Friday rolled around.
February was drawing to a close. Even though it was month-end, there wasn't a monthly exam; classes had only started in mid-January, so the next one wouldn't be until mid-March.
The only big event this week was Kurosuki Raiga dying at Kitazawa's hands. The academy trainees weren't really affected—training went on as usual.
Kitazawa spent the week training too, alternating between Uchiha-Style: Gale Sword and Earth Release: Earth Substitution. Both moved forward, but the sword art more so. He poured most of his time into Uchiha-Style: Gale Sword; if things went smoothly, he'd have it down by next week. After that, he'd focus on Earth Substitution.
"Kitazawa-sensei!" Uzumaki Naruto greeted him with his usual enthusiasm.
"Morning, Naruto," Kitazawa replied with a smile.
"Are we doing another live-combat session today?" Naruto scratched his head.
"Want to switch it up?" Kitazawa asked, already guessing his thought.
"You always get me, Sensei," Naruto said, a little sheepish. "I want to learn a new jutsu."
"That works," Kitazawa said after a brief think. After this stretch of practical drills, Naruto had answers for most sudden situations; more sparring wouldn't move the needle much.
"Really?" Naruto's eyes lit up. "What are we learning?"
"This one's tough. I'm not sure you can get it yet," Kitazawa said with a grin. "But that's fine—if it doesn't click, we'll swap to a different new jutsu."
"I can do it!" Naruto thumped his chest, full of confidence. In his mind, no new technique could be harder than Multiple Shadow Clone and Rasengan—both A-rank.
"It's called Wind Release: Rasengan," Kitazawa said, smiling.
"Huh? What's the difference between that and a regular Rasengan?" Naruto asked.
"Wind Release: Rasengan is a Rasengan with wind-nature chakra infused into it, which amps the power and adds a cutting property," Kitazawa answered. "Whether you can learn it depends on how far you've gotten with wind-nature transformation."
"No wonder," Naruto murmured, finally understanding why Kitazawa had him practicing wind-nature transformation: to prep him for Wind Release: Rasengan.
"I'll demo it once," Kitazawa said. He held out his hand; chakra surged and condensed into a rapidly spinning sphere—a standard Rasengan. Then he shifted from neutral chakra to wind-nature chakra.
In an instant, the Rasengan changed: the basic "basketball-sized" orb sprouted four faint, scything air eddies like blades, their rotation radiating a razor-keen edge.
"Amazing!" Naruto felt a prickle along his skin, as if needles of wind were brushing past. One look told him what would happen to flesh and blood if that hit home.
Both Rasengan and Wind Release: Rasengan are A-rank, but the latter hits a tier harder.
"My turn!" Naruto forced down his excitement and held out his hand. He formed a regular Rasengan, then tried to feed wind chakra into it.
Kitazawa watched for a moment and shook his head. Naruto's wind-nature transformation wasn't quite there yet—below the threshold for Wind Release: Rasengan. Which made sense—he was still early in his training, too green for that level of nature manipulation. He'd managed Multiple Shadow Clone and Rasengan because they didn't hinge on nature change.
"We'll table Wind Release: Rasengan for later. I'll teach you something simpler: Wind Release: Gale Palm," Kitazawa said, not forcing it. Sure, with "main-character luck" Naruto might brute-force it, but there was no point wasting time.
"Maybe let me try again?" Naruto asked, reluctant to let go—the Wind Release variant looked so strong.
"Used well, Gale Palm won't lose to Wind Release: Rasengan," Kitazawa said, patting his shoulder. He wasn't lying. Gale Palm is only C-rank, but it's incredibly versatile and pairs beautifully with Multiple Shadow Clone. Most importantly, it's simple. Even with the Nine-Tails making trouble, some reps would get it done—far easier than an A-rank wind jutsu.
"Okay, I'll learn it!" Naruto switched gears immediately—partly because of Kitazawa's words, mostly because he trusted Kitazawa.
"The effect is simple: compress wind-nature chakra in your hands to unleash a powerful gust," Kitazawa said, glancing around and picking an open patch. "How hard it hits depends on how much chakra you pump in."
Which suited Naruto—he didn't lack chakra.
"Watch closely," Kitazawa said. He clapped his hands together, and a mass of wind-nature chakra roared out from his palms. A gale howled forward; dust billowed, wildflowers and weeds shredded to powder.
"Shame we're on school grounds," Kitazawa added, dusting his hands. "Otherwise this whole area would be scorched bare—a ruin."
Naruto's face beamed. The spectacle of Gale Palm looked even grander than Wind Release: Rasengan.
