Kushina Uzumaki studied the patterns Shindai had drawn on the scroll and confirmed it was a Seal—a Double-Seal Formation.
Shindai silently mused to himself, Man, I really am brilliant. Right from the start, I figured it had to be a Seal Formation.
Shindai asked, "Sister Kushina, do you know how to unlock this Double Seal?"
Pinching her chin thoughtfully, Kushina replied, "Hmm...give me a few days to research it. This Double Seal looks pretty complicated. By the way, where exactly did you see this Double Seal, Shindai?"
"Oh, back when the Kannabi Bridge was blown up, I happened to catch a glimpse of it. Just out of curiosity, I'm asking."
Shindai didn't mention anything about the treasure—it wasn't certain whether it even existed.
Without taking her eyes off the scroll, Kushina replied, "Actually, I find this Double Seal pretty intriguing too. Give me two days; I should be able to analyze and crack it. However, this Double Seal must be very ancient because the techniques inscribed are overly complex. Our Uzumaki Clan has improved the Sealing Technique over time, simplifying many unnecessary components."
"Then I'll leave it to you, Sister Kushina!"
Shindai had complete confidence in Kushina Uzumaki.
After all, the Uzumaki Clan was renowned for their mastery of the Sealing Technique. Moreover, Minato Namikaze, Kushina's 'apprentice,' had become an expert in sealing under her instruction.
Suddenly, Shindai felt a pair of resentful eyes staring at him.
Looking toward the direction he sensed the gaze—Minato Namikaze stood there.
Minato stared at Shindai with pursed lips.
He had finally managed to take a few days off just to have some quality alone time with Kushina, but thanks to Shindai's one sentence, they'd now lost two precious days.
Shindai forced a nervous laugh and avoided meeting Minato's gaze.
Minato turned to Kushina and said, "Kushina, let me help you research and crack this Double Seal together."
Since Kushina had already agreed to Shindai's request, Minato could only try to shorten these two days as much as possible—ideally solving everything within five minutes.
After all, Minato had an entire list of plans he wanted to accomplish with Kushina.
"Then I'll leave it to Sister Kushina and Headmaster Minato! I won't disturb your lovey-dovey time any longer—I'm outta here!"
Shindai quickly slipped away back next door.
Upon returning, Shindai noticed Pakura seemed to be heading out and asked, "Pakura, where are you going?"
Pakura replied, "Didn't I tell you already? Headmaster Nonou's orphanage is opening a shop, and I'm going to be the shop manager. It opens today, so I've got to get started."
"I see. Alright then. I'll be leaving the village in a couple of days to earn some money for my own shop. If… Never mind. I'll count myself lucky if you don't punch me when that happens."
Pakura originally wanted to ask Shindai to join his work, but after thinking about it, he gave up on that idea.
Hearing that Shindai wanted to leave the village to make some money, Pakura assumed he was talking about doing mission reports for reward. He looked at Shindai strangely and said, "I was already ready to face some beatings. So it's really not a decent shop, huh? But if you know that already, then why do you still want to go through with this?"
Shindai shrugged his shoulders. "Because it's all part of the plan! After all, this is my ultimate dream. For my dream to come true, getting beaten up isn't a big deal."
"At any rate, even if I ask you now, you definitely won't tell me what's really going on. If that's the case, I'll just wait and see what kind of shop you're opening. It's getting late. If I don't go now, I'll be late. I'm leaving."
Pakura didn't intend to dig deeper. After all, once the shop opened, he would immediately know exactly what kind of shop Shindai had opened.
After Pakura left, Shindai sat alone on the sofa, starting to brainstorm ideas.
However, this brainstorming session was chaotic and unfocused, bouncing wildly between thoughts of experiments and opening a shop — basically spinning wildly between wild ideas.
"Pakura leaving really made things boring. Well then, I'll just go to the lab and do some research to pass the time."
Shindai also left home, heading toward Orochimaru's research base.
Pakura arrived at the orphanage's shop.
The orphanage's shop sold handmade crafts. Right now Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru were all there.
After all, they had promised beforehand that if the orphanage opened a shop, the Konoha Sannin would show up to support them. This served as proof that the Sannin protected the shop while also helping attract customers.
Jiraiya nudged Orochimaru with his elbow. "C'mon, Orochimaru, smile a little! There are so many people around. It doesn't look good when you keep your face like that all the time."
Orochimaru remained expressionless as he spoke. "Come to think of it, are you two leaving today?"
Jiraiya smiled and said, "Yeah, Minato's wedding has ended, and Konoha has stabilized. We don't need to stay in the village all the time anymore. Besides, Tsunade plans to leave with Shizune today, so I figured I'd travel with them for a while. Don't miss us too much, Orochimaru!"
Jiraiya winked at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru gave Jiraiya a very cold glance and said nothing.
Jiraiya awkwardly rubbed his nose. It would've been better if he had just scolded him verbally.
Cold indifference was truly unbearable.
After the orphanage's handicraft shop held its grand opening ceremony, Pakura officially started work.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru returned to his research base alone. Hearing the clattering noises coming from inside his lab, his forehead darkened. He walked straight into his laboratory, closed the door behind him, and resumed his experiments.
Jiraiya and Tsunade arrived at the Hokage Building.
"Old man, we're heading out now."
Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, sighed, and shook his head. "You guys really can't stay put, can you? At least let us know you're alive once in a while—don't just vanish off the face of the earth."
Jiraiya smiled and said, "Don't worry, old man, we will. Right, Tsunade?"
Tsunade nodded. "Yes, I will."
Sarutobi waved them off. "Alright then, go ahead. Once you've calmed down a bit, come back."
After leaving the Hokage Building, Jiraiya said to Tsunade, "You still need to pick up Shizune, right? I'll let Minato know, and we'll meet at Konoha's main gate afterward."
Tsunade huffed lightly. "If you make me wait too long, I'm not waiting."
"Don't worry, I won't make you wait long."
Jiraiya headed toward Minato's house.
Upon arriving at Minato's home, Jiraiya looked at Minato and Kushina Uzumaki with an awkward expression and asked, "So...you two just got married yesterday, yet instead of spending some quality time together today, you're already researching Sealing Technique? That dedicated, huh?"
Minato shrugged his hands outward. "It was requested by Shindai, plus Kushina is quite interested in this Double Seal as well."
"Fine, fine. The reason I came here was to let you know I'm leaving Konoha to gather material for my research. If anything happens, use the summoning frogs from Mount Myoboku to contact me."
Minato already knew about Jiraiya's plan to leave Konoha, so he simply nodded and replied, "Understood. Master Jiraiya, have a safe journey."
"Yeah, see you next time."
Waving slightly, Jiraiya left Minato's house and headed to Konoha's main gate to meet up with Tsunade and Shizune before exiting Konoha together.
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