Chapter 114: Chapter 114
"How was it?" It was evident that Jiraiya was greatly anxious, eager to hear an assessment of his work.
"Excellent, I would say — a beautiful book," I declared, handing him back the draft.
At such a statement, the Sannin blossomed into a wide smile.
"But there are two small drawbacks," I added a spoonful of tar.
"What are they?"
"The first one is the idea of a world with ninjas everywhere."
"What's wrong with it?"
"To achieve a true world peace, you'd have to exterminate all the shinobi and at least half of the remaining population so that there are no wars in the coming years," I smirked, "and even then, people will always find reasons to fight, it's in our nature and nothing will change that."
"Surprisingly deep insight from someone so young," Jiraiya grew serious.
"Oh, come on! Shinobi are taught the art of killing from a young age, so what kind of world peace are we talking about? If there's no war, how will people understand the value of peace?"
"Perhaps so, but one should always hope for the best," the toad sage sighed sadly. "Perhaps it's hope that allows us to live in this dark, blood-filled world."
"Well, the second problem with the book is its somewhat untimeliness," I decided to switch to a safer topic.
"What do you mean?"
"The book is suitable for times of peace, when ordinary people can contemplate the meaning of life and the concept of peace on a full stomach," I shook my head, "during war, nobody will burden their minds with additional problems, people need something light and simple to distract them from difficulties. For example, porn novels."
I grinned and winked at the surprised Sannin.
"Yeah, I should've listened to the rumors and Tsunade," he shook his head.
"Rumors?"
"About the genius of the new generation of Naras," the shinobi chuckled, "hardly any of your peers have pondered such complex themes. Let alone talk about it — I'm also a fan of action rather than deep contemplations."
"Well, genius or not, I've got brains," I shrugged and, glancing at the sky beginning to cloud over, got to my feet. "Well, it was nice chatting, but I should head home now. See you later!"
Shaking the Sannin's hand, I waved goodbye and, descending from the hill, headed towards the clan quarters, pondering over the conversation that had just taken place.
Though I wanted to ask about the reason for his appearance in Konoha amidst the war, curiosity was quelled — there was no point in trying to extract information not intended for outside ears. And so, I confirmed my status as a "developed" child with great potential, but nothing more.
Of course, deceiving a Sannin isn't so simple, but I wasn't deceiving, just showing one aspect of my character. Moreover, common interests, albeit approached differently, bring people closer. And it's necessary to be friends with Jiraiya or at least maintain friendly relations — one of the strongest Leaf shinobi will be useful in any case.
Perhaps, after a closer acquaintance and an exchange of techniques, we'll arrange something mutually satisfying. It's a pity my attempts to recreate his hair techniques haven't led to the desired result yet, apart from gradually turning my not particularly soft and fragile hair into real wire even without chakra reinforcement.
It's necessary to find suitable hand seals for this, and I'm not skilled in creating such techniques, unlike simple chakra manipulation. However, considering the short time of experiments — nothing surprising.
At the moment, I simply don't have enough free time, and creating even more shadow clones is not an option not only because of the excessive strain on the brain, but also because I'll be exhausted halfway through the shift at the hospital. Alas, another useful thing will have to wait its turn until opportunities and time appear. I just have a persistent feeling that it won't happen in the next couple of years.
And in general, the further I go, the more it seems to me that time in the day is starting to shorten — even many useful trainings have to be postponed to the future, despite the frenzied use of clones. Not to mention other tasks and activities unrelated to the future career.
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