Kitazawa chuckled. Still a newbie—only seeing the surface. In lethality, the Rasengan variant wins.
"What I just showed is only the first way to use Gale Palm," he said, drawing a kunai. "Here's the second."
He flashed through seals; as the gale formed, he snapped his wrist and threw. Riding the wind, the kunai screamed through the air at double its usual speed and buried deep in a tree trunk.
"Gale Palm can boost your tools—faster throws," Kitazawa said. "Now imagine you and a crowd of shadow clones all using it this way."
"That's awesome!" Naruto blurted. His clone-plus-kunai volleys got countered because the knives were too slow and not accurate enough—especially against Hyūga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke, who dodged them with ease.
"Don't get ahead of yourself—there are two more uses," Kitazawa said, beckoning. "Hit me with shuriken."
"Got it!" Naruto tossed two shuriken.
Gale winds rose again—blew the shuriken straight back along their path, even faster. Naruto yelped and scrambled aside.
"Gale Palm can power up tools—or bat them away. With enough chakra, you can blow a whole ninja off their feet," Kitazawa explained.
"Then I won't have to be scared of Sasuke's or Tenten's tools anymore!" Naruto said, delighted.
Kitazawa tugged the corner of his mouth. Not even Tenten gets a pass, huh?
"What's the last use, Sensei?" Naruto asked, impatient now.
Kitazawa didn't answer—he formed seals. This time the compressed wind didn't blast out; it flowed along his arms and wrapped his whole body. He moved—and in a blink he was right in front of Naruto.
"So fast!" Naruto's eyes went wide. He hadn't even processed the movement before Kitazawa arrived.
"Gale Palm can sheathe the user to boost speed," Kitazawa said with a smile. (In the original timeline, Naruto's son Boruto eventually developed this trick.)
"Start your practice," he added, stepping back.
"Mm!" Naruto began forming seals exactly as taught. Kitazawa watched, then nodded. Naruto's wind-nature transformation was easily good enough for Gale Palm—more than enough, really. It was only C-rank. He'd likely nail it before the next monthly exam—which would make beating Sasuke and Neji much easier and help Kitazawa clear his own system task.
Seeing no issues, Kitazawa split off a shadow clone to supervise and, as his main body, headed to the academy's artificial lake.
Maruboshi Kosuke, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura were already there, in the middle of a lesson.
Sasuke was learning Leaf-Style: Willow; Sakura, Water Release: Water Formation Wall.
Sasuke's progress was visibly quicker. Not that Sakura lacked talent for water—she just didn't have the chakra reserves.
She had to rest often to recover, and many water jutsu are chakra-hungry—like Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave.
Kitazawa figured Sakura couldn't manage that one; even if she learned it, she wouldn't be able to use it. Which was normal—in canon only Tobirama and Kisame used it. It unleashes a sea's worth of water in an instant; without a massive chakra pool, forget it.
Kitazawa drew his gaze back and went on practicing Earth Substitution.
Friday gave way to Saturday. As before, he spent the morning with Kurama Yakumo treating Tsunade's hemophobia. Compared to last time, the progress was huge: Tsunade lasted three more minutes inside the genjutsu, up to ten total, and when the phobia hit, her symptoms looked at least twenty percent lighter. In short, victory in sight.
The rest of the time, Kitazawa either discussed limb-regeneration medical ninjutsu with Tsunade or trained Earth Substitution.
A new week—and a new month. March began. Two weeks slipped by; the next monthly exam was close.
On Tuesday, Kitazawa squeezed in a short noon meeting with the teachers to plan that exam. Afterward, he returned to his office.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Yakushi Kabuto greeted from the doorway.
"What brings you here?" Kitazawa took out his key, unlocked the door, and went in.
"These are the missions we've completed lately," Kabuto said, following him in. "Please take a look."
Kitazawa unrolled the scroll. About the same as last time—just two fewer missions.
"Not bad," he said, closing it. "How's your Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere coming along?"
"I can use it, but I'm not fully fluent yet," Kabuto answered.
"When do you want to take the jōnin assessment?" Kitazawa raised a brow and fixed him with a look.
"Now?" Kabuto ventured, catching the hint in Kitazawa's eyes.
"You're a medical ninja—standards are a bit more flexible," Kitazawa said after thinking it through. "Your Wind Release is at least Special Jōnin level. You can try for jōnin."
Naturally, he wanted Kabuto to make jōnin sooner—the system had a task for him to produce his first jōnin student, with a juicy reward: 20% Senju bloodline.
