"When you discover that someone in this world has done something bad, but you can't find who the culprit is,"
"Then that's right, the culprit is definitely me!"
--- Shimura Danzo!
As an old, cunning bastard who often has "self-sacrifice is a ninja's duty" on his lips, yet in the future, will have "ten revival coins" hung on his own hands.
Ryoma indicates, This man is hard to judge.
Finally, after a long wait, Ryoma and Orochimaru finally walked into this legendary ramen shop.
As soon as he sat down, Ryoma eagerly shouted at Master Teuchi, who was still very young at the time: "Sir, one super deluxe miso ramen!"
The energetic Teuchi loudly replied: "Yosh! Wait a moment, the ramen will be ready soon!"
Orochimaru looked at the menu and fell into hesitation again; after a while, only then did he speak to Master Teuchi in his hoarse voice: "Give me the same ramen as his, thank you."
Master Teuchi responded with equal enthusiasm.
Then Ryoma and Orochimaru sat together, quietly waiting for the ramen to arrive.
Suddenly they heard a bold laugh coming from the entrance, a loud voice saying: "See, Minato, I told you, I've mastered your ninjutsu now! Impressive, right? Impressive, right?"
Minato's voice also came from the entrance, "Yes, yes, it really is quite impressive, Jiraiya-sensei."
Orochimaru, hearing the conversation between the two at the entrance, couldn't help but look towards the door.
He muttered softly under his breath, "So this guy got recalled to the village too."
Ryoma, hearing their voices, was even more excited; he hadn't expected to run into the Great Toad Sage Jiraiya here! This was one of his favorite characters from when he watched Naruto in his past life.
With the voices, a tall man walked into the ramen shop. He wore a forehead protector inscribed with the word "Oil" on his head, had long white hair reaching down to his waist, and red markings beneath his eyes.
Clad in a red outer coat and wooden sandals on his feet, he was gleefully laughing while patting the shoulder of the blond Minato beside him.
Orochimaru sneered: "This idiot."
Minato apparently noticed Ryoma and Orochimaru's presence first, he proactively stepped forward to greet Orochimaru and Ryoma, "Orochimaru-sama, Ryoma-kun, you're here too."
Orochimaru nodded at Minato in acknowledgment.
Ryoma enthusiastically waved at Minato, "Minato-sensei, you came too."
At this moment, Jiraiya finally noticed Orochimaru and Ryoma sitting in the corner. He immediately closed the distance in two or three strides, rushed over beside Orochimaru, and slung an arm around his shoulder, laughing loudly as he said:
"I never expected a guy like you to know to come out for ramen; you really surprise me, Orochimaru. Boss, give me two servings of the same ramen this guy ordered, and put it on his tab!"
Master Teuchi responded passionately: "Yosh! Coming right up!"
Orochimaru pushed Jiraiya away with a look of disgust, saying flatly: "Jiraiya, you're just like always, not a shred of decency befitting a senior."
Jiraiya laughed unconcernedly: "Consider this a reunion of old friends, huh? Why don't you seem happy to see me at all, hahaha."
Orochimaru coolly turned his head away.
Just then, Jiraiya noticed Ryoma, whose style of dress was very similar to Orochimaru's, looking at him.
Ryoma saw Jiraiya's gaze turn towards him and quickly stood up on his own to greet Jiraiya: "Hello, Jiraiya-sama!"
Jiraiya, quite pleased, patted Ryoma on the shoulder, then continued bothering Orochimaru: "So this is your new disciple, huh? He's much more polite than you are."
Orochimaru retorted without backing down: "Naturally, he is also far superior to you."
Ever since Jiraiya returned to the village, upon learning that his close friend Orochimaru had taken on another new disciple, he felt genuine happiness from the bottom of his heart.
This indicated that Orochimaru was once again becoming more like a normal person.
After the Second Great Ninja War ended, the three Sannin had gone together to the graves of the fallen to pay their respects. At that time, Jiraiya had asked Orochimaru if he didn't plan to find a successor to inherit his own ninja way.
