The topic of Jiraiya's book was set aside for the moment.
Ainz and Rimuru's curiosity about ninjas had not faded yet, so the two of them continued asking Jiraiya all sorts of ninja-related questions.
"Jiraiya-oji-san, are all ninjas strong?" Rimuru asked curiously.
"Well, of course there are strong ninjas, but there are plenty of ordinary ones too. In my world, being a ninja is a profession. Their status might be a little higher than most, but in essence, they aren't that different from people doing other jobs."
Jiraiya spoke calmly with his arms crossed, though the smell of alcohol was already thick on his breath.
"You've probably only heard of ninjas in stories, so you think the profession sounds mysterious. But in reality, ninjas aren't always doing something impressive. Rookie ninjas often take missions like helping people weed their yards."
He said it with a smile.
After hearing that, Ainz and Rimuru were not disappointed at all.
Instead, the two of them found it even more interesting.
"Then, Jiraiya-oji-san, have you ever done that kind of mission?"
"Mm? What kind?"
"The mission where you weed someone's yard."
Hearing Rimuru ask that, Jiraiya curled his lip, and his expression immediately became disdainful and proud.
"Don't joke around! Those are missions prepared for rookie ninjas. How could I possibly do that kind of thing? Don't underestimate me!"
Jiraiya sounded a little offended.
Looking at the red flush on his face, it was hard to tell whether what he said was true or not.
Yuto was somewhat doubtful.
But Rimuru believed him.
Compared with most people, Rimuru really did trust others quite easily.
Ever since becoming a slime, his entire personality had also become increasingly childlike.
In a way, it could be considered another kind of "getting younger."
"When I graduated from the Ninja Academy and was assigned to my instructor, I was the most outstanding ninja there! The others couldn't compare to me at all! Hahahahaha!"
Jiraiya spoke with drunken cheer, his voice full of delight.
It seemed those old memories had been stirred up by the conversation.
For Jiraiya, talking about the past like this in the restaurant tonight was something that would have been almost impossible in his original life.
From the day he officially became a ninja, his life had never truly been peaceful.
But that was simply how life was for ninjas.
Once someone became a ninja for the sake of the village, their life basically no longer belonged only to themselves.
Tonight, after coming to the restaurant, Jiraiya's mood felt completely different from when he visited taverns or restaurants in his own world.
Perhaps it was because he knew this was another world.
Or perhaps it was because of something more complicated.
Here, Jiraiya felt a kind of peace he had not experienced in a very long time.
It almost made him feel as if he had returned to a much older, much simpler time.
That peaceful atmosphere naturally made him think of the past.
At first, when he began speaking, he had still been somewhat wary. That was the instinctive caution he had developed over many years as a ninja.
But soon, he remembered that this place was not his own world.
In that case, there was no need to be so guarded.
Once he figured that out, he became much more casual.
If he wanted to talk, then he would talk.
It was rare to find a place where he could relax like this, so it was better to be a little freer!
"Jiraiya-oji-san is amazing!" Rimuru exclaimed in admiration.
"Ahahaha, it's nothing, nothing."
Jiraiya waved his hand, though his face was full of pride.
People often said drunk people liked to talk nonsense.
Yuto felt Jiraiya was exactly in that state now.
Unfortunately, there was someone here who was perfectly willing to play along with him.
"Then, Jiraiya-san, what do you usually do? Aside from writing books, do you still go on dangerous missions?" Ainz asked curiously.
"Right now, aside from writing books, I mainly teach my apprentice. As for missions, I've set them aside for the time being."
Jiraiya's words made Ainz and Rimuru both cry out in surprise.
"Apprentice? Jiraiya-oji-san has an apprentice too?"
Rimuru was a little surprised.
"Of course! I am the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku. Do you know how many people want to become my student?"
Jiraiya spoke with some pride.
"Then is Jiraiya-oji-san's apprentice very strong too?"
"Hmph, hmph, of course. No matter what kind of idiot falls into my hands, I can turn them into an outstanding ninja who can stand on their own!"
Jiraiya gave a proud laugh.
Although he did not directly say how good his student was, anyone could hear the satisfaction in his words.
"Looks like Jiraiya-san is very satisfied with him."
Yuto said with a light smile.
"Ah, now that I think about it, even though I usually call Naruto an idiot in front of him, he really does satisfy me quite a bit!"
Jiraiya scratched his head and laughed a little sheepishly.
"But there's no helping it. I'm his teacher, after all. If I praise that guy too much, he might get carried away."
"But with Naruto... I feel like he probably wouldn't really get that arrogant. Tsk—maybe I should praise him more in the future."
Jiraiya muttered the last part more to himself than to anyone else.
It seemed this student named Naruto truly was someone he liked very much.
Otherwise, he would not have spoken like this.
"Is he very outstanding?" Rimuru asked.
"Mm... He is i guess?."
Jiraiya thought about it for a long time.
Although drunkenness still lingered on his face, his expression had become especially serious.
Those words were sincere.
From the bottom of his heart, he truly liked Naruto.
"Eh... Is that so?"
"That guy Naruto is actually very similar to me in many ways. Maybe the fact that he and I became master and student really is fate."
"Similar?"
"Ah, that's right. But I'm much smarter than Naruto! That guy's brain can't compare to mine at all! All day long, he just keeps shouting that he wants to become Hokage. What an idiot!"
"The Hokage? the leader of a village or something?"
"Yeah. Naruto wants to become someone like that."
"Mm... That ambition sounds pretty amazing."
Because they had already heard Jiraiya explain the general situation of the ninja world, everyone understood what the leader of a ninja village meant.
Because of that, they still felt Naruto's dream was quite impressive.
