Chapter 317: A Youkai Sage Fears Nothing
The whole little episode passed quickly enough, without anyone digging into it any further.
Sure, Minato privately felt Anko was a bit too young, but with the current push toward free-choice marriage in the village, he wasn't in much of a position to say anything about it.
Mostly, though, he simply didn't dare say anything. Ryū's presence in Konoha functioned like some kind of legendary beast towering over the entire village's leadership.
Comparing him to a "legendary beast" might sound a little much, sure, but it wasn't far off the mark—this particular powerful man was, by any reasonable estimate, at least a dozen times more dangerous than the Nine-Tails itself.
A single Nine-Tails had already run Konoha ragged trying to keep it in check. Someone many times more dangerous than that? The village was already showing remarkable restraint just by not aggressively trying to recruit him into its ranks.
And after a few months of limited contact, Konoha's leadership had also come to understand that Ryū wasn't the type who could be recruited at all—the best they could realistically do was maintain a good relationship with him.
As Konoha's Fourth Hokage, Minato understood this dynamic perfectly well.
Skipping past the whole topic entirely, Minato spoke with genuine, heartfelt gratitude. "These past months have kept me far too busy to properly thank you in person. I wanted to take this chance, on the holiday, to bring my wife and son by and properly express our gratitude—for saving my wife and child during the Nine-Tails incident."
Kushina nodded along, equally grateful. "If you hadn't stepped in, my son Naruto might not have made it through that day at all."
Ryū shrugged it off casually, smiling. "I only got involved that day for other reasons, honestly. But this child of yours—Naruto, was it? Uzumaki Naruto?"
Minato nodded. "Yes—good name, don't you think? Hoping he grows up to be someone who, when he finally does 'cry out,' astonishes the whole world with it."
"Eh, names aren't really my area. Just figured it had a nice ring to it, is all."
[...]
Honestly, Ryū had initially worried a bit that his own butterfly effect might have somehow changed even something as basic as Naruto's name.
Might sound like an odd thing to fret over, but the concern was real enough—his presence rippling through this world could easily have thrown off small details like a newborn's given name from the original canon.
And if something as fundamental as that had shifted, the whole shape of the Naruto world going forward might've ended up warping into something genuinely unrecognizable.
Thankfully, no such ripple effect had occurred here—Naruto was still Naruto. The one actual change was that his parents were both alive now, which meant his upbringing would inevitably play out completely differently from canon.
In the original story, Naruto had grown up with no parents at all, practically friendless, universally shunned—despite being the Fourth Hokage's own son, the Third Hokage had never once shown him any real favor, and had even quietly allowed an entire village's worth of scorn and isolation to be heaped on the boy.
Ryū genuinely couldn't wrap his head around what the Third Hokage had actually been thinking there. At least, he certainly couldn't make sense of it himself.
Thank goodness canon-Naruto had been so easy to win over—one line about "wherever the Leaf's will flutters, the Will of Fire never dies" and the kid had been completely turned around, someone who by all rights should've gone dark instead choosing to protect the village no matter the cost.
Ryū still couldn't make heads or tails of the Third Hokage's approach. By comparison, Minato's way of handling things as the Fourth felt a lot more reasonable and worth respecting.
Looking over at the blond-haired, blue-eyed baby nestled in Kushina's arms, pacifier tucked in his mouth, Ryū let out a soft, quiet laugh. "This kid might just grow up to be someone truly remarkable someday."
Time ticked steadily onward, and three hours later, the fireworks show was set to begin. After a good long while of casual conversation with Ryū, Minato and Kushina finally said their goodbyes, heading off to catch the show.
Watching the couple leave, Ryū shook his head, resigned, pulled out some money from his pocket, and handed it over to the meatball vendor.
Then he turned to head home—fireworks weren't really his thing.
That whole scene would just be packed wall-to-wall with couples and married pairs. What was he, a single guy, supposed to do out there?
Chew on stale relationship "dog food" while everyone else paired off around him? No thanks. Ryū had zero taste for that particular flavor of misery, and he definitely wasn't the type to torture himself watching other people be happy together, so he figured he'd just skip it entirely.
Besides, the window in his own home happened to face directly toward where the fireworks show would be held anyway—he could just as easily catch the whole display from his own bedroom window.
But Ryū had barely taken a few steps before he suddenly stopped short, turning back in mild surprise to find the same black-haired girl trailing behind him—unmistakably Anko.
Observation Haki wasn't picking up anything particularly useful this time, so Ryū simply asked, curious, "Do you live in this direction too?"
Anko blinked, then shook her head. "No, my place is that way, actually—but it's not far from here at all, maybe seven or eight hundred meters."
"So you're not going to watch the fireworks show? It's starting in like ten minutes. That's east of here, right?"
