In his expectations, at Shisui's age, being of Uchiha descent with a quiet personality, and having just arrived in Kumogakure not long ago, the new friends he made would mostly be boys his own age like Killer Bee, who crossed paths through sparring matches of strength.
He was even prepared to smoothly ask a few questions about the other party's strength, personality, or family background.
But now...
Shisui's rare silence, carrying a hint of unspeakability... what was going on?
Could it... really be a girl?
Shaoyu leaned back against the back of his chair, picked up the teacup at his side, and concealed the trace of an arc that was about to rise at the corner of his mouth.
Interesting. It seemed that his little brother was not only growing in strength and intellect, but even in certain aspects... had he begun to sprout without a teacher?
But my dear little brother, I always thought you liked little shota types like Itachi...
"A girl," Shaoyu's tone returned to normal, as if he had simply heard an ordinary answer.
"What is her name? How did you meet?"
Shisui seemed to breathe a sigh of relief because he had blurted out the answer that it was a girl, his demeanor becoming a bit more natural as he briefly recounted the matter of meeting Samui in the evening and walking her home.
This included Samui being afraid of the dark and crying, he himself walking her back, meeting her parents, and politely declining their invitation to stay for dinner.
The narration was clear and orderly, completely matching his usual style.
Shaoyu listened quietly, nodding occasionally. So it was such a small matter of helping others.
But combined with Shisui's abnormality from just a moment ago...
Wait a minute...
Who?
Samui?
Shaoyu looked at Shisui with some surprise.
His dear little brother was quite fortunate with women.
That was the village beauty of Kumogakure, sigh.
And she was one of the few white people among so many of them.
He paused, looking at Shisui's profile as the latter started eating seriously again, and added seemingly unintentionally, his voice carrying an extremely faint smile that only he himself understood.
"However, my little brother... since when did you even need to hesitate when answering a question like 'boy or girl'?"
Shaoyu gently shook his teacup, his golden slit pupils narrowing slightly behind the misty steam, his tone carrying the subtle pitch characteristic of an elder brother, a mix of teasing and insight.
"Could it be that... you suddenly discovered that besides cultivation and defeating Killer Bee, you've also started to care just a little bit about other things?"
Shisui's action of picking up food froze once again, and his earlobes, which had just returned to normal, turned red again at a speed visible to the naked eye.
He suddenly shoved a large mouthful of rice into his mouth and muttered vaguely.
"Older brother... eat, the dishes are going to get cold."
Looking at his younger brother's embarrassed yet forced-calm appearance, Uchiha Shaoyu finally chuckled lowly and stopped pressing further.
He picked up his chopsticks again, his mood seemingly a bit more pleasant than before.
Hmm, it seemed that besides strength and political maneuvering, he might also need to pay a little attention to how to guide this Genius younger brother to face those softer and more complex "topics" belonging to his adolescent years.
After all, the future of the Uchiha could not rely solely on Sharingan and Kunai.
"Love".
Is also very important.
...
The continuous drizzle in the Land of Rain seemed to have become sparser and milder with the official end of the war. Although the sky was still mostly lead-gray, at least it no longer smelled soaked in blood and the smoke of gunpowder.
The Konoha base began to methodically dismantle, the wounded and the bodies of the fallen were transported back to the country, and the troops evacuated in batches from this land that left behind too many painful memories.
Before the war ended, Jiraiya picked up three children.
Nagato, Yahiko, Konan.
Orochimaru proposed killing them, but Jiraiya vetoed it.
He saw Nagato's Rinnegan and concluded that Nagato was the Child of Prophecy and Savior in the Great Toad Sage's prophecy.
In the end, Tsunade and Orochimaru embarked on the return journey with Konoha's main force.
Tsunade needed to go back to face the pain of losing loved ones and the challenge of rebuilding the medical system.
Orochimaru, on the other hand, had to go back to face power games and his increasingly fervent inner craving for eternal life and truth.
As for Jiraiya, he chose to stay.
He wrote a long letter to Teacher Hiruzen, explaining the situation and requesting permission to temporarily stay in the Land of Rain for a period of time to settle and teach these three children he had picked up.
His reason was simply sympathy.
Seeing that the war had ended, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not bother to manage this disciple of his.
Thus, at the gradually emptying border of the Land of Rain, a relatively intact abandoned hut was simply repaired by Jiraiya to become a temporary residence.
That abandoned hut located at the edge of the forest on the border of the Land of Rain, under Jiraiya's clumsy yet energetic repairs, finally began to look a bit like a "home".
The leaky roof was blocked with newly chopped wood and thick tarpaulins, the broken window lattices were nailed firmly with wooden boards, a simple but practical stove was built with stones indoors, and it was covered with dry thatch and old blankets that Jiraiya had picked up from the evacuated Konoha camp.
Although still crude, it could at least shelter them from the wind and rain, resisting the ubiquitous damp chill of the Land of Rain.
Teaching began with the most basic survival skills.
Jiraiya was not a meticulous type, but he had his methods.
Physical training was even simpler and more brutal.
Just as dawn was breaking and the drizzle had yet to become dense, he would roar the three sleepy-eyed children awake, making them run around the forest clearing, frog-jump, and do his self-created, bizarre-looking toad gymnastics.
Yahiko always rushed to the very front, refusing to stop even when panting heavily from exhaustion.
Konan gritted her teeth and persevered silently, her little face turning red from holding back.
Nagato had the weakest Physique and often fell behind, running out of breath, but Jiraiya never allowed him to stop, simply following unhurriedly behind.
The refinement of Chakra was of utmost importance, especially for Nagato.
Jiraiya discovered that the amount of Chakra in Nagato's body was unusually massive, yet extremely chaotic and difficult to control, like an active volcano about to erupt at any time, while Nagato's mind was like a fragile dam.
Brutal guidance would only be counterproductive.
This also made him conclude that Nagato was the savior spoken of by the Great Toad Sage.
As for Yahiko and Konan, Jiraiya adopted more conventional methods that focused more on the basics.
The days passed day by day amidst the sound of rain, training shouts, laughter and commotion, and occasional cries of frustration.
The faces of the three war orphans gradually gained some flesh, the panic in their eyes was replaced by focus and hope, and their frail bodies began to become sturdy.
And Jiraiya, the hero who claimed he would write Icha Icha Paradise, in the process of getting along with these three children, unknowingly entrusted a part of his unfulfilled dreams and expectations to them quietly.
Advance chapter available on pãtrêon Got1808