"Then I'll do it," Kabuto said without hesitation. He was confident. A Root-trained shinobi since childhood, he'd been through harsher things than a jōnin test.
"Let's go see the Hokage," Kitazawa said, standing with a grin.
He'd already banked 50% Senju bloodline; add this 20% and he'd be at 70%. He was eager to see what that unlocked.
Kabuto glanced at him, quietly moved—Kitazawa truly had his back.
They headed to the Hokage's office.
"Hokage-sama," Kitazawa said directly, "my student Yakushi Kabuto would like to apply for the jōnin assessment."
"Oh?" Hiruzen looked over at Kabuto. Jōnin are Konoha's backbone; each one strengthens the village.
"In medical ninjutsu, he's definitely at jōnin standard," Hiruzen said with a small nod, recalling Kabuto's usual performance.
"He's learned Wind Release as well," Kitazawa added at the right moment.
"All right," Hiruzen said, rising. "Let's go to a nearby training ground."
The three of them went out.
"Wind-nature jōnin are rare in Konoha—I'll test you myself," Hiruzen said with a smile. "Come on. Don't be nervous. Show me what you've got."
"Kabuto, just demonstrate what you've learned," Kitazawa reminded him.
"Right," Kabuto said. He knew the subtext: he couldn't beat Hiruzen head-on. He just had to present a solid showing; for Tsunade's and Kitazawa's sakes, the Hokage wouldn't be unreasonable.
Shadow Clone Technique! Kabuto formed hand seals and split into two clones. Hiruzen stood still, simply watching.
Wind Release: Vacuum Shuriken! Kabuto threw a shuriken—its flight sharpened by wind chakra. At the same time, the clone on the left stepped in with a Body Flicker.
Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall! A wall of earth rose before Hiruzen. The wind-enhanced shuriken still didn't punch through. Almost simultaneously, the left clone leapt onto the wall and spat a high-pressure wind sphere down.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere, huh?" Hiruzen was a little surprised—Kabuto's wind progress was faster than expected. No wonder he had the confidence to test. But that level of Vacuum Great Sphere wouldn't touch Hiruzen. He flickered out of sight.
Earth Release: Earth Flow River! The ground turned to a rolling stream of mud that swallowed Kabuto's clone. With a pop, it vanished.
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough! Kabuto formed seals and unleashed a fierce whirlwind, stalling the mud's advance long enough to disengage.
Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere! Compressed wind chakra spat from his mouth like high-velocity pellets. Hiruzen didn't dodge—because at some point Kabuto's other clone had slipped behind him.
Wind Release: Vacuum Blade! Kunai in hand, the clone slashed. Hiruzen tilted his head, spun, and caught the clone's wrist—just as the stream of wind bullets arrived. Hiruzen crumbled into earth—a substitution. The sphere tore through the decoy and shredded the clone instead. Smoke puffed; the clone was gone.
"Where is he?" Kabuto glanced around—and a fist filled his vision. He reflexively crossed his forearms to block. The impact launched him backward.
"Hoh," Hiruzen murmured. That punch hadn't produced the result he expected. "What technique was that?"
"Yin Healing Wound Destruction," Kabuto said, getting up and shaking out his arms.
"An excellent jutsu," Hiruzen said, instantly reading it: predict where you'll be hit, lay chakra there in advance, and reduce the damage taken. He was curious—how had Kabuto known he'd attack straight on at the forearms? A guess?
"Congratulations—you pass," Hiruzen said with a wave. "That's enough. You can pick up your jōnin flak jacket from Anbu."
He had pulled his punches, but Kabuto's ability really wasn't bad. And as a rare medical-type, promoting him was well within the rules.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Kabuto said, letting out a long breath.
Not far away, Kitazawa glanced at the three lines of text that popped up and felt a jolt of joy.
[Current Mission: Produce your first jōnin student.]
[Reward: 20% Senju bloodline.]
[Mission Completed. Reward Granted.]
Kitazawa stood still, feeling the changes inside. The most obvious was a bigger chakra cap—up by roughly two-fifths of a unit—and his body felt tougher overall.
[Current Senju bloodline has reached 70%. Special ability unlocked: Senju Chakra Mode.]
[Senju Chakra Mode: When activated, increases recovery and regeneration, improves chakra-flow efficiency, and boosts power output.]
Kitazawa stared at the text, momentarily stunned. So this is the qualitative shift that comes from enough quantitative change. At last—an ability unique to high-percent Senju bloodline. The description was broad, though; he'd have to test it himself to see exactly how it worked.