Kakashi and Rin Nohara woke up when the Shinobi Hawk were squawking in the forest.
Mainly, the Shinobi Hawk's squawking was too obvious, as if they were afraid they wouldn't wake them up.
But it really didn't wake them up; looking at Shindai sleeping like a dead pig, the Shinobi Hawk even flew over and pecked his head. It was clearly out of desperation that it risked pecking his head.
It was really tough on that Shinobi Hawk, to have a master like Shindai.
Meanwhile, Shindai was now in the distance, having opened and begun reading the letter.
The very first sentence made Shindai furious.
"Is there anyone like him? I've been tortured! And he tells me to endure the torture?! Is there any humanity in that?! Who wants to be a hero? Whoever wants this damn hero can be it! If I hadn't thought going to the battlefield was more dangerous than being an undercover agent, I wouldn't have come!"
Shindai angrily threw the letter on the ground and stomped on it several times.
Seeing the unfavorable situation, the Shinobi Hawk, fearing that an enraged Shindai would actually stew and eat it, quickly flew away.
Obito, who was sleeping soundly, was startled awake: "Who? Who's shouting? Is there an enemy?"
Rin Nohara had already covered her eyes, unable to watch.
Shindai's roar had even woken Obito, which showed how loud Shindai's voice was.
As an undercover agent, did he really not consider them at all?
Kakashi whispered, "Hey, Obito, don't expose us!"
Obito looked at Kakashi in confusion: "Expose what?"
Minato heard footsteps and, without time to explain to Obito, directly hit Obito's head with a small stone.
Obito rolled his Byakugan and immediately fainted.
Minato, Kakashi, and Rin Nohara immediately closed their eyes and pretended to be asleep.
Shindai huffily returned to where he had been lying. The content of the letter instantly filled him with renewed anger.
Was his safety completely unimportant?
Although there wasn't much affection, they were still related, after all.
Angered, Shindai couldn't sleep and remained awake until dawn.
The 'waking' Minato opened his eyes, looked at Shindai, who was still awake and sulking, and said, "You're up early, Shindai."
Shindai forced a smile. Despite his anger, he still had to protect his life well and couldn't show a bad face to Minato.
"Yes, I'm super excited to meet Hokage-sama soon!"
Minato showed a subtle smile: "Is that so? Then you can meet him today. Kakashi, wake Obito up, and then we'll depart."
Kakashi walked over to the still-unconscious Obito, grabbed his collar, and lifted him up: "Hey, wake up!"
Under Kakashi's vigorous shaking, Obito gradually woke up.
Obito looked at Kakashi in confusion: "Ah, it's Kakashi... wait, last night..."
Just as Obito was about to say something, Kakashi glared at him with a murderous look: "Nothing happened last night. We need to hurry now, so quickly pack up and let's go!"
Minato, to prevent Obito from saying anything that might cause Shindai to misunderstand, also said, "Alright, let's hurry. Shindai is very eager to meet the Sandaime, so let's not waste time. The sooner we return to Konoha, the sooner Shindai can get what he wished for, right, Shindai?"
Shindai gave a dry laugh: "Yes, yes, I wish I were in Konoha already."
After everyone packed up, they resumed their journey towards Konoha.
Around two in the afternoon.
Obito stretched: "Hmm~ We're finally back. It feels like the last time I returned to Konoha was... the last time."
Rin Nohara, sensing something was off, carefully pondered Obito's words and said strangely, "Obito, what you said... it sounds like you said something and nothing at the same time."
Kakashi immediately retorted, "It's just a pointless remark."
Shindai looked at the Konoha gate before him; it felt completely different from the Sunagakure gate.
The Sunagakure gate looked dilapidated due to erosion from sandstorms.
However, the Konoha gate looked majestic and imposing.
Minato said with a smile, "Alright, let's go in."
Shindai followed Minato and Kakashi, and the three successfully entered Konoha.
Upon reaching the Konoha streets, Shindai felt completely uneasy due to the crowd. His limbs stiffened, and he felt a sense of helplessness.
However, Konoha and Sunagakure were truly two extremes.
One was terribly poor, the other terribly rich.
No wonder Sunagakure coveted Konoha so much.
The fragrant aromas wafting from the food stalls made Shindai constantly swallow.
Minato noticed Shindai's somewhat strange demeanor and asked with concern, "What's wrong, Shindai?"
Shindai swallowed and replied, "I, I'm fine. It's just that there are a lot of people, and I'm not used to it."
Obito asked in confusion, "Are you... socially anxious?"
Shindai puffed out his chest and retorted, "No, how could that be? How could I be socially anxious! When I was in Sunagakure, I was known as a social bandit!"
Then Shindai wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and slightly hunched his back again: "It's just... I haven't seen so many people in Sunagakure, so I'm a bit unaccustomed."
Minato recalled Yamanaka Soichi's investigation into Shindai's memories.
Shindai seemed to have lived alone since childhood and never went out.
Combined with Shindai's earlier helplessness, nervous and unnatural expression, blushing, rapid heartbeat, and reluctance to make eye contact, Obito might not have been wrong; Shindai was likely socially anxious.
Minato also noticed Shindai's gaze fixed on a tempura shop, swallowing several times.
Minato said with a smile, "Since we've arrived in Konoha, how about we eat first before seeing the Sandaime? There's no rush for a little while. My treat. How about tempura?"
Upon hearing that Minato was treating and that it was for the tempura he currently craved, Shindai immediately said, "Yes, yes, thank you, Minato-sama! You're too generous!"
"It's nothing, then let's go."
Minato led Shindai and Kakashi into the restaurant, specifically finding a private room.
Minato handed the menu to Shindai: "Here, order anything you like."
Shindai's eyes brightened as he looked at Minato: "Can I really order anything?"
Minato nodded with a smile: "Of course, order anything."
Minato wasn't worried that Shindai would eat a lot; after all, how much could a ten-year-old child possibly eat?
However, Minato's composed expression gradually began to falter.
"Ten servings of sea bream tempura to start, just to whet my appetite."
"Then another ten servings of oyster tempura."
"Oh, the crab meat tempura looks delicious too, I'll have fifteen servings."
...
Minato's eye twitched; he wanted to retract what he had just said, 'eat anything.'
Why did this child order everything in increments of ten servings! Who orders like that?
This was clearly fleecing a wealthy patron.
Kakashi and the others were also dumbfounded. Could he really eat that much?