As Natsuhiko lay in bed, contemplating whether or not to skip work...
At the gate of Konoha, Namikaze Minato, leaning on a tree branch and dragging his tired body, finally returned to the village.
"Huh, isn't this the special Jonin Namikaze? What happened to you?"
The two ninjas guarding the gate were astonished to see Minato in such a state.
Who around Konoha could push Minato to such a sorry state?
Without overthinking it, one ninja turned to report while the other helped Minato, intending to take him to the gatehouse to rest.
They didn't doubt Minato's identity since various barriers set around the gate would reveal any transformation jutsu.
"Th-thank you. Did a girl around my age with red hair return to Konoha last night?"
Minato, being helped, expressed his gratitude before asking the question that concerned him the most.
After thinking for a moment, the ninja replied, "If you're talking about Chūnin Uzumaki Kushina, she returned to Konoha a few hours ago. Her name is on the entry register."
"That's good."
Hearing this, Minato finally felt relieved.
He was a bit late, and others had already rescued Kushina.
Perhaps it was the person who left those white bat markers...
As the ninja helped him sit down to rest in the gatehouse, Minato recalled the events of last night, revealing a wry smile.
He felt as if he had done a whole night of useless work...
Not to mention nearly losing his life...
Thinking back to the intense and high-speed chase, Minato still felt a bit scared.
He initially thought that after partially mastering the Flying Thunder God technique awarded by the Hokage, he could at least escape if he couldn't win.
Unexpectedly, one of the enemies, a burly black man who kept shouting "For family!" also mastered a perception technique!
Even if Minato used the Flying Thunder God technique to evade the enemy's sight, he was quickly found again, unable to escape.
Suppose he hadn't taken a risky move, sensing a distant Flying Thunder God mark and performing an unfamiliar long-distance teleportation to escape the perception range. In that case, he might still be hunted down...
However, under life-threatening pressure, Minato's proficiency with the Flying Thunder God technique improved significantly.
A blessing in disguise, perhaps.
More importantly, with Minato's growing mastery of the technique, he also noticed several flaws in it.
The most obvious was that when he used it continuously, there was a slight delay that couldn't keep up with his reactions...
In Natsuhiko's past life's terms, it was like a professional gamer using an old computer to compete.
Being humble by nature, Minato didn't think it was a flaw of the technique's creator, the Second Hokage.
After all, the Second was known as the fastest in the ninja world; he would have noticed such flaws.
So Minato concluded that the Flying Thunder God formula he used, designed by the Second, wasn't fully compatible with him, hence the delay.
Although the delay was minimal, for perfection-seeking Minato, it was hard to ignore!
"It seems I need to design my own exclusive Flying Thunder God formula to master this technique truly..."
Minato murmured to himself, "But to do that, I need knowledge in sealing techniques that I haven't delved into much..."
When he considered this, Minato couldn't help but think of his eccentric master, Jiraiya, who might offer some guidance in sealing techniques.
Unfortunately, after asking the other two Sannins, he knew his proper master was likely still in Amegakure teaching other students...
What happened to the promised Child of Prophecy?
Minato shook his head with a bitter smile, feeling a bit green with envy.
Why say "again"?
"Seems like I'll have to rely on self-study, just in time now."
"If I truly don't understand, I can find another sealing technique expert to consult..."
Just then, the ninja who went to report returned, informing Minato to report to the Third Hokage.
Hearing this, Minato stood up and walked towards the entrance...
...
A few days they were passed since Kushina's kidnapping incident.
Due to Kushina's sensitive identity, the kidnapping was not publicly announced in the village, so no one knew what Natsuhiko had done.
However, the day after the kidnapping, the scene of the police force surrounding the inn and arresting the remaining Cloud ninjas drew widespread attention from the villagers.
After all, the Second Great Ninja War had ended years ago, and other ninja villages were recuperating.
Only these Cloud brutes were still restless, always challenging Konoha's supremacy. Everyone was long fed up with them.
Moreover, every time the Hokage wanted to divert internal conflicts, he would shout, "Cloud!"
