The next day, in the Hokage's office, Minato Namikaze arrived as scheduled to meet Fumori masaki. Upon seeing Fumori masaki, Minato bowed and said, "Good morning, Lord Hokage."
"This isn't a formal occasion, there's no need for such a serious address. You shouldn't call me that," Fumori masaki replied.
Minato Namikaze suddenly realized; he was now Fumori masaki's student, and their relationship had grown much closer. Unless it was a formal occasion, there was no need to use the title "Lord Hokage." Doing so would only create distance and be detrimental to their teacher-student relationship.
For teachers and students, sometimes informality was acceptable. Just like how Tsunade used to call Fumori masaki "Kazamori" directly when she was young, Sasuke Uchiha called "Kakashi" directly, and Naruto Uzumaki called "Pervy Sage." Their teachers never minded these addresses and were always very tolerant of their students.
"Yes, Sensei Kazamori," Minato Namikaze quickly changed his address and said.
"Mm," Fumori masaki nodded slightly and said, "Then I'll call you Minato. I've read your resume from beginning to end, and combined with Heizo's opinion, I have a general understanding of your abilities and some ideas on how to instruct you."
"Please guide me, Sensei," Minato Namikaze said respectfully.
"We are both ninja who use wind-style chakra. In this regard, our compatibility is excellent, and our fighting styles also have similarities. Among my students, although Heizo is also a wind-style ninja, his fighting style isn't very similar to mine," Fumori masaki sighed softly.
Minato Namikaze wasn't very familiar with Hattori Heizo's fighting style, only knowing that he came from the Anbu. He had never seen Hattori Heizo fight in person. Hearing Fumori masaki's words, Minato felt that Hattori Heizo, as a wind-style ninja, might not have taken a conventional path.
"Besides the conventional wind-style instruction, given your talent, I've specifically found a secret technique suitable for you to learn. You can give it a good try," Fumori masaki began to shift the topic to the Flying Thunder God Technique, looking at Minato Namikaze with some anticipation.
Minato Namikaze's heart skipped a beat. Even if it was just a wind-style ninjutsu, he would have been very happy. Who didn't know that Fumori masaki was the strongest wind-style ninja in Konoha Village? And on top of that, Fumori masaki had chosen a secret technique specifically for him, which made Minato very curious about what kind of secret technique it could be.
Thinking it over, a secret technique presented by the Hokage couldn't be shabby, and its value certainly wouldn't be inferior to those wind-style secret techniques.
"Have you heard of the Flying Thunder God Technique?" Fumori masaki asked.
"The Flying Thunder God Technique? I think I've heard of it. Isn't it a secret technique used by Lord Second Hokage Tobirama?" Minato Namikaze recalled for a moment and said.
Because Fumori masaki had thoroughly popularized the images of the previous Hokage, and in a more open manner than usual, the ninja students, unlike in the original story, didn't just remember their most prominent characteristics. The title of "Shinobi World's Fastest" for Tobirama Senju wasn't unfamiliar, and the Flying Thunder God Technique was mentioned among them. However, due to the principle of ninjutsu secrecy, although they knew such a secret technique as Flying Thunder God existed, they had no idea what it looked like.
"Exactly, it's a secret technique used by my teacher, the Second Hokage. It's a space-time ninjutsu, based on the same principle as the Summoning Jutsu, but much more convenient," Fumori masaki nodded.
Minato Namikaze understood the Summoning Jutsu, knowing that it involved signing a contract with certain entities, allowing for spatial teleportation to summon the contracted entities. If it was a sentient summoning beast, it could even use the Reverse Summoning Jutsu to summon the contractor back.
Since the Flying Thunder God Technique and the Summoning Jutsu originated from the same principle, it should involve using certain things as a contractual medium for spatial teleportation. And since the Second Hokage used this technique to earn the title of "Shinobi World's Fastest," then compared to the Summoning Jutsu, which simply calls forth things, the Flying Thunder God Technique was more likely to summon the user themselves, thereby achieving rapid movement over distance.
At this moment, Minato Namikaze's mind raced, and he formed a general idea of the Flying Thunder God Technique, which was very close to its true nature.
