Far away from the shinobi continent, on an island inhabited by the Clam Clan...
"Ugh—"
Yahiko crouched on the ground, retching dryly.
After expelling what little acidic bile remained in his stomach, he grabbed a roasted fish nearby and started gnawing at it with a twisted expression.
Konan sighed softly.
Her already pale face grew even paler at the sound of Yahiko's gagging.
The small hand hidden in her sleeve hesitated a few times, reaching toward the roasted fish in front of her—only to retreat each time.
She just couldn't bring herself to eat it.
Thanks to the survival skills and knowledge taught by Jiraiya-sensei, even stranded on a deserted island, survival wasn't all that difficult. All three of them knew Water Style, and both Yahiko and Nagato could use Fire Style. But the real problem was the food.
The island's food sources were terrifyingly limited.
By the seventh day, not a single seabird could be found.
Not because they'd eaten hundreds of them—but because the birds, sensing danger, had all flown away!
And ever since then...
Their meals had become a monotonous, despair-inducing rotation of wild greens with fish, stewed conch, kelp with fish, roots with fish, grilled fish, grilled scallops, stone-grilled fish, sashimi...
Seafood. Every meal. Every day. For almost a month now!
No matter how many variations they tried...
Without seasoning, fish was still fish!
At this point, even going to the bathroom smelled like fish!
"Come on, Konan, eat up. Once we're done, we're setting out."
Nagato took a deep breath to mentally prepare himself, then grabbed the grilled fish near the fire.
It had been nearly a month since they'd ended up on this godforsaken island.
Except for the Clam Clan's ancestor, Giant Clam, who continued to avoid them, Nagato had tried using the power of his Rinnegan to communicate with every clam around the island that had developed sentience.
But since these clams had lived their whole lives on this island, their knowledge was extremely limited.
All they could say was that the island was very far from the Land of Water.
How far exactly? They had no idea.
Konan had also used her Paper Style technique to fly in every direction—north, south, east, and west—for an entire day each, but she hadn't spotted a single other island or landmass!
They'd considered countless possibilities.
Maybe Minato-senpai, acting on Jiraiya-sensei's orders, had left them here on purpose—to toughen their resolve?
Maybe he just had a bad memory and forgot about them temporarily?
Or maybe... something had happened to him?
Maybe he was dead?
After all, it had been almost a month.
That Konoha kunoichi named Kurenai had been summoning clams from the Clam Clan every few days.
But Minato-senpai? He hadn't summoned any.
That was weird, right?
What kind of ninja just forgets about their summoning beasts? Didn't he need them for missions or battles?
And to make matters worse, they had asked some of the more frequently summoned clams to pass along a message to that girl named Kurenai—begging her to release them.
Her response?
She cheerfully sent a giant care package... full of sanitary pads and several pairs of underwear for Konan.
Along with a note: "Stay hygienic, sis! Let me know when you run out."
And a book titled "How Women Can Protect Themselves."
Unbelievable!
She looked so sweet and cute—how could she be this evil?!
Was this how Minato-senpai trained his disciples?!
Okay, maybe he wasn't that great either... or he wouldn't have dumped them here to begin with...
"Mm."
Konan let out a tiny sound of acknowledgment, forcing herself to pick up the grilled fish in front of her with visible difficulty.
After getting that ridiculous care package from Kurenai, the three of them had decided to stop waiting around like idiots.
Instead, they began chopping down trees and gathering wood to build something that could get them off this cursed island.
Their first attempt—a large raft—was destroyed the moment it left the area cloaked in clam mist, smashed apart by the waves.
So they had to return and start again.
This time, the new vessel was several times bigger, reinforced and forged using Nagato's Rinnegan powers.
They had also stocked up on a large amount of dried seafood and edible plant roots.
And with all three of them able to use Water Style...
They were confident. This time, they would make it off this island and back to civilization!
And when they did—Konan swore she would never, ever, ever eat seafood again!
She would eat dango, steamed cakes, rice, grilled meat, and—
Wait... what was that smell?
Right as she was psyching herself up, a mouthwatering aroma drifted into her nose.