So, everyone was used to it and filled with resentment towards Cloud.
Seeing the usually arrogant Cloud ninjas, acting like a victorious nation, all getting arrested, even if they didn't know the reason, everyone felt very relieved and applauded.
Thus, taking Natsuhiko's reminder, the police force's work of arresting the Cloud delegation earned them a wave of goodwill.
Unfortunately, the villagers' memory was as short as a goldfish's.
Within a few days, this matter was overshadowed by the "hot search" news of Namikaze Minato being chased by dozens of Cloud ninjas, eventually killing over a dozen and escaping successfully.
For a time, Namikaze Minato's fame spread throughout the ninja world.
Hearing this news, Natsuhiko finally solved a mystery in his mind.
That was why, after Yawa released his last chakra wave, no enemies continued to pursue him.
It turned out the late-coming Minato had attracted all the firepower...
In the end, Minato bore it all.
It's worth noting that Cloud seemed to blame Minato for the deaths of Yawai and his team.
Natsuhiko didn't mind this; in fact, he welcomed it.
After all, he didn't want to be on Cloud Village's must-kill list.
Konoha's high-ups seemed to have the same thought, not wanting Natsuhiko to be noticed by other villages too early.
So, after consulting Natsuhiko and Minato, they decided to accept this narrative.
However, Cloud had another version, painting themselves as the victims.
They accused Konoha of illegally detaining their delegation with ulterior motives. When the plot was exposed, they sent Namikaze Minato to hunt down the escapees, leading to a fight and a chaotic escape.
Konoha naturally gave a strong response, firmly opposing and condemning Cloud's distorted version of events!
Seeing both sides only arguing without action, Natsuhiko knew it was just a war of words, with no real power to fight.
So, it seemed there was no need to worry about Cloud's threat for now.
However, Natsuhiko didn't let his guard down.
Though external threats were temporarily quiet, internal coveting intensified.
Although in the office, Sarutobi Biwako made the Konoha F4 speechless and agreed to Natsuhiko staying at the ninja academy.
This didn't mean those advisors wouldn't continue to covet Natsuhiko's inventions.
The communication bracelet needed no mention; the training tools Biwako mentioned for improving taijutsu skills also intrigued them.
Even Natsuhiko's profitable Battle Ninja Tavern had long caught their eye.
Though they couldn't directly seize it due to Sarutobi Biwako and Uzumaki Mito, borrowing Natsuhiko's ideas to develop their own wasn't something those two could object to.
So it seemed "Copy Ninja" Amou Natsuhiko had met his match.
And a particular person who liked shortcuts, Mr. X, seemed to have new schemes.
For example, Natsuhiko noticed more suspicious characters around his house and the Battle Ninja Tavern, indicating trouble.
...
After school on December 29, in the sealing technique office.
Apart from Guy, the sealing technique team members sat in a corner, carefully drawing runes on talismans.
After this period of teaching, they began practising the projection technique.
Each had a large talisman paper before them, densely covered with runes, looking quite different from regular sealing techniques.
This was because Natsuhiko's approach represented the entire technique through rune structures, unlike the popular sealing techniques that combine spirit, hand signs, and runes.
This was the unique feature of Natsuhiko's rune ninjutsu.
It was possible only by fully rune-using a technique.
Although this increased the number of runes needed for the same technique compared to standard methods, the advantage was that during drawing, they only needed to infuse chakra directly without adjusting the chakra nature, significantly lowering the barrier to drawing rune structures.
"Though you don't need to adjust the chakra nature finely, you still need to ensure the chakra infused into each rune is consistent, making the rune structure more stable."
"The key is to draw it in one smooth motion, like cursive writing. Your main focus is on subtly adjusting the rune structure for continuity without altering the rune shape too much."
Natsuhiko spoke while pacing around the group, checking everyone's practice progress.
Soon, he noticed an interesting phenomenon.
Whenever he stopped behind a student for a few seconds, the quality of their rune drawing would plummet drastically...
