Under Kushina's preparation, Minato and the others' dinner was naturally extremely sumptuous.
At the dinner table, Minato had a drink with Jiraiya and the Third Hokage to celebrate Jiraiya's return to the village. During the conversation, they talked about some things from the past.
It was the Third who made it possible for Minato to become Jiraiya's disciple. The Third Hokage was extremely grateful for the decision he had made. Jiraiya felt the same, but how could they have imagined at the time that the boy with no background or bloodline could grow to where he is today? He surpassed his master and the previous Hokage at an extremely astonishing speed, and is now revered as the strongest ninja by countless people in the ninja world.
Naruto and Chiharu listened quietly to stories about their father's past, their eyes flickering with interest.
Kushina, on the other hand, had a happy smile on her face as she looked at the scene in front of her. Her autumn-water-like eyes were filled with satisfaction. Her hometown, the Land of Whirlpool, was destroyed by war, so for a long time, her life had been extremely dark. Everything changed when she was discovered by Konoha ninja and brought back to the village. Now her heart was filled with love.
After dinner, the Third talked briefly with Minato and the others, with a slightly anxious look in his eyes.
"Minato, Kushina, I have something else to do, so I'll be leaving now."
As he said this, the Third stood up and waved his hand to stop the Minato couple who were about to get up to see him off.
Minato was slightly stunned. He glanced to the side and saw Jiraiya, who was standing beside him. There was a smug look in his eyes and a hint of a mischievous smile. Minato immediately had a guess in his mind. His face suddenly changed and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
"Let's go see that child," Jiraiya said before heading toward the front yard of Minato's house.
The bright moonlight poured into the courtyard, making it appear silvery-white, like a fairyland, extremely beautiful.
Naruto sat cross-legged in a corner of the courtyard, making hand seals. Jiraiya and Minato watched him quietly in the dark. Although Jiraiya did not understand chakra perception as well as Minato, he could vaguely sense that the chakra fluctuations in Naruto's body were quite strong.
"Even when most of his chakra is used to suppress the tailed beasts, he still has this level of power. He is indeed a little guy who inherited your and Kushina's bloodline," Jiraiya sighed. "The Eight Trigrams Seal is indeed an extremely strong seal from the Uzumaki clan, but even a strong seal needs the support of a powerful Jinchūriki."
Therefore, under normal circumstances, most of the chakra in a Jinchūriki's body is used to suppress the tailed beasts. Despite this, Naruto's chakra was still far beyond that of his peers. His mother had the bloodline of the Uzumaki clan, and although his father was of ordinary origin, he was born with a huge amount of chakra.
"It's just that although his chakra is very strong, his control is barely acceptable," Jiraiya noted. As one of the top three ninjas in the ninja world, he had a sharp eye and immediately noticed Naruto's problem.
"Come to think of it, I am the one who caused the predicament this child is facing now," Minato said. Although Jiraiya knew sealing techniques, he knew nothing about the Uzumaki clan's Eight Trigrams Seal.
"What's going on?" Jiraiya frowned.
Minato immediately explained to Jiraiya the principle of the Eight Trigrams Seal he had placed on Naruto.
"I see." After hearing this, the shock in Jiraiya's eyes had not yet faded.
He looked at Minato and chuckled. "You really are someone who doesn't do anything unnecessary. You actually used this method to seal the tailed beast into your son's body."
"In this way, as long as Naruto can grow up smoothly, he will be able to truly master the power of the Nine-Tails," Jiraiya continued. His eyes flickered as he thought about how powerful the Nine-Tails was. Even if Naruto only had half of its chakra, if he could fully control it, he would be able to become a top ninja in the world. That power would be unmatched by any Kage from the other four ninja villages except Minato.
"However, it is not so easy to fully master the power of the Nine-Tailed Fox," Minato sighed. In order to fully control the tailed beasts, one must gain their recognition.
However, in the history of the five major ninja countries, it seemed that the only ninja who could do such a thing was Killer Bee, the younger brother of the current Fourth Raikage.
Minato had experienced the hatred and resentment of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and he knew that with human intelligence alone, once entangled by its hatred, it would be easy to be swallowed by it. Eliminating the negative emotions of the Nine-Tails was something that even Minato could not do now.
"If he is really the boy predicted by the Great Toad Sage, he will definitely be able to do it," Jiraiya said, patting Minato's shoulder as he looked at Naruto in the courtyard.
"In fact, these burdens should be mine to bear, but I relied on my intuition and a prophecy that I didn't know would come true, and I put this responsibility on Naruto's shoulders. I really can't be considered a good father," Minato admitted. Even now, he still asked himself whether the decision he made was really the right one.
"Since when did you become so indecisive?" Jiraiya chuckled. "Remember that during the great war nearly twenty years ago, I asked Sarutobi-sensei to bring you to the battlefield. Do you think that the decision I made at that time was wrong?"
Minato was startled. He shook his head and said, "No, at that time, only by experiencing the cruelty of the battlefield could we truly grow up."
No matter how talented a ninja is, if they are always kept in an ivory tower, they will only be eliminated by this ninja world. Only in the fire and blood of war, between life and death, can a ninja truly and quickly grow.
"So, even if you didn't seal the Nine-Tails into Naruto's body, he would have to go through something even more cruel than this. He is your child and is destined not to be an ordinary ninja," Jiraiya said with conviction. "Besides, the child himself will not be content with being ordinary."
In the courtyard, Naruto continued to practice hard. A year had passed since the last time Minato talked to him. After a year of tedious chakra refining practice, he did not feel bored. Through this difficult training, his heart had become more resilient and stronger.
What Jiraiya had told Naruto before was really not meant just to comfort him. Although Jiraiya may not be the most powerful ninja in the world, he believed that Minato's persistence and vision would not be wrong.
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