Minato Namikaze had never imagined how difficult it could be for an ordinary, albeit talented, genin who had come from an orphanage to obtain information on high-level clan shinobi. He seemed to be from the same village, quite a prominent and well-known person even in the shinobi academy, but nothing but his name (Ryo Nara) and main profession (iryo-nin) could be found out at once.
For one thing, despite the tendency of kunoichi of all ages to gossip, Minato was practically cut off from this source of information - concentrating on training and polishing the skills he'd learned at the academy, he hadn't made any good acquaintances among kunoichi other than Kushina-chan and, to a much lesser extent, Mikoto.
The fact that he didn't have any kunoichi on his team had a healthy effect on that as well. It would be possible to ask some of his clanmates, but Namikaze had also gained a lot of ill-wishers who could provide information, but they would have to pay for it later, as the orphan had learned long ago. Nothing in life happens for nothing, and to be indebted to someone where he could cope himself was not very desirable.
Luck smiled on Genin where he didn't expect it - accidentally hearing two first-graders of the academy chattering about life in the orphanage. After talking the kids through a couple of chakra tricks, Minato had learned, albeit not as much as he would have liked, but it was enough to get him started.
Who would have thought that the cheeky little brat who had snatched Kushina away not only helped the orphanages with money, but also provided specialty services for free. Remembering his hungry years before becoming a shinobi, Minato even wished he were a few years younger, and his anger at the healthy Nara had subsided a bit.
Also new to him was the presence of a shop selling high quality fuin, owned by the same red-haired tokubetsu jonin. Namikaze wasn't even too lazy to go and have a look, glancing enviously at the visitors - genin couldn't get into the shop.
Remembering how much a single kibakufuda of average quality cost in shinobi equipment stores, Minato's envy for a strong, clan-owned shinobi, as it turned out - and a rich one at that. Having everything that the orphan had been deprived of.
The next obvious place to gather information on the target was the hospital, and this time Minato managed, after several attempts, to stumble upon a real treasure trove of knowledge in the person of a young nurse on vacation.
Her pretty appearance and a couple of sunny smiles put the chatterbox at ease enough for the genin to be bombarded with a flood of details about Ryo Nara's life that were known to the hospital's female attendants.
From the fact that at the age of nine he'd picked his own mother to pieces, successfully, to the fact that he'd had two known lovers, a whole bunch of alleged lovers (and lovers, according to some, boo!), and a bunch of illegitimate children from various kunoichi that Ryo had stashed away in orphanages.
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