Everyone's psychological fortitude needed some improvement.
Natsuhiko chuckled to himself.
He had always hated having teachers stand behind him during exams.
Who would have thought that the dragon slayer would eventually become the evil dragon...
However, even without him standing behind them, the quality of everyone's rune drawings had declined today.
After all, starting tomorrow, the ninja school would begin its New Year holiday, and everyone's mind was already elsewhere.
The ninja world also customarily celebrated the New Year, so the ninja school gave students a holiday.
But since it wasn't the end of the term yet, this holiday was short, only ten days.
The real winter break would come after the exams at the end of February.
Though the deadline to challenge Kakashi was approaching, Obito was now preoccupied with thoughts of asking Rin out during the break.
If everything went smoothly...
As he fantasised, Obito already imagined the name of his and Rin's third child.
Lost in thought, the runes he was drawing began to distort.
To make matters worse, Teacher Natsuhiko, who was playing "Duck, Duck, Goose" with everyone, happened to walk up behind him.
With the pressure skyrocketing, Obito unsurprisingly made a mistake in drawing the rune!
To divert attention, he quickly turned and asked Natsuhiko:
"Teacher, are you an orphan?"
"?"
Everyone suddenly stopped their pens and looked up at Obito with eyes that seemed to pity a martyr.
Some people, though alive, are already dead...
Seeing everyone's reaction and Natsuhiko's increasingly dangerous smile, Obito hurriedly explained:
"What I mean is, if you don't have anyone at home, why not spend the New Year with me!"
Seeing Natsuhiko's expression soften, he bravely continued, "Anyway, it's just me and my grandmother at home, and she's always nagging to see you."
Only then did Natsuhiko completely withdraw his killing intent, waving his hand:
"No need; I'll be spending the New Year with Guy and his father, along with some other employees at the Gennin Tavern."
"I see."
Obito said regretfully, but secretly, he was delighted, thinking that the teacher had forgotten about his mistake with the runes.
Then he heard Natsuhiko move to the front of the table and say to everyone:
"It seems everyone is distracted, so let's call it a day. Happy New Year in advance."
"But you mustn't stop practising drawing runes during the break. Come to me later to get fifty sheets of rune paper each."
"Eh——"
Everyone groaned upon hearing this.
"Five times a day isn't much," Natsuhiko smiled, "Oh, and Obito, you'll have to take an extra fifty sheets as a penalty for trying to slack off earlier."
Dazed——
Obito slumped back in his chair, his hands hanging down, and all the colours drained from his body.
All the beautiful images in his mind shattered into dust and vanished...
If he had to do so much homework every day, where would he find the time to ask Rin out!?
Taking advantage of Natsuhiko and Obito's conversation, Kurenai Yuhi whispered to Rin.
"Rin, have you noticed that something seems off with Teacher Kushina lately?"
Rin glanced at Kushina, who was also practising drawing runes and nodded slightly.
The most apparent thing was that a few days ago, for some unknown reason, she decided to join everyone in learning projection techniques.
She even said, "I can't hold Natsuhiko back anymore."
But despite what she said, Kushina had been distracted and blushing frequently these past few days.
Most importantly, she kept staring at Teacher Natsuhiko in a daze!!!
Knowing what was going on, they couldn't help but chuckle to themselves.
It seemed that even though winter wasn't over, Kushina's spring had already arrived.
They exchanged glances and covered their mouths, giggling.
...
After everyone had left, Natsuhiko sat at his desk, taking out the scroll of the Seal Book's catalogue given to him by the Third Hokage, looking conflicted.
Seeing this, Kushina couldn't help but laugh and said:
"Natsuhiko, haven't you decided which technique you want yet?"
Natsuhiko shook his head helplessly and said:
"I want them all..."
Kushina: "..."
However, Natsuhiko knew this needed to be more realistic. He smiled and examined the scroll again, falling into deep thought.
After the Kushina incident, he probably wouldn't have any significant achievements for a while.
So this choice might determine his development route for a long time, and he couldn't afford to be careless.
(End of chapter)
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