Chapter 13: Hinata

"Has he already learned it?" The Nine-Tails was equally astonished, but it quickly pieced together the clues. "Could it be that the technique he used this morning was the Flying Thunder God? But when did you teach him... I see now—it's a sealing technique?"

"That's right. The Flying Thunder God Technique is actually a combination of sealing and ninja arts." Minato nodded, casually shaping his chakra into the form of a shuriken, pointing to the Flying Thunder God mark on it. "The mark itself operates on the logic of sealing techniques, allowing the user to embed their chakra into the surface of any object, which then serves as a marker to anchor their body."

"And the space-time aspect that follows is a manifestation of ninja techniques. I previously mentioned not to teach Naruto ninja arts too early. So, to outsiders, the Flying Thunder God technique may appear to be just Naruto's doodling. Without sufficient training in ninja arts, he can't perform longer-distance movements."

As Minato explained, the Nine-Tails began to understand.

No wonder no one in Konoha had mastered the Flying Thunder God technique after Minato; even his three personal guards needed to work together to use it. The key lay in the nearly lost art of sealing techniques.

The Flying Thunder God technique required not only a high level of proficiency in sealing arts but also a significant demand for ninja arts. Most ninjas simply didn't possess the skills for both, but as a member of the Uzumaki clan, Naruto surely could. However...

The Nine-Tails couldn't help but remember that in the future, Naruto had wanted to replicate the Flying Thunder God technique. Yet, without systematically learning sealing arts, his research into space-time ninjutsu alone wouldn't suffice.

No wonder Minato's sealing techniques were so advanced; he could perform the Flying Thunder God technique with such mastery. Even that brat Tobirama Senju couldn't compare to him.

"Is that explanation clear enough?" Seeing the Nine-Tails deep in thought, Minato asked, "Does it help your understanding of ninja arts?"

"Hmm?" The Nine-Tails looked at him, its deep blue eyes shimmering with intelligence, as if piercing through its thoughts...

"Humph, when did you figure it out, Minato?" the Nine-Tails smirked.

"Not long ago. At first, I thought you were just concerned about Naruto, but then I noticed you were paying attention to everything I said about ninja arts." Minato didn't shy away from the Nine-Tails' slightly threatening gaze. "If you want to learn about ninja arts, you could just ask me directly."

The Nine-Tails fell silent.

It was pondering. As a natural chakra conglomerate—the most powerful lifeform in existence, the tailed beast—its innate ability allowed it to control chakra freely. This applied to all tailed beasts, including the One-Tail.

Thus, they had a flaw that wasn't quite a flaw.

They had never learned human ninja arts, nor could they comprehend or perform the bizarre powers of these ninjas. Even if those powers were mostly too weak for tailed beasts, their principles were not simple.

The Nine-Tails and Naruto were starting from the same point; it was also learning.

Yet, it hesitated to share its true intentions with Minato regarding learning these techniques.

After a fleeting thought of what could happen if it revealed its motives, the Nine-Tails decided against it. Anyone could potentially leak this information, after all... it was something humans might not accept.

"I just want to understand, but even if you don't want me to learn it, there's nothing you can do. After all, I call the shots here."

"Not at all! If you want to listen, that's perfectly fine. Although the Flying Thunder God technique is considered a forbidden technique from the sealing arts in Konoha, for the current Nine-Tails, you..." Minato smiled brightly, "you should be regarded as a member of Konoha too."

"...Tch, I'm just on the same side as Naruto," the Nine-Tails scoffed at Minato's amiable demeanor.

"That's good enough." Minato replied, appearing entirely unconcerned.

The Nine-Tails didn't press the matter further, allowing Minato to breathe a sigh of relief.

He understood that the Nine-Tails had its own agenda. After nearly a year of sharing a mental space, his understanding of it had deepened significantly.

But having personal motives wasn't exclusive to the Nine-Tails. Minato had his own reasons for teaching sealing techniques.

He still wanted to give Naruto an advantage...

With their conversation concluding here, it felt natural for them. Over the past year in the mental realm, aside from discussions about Naruto and future events, the two spent most of their time in silence.

But it wasn't that they had no topics to discuss. In fact, they had many things that they chose to keep unspoken, both knowing the truth between them—such as...

Kushina Uzumaki and the chakra she had left in Naruto's mental space.

...

"Coming through, Tonkotsu Ramen!"

With Uncle Iruka's cheerful shout, the final bowl of steaming ramen was placed in front of a eagerly awaiting Naruto.

"Woohoo!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, quickly grabbing a mouthful of hot noodles, barely bothering to cool them before slurping them down. He quickly broke into a sweat from the heat but couldn't stop eating.

Several layers of empty ramen bowls had already piled up in front of him; he had been eating from the afternoon until evening like a starving ghost.

Watching Naruto devour his food so enthusiastically, the young girl sitting next to him blushed deeply, her eyes barely daring to meet his gaze. She occasionally stole a glance before shyly looking down.

"Um... um... that..."

Hinata shyly held out her handkerchief toward Naruto, her eyes focused on her toes, her voice soft, timid, and stuttering.

"Slurp, slurp! Huh? Oh, thank you, thank you!" Naruto replied with a mouthful of noodles, his words muffled as he took the handkerchief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then lifted the entire bowl to drink down the remaining broth.

"Whew! It's been so long since I had ramen; it's so satisfying!" Naruto said, patting his round belly and smiling at Hinata. "Thanks for treating me! You should try it too; it's delicious!"

At his words, Hinata glanced at her bowl, which was several times larger than her face, with the broth nearly gone. Ignoring Naruto's words, she nodded lightly, her small hands clenched as if mustering courage or giving herself a pep talk.

Naruto tried greeting her several times, but Hinata remained silent, leaving him scratching his head in confusion. Just then, he caught a glimpse of a figure outside and quickly stood up.

After a long while, Hinata finally gathered her courage and spoke in a voice softer than a whisper, "Ah, um... Naruto-kun, thank you for today... and... I wish you... um... a... happy...?"

Looking back, Naruto had already left without her noticing.

Hinata stared blankly at the empty space beside her, feeling a wave of disappointment wash over her.

"Hey, little lady, how do you know Naruto?" Uncle Iruka glanced at the untouched noodles and the girl's unmistakably forlorn expression, his curiosity piqued.