastard down.
After sighing softly, Naruto jumped onto the roof of the Uzumaki Shrine and looked toward the distant streets of Uzushiogakure, lost in thought.
Inside the sealed space—
After confirming that Naruto and Jiraiya hadn't fought, Minato Namikaze let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Naruto had already formed a bond with the Kurama, and his strength had reached the so-called Kage level. Meanwhile, Jiraiya, who had mastered Sage Mode, was also a ninja comparable to the Five Kage.
If those two actually fought seriously, there would be no such thing as mercy.
If either of them were injured, it would be torture for Minato.
After all, one was the son who inherited his blood… and the other was the teacher who had guided him.
Naruto suddenly appeared inside the sealed space. After glancing at Minato a few times, he said with a faint smile:
"Fourth Hokage, don't you want to meet Jiraiya again and renew the bond between master and disciple? If you cooperate from inside and outside, I might actually lose the fight!"
Facing Naruto's teasing tone, Minato shook his head.
"What would be the point of meeting Jiraiya-sensei? Just to remind him of painful memories? The dead shouldn't interfere too much with the living world."
Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"You died in your twenties. Why do you sound like some old fossil already?"
Minato froze for a moment.
"Old-fashioned? When I was your age, I was still studying at the Ninja Academy. At most I defeated a few Kirigakure jonin. How the hell would I have the ability to build an entire ninja village?"
Naruto's expression gradually became serious as he corrected him.
"Actually, strictly speaking, you're not really dead. You're just chakra left inside the Eight Trigrams Seal by the Fourth Hokage. The real Fourth Hokage is still sealed inside the belly of the Shinigami. That's the price of using the Reaper Death Seal."
"…Yeah. I'm just a chakra imprint, not the real body."
Minato quickly realized the point, but he still didn't understand what Naruto was getting at.
Naruto stared at Minato for a moment before continuing:
"So I'm curious… why did your chakra imprint last this long? And why does a clone inherit the caster's memories? If your avatar disappears, will those memories return to the original body—even if that body is already dead?"
The series of questions left Minato deep in thought. He couldn't answer immediately.
In fact, when he first learned the Shadow Clone Technique as a child, he had briefly wondered about similar questions. But training and missions soon distracted him, and he never pursued the answer.
After a moment, Naruto suddenly laughed and shook his head.
"Why the hell am I discussing philosophy with a clone? Instead of wasting time on this, I should focus on contacting more Tailed Beasts and gaining enough strength to deal with the masked man and the Akatsuki."
With that, Naruto left the sealed space.
Minato remained behind, still standing there alone, silently thinking.
Meanwhile…
Jiraiya had returned to the streets of Uzushiogakure.
After leaving the remote Uzumaki Shrine area and arriving in the lively streets, Jiraiya's mood was extremely complicated.
After coming to Uzumaki, he had encountered Orochimaru, the defected Uchiha clan, and even the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki Naruto he had been searching for.
Under normal circumstances, those should have been good things.
But after seeing Naruto become the leader Menma (possible alias used by Naruto in this story) and guiding the Uchiha to build Uzushiogakure, Jiraiya couldn't feel happy at all.
Instead, he felt… confused about life.
Why had Naruto run away during the Uchiha Incident?
Was it because he had been treated unfairly as the son of a hero?
Or because he sympathized with the Uchiha after seeing their suffering?
Or maybe he simply hated the current Konoha, which had long lost its original purity.
But none of those reasons should have been enough to make Naruto abandon the village.
He was the son of Minato. He was Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
If he followed the established path, he would eventually become an important figure in the village leadership. Any dissatisfaction with the village could have been slowly corrected through reform.
There was no need to rebuild Uzushiogakure on the ruins of the former Land of Whirlpools.
After witnessing Naruto threatening him with the Spiral Wheel Orb, Jiraiya had already given up the idea of taking Naruto around the ninja world as his student.
Naruto had clearly developed his own values.
Those decisive eyes reminded Jiraiya of the old man from more than ten years ago.
Naruto was no longer an ignorant academy student.
Jiraiya's aimless wandering soon caught the attention of Shisui Uchiha, who had been watching him carefully for quite some time.
Noticing the surveillance, Jiraiya turned around and said:
"Shisui, there's no need to hide. I've already discussed the Uchiha matter with Menma. I'm not going to attack you Uchiha who left Konoha."
Shisui appeared in front of Jiraiya in an instant, though he didn't lower his guard.
"This isn't just about the Uchiha. With Jiraiya-sama's strength, simply appearing in Uzushiogakure is enough to make people nervous."
Jiraiya blinked, then laughed.
"You're right. I accidentally treated this place like Konoha. But now we're ninjas from two different villages—of course we should be cautious."
After pausing, Jiraiya continued:
"Still, you Uchiha should probably handle security work now, just like during the time of the First and Second Hokage. I just hope you don't end up becoming the next 'Police Force.'"
Shisui's expression darkened slightly before he smiled.
"I trust Lord Menma's judgment. And besides—even if the Uchiha become the next security force, we won't repeat the same mistake and allow ourselves to be alienated again."
"I wish you the best," Jiraiya said.
After offering his blessing, Jiraiya didn't stay any longer in Uzushiogakure and soon left the village.
Before leaving, he glanced one last time toward the direction of the Uzumaki Shrine.
At that exact moment, Naruto was looking toward him as well.
Their eyes met briefly.
Then both of them looked away and continued walking—each heading down a completely different path.
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