414 Learning Ninjutsu in a Glance

Evening.

Shinju came out after finishing his shower, drying his hair as he walked out.

Then he saw Sasuke and Naruto standing guard right outside the bathroom!

Shinju: "What are you two doing? Why are you staring at me like that? (≖╻≖;)"

"Wait! You didn't just peek while I was showering, did you?"

Naruto pouted. "We're all guys. So what if we looked? ┐(´-｀)┌"

Shinju: "You actually looked?! ꐦ≖ ≖"

"So how's your bro's physique? (๑❛ᴗ❛๑)"

Naruto smacked his lips. "Abs and pecs are pretty nice… ahem, pretty big… ＜(￣3￣)＞"

Sasuke: "Is that really the point?! (ꐦ ಠ 皿 ಠ)"

"Shinju, you usually finish showering in three or four minutes, but just now you took thirty. What were you doing in there that whole time? (◔◡◔)"

Shinju spread his hands.

"What else would I be doing in the bathroom? Obviously showering! What, was I supposed to go surfing?"

"But you kept muttering something about 'crimson skeleton' while you were in there… You're not, you know, in love, are you?" Sasuke continued teasing.

Hearing that, Shinju recalled the icy-cool sensation from the park, and his old face flushed red.

"Uh, well… I'm gonna go upstairs and put some clothes on!"

With that, Shinju stomped upstairs.

Downstairs, Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a look.

"Something's definitely fishy!"

Sasuke: "Who do you think it is?"

Naruto shrugged. "Ino, obviously. Who else could it be, Hanabi? ¯\(ツ)/¯"

As soon as he said it, Naruto realized something was wrong.

"No way it's really Hanabi, right?! (⊙o⊙)"

"She's only thirteen this year! Σ(っ °Д °;)っ"

...

The next day.

Hokage's office.

Because of everything that happened last night, Shinju was completely unable to focus on work today.

Even Shikamaru, who was usually serious, looked at him with a playful, teasing gaze when he walked in…

Shinju sighed. "What kind of look is that supposed to be?"

Shikamaru looked confused. "What look? Are my eyes broken or something?"

Shinju couldn't be bothered to argue and waved his hand.

"Alright, alright, you can go out now."

Shikamaru nodded. As he left, he tossed out one last line:

"Or maybe you've got a guilty conscience, so everything looks suspicious to you? (◔◡◔)"

...

A few more days passed.

Life returned to how it used to be. Ino and Shinju would meet occasionally, but they rarely talked for long.

One day, Shinju received news from the Konoha Research Institute: the artificial human created by Orochimaru had reached full term.

Curious, Shinju immediately used Flying Thunder God to rush over. As soon as he entered, he saw a baby placed inside an incubator.

"It's only been a few months, and it's already this big?" Shinju asked in surprise.

Katasuke smiled. "Life really is that miraculous."

Still worried, Shinju asked, "Boy or girl?"

After all, Orochimaru had messed himself up so badly for research that he ended up neither male nor female. If the child he made turned out the same, that would be a disaster!

Katasuke replied, "A boy."

"This should be the world's first artificial human… Sixth Hokage-sama, please give him a name."

Shinju thought for a moment. "An artificial human… I really don't know how to name that."

"How about something meaningful… Let's call him Eikoku! (⌯︎¤̴̶̷̀ω¤̴̶̷́)✧︎"

Opposite him, after hearing the name Shinju chose, Katasuke's expression turned subtle. Then he immediately started flattering him.

"As expected of the Sixth Hokage-sama, what a meaningful name! Eikoku is great! Oh right, what surname should he have?"

Halfway through, Shinju remembered that the world he lived in during his previous life had different cultural norms from the shinobi world, so he explained:

"No need to give him a surname. I've grown up this old without one myself."

Katasuke nodded. "Understood. Then, Hokage-sama, do you plan to raise him personally?"

Shinju waved his hand. "Send him to Konoha's First Orphanage."

No way. He was still a pure young bachelor—what business did he have raising a kid?

...

Another few days passed in a blur.

It was the anniversary of the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War.

Because after the war ended, Shinju had used Edo Tensei to allow many ninja to reunite with their deceased loved ones—especially parents from that generation—the Ninja Alliance designated this day as Parent–Child Day…

After the Ninja Alliance announced this, Shinju felt an overwhelming amount of malice!

Their intentions might have been good, but it was like they hadn't considered his feelings at all!

How could these people repay kindness with ingratitude?!

Thankfully, Shinju was already used to living without parents. Otherwise, seeing the streets filled with laughter and joy would've completely broken him.

...

That morning.

Hokage's office.

Naruto came to Shinju and pleaded, "Shinju, can you help me out and pull my parents back? I want them to see Hinata. ( ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧"

Shinju looked at him, utterly speechless.

"You've been dating for half a year already, and you're only thinking of this now—and you had to pick today of all days."

"Let's talk about it tomorrow."

Naruto assumed Shinju was just busy with holiday work, nodded, and left.

After a while, the door to the Hokage's office was pushed open again.

This time, Sasuke walked in.

Shinju froze. "You're not here to ask me to revive your parents too, are you? Tomorrow. →_→"

Sasuke sighed. "What are you even thinking?"

"I'm here to tell you— the baby Orochimaru created has disappeared!"

Shinju: "He's just a baby. How could he disappear for no reason?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No idea. It just happened recently. I only found out because I ran into a teacher from the orphanage on the way here. You should go check it out right now!"

Shinju nodded. His body vanished on the spot as he appeared at Konoha's First Orphanage!

...

Inside the orphanage.

"Waaah—!"

"Uuu—!"

The children's cries shook the building!

The teachers tried their best to comfort them, but nothing worked. In the end, they could only look at Shinju apologetically.

Finding the noise unbearable, Shinju silenced all the children with a single glance, sending them into a genjutsu!

Once the children calmed down, the orphanage director explained the situation to Shinju.

"Sixth Hokage-sama."

"All of us teachers and children live and eat together here. So when Eikoku was taken away early this morning, one of the teachers was awakened and chased after them…"

As she spoke, the director led Shinju into a room.

On the bed inside lay a woman whose entire body was badly burned.

The director introduced her. "This is Teacher Suzuki from the orphanage."

Seeing this, Shinju immediately crouched down and used the Mystical Palm Technique to treat her injuries.

After her condition stabilized, Shinju knew it was difficult for her to speak, so he used the Mind Body Switch Technique to read her memories from this morning…

After finishing watching the memory scenes, Shinju narrowed his eyes.

"Detonating clay? That should be a forbidden technique from Iwagakure…"