How Narrator greets youmay contain spoiler
[CLOCK: ARC-01 | Kazekage Rescue | Day 0]
Konohagakure. A bright, unremarkable afternoon.
The main gate has seen ten thousand homecomings. Today it sees two more.
The smaller of the pair moves with enough energy for both — orange and black gone dusty from the southern road, forehead protector polished to a shine, a grin broad enough to pick a fight with the sun. Taller now. Somehow louder. Two and a half years of training worn into his shoulders.
Naruto Uzumaki has come home.
Beside him strolls a white-maned giant with a travel pack and a crooked smile — Jiraiya of the Sannin, looking exactly like a man who disappears for years without warning and wanders back as if no time has passed at all.
"We're back!" Naruto announces to the entire village.
At the gate desk, Kotetsu and Izumo glance up from the ledger, wave the two through, and go back to being bored.