"Ugh, finally time to rest a bit," Jiraiya groaned, stretching. His clothes were sticking to his skin, which was truly unpleasant.
"Alright, Jiraiya-sama, let's go clean up our rooms first, and then come out to eat," Yahiko suggested.
This was a very correct proposal. The five quickly headed towards the apartment complex.
By this time, the sky was growing dark, and the sunset had turned a fiery red. It was a beautiful sight, one that the Land of Fire's sunset never achieved. It was probably due to the abundance of clouds here.
When the five arrived at the apartment complex, they found that, just as Torifu had said, it was identical to the apartments in the Konoha Village.
"Phew, this looks really nice. I've been wanting to experience this apartment for a long time, and I can't believe the first time is here," Jiraiya said.
After changing into slippers at the doorway, he walked into the room and looked around, though he didn't wander too far. After all, water was still dripping off him, and it would be bad to make the room too dirty.
Minato and Yahiko also changed their shoes and walked in. After looking around, they found the bathroom and disappeared inside.
About five minutes later, Minato and Yahiko emerged, having changed into fresh, dry clothes.
"Konan, Kushina, you two should also hurry up and change your clothes. Being soaking wet must be very uncomfortable."
Konan smiled and nodded, then walked into the bathroom. After a while, Konan and Kushina came out wearing simple, unadorned dresses. They rarely wore colors like these in their daily life, having brought these along specifically for a change of style during their travels.
"Wow, Konan looks so pretty! You should try wearing colors like this more often."
"Kushina, this color really suits you too!"
Konan's plain dress matched her light purple hair beautifully, earning high praise from both Minato and Yahiko. Kushina's long red hair also paired well with her dress, making for a very pleasant sight.
Jiraiya also nodded at this point, approving of Konan and Kushina's attire.
He then entered the bathroom to change his own clothes, emerging in a plain, ordinary robe that was relatively decent. After all, even though Jiraiya was a pervert, he wasn't interested in children; he preferred mature women.
"Ha ha ha, alright. Since the five of us got drenched today, let's start the fireplace to dry our clothes."
They were currently wearing casual, home attire. They would need to change back into their ninja gear when they went out on the mission tomorrow. Although everyone had brought several sets, they didn't know how long the mission would last, so they planned to stick to wearing one set for now.
Hearing this, everyone began hanging their clothes near the fireplace in the room. Jiraiya started lighting the fire. The room naturally had air conditioning, but it wouldn't be as effective as a fireplace for drying clothes. The temperature of the air conditioner wouldn't dry them properly.
After all this tidying up, it was completely dark outside. Although there were streetlights, the darkness outside made no one want to go out.
"What should we do? Should we just make do with something simple? I really don't feel like going out to find a restaurant..." Jiraiya said, scratching his head.
The other four also didn't want to go out. It would surely be cold and damp outside after dark. Seeing that everyone felt the same way, Jiraiya decided, "Alright, let's just do this for today. We can go out for a nice meal once the mission is over."
No one complained, as no one wanted to go outside. They could only settle for eating some Soldier Pills to fill their stomachs.
"Hurry up and eat. After that, everyone should take a bath; the rainwater might not be clean."
Just as Jiraiya pulled out the food and prepared to eat, there was a knock on the apartment door.
"Strange, who could that be at this hour?"
Minato got up to open the door, but he didn't recognize the person standing outside.
"Who are you?"
"Hello, is this the apartment where Jiraiya-sama is staying?"
Minato nodded. "Yes, who are you?"
The person smiled upon hearing this. "Wonderful, thankfully I didn't get the wrong place. I was sent by Hokage-sama to deliver your dinner. Hokage-sama figured you wouldn't have time to go out and find a restaurant, so I brought the food for you."
"Huh?" Minato was bewildered. Was this really something that could happen?
"Little Brother, can you let the delivery person in?"
Coming to his senses, Minato quickly nodded. "Yes, of course, please come in."
Seeing Minato step aside, the person waved a hand, and a large group of people entered. Each person carried a box, and the aroma was already wafting out.
The distance from the door to the coffee table was short. Jiraiya and the others had heard the conversation at the door and immediately cleared the coffee table to make space for the dishes.
"Ha ha ha, I knew it had to be Big Brother Torifu! No one else would think of us like this."
"Yay! We have dinner! No more Soldier Pills!" Kushina immediately cheered.
Though Yahiko and Konan appeared more composed, they were also very happy inside. Soldier Pills turning into a rich feast—how could that not bring joy? There was nothing happier than finishing a long day of travel and then getting to enjoy a lavish dinner.
"Jiraiya-sama, my task is complete, so I will take my leave now. I wish you an enjoyable meal."
Minato nodded and closed the door after saying goodbye multiple times. Until the end, Minato couldn't recall who the person was. He figured the person must be a local native, but definitely not someone from the Konoha Village.
With instant noodles turning into a full Imperial Feast, the contrast brought smiles to the faces of all five people. They quickly began unwrapping the boxes and eating with gusto, savoring every bite.
The meal lasted about half an hour, and the entire coffee table of dishes was completely empty.
"Mm, I'm so satisfied," Jiraiya said, rubbing his stomach. He had to admit that the foreign food tasted quite good; he had thought it would be hard to accept. But after trying it, he felt it was acceptable, just not as delicious as the food from the Land of Fire.
"Alright, children, clean up, and then everyone go take a bath. That wraps up our day. Tomorrow morning, we need to leave to execute the mission."
"Understood!" the four youths said in unison. The purpose of their trip here was the mission, not a spring outing. They had long since entered the right mindset.
"Then I'll go take a bath first, or maybe Yahiko can join me," Minato suggested, as they often did this at home.
Yahiko had no objection, and the two entered the bathroom together to shower.