"Having ambition alone is far from enough. That guy Naruto still has a long way to go."
Jiraiya burped and spoke casually.
He had been drinking for quite some time now, and his eyes had become somewhat hazy.
He propped his head up with one hand against the counter.
His misty gaze carried a trace of expectation and longing as he looked at some vague point in the air, as if he were imagining a future that had not arrived yet.
"But if Naruto keeps growing like this, then one day, he'll become Hokage. Hmph, hmph... I'm kind of looking forward to what kind of Hokage that guy will become."
"I really want to see it with my own eyes..."
Jiraiya's voice was filled with longing and expectation.
His hazy eyes looked into empty space, as if he were already seeing that future scene.
At that moment, Yuto suddenly thought Jiraiya looked a little like a father.
The kind of father who was strict with his child face-to-face, yet quietly praised that same child behind their back.
Deep down, he would always look forward to that child's growth and future.
These were only Yuto's own random thoughts.
But right now, as Jiraiya spoke of Naruto, he really did look like a father talking about his own child.
...
When Jiraiya left, he also took a serving of the same fried ham with him.
He said it was for his apprentice to try.
"After all, I came out this late. If I don't bring Naruto something when I go back, that guy will definitely blame me."
Those were Jiraiya's exact words.
Holding the packaged fried ham, he staggered out of the restaurant.
That posture really made people suspect he might fall over in the next second.
After Jiraiya left, Ainz and Rimuru were still sighing with emotion to each other.
The two of them kept talking about how they longed for the life of a ninja and how much they wanted to learn ninjutsu.
However, they were the only ones who reacted that way.
The girls still had a very strong opinion about Jiraiya.
Even something as magical as ninjutsu had not aroused their interest.
Erina even expressed her thoughts with great disgust.
"The ninjutsu used by such a sleazy person must be equally sleazy. I have absolutely no interest on it."
Those were the golden-haired young lady's exact words.
When she said that with her arms crossed and a haughty look on her face, there was still a faint blush on her cheeks.
Beside her, her loyal secretary Hisako naturally agreed with her young lady unconditionally.
That made Yuto laugh softly.
As for Tohru and Kanna, the two of them were dragons.
They had no interest in power used by humans.
This was arrogance, but also disdain.
However, Tohru was curious about something else.
What she cared about was the contents of Icha Icha Paradise, the book Yuto had been holding earlier.
"Boss, tell me~~~ What was written in that book?"
Yuto had thought the dragon girl would forget about this matter after cleaning the kitchen.
But he had underestimated her obsession.
He also could not really understand it.
Why had Tohru suddenly become so interested in this matter?
She had clearly been so simple and easy to fool before.
"That was just a novel about paradise."
Yuto rubbed his brow and spoke with some helplessness.
The dragon girl hugging his arm immediately looked disappointed.
"So it was a novel about those people from Heaven. How boring."
Tohru still hated anything related to Heaven~~~
The moment she heard Yuto say that, she instantly lost interest.
Afterward, the dragon girl let go of Yuto's arm and went off to play on the side.
Yuto secretly let out a breath.
"Mm... In a certain sense, it really is a story about 'paradise'..."
Ainz and Rimuru had watched Yuto fool Tohru the entire time.
After Tohru walked away, Ainz quietly voiced his thought with a meaningful tone.
Beside him, Rimuru also went, "Mm~ mm~ mm~" and nodded along.
However, with his slime body, Rimuru's nodding looked less like nodding and more like he was headbutting the table.
"Right, Jiraiya-oji-san said that the next time he comes, he'll bring the second volume!"
"Mm. When it comes to works of art, we have a duty to study them deeply."
Ainz and Rimuru whispered to each other in hushed voices about their next "artwork" appreciation session.
Yuto did not interrupt them, all he could do was smile helplessly.
...
The moment Jiraiya returned and pulled open the door, he was immediately greeted by a storm of complaints.
"Pervy Sage!!! Where did you run off to just now?! Ah!!! Why do you smell like alcohol? Damn it! You actually abandoned your student and went drinking by yourself!!!"
A boy with spiky yellow hair stood in front of Jiraiya in his pajamas and roared at him.
Jiraiya scratched his head. The smile on his face did not carry the slightest trace of guilt.
In fact, it looked extremely punchable.
Naruto clenched his fists.
If he could beat Jiraiya, he would have already thrown a punch.
"Now, now, don't be angry. I just went to a restaurant and had a little drink. Look, I even brought something back for you."
Jiraiya smiled casually and handed the packaged fried ham to Naruto.
Although Naruto was still muttering under his breath, his body was honest.
He directly accepted the fried ham Jiraiya handed over~
"Hmph, you must have gone to that kind of place again. In the middle of the night, that's the only kind of place you'd go..."
Naruto muttered while opening the bag.
The heat inside rushed out together with the fragrance, heading straight for his nose and leaving Naruto momentarily unable to speak.
This smell seemed even better than Ichiraku Ramen...
"Hey, hey, hey. Can that idiot brain of yours think of me in a better way? I'm your teacher, you know!"
Jiraiya spoke very helplessly.
He was not really angry, because his everyday conversations with Naruto were basically like this.
Naruto ignored Jiraiya's words and directly picked up a piece of fried ham, putting it into his mouth.
Immediately, the boy's eyes lit up.
"Delicious!!!"
Jiraiya gave a small laugh, the corner of his mouth curving with an "of course it is" expression.
"Hmph! Train properly tomorrow, and I'll take you to that restaurant at night."
"Uwooh mmm."
No one could understand what Naruto was saying while chewing with his mouth full.
In any case, the boy looked very happy~~~