"Haha, Minato, you haven't changed at all."
Jiraiya looked at Minato in front of him and chuckled.
"Teacher, you haven't changed either," Minato said happily, quickly walking over to Jiraiya.
They hadn't seen each other for nearly five years, and Minato had always missed him, but as the Hokage, he couldn't leave the village without good reason.
"I'm old," Jiraiya shrugged. He was already in his forties and no longer young. Even as a ninja, his face was covered with many wrinkles.
On the other hand, Minato was almost thirty years old, but he looked almost the same as he did five years ago. Minato's body was transformed by the Nine-Tails' chakra, so he aged much slower than ordinary people.
"I've missed you so much. Have you been doing well these years away from home?" Minato said. In his heart, Teacher Jiraiya was like a father.
Jiraiya stretched out his palm, patted Minato's shoulder lightly, and said, "Everything is fine. I've heard about it from outside over the years. You've done an excellent job."
He was very pleased that his disciple was the Hokage who could lead Konoha to greater prosperity.
"How are Kushina, Naruto, and Chiharu doing?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto was only a month old when he left. Minato had told him about Chiharu during their information exchanges.
"Well, everyone is fine. Naruto just entered the ninja academy yesterday," Minato replied.
"He's already at the academy?" Jiraiya recalled that the first time he met Minato was also at the ninja academy.
He was just in his early twenties at that time, and now, in the blink of an eye, his student's children were already in school.
The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Jiraiya pulled out a scroll from his chest pocket and handed it to Minato.
Minato took it and began to read, then he raised his eyes with a slightly solemn expression.
"Sure enough, there is some connection between Orochimaru and the masked man who attacked Konoha."
What Jiraiya gave to Minato was a summary of the information about Orochimaru that he had collected over the years.
"Has the Anbu found anything?" Jiraiya asked.
Minato shook his head and said, "It was just my guess before. It has been five years. Even if Orochimaru is incredibly powerful, his exact location has never been found even with the combined tracking efforts of the village and you."
"Among the masked man's companions, there are also people who are good at gathering intelligence. So Orochimaru has escaped our pursuit many times. They must have provided him with some help."
Jiraiya nodded and sighed, "Unfortunately, so far, I still can't find any important information about the people who attacked Konoha that night."
"It's not your fault. Those guys have been planning since the Third Shinobi World War or even earlier. We didn't realize it until they showed up that night. The power they possess should never be underestimated."
Minato said that the capabilities of the masked man and his companions exceeded his expectations time and time again.
It was quite impressive that Jiraiya could achieve this level of intelligence by himself outside the village.
"Not only did Orochimaru betray the village, he also had connections with the group that attacked the village. I should have killed him back then!"
Jiraiya said angrily that when he tried to stop Orochimaru, he was still thinking of their old friendship, which was why he was defeated so quickly.
Otherwise, even if he could not win in a short period of time, when the pursuers from Konoha arrived, he and Uchiha Yoruki would definitely have been able to stop Orochimaru by joining forces.
"At that time, we can't blame you entirely. Even if you had held back Orochimaru, with the secret help of that group of people, we still couldn't have stopped him."
Minato also had a cold look in his eyes, and he asked himself the same question in his heart.
If he had been able to kill the masked man that night when he attacked the village, perhaps he could have prevented the disaster and Naruto would not have had to become the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki again.
However, given the circumstances at the time, even he couldn't do that.
"You finally come back once, let's not mention these unhappy things again."
Minato laughed, and then asked: "How long do you plan to stay this time?"
He knew that his teacher couldn't let go of Orochimaru, so he wouldn't stay in the village for long.
"I'm not sure yet. Actually, I came back this time mainly to prepare for the launch of my new book, and I also wanted to visit the village."
Jiraiya said with great pride that among the five great ninja nations, the economy of the Land of Fire was the most prosperous.
His new book had been picked up by one of the largest publishers in the Land of Fire and would soon be released nationwide.
"You have a new book coming out?" Minato's eyes lit up.
Minato was so obsessed with his teacher's previous book, "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi," that he even named his child after the protagonist.
So, when he heard that his teacher had a new work, of course he was very much looking forward to it.
"Well, it's a truly great work with epoch-making significance!" Jiraiya folded his arms and nodded firmly.
"Can you show it to me first?" Minato asked immediately. He couldn't wait to know what kind of wonderful story his teacher had created.
Jiraiya blinked at him, a slightly mischievous look in his eyes, and smiled: "Of course, no problem."
As he spoke, he pulled out a new book from his pocket that had already been bound and whose cover seemed to have been professionally designed and packaged.
Minato took the book from his teacher and first glanced at the cover. The expectant look in his eyes changed slightly.
[Icha Icha Paradise]
Not only the name, but also the cover of this book gave Minato a rather strange feeling.
He raised his eyes and glanced at his teacher with a little suspicion.
"Trust me, you'll love it," Jiraiya said confidently.
With some doubt, Minato opened the cover and began to read.
However, as soon as he started reading, he noticed something was wrong.
Because the subject matter of this book seemed to be completely different from the previous story of perseverance and ninja values.
After reading a few pages, Minato's face suddenly changed and he quickly closed the book.
"This..." Minato looked at Jiraiya with a very embarrassed expression.
Jiraiya gave him a somewhat suggestive smile and said, "How is it? Any man who reads my book will definitely love it."
"You..."
Minato didn't know what to say, remembering that something rather ridiculous had happened at Konoha's hot springs right after he became Jiraiya's student.
And what his teacher's new book described was not about ninjas like "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi."
There were plots that were definitely not suitable for children.
He was stunned for a long time. After a long while, Minato stared at the teacher in front of him and said with a forced smile:
"Teacher, are you sure you want to publish this kind of book under your own name?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at p@treon.com/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~