The next day, at the Ninja Academy training grounds, Namikaze Minato's heart was full of unease.
The first stage of that technique really had been easy. In a single night, he completed the seal the notebook called the "Origin Cultivation Realm" (Peiyuan Jing) without trouble.
And then…
The Three Basic Jutsu, Clone, Substitution, and Transformation, all failed.
Whenever his chakra tried to push past the surface of his skin, the seal produced a powerful suction that dragged it back inside, causing the technique to collapse completely.
Still, as chakra continued to accumulate within the seal, his body's sensitivity to the outside world sharpened dramatically, and his taijutsu naturally improved alongside it.
The problem was that he couldn't use ninjutsu.
He didn't even know whether to call it strengthening or weakening.
That was why, in today's combat class, his confidence wasn't as high as usual.
His gaze drifted, inevitably, toward Uchiha Jin.
Senpai Jin was lying on his side under a tree.
The cool shade blanketed him, and with the steady rhythm of his breathing, he looked like he'd reached absolute peace.
Minato nearly wanted to scream. Stop resting so peacefully. Senpai Jin, hurry up and wash away your old shame. Instructor Inoue's face is already pitch-black with rage. Get up. Now.
In his heart, Minato was practically wailing.
"I hate problem students."
Inoue Satoru's face was so dark it could have passed for charcoal. With a sharp crack, the pen he used to record student performance snapped in half under the pressure of his thumb and forefinger.
Without missing a beat, he pulled out a new pencil from the ninja tool pouch strapped to his thigh.
When it came to handling problem students, the most important thing to prepare was, without question, extra writing supplies.
After all, he couldn't vent his anger on the students, could he?
That would be the behavior of a teacher with no class.
He looked at the name on the roster and at the empty space where Jin's evaluation should go.
He wanted, desperately, to draw a massive X through Jin's combat assessment, but his responsibility as an instructor stopped him.
When he glanced at the other well-behaved students, his heart finally eased a little.
So why on earth had a student who repeated a year landed in Class A?
He truly couldn't understand it.
But whether he understood it or not, class had to go on.
"Today we'll do one-on-one duel training. Find your opponents. I'll be evaluating your performance."
Inoue announced the day's lesson.
To be more precise, they would be fighting all day.
It wasn't just a test of combat strength, but endurance, physical limits, and constitution. After a full day of bouts, most of them would be pushed to their absolute edge.
As for whether that might harm young bodies, that wasn't something a ninja was supposed to worry about.
The Academy exams in this era weren't nearly as gentle as they would become later.
"Start."
The moment Inoue's voice fell, everyone began searching for opponents.
Several members of the Uchiha clan cracked their knuckles and headed straight toward one particular person, eager to teach him a deep, unforgettable lesson.
Minato didn't even have time to worry about Jin, because someone had already chosen him.
"Hyūga Clan. Hyūga Kiyoshi. Please guide me."
Hyūga Kiyoshi's pale eyes locked onto Namikaze Minato.
Minato, the eternal number one, wasn't without rivals. Hyūga Kiyoshi, the eternal number two, had always wanted to surpass him.
The title of "permanent runner-up" sounded awful to anyone, and today was the day Hyūga Kiyoshi would wash away his shame.
Minato looked at Kiyoshi and scratched his cheek. He didn't know exactly how much he'd improved, but he did know this: if Kiyoshi relied only on the Gentle Fist, he wasn't winning anymore.
Honestly, Minato would rather have trained with Senpai Jin.
He tried to advise him, hesitantly. "How about you pick someone else? The you right now can't beat me."
Minato wasn't mocking him. He was being sincere. The Hyūga were just too strange. They could use ninjutsu, but simply didn't. Stubborn to the bone.
If it was only taijutsu we're talking about, Minato knew he had improved tremendously.
Hyūga Kiyoshi assumed his stance with a blank face, but fury quickly bled through.
"Only you, Namikaze Minato…!"
"Unforgivable!"
On the other side, Jin, who had been on the verge of falling asleep, opened his eyes halfway.
Several Uchiha students had already surrounded him.
Uchiha Hiru, with his bristle-cut hair, looked down at him.
"Uchiha Jin. If you still have any pride as an Uchiha, duel me. The loser leaves the Ninja Academy."
The Academy could not tolerate Uchiha scum.
Jin used his pinky to clean his ear. These brainless Uchihas…
As for leaving school, it wasn't like he hadn't tried. His request had been rejected on the spot.
Not being a ninja, becoming a rich man, a magnate, wouldn't that be wonderful? Who actually wants to be this ninja garbage?
But he didn't have a choice.
The Uchiha clan would never allow a member capable of refining chakra to live as an ordinary civilian, and the Leaf itself would never let an Uchiha with potential slip away.
"Actually…" Jin looked at Uchiha Hiru with a shy expression. "I could marry into my wife's family and change my surname to Hyūga."
For a second, Uchiha Hiru froze.
Then he exploded.
"You…!! @#$%%$#@!! Die!!"
If not for the other two Uchihas holding him back, this wouldn't have been a duel anymore. It would've become a fight to the death.
Telling an Uchiha you'd change your name to Hyūga was basically the same as telling Uchiha Madara that Senju Hashirama was trash.
The other two Uchihas didn't look friendly either.
"Take him away. Next."
Jin yawned.
Uchiha Weidu, long-haired and expressionless, stared at him, while another Uchiha, Wuwei, held Hiru back to stop him from rushing forward to kill Jin.
"For someone like you to be born, your parents…"
Weidu couldn't finish.
