"What are you talking about?" Jiraiya asked, taken aback.
Orochimaru smirked coldly. "If it weren't for you, Xin could've been on the battlefield, earning glory and making a name for himself across the shinobi world. But no, thanks to people like you, he's stuck as an unnoticed jonin-sensei, hesitant to even leave the village on missions."
"That's not true!" Jiraiya protested. He accepted responsibility for tricking Nawaki and Minato into going to the battlefield, but he wasn't about to take the blame for what Orochimaru was implying.
"The Hokage and those two elders made that decision, not me! I tried to stop them, but my voice didn't carry enough weight."
Orochimaru just gave him a knowing smile before walking off, leaving Jiraiya standing there, seething in frustration.
"Damn it!" Jiraiya shouted, punching a nearby tree. The impact left a deep dent in the trunk, shaking loose a flurry of leaves.
Why did things always have to be this way?
Was it just because Xin wasn't aligned with the Hokage, or maybe because of his Uchiha blood?
Why did they insist on molding him into another Uchiha Kagami?
In that moment, Jiraiya felt the overwhelming urge to leave Konoha, to escape from the swirling vortex of village politics.
Back in the hospital, with the room now cleared of extra people, Xin turned to Nawaki, his expression serious. "Next time, don't be reckless. Saving people is fine, but don't risk your own life like that."
Xin reached over and grabbed Nawaki's ear, giving it a firm tug. "You're an idiot, aren't you? You've got all these ninjutsu at your disposal, but instead of using them, you throw yourself into danger. What about your ninjutsu, huh? Where's your brain?"
"Ow, ow, ow! Okay, okay, I get it! I was just in a hurry, alright? Oww!" Nawaki yelped, clearly in pain.
Minato, sitting on the side, couldn't help but laugh at the scene. Xin was doing exactly what Nawaki needed-he had gotten a little too overconfident after his recent successes on the battlefield. Minato had tried to rein him in, but Nawaki hadn't really listened. Xin was the only one who could get through to him.
Serves him right, Minato thought with a grin. If anyone could knock Nawaki back down to earth, it was Xin.
Nawaki, on the other hand, was less amused. He silently vowed revenge, even though he knew he probably wouldn't be able to take on Xin when the time came. Still, once his injuries healed, he'd get his payback somehow. He just had to figure out how...