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Minato had read enough of the manga by now to know that Naruto was capable of turning even the simplest moment into something impossible to ignore, even when he wasn't the one fighting.
He sat in his usual corner inside the Art Store, Volume Thirteen open in his hands, while Kushina sat beside him. They had arrived after some readers had already started discussing Sasuke's return, but Minato paid little attention to what he overheard.
He wanted to read it for himself.
In the previous chapter, Sasuke had finally returned to the exam arena alongside Kakashi. Now, the match Gaara had been waiting for, the audience had been waiting for, and Naruto himself had been waiting for was finally supposed to begin.
Yet Minato's eyes didn't linger on Sasuke for long.
Ever since that blond boy first appeared in the manga, something strange had happened that Minato couldn't fully explain. Without realizing it, he had begun searching for Naruto whenever his eyes moved across the scenes.
Whenever Naruto disappeared for a while, Minato waited for him to return. And whenever he appeared, Minato found himself noticing small things that didn't always have anything to do with battles: the way he spoke, how quickly he became angry, his smile, his stubbornness, and even the way he looked at other people.
Minato didn't have a complete explanation for that interest.
But he had stopped denying it a long time ago.
He turned the page.
[— Manga Scene —]
After their flashy entrance into the exam arena, Kakashi seemed completely relaxed until an unpleasant possibility suddenly occurred to him.
"Sasuke… lost by forfeit?"
The answer came quickly.
Sasuke's match hadn't been forfeited. It had merely been postponed.
Kakashi visibly relaxed.
"Ah ha ha… Good, good."
Then he turned toward Sasuke.
"See? I told you we'd be late, Sasuke."
Sasuke didn't seem particularly interested in assigning blame.
Naruto, meanwhile, continued watching him from where he stood.
Above them, Gaara stood by the railing with his arms crossed and his large gourd strapped to his back, his eyes fixed on the opponent he had been waiting for.
Sasuke raised his eyes toward him.
Their gazes met.
Neither of them said anything, but the match they had both been waiting for was no longer far away.
Naruto then turned toward Sasuke.
"Don't you dare lose to a guy like him!"
Sasuke looked at him.
"Yeah…"
A brief silence passed between them.
Then Naruto's expression changed.
He remembered their earlier confrontation, and the words Sasuke had said to him before the exams.
You're one of the ones I want to fight.
Naruto opened his mouth.
"Sasuke!"
Sasuke silently looked at him.
Naruto's expression tightened before he finally said it.
"I… want to fight you too!"
Sasuke's eyes widened slightly.
Then a small smile appeared on his face.
"Yeah…"
A wide grin appeared on Naruto's face as well.
Meanwhile, the spectators in the stands began stirring.
"Hey! Is that the last of the Uchiha clan?!"
"The Uchiha's match is starting!!"
[— End Scene —]
Minato's fingers stopped at the edge of the page.
He didn't turn it.
Kushina was looking at the final scene as well, but Minato found himself going back one page and looking at Naruto again.
"I… want to fight you too!"
Minato smiled slightly.
The sentence wouldn't have seemed particularly meaningful to anyone who didn't know what had come before it. Two shinobi of the same age wanting to test their strength against each other was perfectly normal, perhaps even more so for two stubborn boys like Naruto and Sasuke.
But Minato had read what came before.
That was why he understood that those words carried more than a simple challenge.
'He answered him.'
Kushina noticed his smile.
"What is it?"
Minato gestured toward the page with his eyes.
"I remembered what Sasuke told him before."
Kushina didn't need long to remember.
"That he wanted to fight him?"
Minato nodded.
Back then, those words had surprised Naruto.
Sasuke Uchiha, the boy Naruto constantly compared himself to, had personally placed him among the people he wanted to fight.
For someone like Naruto, that hadn't been a meaningless statement.
'He remembered it.'
A lot had happened since then.
Naruto had fought Neji.
He had won.
He had proven himself in front of the entire arena.
And yet, when Sasuke stood in front of him again, Naruto didn't boast about becoming stronger or brag about defeating Neji.
He said something much simpler.
'I want to fight you too.'
Minato tilted his head slightly.
"Strange."
Kushina turned toward him.
"What's strange?"
Minato thought for a moment before answering.
"A few volumes ago, I thought Naruto only wanted to surpass Sasuke."
Kushina raised an eyebrow.
"Doesn't he still?"
"Definitely."
Minato chuckled softly.
"Just look at his face. He'll try to punch him the moment the rules allow it."
Kushina laughed as well before looking back at the page.
But Minato continued.
"It's just… I don't think that's all there is to it."
Their rivalry had been obvious from the beginning.
Naruto chased Sasuke.
Sasuke stayed ahead.
Naruto became frustrated.
Then he tried to catch up again.
But something had changed over time.
Or perhaps it hadn't changed at all. Perhaps it had simply become easier to see.
'He wants his acknowledgment.'
Minato's eyes settled on Naruto's smile.
That boy had spent a large part of his life shouting so that other people would look at him, and he had found someone his own age who didn't hand out praise easily.
And when that person told him he wanted to fight him, Naruto remembered.
"Minato?"
Kushina's voice was quieter this time.
He looked at her.
She was staring at the same scene.
"He's happy."
Minato immediately knew who she meant.