Orochimaru had said then that his only wish was to be able to learn all the techniques in the world.
Jiraiya knew in his heart that his close friend, at that time, only wanted to pursue his desire to achieve eternal life by mastering every jutsu in existence.
But Jiraiya always believed that no matter how deeply one studied techniques, human life would never become eternal.
Hearing that Orochimaru had taken on a new disciple, and moreover one from the Nara clan who had newly awakened a Kekkei Genkai, possessing excellent talent, temperament, and combat powers, Jiraiya was sincerely happy that Orochimaru could once again open his heart and accept a new disciple.
Jiraiya again pressed himself close to Orochimaru, pointing at Ryoma and saying: "Even I've heard of your disciple's reputation; they say he's a genius on par with Kakashi. But if you ask me, there's still a considerable gap compared to my disciple Minato's talent, hahaha."
Minato looked at Ryoma, a hint of embarrassment in his eyes.
Ryoma smiled and shook his head, indicating he didn't mind.
To be honest, without any cheats, even if Ryoma pedaled his broken tricycle until it flew, he still wouldn't be able to see Minato's taillights.
If there was one weakness of the fastest man in the ninja world, it was probably naming things.
Orochimaru also didn't mind Jiraiya's "provocation" and responded in his hoarse voice: "Minato-kun's talent is, of course, extremely exceptional. Perhaps Ryoma will need even greater effort to catch up to him."
Then Orochimaru changed his tone: "However, with Ryoma's talent, compared to you, the dead-last from your childhood, you can only look on with despair."
A few black lines appeared on Jiraiya's forehead. He patted Orochimaru's shoulder and said plaintively, "Can't you even save me some face in front of the younger generation?!"
Just then, Master Teuchi finished preparing the ramen and brought it over to them.
Looking at the super deluxe ramen, perfect in color, aroma, and taste, everyone suddenly felt as if greedy bugs had been awakened in their stomachs.
Ryoma eagerly distributed chopsticks to Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Minato.
Then, pressing his palms together, he loudly exclaimed, "Itadakimasu!" and began to inhale the ramen before him.
Jiraiya and Minato quickly joined Ryoma's ranks.
Only Orochimaru, chopsticks in hand, carefully picked up a piece of egg from within the ramen.
Bringing it gently to his mouth, he took a small bite...
Hmm...
This man, who had just felt that so many people lining up just for a bowl of ramen was truly a waste of time and life, at this very moment, only wanted to say two words:
It's really delicious~~~
Soon, one bowl of ramen was completely annihilated by Ryoma. Unexpectedly, Orochimaru also ate very quickly, as if swallowing, finishing the ramen in a few quick motions.
This made Ryoma increasingly feel that Orochimaru might share some principle of mutual affinity with snakes; even his eating habits had become so similar!
Jiraiya finished his ramen and loudly proclaimed that, since old friends were reuniting, he absolutely had to go drink a cup with Orochimaru at an izakaya.
Having said that, without waiting for Orochimaru's consent, he grabbed him and dragged him outside.
Minato also quickly annihilated his "ramen monster."
He then mentioned that he still needed to go see Kakashi; Kakashi's condition hadn't been very good lately.
After exchanging greetings with Ryoma, he too hurriedly left.
Only Ryoma remained, still savoring the taste of the just-finished ramen.
"Mmm~ so delicious~ no wonder everyone loves coming to eat Ichiraku Ramen. If a place of this caliber opened in a university cafeteria in my past life, it would definitely become the most popular stall!"
Suddenly, Ryoma sensed something was off.
In the blink of an eye, how had everyone disappeared?
Wait, had anyone actually paid?!!
Master Teuchi, his squinting eyes fixed on Ryoma, said with a beaming smile: "Customer, four bowls of super deluxe miso ramen, total 20,000 ryō. Since today's our grand opening celebration, you only need to pay 10,000 ryō, okay~"
Ryoma was petrified on the spot.
What Konoha's Three Sannin? What the Yellow Flash?
Even swindling a kid's money.
Konoha is truly too dark!
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