Chapter 102: Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Minato's mind was awash with the same surprise—and just as Ryū had guessed, it was all about him.
Here was the Fourth Hokage—a man drowning in paperwork and administrative chaos every waking hour, a man whose schedule made even dogs look leisurely by comparison—and the reason he'd snuck out today was none other than Yagami Ryū, Konoha's "unknown variable."
The power Ryū had displayed was enough to set off alarm bells for both Hiruzen and Minato. Alarm—and more than a little wariness.
After all, one was the former Hokage, the other the current. Konoha was their home.
And when a beast of unknown origin shows up inside your house, any sane person is going to want answers.
Minato was no exception.
What he hadn't expected was running into Orochimaru here as well—one of the Sannin, and technically his senior.
But from what he could tell, Orochimaru and the kid called Yagami had no connection whatsoever. They were sitting side by side, sure, but they looked about as familiar with each other as two strangers on a park bench.
Just a coincidence, then?
* * *
To avoid being recognized as the Fourth Hokage, Minato had rushed through a hasty disguise: thickened his eyebrows with some pencil, dotted freckles across his face, and tied his hair up in a small ponytail.
The kind of disguise that only a genuinely face-blind person could fail to see through.
He swept his gaze across the other customers, none of whom had batted an eye.
…Apparently, the face-blind were the majority.
Aside from Ryū and Orochimaru, not a single person had recognized Namikaze Minato.
A disguise this laughably bad actually worked?
Wasn't this joke going a bit too far?
This is a Hokage story, not a detective manga!
* * *
As Ryū's gaze traveled past Orochimaru to settle on Minato, the newly arrived Hokage noticed it too. He scratched the back of his head, puzzled: "Hey, uh… why do you keep staring at me?"
Ryū took one look at Minato's "makeup" and the corner of his mouth twitched: "No reason. You just remind me of someone."
He genuinely could not wrap his head around it. Why was face-blindness so rampant in the Naruto world? Minato's level of disguise should be transparent to literally anyone with functioning eyesight.
And yet it seemed like only he and Orochimaru had clocked it.
This was a bit too hard to believe.
Is everyone around here blind?!
"Remind you of someone? Ahaha, must be a coincidence! Just a coincidence." Minato flashed an awkward-but-polite smile.
Was his ninja disguise technique really that bad?
He'd thought it was pretty decent, honestly!
Had this kid actually seen through it?
No, that couldn't be right…
Maybe he just genuinely resembled someone the kid knew?
That thought had barely formed before Ryū's next words blew it to pieces.
"You're the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, after all. Sure, you drew your eyebrows on a little thicker, slapped some freckles on, tied your hair up in a ponytail, and left your forehead protector at home… but I'm not blind." Ryū's tone was utterly matter-of-fact. "Anyone who can't tell has to be face-blind."
Minato: "Wh—?!"
Orochimaru: "…"
Orochimaru side-eyed the stranger sitting to his left. He had to admit—this kid had just said exactly what he'd been thinking. Because anyone who wasn't face-blind could recognize Minato in that getup.
A Transformation Jutsu would have been smarter. At least that might have actually fooled someone.
Was the Fourth Hokage missing a screw upstairs?
To this day, Orochimaru still had no idea he'd met Ryū before. In his eyes, the Ryū of back then had been nothing more than a stranger not worth remembering.
* * *
Minato turned to Orochimaru, baffled: "Wait, seriously? Orochimaru-senpai, is my disguise really that bad? How did you both see through it?"
Orochimaru: "…Whatever makes you happy."
Feeling the weight of many stares suddenly falling on him, Minato let out a sheepish laugh. There wasn't an ounce of Hokage gravitas about him—but what was actually going on inside his head, only he knew.
"That's the Hokage? Doesn't look like it… Is that what Hokage-sama looks like?"
"Now that you mention it, there is kind of a resemblance… Could it really be him?"
"Same blond hair, at least…"
"I can't believe I didn't recognize him!"
"Should we ask for an autograph? It's not every day you get to see Hokage-sama in person—maybe once a year, if you're lucky. But would that be rude?"
"Anyone who can sit there and chat with Orochimaru-sama as an equal—that's definitely Hokage-sama!"
"The newly appointed Fourth Hokage… Namikaze Minato!"
* * *
Listening to the whispers ripple through the shop and feeling the heat of countless stares, Minato's scalp started to tingle.
After Ryū had called him out, of course people were going to pay attention. He was the Hokage. The leader of the entire village.
Minato quickly waved his hands to settle things down: "I'm just here as an ordinary person today, out for a casual stroll. So please, everyone—keep it quiet? If word gets out, it'll cause me all kinds of trouble. I'm begging you here!"
Hokage or not, his words carried weight. The whispers in Ichiraku died down considerably.
A few lingering glances still drifted his way, but Minato chose to selectively ignore them.
* * *
Looking at Ryū, he spoke: "Ahaha, well—since the jig is up, no point pretending anymore. The reason I came here today is actually because of you, Yagami-kun. I've… heard things."
Minato's eyes narrowed slightly, as though studying Ryū's micro-expressions.
The result was deeply disappointing. Ryū's face hadn't changed one bit.
He hadn't even blinked. Completely unreadable.
Ryū said: "Me? Can't say I'm surprised. I've made a few moves by now—it'd be weirder if you didn't know. Hiruzen told you, right?"
Minato blinked, then nodded: "That's correct…"
Orochimaru: "?!"
What on earth were these two talking about? Why couldn't he follow any of it?
Yagami? Made a few moves? And something about Hiruzen-sensei…?
Orochimaru—who'd been holed up in his lab running experiments for weeks—was drawing a complete blank.
The one thing he could be sure of right now was this: his human experiments hadn't been exposed.
Because from the conversation passing between the man on his left and the man on his right, Orochimaru could tell—
Their discussion had nothing to do with him.
And it looked like they were going to keep talking. About something that was clearly supposed to be some kind of secret. Were these two really going to have this conversation in front of a crowded ramen shop?
Should he stay and listen in? Or quietly excuse himself and leave?
Orochimaru found himself well and truly caught between a rock and a hard place.
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