Jin's eyes opened fully.
His gaze changed instantly, turning terrifying. His black pupils looked like deep abysses.
Weidu couldn't help taking a step back.
But the moment he retreated, humiliation surged. He glared at Jin in fury.
And the Jin in front of him was gone.
A cold shiver ran down Weidu's spine. He turned his head.
Jin was behind him, gently blowing on the back of his neck.
Is this guy sick?
Weidu was about to speak when something colder than words pressed to his throat.
A kunai.
"You?"
In that instant, it felt like a venomous snake had crawled up his spine, mouth open, ready to bite.
"AAAAAAH!"
Uchiha Weidu screamed in terror, drawing everyone's attention. No one had ever heard screams that miserable during training.
Jin's left hand rested on Weidu's shoulder.
"Joking is joking, mocking is mocking, but don't talk about my parents. You don't want to die here, do you?"
"That's enough."
Inoue Satoru's hand clamped onto Jin's arm. The instructor looked at the problem student with helpless frustration.
"Don't show killing intent toward your classmates."
Inoue immediately realized something was wrong. The aura Jin gave off, that intent to kill, couldn't be faked.
That kind of killing intent was usually forged through years of fighting wild beasts. Since Jin had never killed humans, it lacked the characteristic "blood smell" of true sakki, but it was still more than enough to terrify Academy students.
Who would've thought this problem student trained so hard in secret?
"I was just joking, Professor Iguchi," Jin said, grinning mischievously.
A vein twitched on Inoue's forehead.
"It's Inoue!"
"Right. Professor Well Water."
He's doing this on purpose. He has to be.
On the other side, Namikaze Minato looked at Hyūga Kiyoshi sprawled on the ground and clenched his fist.
"It really is an incredible ability."
Hyūga Kiyoshi stared up at the sun, which had climbed higher and grown hotter, and began to question his own existence.
The Hyūga Gentle Fist had been crushed by an overwhelming Strong Fist.
"This shouldn't be happening."
His Gentle Fist had even exceeded his usual level, yet Namikaze Minato's punches felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. After only a few exchanges, his arms were swollen and dark with bruises.
And, of course, he lost in two or three moves.
"Why is the gap this huge?"
Minato made him feel like he'd been fighting a clan Chūnin.
"Sorry. I might've gone a bit too hard."
Minato gave Kiyoshi his usual apologetic smile and offered a hand to help him up.
Kiyoshi looked at the hand, then at Minato's radiant smile.
And he cried.
Congratulations, Namikaze Minato. Achievement unlocked: "Crush the body, break the heart."
"Those guys were way too weak. I finished them off in no time, hahaha!"
Uzumaki Kushina stood with hands on hips, facing the stream, her expression wild and triumphant.
Jin looked at Namikaze Minato with doubt.
What do you even see in her?
Do you like that she fights without blinking, or her explosive temper that swings at anything that moves?
Minato caught the look, blushed slightly, and turned his face away.
"Why are you blushing, you stupid teapot?" Kushina snapped, suddenly spinning toward Jin. She felt like he was insulting her even though she hadn't heard a single word.
Jin's gaze drifted away.
Damn women's sixth sense. Even if Kushina was still a little kid, that ability didn't care about age.
Kushina looked at the blushing Minato with contempt.
Why is my subordinate such a wimp? Show some manliness and punch that annoying Uchiha.
Sensing the atmosphere getting strange, Minato hurriedly changed the subject.
"Tomorrow is ninjutsu class. What are we going to do?"
He was genuinely worried about tomorrow. Right now, he couldn't perform a single ninjutsu.
Kushina, who had also completed the first stage of the seal with some difficulty, wasn't worried at all. Inoue Satoru wouldn't dare make life difficult for her.
"Relax."
Jin patted Minato on the shoulder.
"In the final year, most classes are ninjutsu theory mixed with intelligence theft, concealment, and other practical things. Unless you volunteer to demonstrate, nobody will find out."
Ninjutsu theory was part of the curriculum, but the rest was "extra" content teachers taught to make sure students survived on the battlefield. Basically, there wasn't much need to use your hands. The final-year content was meant for Genin life and, for Class A, maybe even Chūnin life.
Even after being reassured, Minato still felt uneasy.
As the top student, the "perfect child," the odds of being called up to demonstrate weren't small.
Far from the peace of the Ninja Academy, on the front lines of the battlefield, death cries echoed and overlapped.
Dazzling ninjutsu exploded across the mountains, accompanied by the endless crackling of explosive tags.
In the middle of the chaos, a sharp, miserable scream of pain tore through the air.
"Stop!"
"Stop, please!"
"I said stop!!!"
Tsunade's voice was shrill, packed with agony. The medical ninjutsu in her hands, the Mystical Palm Technique (Shōsen Jutsu), didn't stop for even a moment, shining intensely.
The ninja beside her couldn't help trying to persuade her. "Please stop, Tsunade-sama… he's already… dead."
Tsunade's face froze. It felt like something was gnawing at her heart. Unable to endure it, she screamed.
"AAAAAAH!!!"
A sound like a cuckoo crying tears of blood.
Up in a tree, Orochimaru watched his dead student and his teammate screaming in despair.
He didn't even know what expression he was supposed to wear.
It felt like it wasn't only his student who had died.
It was himself, too.
Humans were things that broke so easily.
Grandson of the First Hokage.
Disciple of the elite jōnin Orochimaru.
Brother of the elite jōnin Tsunade.
Nawaki.
Confirmed dead.