Kakashi caught his breath, doing his best to smooth out the ragged edges of his voice: "Hokage-sama… there's sothing that requires your imdiate attention."
But his gaze drifted involuntarily—landing first on Ryū, and then on the unnervingly pale figure sitting beside him. Orochimaru.
Kakashi couldn't understand why the Fourth Hokage was sitting at Ichiraku with Yagami-kun and Orochimaru, all three of them looking like old acquaintances.
Hokage-sama and Orochimaru-sama being familiar with each other? Sure, that tracked.
The issue was…
Yagami-kun…?
Kakashi genuinely couldn't wrap his head around it. Why did Yagami-kun look like he was on casual terms with both the Hokage and Orochimaru?
If they weren't friends, why were the other two staring holes into soone just trying to eat ran?
Which ant the three of them knew each other sohow. And that was a knowledge gap Kakashi had no way to fill.
In Kakashi's ntal model, Ryū had slotted into a very specific category: a reclusive master hiding his true strength. Only he and Might Guy knew how strong Ryū actually was.
But now he was starting to suspect… Yagami-kun wasn't as simple as he'd assud. Not just a reclusive master.
Kakashi drew a steadying breath.
Under Minato's increasingly uneasy gaze, he continued: "Hokage-sama, this isn't the place to discuss it… It concerns your wife. You need to co with . Now."
* * *
The instant Kakashi's words landed, Minato's pupils contracted.
Minato was, quietly, one of history's great henpecked husbands. He doted on his wife ferociously.
And his wife was currently pregnant.
His wife was also the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails.
Wait…
Minato's expression turned grave. A flicker of sothing like panic flashed deep in his eyes—gone almost as soon as it appeared.
A suspicion was forming in his mind.
Could it be the Nine-Tails sealed inside Kushina… acting up while she's pregnant?
Minato understood better than anyone what the Nine-Tails represented.
If the seal on the Nine-Tails loosened, his wife and their unborn child could both be in mortal danger.
They could die.
Minato nodded: "Understood. I'm leaving imdiately."
* * *
Ryū watched as Minato and Kakashi vanished—blinking out of Ichiraku in a blur, their haste unmistakable.
His brow slowly furrowed.
He'd caught what Kakashi said. Just one line—"the Fourth Hokage's wife is in trouble"—but from that single data point, he could extrapolate a lot of possibilities.
In the original Naruto manga, Kushina's pregnancy was supposed to be quiet. As far as I rember, nothing major happened during this window.
And by my count, Kushina's still four months out from giving birth to Naruto. Or more precisely: once today wraps up, it'll be three months and twenty-nine days.
So no matter how you slice it, this shouldn't be anything catastrophic yet.
Minor issues wouldn't have needed Minato himself to handle it, though…
Sothing major just happened.
* * *
"Judging from how frantic they looked, it seems there's a variable in play… Anything that makes a Hokage's face change that dramatically has to be serious indeed."
Orochimaru murmured beside him, his vertical pupils bright with astonishnt.
Orochimaru didn't know what had happened either. It looked like a sudden ergency—he could vaguely sense the gravity, but the specifics were beyond him.
Because the matter of jinchūriki was a tightly guarded secret. Plenty of people knew Kushina was Minato's wife, and plenty knew she was pregnant. But nobody outside the innermost circle knew she was the Nine-Tails jinchūriki—not even the Sannin. Orochimaru included.
For reasons Ryū couldn't quite pin down, Orochimaru paid Teuchi for his al, covered Minato's tab as a side gesture, and left the shop without finishing his noodles.
Ryū watched the gaunt figure retreat, and felt sothing tug at him. Sothing was off.
Orochimaru's behavior was explicable enough—he was probably curious and planning to go shake down Danzō, that old shadow-dwelling scher, for intel.
It was what Kakashi had said that bothered Ryū. Minato's wife was in trouble.
What kind of trouble, specifically? Ryū could only guess. Nobody was going to tell him. He had no way of knowing for certain.
* * *
Whatever. Even if it really is the Nine-Tails, at my current power level I don't have to fear it in the slightest. And it shouldn't have anything to do with anyway. Konoha has Hiruzen, Minato, Danzō, Orochimaru, and plenty of others—whatever this is, they should be able to handle it.
Plus the Nine-Tails doesn't get loose that easily. In canon, it only broke its sealed state because Uchiha Obito forced the seal open. That was the catalyst.
As for why those sa heavyweights hadn't stepped in more effectively during the canonical Nine-Tails incident—Ryū couldn't say. Maybe soone had wanted Minato dead.
Soone like a certain shadow-dwelling scher tucked away in a dark corner of the village.
If it wasn't Danzō, it had to be Danzō. Who else? He was the King of the Wok, after all. And if you're the King of the Wok… you carry every wok.
Setting that aside—whether this current crisis even had anything to do with the Nine-Tails was impossible to say right now. Nobody could confirm it.
* * *
Ryū cleared the speculation from his head and went back to demolishing the ran in front of him. The stares around him—so amazed, so incredulous—he ignored completely.
Because ever since his appetite had reached its current absurd dinsions, going out to eat always ca with this kind of audience. At first it had been a little unsettling. Now he'd gone completely numb to it.
When he hit roughly 70% capacity, Ryū set down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and called out to Teuchi: "Boss, I'll settle the bill."
He'd gotten used to not eating to full anymore. Plus, if he tried to hit 100% on ran alone… he'd run Teuchi into the ground. The old man was already drenched in sweat, ladling out bowls non-stop.
"You got it!"
Teuchi lit up at the word "bill"—because over the past few months, a solid fifth of Ichiraku's profit had co directly from Ryū's stomach.
Ryū settled up, ran his thumb over his now-skeletal wallet, and sighed softly.
I'm getting broker by the day… Going to have to scrounge up so cash soon. A few million ryō should do the trick…
* * *
Just as Ryū stood up to head ho, a familiar chi echoed inside his head—the notification sound of the Dinsional Chat Group. His steps froze mid-stride.
His consciousness slipped into the group, and he was imdiately greeted by a popup—the kind only an Admin could see.
A Quest popup.
[Group Quest Triggered]
A Group Quest had been triggered?!
That was unexpected. It had been a while since the last one.
☆☆☆
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