She turned to look—and saw a giant black clam riding the waves, approaching the shore.
The clam's shell opened wide.
Thick mist poured out and rose into the air, forming four glowing words in the sky:
"Welcome Home."
Beneath that, a massive, exaggerated caricature of Jiraiya's smiling face appeared.
Inside the open shell, an opulent feast was laid out in pristine perfection.
"...Hssss."
Yahiko pinched his thigh hard and sucked in a sharp breath.
"Not an illusion."
Nagato swallowed hard, his eyes locked on the spread of food.
"Jiraiya-sensei..."
Konan covered her mouth with both hands, on the verge of crying from joy.
Led by Yahiko, the three of them sprinted toward the black clam.
As summoning smoke billowed up around them—
...
They finally escaped the island that would forever haunt their nightmares.
...
Inside a tent at the Konoha camp—
Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan sat around a table, devouring their food like starving wolves.
Jiraiya, standing nearby, glanced at the medic-nin who had just finished examining them.
"No major problems," the medic reported, putting away his tools. "Just a case of gout from long exposure to damp environments and poor diet. The muscle spasms and other symptoms were caused by severe diarrhea, which led to electrolyte imbalance."
At the word diarrhea, the three shinobi visibly winced with haunted expressions.
They were never eating fish again.
"Gout? Elec... electrolytes?"
Jiraiya blinked, totally lost.
"Well, it's rare in the Land of Fire," the medic explained, "but it's nothing serious. With proper diet adjustments and some light treatment, their ninja bodies should recover quickly."
"Oh, that's good. That's good."
Jiraiya stood up to walk the medic out.
Just then, the tent flap opened, and in stepped Namikaze Minato, wearing his Konoha jonin vest.
"Jiraiya-sensei, I heard from Jing that my fellow disciples arrived. I came to check on them."
"Hahaha—Minato, come in, have a seat."
Jiraiya clapped him on the shoulder, secretly sighing in relief. This one's always been the most dependable.
Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, who were still devouring their food, froze at the mention of Minato.
They shot to their feet like they'd been electrocuted.
Their eyes locked onto the man who just walked in.
"Ah? Hello, hello! No need to be so formal," Minato said cheerfully, scratching his head with a sunny smile. "I've heard all about you from Jiraiya-sensei. I'm Namikaze Minato—guess you could say I'm your senpai! Let's take care of each other from now on."
"Minato-senpai...?"
Yahiko shot a glance at Nagato.
Beneath the table, Nagato formed a quick hand seal, linking their minds together with the Rinnegan—just like a member of the Yamanaka clan.
"His hair's longer than I remember... and he doesn't seem as... rugged as the clams described."
"It's been a month. My hair's grown too. And if a summoning beast really likes their contractor, wouldn't they naturally exaggerate their image of them?"
Yahiko's fingers clenched tightly—nearly snapping his chopsticks in half.
They had eaten seafood for a month.
Had diarrhea for half of it!
Every time they remembered how he toyed with them, it made their blood boil!
Over the past month, they'd come up with tons of ways to counter the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Now that he was finally in front of them, there was no way they were just going to sit there and keep eating.
"Maybe... but still."
Nagato hesitated.
"This is the Konoha camp," Konan whispered mentally, wringing the hem of her sleeve. "If we start something here, it'll put Jiraiya-sensei in a tough spot..."
"It's fine!" Yahiko grinned darkly in their mind link. "It's just a friendly spar between fellow disciples. We'll apologize nicely afterward!"
With that, he turned toward Minato with the most sincere, innocent smile he could muster.
"Minato-senpai! Thanks so much for your special care this past month. We're really looking forward to learning from you today!"
As soon as the words left his mouth—
The three of them attacked at once!
Yahiko dashed forward, chopsticks aimed straight at Minato's lower half.
Nagato rapidly formed hand seals, raising a barrier that sealed off the tent.
Konan's body burst into fluttering paper, forming dozens of paper shuriken that filled every corner of the room in an instant.
"Eh? Eh?! EH?!"
Jiraiya flailed in confusion, arms raised like a panicked deer.
"Wait—what 'special care'? Did you guys completely misunderstand something?!"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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