Chapter 103: Where the Leaves Dance, Fire Burns Eternal
Honestly, out of everyone present—aside from the crowd of extras too starstruck by two VIPs to make a peep—Orochimaru was the most confused person in the room.
At first, he'd assumed Minato had come for him.
After all, his hands weren't clean. He was running human experiments inside Konoha.
If that ever came to light, the village would never let him walk free.
But Minato just now hadn't shown a shred of hostility.
So Orochimaru couldn't pin down what Minato was actually here for. He'd begun to suspect he'd guessed wrong.
And now it looked like he really had guessed wrong.
Minato hadn't come for him at all—he'd come for "Yagami."
Speaking of which… the stranger sitting right next to him was the "Yagami-kun" Minato kept addressing?
A complete nobody—someone Orochimaru had never seen before, someone with zero reputation—was somehow tangled up with the sitting Fourth Hokage? And apparently had some kind of unclear, hard-to-define connection to Hiruzen-sensei as well?
While Orochimaru was still processing this, Minato's voice cut through again.
"It's truly hard to believe. The person Hiruzen-senpai described as 'someone even I might not be able to defeat'… is a seventeen-year-old boy."
Minato's tone was light—like he was making small talk over tea.
But both Orochimaru and Ryū could hear what was lurking underneath: caution. Gravity.
* * *
As for Minato casually exposing Ryū's strength in public like that—
Ryū's mouth twitched, but he said nothing.
This is going to be a headache.
Minato had just announced, in front of an entire restaurant, that Ryū was "not ordinary."
And there was no way Danzō didn't have people nearby.
Which meant that after today, Danzō—Konoha's resident shadow-dwelling schemer—was going to have his eye on Ryū.
Not that Ryū was afraid of the man.
But it was still a nuisance.
Minato, who seemed to have his own agenda, didn't appear to care whether Danzō's people overheard. He continued: "The most talented young shinobi I've personally witnessed are Kakashi, Might Guy, and their generation. I never expected to learn from Hiruzen-senpai that there was someone even more gifted—Yagami-kun!"
Ryū shook his head. "Believe it or not, I'm not a shinobi."
Minato froze for a beat, his brow furrowing—then relaxing just as quickly.
"Indeed, there's no chakra signature at all… It seems Hiruzen-senpai was right. Yagami-kun, you really are nothing like Konoha's shinobi. Defeating Kakashi and Might Guy without taking a scratch, and without using any chakra whatsoever."
Minato let out a genuine sigh of admiration.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru's vertical pupils contracted—imperceptibly.
Had he just heard… something unbelievable?
This stranger sitting next to him—this person with zero chakra signature, someone who registered as more ordinary than an ordinary civilian—had defeated Kakashi? The current jōnin-level prodigy Kakashi?
This was well outside Orochimaru's frame of reference. He knew Kakashi. Kakashi was a genuine genius—and the son of the White Fang of Konoha, no less. Not exactly a nobody.
And some "ordinary person" had beaten him without a scratch?
No matter how he turned it over, it sounded a little absurd.
If those words had come from anyone other than Namikaze Minato, Orochimaru's first instinct would have been flat disbelief. But since it was Minato saying it… he had to take it seriously. Minato wasn't the type to joke about something like this.
This "Yagami" person had no chakra signature whatsoever. Could he possess some secret technique for concealing it?
Or did he simply not know ninjutsu at all—and had defeated Kakashi through some other means entirely?
A torrent of questions flooded Orochimaru's mind.
But he didn't voice any of them.
Instead, he continued eating his ramen in silence.
Quietly listening to the conversation unfold.
* * *
"You're the Fourth Hokage, the 'Yellow Flash of Konoha.' You snuck away from work in the middle of the day to come here. Don't tell me you just wanted to chat."
Ryū glanced at the bowl Teuchi had just placed in front of him, spooned up a mouthful of broth, and directed the question at Minato.
Minato answered: "Ah… you're right, this isn't just idle chat."
He cleared his throat, his expression turning uncharacteristically serious. "Yagami-kun, your strength is, frankly… an unknown variable inside Konoha. At least, that's how most people would see it."
"I'm not one for beating around the bush, so I'll get straight to the point. You say you're not a shinobi—would you be interested in becoming one? A shinobi of the Hidden Leaf?"
"You may not have attended the Academy, but I'm the Fourth Hokage. I can promote you directly to Elite Jōnin. Because your strength… is more than sufficient."
Before Minato could finish, Ryū—who'd just swallowed a spoonful of broth—cut him off: "Let me guess your next line. 'Where the leaves dance, fire burns eternal. The fire's shadow illuminates the village and causes new leaves to sprout.' Am I close?"
Minato: "…Uh, well, that—I mean—ahahahaha!!"
* * *
And just like that, Ryū had the Fourth Hokage's game plan figured out.
When confronted with an uncertain element, Minato's approach was the polar opposite of Hiruzen's "observe from the shadows" strategy. Minato's method was simpler, more direct.
Extend an olive branch. Dangle a carrot.
If Ryū didn't have the Dimensional Chat Group, he might well have accepted. The perks for jōnin in Konoha were genuinely insane—reportedly, anyone who reached jōnin rank received a free villa in the village, where real estate prices were through the roof.
If Ryū had been a native of this world, there'd be no reason to refuse.
But as things stood, he couldn't care less about shinobi ranks—genin, chūnin, jōnin, whatever. Even a free house couldn't tempt him. The offer had less pull than a new video game.
Minato had dangled the wrong carrot. The "big pie" he'd drawn up held zero appeal for Ryū.
So Ryū's refusal was swift and clean: "Sorry, but I have zero interest in becoming an Elite Jōnin. Even if you offered me the Hokage seat, I wouldn't be interested."
Minato froze again, blinking in disbelief: "Why?!"
Orochimaru: "…This stranger is rather interesting."
The snake Sannin, silent for so long, finally spoke. His vertical pupils glinted with curiosity.
Publicly refusing a Hokage's invitation wasn't something just anyone could pull off. And the fact that Minato—the Hokage himself—was treating this kid with such deference, combined with everything he'd just heard, meant one thing: this "Yagami" was strong.
Strong enough that even Namikaze Minato wouldn't make an enemy of him lightly.
For someone like that to have been hiding in Konoha under everyone's noses…
"Have I heard a bit too much today?"
After licking his lips, Orochimaru said with undisguised interest: "After hearing all that from Hokage-sama, I find myself… very curious about you, young man."
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you