"I...I'm not really a fan of fireworks. Mostly because watching them alone isn't much fun."
[...]
Ryū studied the girl for a few seconds, mildly surprised. Turned out she was also the type who wasn't into watching couples enjoy themselves either, huh?
Wait—hold on, this "little Anko," only thirteen this year—she wasn't actually crushing on him, was she?
Even without pulling anything particularly useful from her thoughts, Ryū's Observation Haki could still pick up on the faint, unmistakable trace of shyness radiating off her right now.
Wasn't this counting as puppy love a bit too early? You're only thirteen, kid—isn't this coming on a little ahead of schedule?
Ryū grumbled internally about it for a moment, then let the matter drop entirely—wherever she wanted to walk was her own business, not his to concern himself with. It wasn't like he personally owned this street.
Once he reached his own front door and pulled out his key to let himself in, a small, timid voice drifted up from behind him: "Um...big brother, is this really where you live?"
Anko still couldn't quite wrap her head around it. Someone who inspired this much wariness in Orochimaru, and this much genuine respect from the Fourth Hokage himself—there couldn't be many people in all of Konoha operating on that level.
And a man that powerful just... lived in this completely ordinary two-story house?
Konoha, after all, had a small policy in place where every Jōnin got gifted a nicely furnished little villa of their own. But this plain two-story house—no matter how she looked at it, it didn't exactly scream "little villa," did it?
A bit exasperated that she was still tagging along, Ryū nonetheless answered patiently. "Yeah, plenty of space for one person living alone. Sure, the place is a little old, but as long as it's comfortable to live in, that's what matters. No point overthinking that kind of thing."
Hearing that, Anko nodded thoughtfully, then said, "Well, I should head back then, big brother. It's getting late—already ten thirty."
"Sure, be careful on the way back. Actually...never mind, you're a Chūnin. Should probably be everyone else being careful around you instead."
[...]
With things finally quiet again, Ryū headed inside, settling comfortably into the soft living room couch. After a few minutes of resting with his eyes closed, he slipped his consciousness into the Dimensional Chat Group.
RawrSoFierce: Barely a few days since the group event wrapped up, and now there's a big holiday going on over here too. [Image] [Image] [Image]...picked up a bunch of little trinkets at the street stalls, though everything's stupidly overpriced thanks to the holiday markup—cleaned out my wallet, honestly.
RawrSoFierce: There's a fireworks show starting in ten minutes, but I can't be bothered to go watch it.
Eternally Seventeen: A fireworks show? Oh ho, Admin-sama, is that because you don't have a date and don't want to sit there chewing on dog food alone? Hmph, guess I really did call it—eternal single dog confirmed.
RawrSoFierce: Oh, like you're not equally single yourself. Plenty of unattached folks in this chat, thank you very much.
RawrSoFierce: Speaking of which...didn't you swear off for a full month of seclusion? Why are you already back out? Feels like barely any time's passed since you said that!
Kaguya-sama: I mean, knowing Yukari-nee's track record, "one month of seclusion" realistically means "a few hours, tops."
Eternally Seventeen: Ahem, ahem! When did this humble self ever specify WHEN the month of seclusion would actually start? I said I'd do it—never said exactly when I'd begin!
Eternally Seventeen: A youkai sage gets awfully bored before officially beginning her seclusion, you know. Obviously I need to keep the chat lively in the meantime. And besides, as the #2 Permissions Hound, it's practically my duty to keep this group's activity levels up!
Terrible Tornado: Hm...well, since Admin's got a fireworks show going on over there, Yukari-senpai, why not go watch it together with him? A fireworks show, how romantic.
Terrible Tornado: In every Japanese romance drama I've seen, the moment a fireworks show shows up, the leads always end up kissing, and it freeze-frames on this gorgeous, artsy shot of the kiss.
Kaguya-sama: ...Tornado-nee, have you been watching a few too many romance dramas lately?
Terrible Tornado: Little Kaguya, don't even try telling me your heart didn't just skip a beat there. I've already seen right through you, don't think I haven't!
Eternally Seventeen: Tch, Admin-sama's such an eternally single dog, even if I DID go along with him, he'd never actually work up the nerve to go watch fireworks. A single guy alone with a girl? Obviously he'd get all flustered and shy.
RawrSoFierce: Pfft, I've already opened up your crossing permissions. Come on over, then, and let's see exactly which single dog ends up flustered.
Eternally Seventeen: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ WHAT? Holy crap, you actually opened it!
RawrSoFierce: So, Queen of All Talk, old hag—you got the nerve to actually show up, or not?
Eternally Seventeen: Ah...um...well...that...ahaha! The moon's really lovely tonight, isn't it, ahahaha!
Eternally Seventeen: emmm...
Eternally Seventeen: ...Damn it! Enough! Fine, I'll come! A youkai sage fears NOTHING!
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