"Am I really suitable to learn such a secret technique?" Minato Namikaze asked subconsciously.
"Of course. You should know where your talent lies, right? Honestly, this is a talent that might not appear in decades," Fumori masaki said with a smile.
These words truly reflected Fumori masaki's thoughts. Many people had learned the Flying Thunder God Technique, but only a handful could use it like Tobirama or the Fourth Hokage. At least after Tobirama, no one had appeared who could use the Flying Thunder God Technique freely. The current Minato Namikaze might be considered one.
Counting it this way, it was indeed a special talent that might only appear once every few decades. To use the Flying Thunder God Technique to its fullest, one had to possess this talent; it couldn't be clumsily imitated by others.
And Minato Namikaze was already familiar with his own talent. While using the Wind Wings, he could clearly feel his imaginative ability regarding space and his quick reaction speed. This was what allowed him to excel over others in operating the Wind Wings.
—Sensei Kazamori believes that someone like me is suitable to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique. In other words, is the use of the Flying Thunder God Technique highly dependent on these abilities?
Although Minato Namikaze had imagined the specific form of the Flying Thunder God Technique, he had never witnessed it firsthand, so he didn't know exactly where the difficulty in using it lay.
Ultimately, the Flying Thunder God Technique was a practical secret technique. The higher the user's combat experience, the more power they could unleash from the Flying Thunder God Technique. It was precisely this difference in experience that led to a vast disparity in the power of the same secret technique.
"You might not understand the Flying Thunder God Technique very well yet, but that's okay, we can take our time. While learning it isn't extremely difficult, mastering its application requires diligent practice. You can start by thoroughly contemplating how to use the Flying Thunder God Technique, and during this time, we'll focus on learning Wind Release," Fumori masaki said, looking at Minato Namikaze.
"I understand," Minato Namikaze nodded slightly, indicating his comprehension.
"Good, then let's head to Training Ground Number Three. I can't go myself, so I'll have a shadow clone go. I hope you'll understand," Fumori masaki said.
"No, Sensei Kazamori is busy with many affairs, it's only right," Minato Namikaze quickly replied.
"Haha, then as your teacher, I'll give you your first test. Let's see if you can keep up, and how much time it takes you to catch up," Fumori masaki chuckled. At this point, he had already summoned a shadow clone, which leaped out of the window.
Minato Namikaze paused for a moment, then quickly reacted. Without saying anything more to Fumori masaki, he chased after it, disappearing from Fumori masaki's sight in an instant.
"He's really fast. I've only seen him use the Wind Wings before; I haven't really seen his own speed," Fumori masaki walked to the window, looking in the direction Minato Namikaze had left, but showed no surprise.
Perhaps it was because he felt that the current Minato Namikaze's combat abilities were no less than those of the Fourth Hokage in the original timeline. Although the Fourth Hokage became the Yellow Flash of the Shinobi World by relying on the Flying Thunder God Technique, the Fourth Hokage's own Body Flicker Technique was also a unique skill in the shinobi world. When Kakashi Hatake used Chidori to activate his body cells and charged at high speed to confront an enemy, the Fourth Hokage could instantly intervene in their battle, protecting Kakashi while placing the Flying Thunder God mark on the enemy. This was achieved through the Body Flicker Technique, not the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Shadow clones couldn't communicate in real-time, and Fumori masaki didn't know where Minato Namikaze was at the moment. Since he had fully entrusted the matter to the shadow clone, Fumori masaki had to get to his own work. Turning around, he looked at the documents on the desk, took a deep breath, and muttered to himself, "Alright, let's start the day's work."
Aside from daily training and family life, Fumori masaki primarily spent his time on administrative work. The new order after the war forced even him, who was skilled at delegating tasks and improving efficiency, to become busy. It wasn't until the afternoon that he received the memories from the dissolved shadow clone.
Besides studying under Fumori masaki, Minato Namikaze also had to undergo training in the aerial combat unit. After all, Minato Namikaze was to serve in the aerial combat unit in the future and couldn't neglect these responsibilities, so the training time had to be carefully planned.