"Yeah."
Naruto wasn't happy because Sasuke had praised him.
Sasuke hadn't.
Nor was he happy because he had beaten him.
Their match hadn't even happened.
He was happy simply because the feeling was mutual.
Minato looked at Sasuke's small smile.
Then at Naruto's much wider one.
'Rivalry.'
That was the first word that came to mind.
But it wasn't enough.
Minato had watched Naruto throw himself into danger to protect Sasuke in the Land of Waves, and he had watched Sasuke do the same for him. He had watched them argue, compete, and provoke each other constantly.
Perhaps neither of them knew how to describe the relationship themselves.
But it was there.
"I think they like each other."
Kushina said it simply.
Minato turned toward her.
Kushina stared at him for a moment before frowning.
"Not like that."
A smile appeared on Minato's face.
"I didn't say anything."
"Your face did."
"My face didn't say anything."
"I know your face."
Minato lowered his eyes to the volume again, though his smile remained.
"I mean they've become important to each other."
This time, Kushina didn't joke.
"Yeah."
Silence settled between them for a few moments.
Then Minato returned to the beginning of the scene.
Kakashi nearly discovering that his tardiness had caused his student to lose by forfeit, followed by his relief when he learned that the match had merely been postponed.
Gaara waiting above.
Sasuke looking up at him.
And then Naruto.
'Don't you dare lose to a guy like him.'
Minato's eyes paused on those words.
That sentence also seemed simple at first.
But it wasn't quite that simple.
Naruto knew Gaara.
He had faced him.
He had felt what was inside him.
And at the same time, he knew Sasuke.
That was why he hadn't merely told him to win.
He had told him not to lose.
As though the possibility of Sasuke falling to Gaara bothered him on a personal level.
'Because you want to fight him yourself.'
Minato reached the answer quickly.
Then he remembered what Naruto said only moments later.
'I want to fight you too.'
The meaning became clearer.
If someone was going to defeat Sasuke, Naruto wanted the chance to be that person.
Minato chuckled quietly.
Kushina looked at him.
"What now?"
"I'm starting to understand him better."
"Naruto?"
"Yeah."
Minato lifted the volume slightly.
"He's very complicated about simple things and very simple about complicated things."
Kushina stared at him.
"That description itself is complicated."
Minato paused for a moment.
Then he laughed.
"Maybe."
Kushina returned to the manga while Minato's eyes remained on Naruto.
There was something else.
Something that had become difficult to ignore after twelve volumes.
At first, Naruto had been the child who wanted to become Hokage so everyone would acknowledge him.
Then, piece by piece, he began receiving that acknowledgment.
Iruka.
Kakashi.
Sakura.
Sasuke.
And eventually, even his opponents.
Now, after defeating Neji in front of the entire arena, he was no longer the boy who stood alone in those first pages.
'His place has changed.'
Sasuke himself wanted to fight him.
Naruto was no longer chasing someone who refused to look at him.
He had become someone worth looking at.
And for a reason Minato couldn't explain, a warm sense of pride spread through his chest.
Naruto wasn't his son.
Minato had no logical reason to feel this way about a boy from a future he still didn't understand.
And yet, the feeling remained.
'You've come a long way, Naruto.'
He heard movement beside him.
Kushina had extended a finger toward the page.
"Look at this."
Minato followed her finger.
Sasuke.
The small smile that appeared after Naruto's words.
"He liked what Naruto said."
Kushina said it confidently.
Minato nodded.
"Looks like it."
"Not 'looks like it.'"
Kushina leaned a little closer to the page.
"Look at his smile."
Minato smiled.
"I see it."
Kushina sat upright again, apparently satisfied with her discovery.
"Then they're friends."
Minato paused.
He looked at Sasuke.
Then at Naruto.
And he remembered everything he had read about the two of them so far.
"I don't know if they'd use that word."
Kushina gave him a sideways glance.
"Does that matter?"
Minato didn't answer immediately.
No.
Perhaps it really didn't.
Sometimes, what someone did for you was more truthful than whatever name they gave the relationship.
Minato looked back at the final scene.
The crowd was growing excited.
The last Uchiha had arrived.
Gaara was waiting for him.
The match that had been postponed for his sake was finally about to begin.
Every eye would now turn toward Sasuke.
But for Minato, the most important moment on these pages had already happened before the match even started.
Just one short sentence between two boys.
Sasuke had once said that he wanted to fight Naruto.
Naruto had held onto those words.
And now, he had returned them.
'I want to fight you too.'
Minato's fingers moved toward the edge of the page.
A quiet smile appeared on his face as he prepared to turn it.
'Alright, Sasuke… Looks like Gaara isn't the only one waiting for something from this match.'
He turned the page, one final thought remaining in his mind as he remembered Naruto's smile.
'You wanted him to acknowledge you… and it seems he did that much earlier than you realized.'
____________
Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 242: Monster of the Sand
Chapter 243: Mother…
Chapter 244: The Reason We Were Late!
Chapter 245: What Lies Behind the Match
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Announcement:
After a hiatus of more than five months, I've decided to return to Creating Manga of One Piece with Book II, published as a new book! Thank you to everyone who's been waiting for this series to return. I'll share the link when the second book launches. It's time to set sail again! 🏴☠️
01/11/2026⏳