In the evening, the rain eased a lot.
Outside the cave, there are several dense canna plants growing, with wide leaves, slightly covering the entrance of the cave.
The banana leaves slanted horizontally, reaching into the cave. So the leaking rainwater, with occasional sounds, slowly and regularly followed the leaves and hit the rocks.
After listening to it for a long time, my heartbeat seemed to slow down.
Xiaonan sat on a small paper stool, reading a newspaper in her hand by candlelight. When she read something interesting, the corners of her mouth curved into a shallow arc.
"I knew you were here."
Footsteps sounded slowly, and the banana leaves were pushed aside, revealing Yahiko's young face filled with smiles.
He walked in, and the rainwater that gathered on the leaves fell one after another, hitting the puddles and making waves.
Behind him, there was a red-haired boy holding an oil-paper umbrella.
"You're back." Konan stood up and prepared to take the umbrella from Nagato's hand.
But Nagato shook his head and placed it gently at the entrance of the cave. "Just sit down."
"Yes, since you are injured, you must look like a patient." Yahiko said with concern: "Why did you run out alone? How dangerous it is."
"You two are not here, and I don't like to be with those people." Xiaonan lowered his head and kicked a stone into the puddle, splashing water all over Yahiko.
“…”
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to do it." Xiaonan raised his arm, and several pieces of paper appeared out of thin air, attached to Yahiko, and gently wiped away the water on his face.
"Xiaonan is still so careless."
"I've apologized, but Yahiko is still so stingy."
Nagato smiled and said nothing. He had seen this kind of warm scene countless times, but he never got tired of it.
It would be nice to be able to do this for the rest of my life.
In fact, he doesn't have much ambition or ambition. Even if he has the legendary reincarnation eye that only the Immortal of Six Paths has, he just wants to live his life in an ordinary way.
But since Yahiko wants peace...then the ninja world should be peaceful!
It’s like God said let there be light, and then there was light in the world.
Yahiko and Konan are everything to Nagato, and he will help Yahiko realize his dream at all costs.
After wiping off the water on his body, Yahiko caught a glimpse of the newspaper on the stool from the corner of his eye and wondered: "What is this?"
"That's what you said." Konan bent down to pick up the newspaper, shook it, and said proudly: "I got this from other ninjas when I was on a mission. It contains a series of Jiraiya-sensei's novels."
"What, Mr. Jiraiya's novel?" Yahiko's expression changed: "Konan, is this something you can read
You learned badly! "
Even after all these years, Yahiko's biggest impression of Jiraiya-sensei was that he was lustful.
He particularly remembered that winter, when Jiraiya went to collect materials, he and Nagato were asked to keep watch from a distance.
The cold wind howled, and Yahiko shivered from the cold.
At that time, he wanted to sneak over and take a look. Not to mention the visible benefits of increasing experience, it was just to arouse his emotions and warm up his body a little.
But Nagato held him tightly!
During the tug, Nagato stepped on a wild dog looking for food, and then the two of them were chased by the dog for three streets!
But Jiraiya-sensei remained unmoved and continued to peek into the bathroom!
From then on, Yahiko had an essential understanding of Jiraiya.
Later, Yahiko and Nagato secretly read some of Jiraiya's manuscripts, all of which were forbidden contents.
The two also secretly hid some.
Therefore, when Yahiko heard that Konan was reading Jiraiya-sensei's novel, Yahiko's first reaction was curiosity!
After suppressing this impulse, my second reaction was that Xiaonan was a bad student.
"No," Konan stuck out her tongue cutely, "This is Jiraiya-sensei's new novel. Remember, it's the novel that has been conceived for a long time."
"The one with Naruto as the protagonist?" Yahiko asked after thinking about it.
"Yes, that's it."
Yahiko wanted to say something else, but Nagato sniffed.
"What does it smell like? It seems like something is burnt."
"Ah!" Xiaonan stood up suddenly, "I have a fried chicken in the pot!"
“…”
…
…
Deep in the cave, there is a wooden table. Although the table is clean, you can tell it has been used for a long time.
Yahiko and Konan sat on both sides of the table, watching Nagato busy here and there, dealing with the dinner that Konan had ruined.
The sound of hot water boiling, the lid beeping, and the water vapor filled the entire cave for a while.
"In the end, we have to leave it to Nagato to handle, Konan is always careless." Yahiko said teasingly.
"I just forgot to watch the fire." Xiaonan waved his fist, and his short blue hair moved accordingly.
Strangely enough, among the trio, Nagato is always the one cooking, but the food Konan cooks is not that delicious.
This was true even during the years I spent with Zaiya-sensei.
Nagato was busy, Konan was reading a novel softly, and Yahiko looked around the entire cave with a nostalgic look on his face.
This cave is where the three of them met Chen, Mikoto and Naoshu.
It was the early days of the Second Ninja War, and in the blink of an eye, seven or eight years had passed.
Yahiko and the others have grown from children to the teenagers they are today, while Tatsu and the others have also grown from teenagers to young adults.
Time flies, and I wonder how they are doing now
You should be living a good life, right
Yahiko thought so.
Even in such a remote place as the Land of Rain, they had often heard of the title of Konoha's Thunder Light.
Especially when he single-handedly invaded Kirigakure Village and ended the war, Yahiko was stunned when he heard the news.
It was also from that day that he truly understood that there were still ninjas in this world who could end the war on their own.
But then when news came that Kirigakure Village had suffered huge losses and there were countless casualties, Yahiko fell silent again.
He wanted to resolve the dispute in a peaceful way, not this violent way.
Is this peace... real peace
Teacher Jiraiya once said: The era will come when people understand each other...
The two approaches are somewhat difficult to distinguish between right and wrong given Yahiko's current teenage age.
Yahiko sighed, remembering the time when he was rejected as a disciple. He didn't know how he had the courage to open his mouth.
It's like it happened yesterday, yes, it really does.
If he had succeeded at that time, he would not have met Mr. Jiraiya later. Maybe everything would be different, right
Xiaonan was still reading the novel softly, but it had already reached the end.
"As long as we live in this cursed ninja world, we can't live a stable life."
"Then... let me break this curse!"
"If there is such a thing as peace in this world, I will master it! I will not give up!"
The eyes of both parties met.
The leaves fell silently.
"You...who are you?"
He raised his head and looked up at the blue sky through the gaps in the trees.
"My name is Naruto!"
"I made a decision!"
Yahiko suddenly stood up, startling Konan and Nagato.
"Um?"
The two of them looked at Yahiko suspiciously.
Yahiko's eyes were full of determination: "I have decided to negotiate with Hanzo."
"What?" Xiaonan still didn't know that Hanzo was going to start a war.
"I can't continue to watch the Kingdom of Rain fall into war again. I must find Hanzo and stop him from starting such a war."
"But… "
“The Country of Rain has been in war for so many years, Hanzo knows the pain of this country, and he has been working hard for peace.
I believe that he can understand us and we can stop him! "
"Driving away all darkness and bringing light and hope to the world, isn't this what Akatsuki is all about?"
…
…