Based on the shadow clone's memories, Fumori masaki had a preliminary understanding of Minato Namikaze's performance. In the training ground, the shadow clone and Minato Namikaze first conducted simple tests, evaluating Minato Namikaze's ninjutsu and taijutsu levels. As for genjutsu, Fumori masaki himself wasn't particularly skilled, at least simple genjutsu didn't trap Minato Namikaze.
Undoubtedly, Minato Namikaze's talent was exceptional; Fumori masaki confirmed this once again. After the test, the shadow clone evaluated Minato Namikaze's current abilities, selected which areas to focus on for training, and after explaining the significance of the Flying Thunder God Technique and providing preliminary training methods, began teaching Minato Namikaze Wind Release.
Minato Namikaze's foundation in Wind Release was very solid, and learning new techniques wasn't very troublesome. Moreover, Minato Namikaze was also a genius, and geniuses often shortened their training time.
Like Kakashi Hatake, at the age of twelve, he already had his own insights into chakra nature transformation and form transformation, thereby creating secret techniques like Chidori. One must know that ordinary people need more than a year just to practice nature transformation, and to refine it to the level of Chidori requires even more time.
In his previous life, Fumori masaki initially thought that Kakashi's premature promotion to Jonin at the age of twelve, coupled with his somewhat poor performance against Iwa ninja, was due to the war. However, after learning that the Iwa ninja Kakashi encountered were Jonin, and after living in the shinobi world for a long time, thoroughly understanding the combat situations and individual training circumstances in the shinobi world, he finally realized that Kakashi's strength had indeed reached the Jonin level.
And Minato Namikaze's talent was no less than Kakashi's in the original work. After receiving the new education, Minato Namikaze readily accepted some of Fumori masaki's modern scientific concepts, and his training in Wind Release was very rapid.
At this rate, Minato Namikaze might soon be able to use the Flying Thunder God Technique. Although Fumori masaki knew many Wind Release techniques, many of which he created based on modern science, Minato Namikaze didn't need to learn all of Fumori masaki's moves.
Although Minato Namikaze's fighting style was very similar to Fumori masaki's, it was still somewhat different. In the future, Minato Namikaze would likely fight with the Flying Thunder God Technique as his core, so he only needed to choose the suitable Wind Release techniques.
Most people shouldn't learn too many ninjutsu. Hiruzen Sarutobi and Kakashi Hatake were exceptions. Hiruzen Sarutobi had the talent for five chakra natures and could use composite ninjutsu tactics, so increasing his ninjutsu repertoire helped improve his combat ability.
As for Kakashi Hatake, after a series of changes, he became somewhat listless and no longer keen on refining his training. The reason he learned so many ninjutsu was probably due to mission requirements. Kakashi had the moniker of "Copy Ninja." While this title superficially referred to Kakashi's act of copying ninjutsu, a detailed look at Kakashi's past as an Anbu member reveals that the title of Copy Ninja was primarily earned due to the demands of Anbu missions.
As an Anbu superior, Fumori masaki understood how important this copying ability was for an Anbu ninja. Being able to learn other people's ninjutsu and movements, to a certain extent, meant being able to completely disguise oneself as another person, which was truly convenient for Anbu work.
Based on Minato Namikaze's performance today, Fumori masaki pondered the training methods for tomorrow in his mind. How should he instruct Minato Namikaze then?
Days passed slowly. Shisui Uchiha, who was away, finally returned to Konoha Village a few days later. After reporting his safe return home, Shisui Uchiha came to see Fumori masaki.
"Masahiro, you must already know about what we encountered on our way back, right?" Shisui Uchiha asked directly after entering the Hokage's office.
"I already know, and I've ordered the Anbu to start collecting relevant intelligence," Fumori masaki said, then asked about something he was concerned about, "By the way, why are you returning so late? You should have arrived a day or two ago, shouldn't you?"
"There were some delays on the way. I also specifically investigated along the route, asking for the opinions of residents in nearby countries. Now I feel that these Jashinist cultists might be emerging again."
"I've also seen some reports like that, but it hasn't been fully confirmed yet. Since you say so too, then it should be true," Fumori masaki said. "If they're coming out again, it's nothing more than another purge. This time, we must eradicate them completely!"